MTFCA Forum

Henrietta has always seemed to be struggling getting up enough way to comfortable pull away in top gear. She seemed to run out of puff. Yesterday, I scrambled underneath and took off the timer connecting rod so I could get a little more lever travel at the quadrant. I shortened the rod about 3/8". This brought the retarded position of the lever almost back to the stop, and allowed more advance as the lever was pulled down. What a difference! She is far more willing now. Now, if I put in one of Scott Conger's hi-flow needle and seats she should really fly. We have a week long tour coming up to celebrate our T club's 60th Birthday I am going to take Henrietta, to keep pace with another oldie on the run. I will post photos as we go.

Allan from down under.

Dropping off and picking up. Monday the 1920 Runabout arrived home, after getting some woodwork done and new paint, top and interior. The 1918 Coupelet(removable pillar coupe) is off for the same treatment. The Runabout is ready for Spring driving and showing off.

Got my front axle rebuilt by Strong’s Garage. Straightened, rethreaded, bushed/reamed etcetera, and good usable spindles. I’ll need to straighten my frame and do a good once over on the front spring before I mount it.

Still working away on getting the wheels painted for my 12 Runabout (along with a long list of other stuff). I love the midnight blue color with a white tire. At some point I need to get brave and mount all the tires.....

Finishing up the spring PMs' on all the T's. Took the Speedster and the Tudor out for the first run of the year.

I got tired of the leaky stem on the right angle brass shutoff valve at the carburetor, so I splurged on one of Scott Conger’s ball valves. Installation was pretty much a snap, the hardest part (which wasn’t very hard at all) was cutting about 2-3/4” off of the fuel line (shown on the hood shelf). I did have to rotate the valve about 30-45 degrees outboard for the handle to clear the choke rod. It isn’t quite as obtrusive as I thought it might be.

It's just so cool when a few tweaks really pay off, right? And those hi-flow needle and seats seem like they'll take things up another notch.

Miles, if you put the choke wire into the arm from the other side you should be able to set the tap upright. It would also allow you to run a hand choke wire forward without the two getting in each other's way at the carb.

Allan from down under.

OlGeezer wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 05, 2024 3:02 pm

… And those hi-flow needle and seats seem like they'll take things up another notch.

I got a new needle and seat from Scott while I was at it, but it’s hopefully a fix an NH that “bucks” at low throttle settings. The carb in the photo is a Simmons (or whatever brand it is that has the “floating” plate just downstream of the choke), and is by far the best running carburetor of the three I have.

Allan wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 05, 2024 6:43 pm

Miles, if you put the choke wire into the arm from the other side you should be able to set the tap upright. It would also allow you to run a hand choke wire forward without the two getting in each other's way at the carb.

Allan from down under.

Thanks for the tip, but I really don’t mind the valve the way it is. I don’t have the forward choke wire because the old apron needs to have the mounting holes slotted slightly to fit the new Brassworks radiator, and I just haven’t gotten around to doing that. When I do, I may switch the orientation of the choke wires. My Express Wagon has the dash-mounted wire this way, and the forward wire coming in from the inside, but it does drag on the carb inlet a bit.

I just removed, cleaned, and re-greased the front axle bearings on the roadster. I don't know when it has been done on this T I've been on 2 tours with since purchase. Yes, I know. I should have done it earlier. I used Royal Purple grease for the first time.

I removed my carb heat pipe and installed my air filter for warm weather driving. I found the filter on eBay, it was originally designed for a vintage Clinton lawn tractor. I made a cone out of brass sheet to adapt it to fit the inlet of my Kingston L4 carb.

Fitted a Ford Victor tail lamp to the '12 open hack project. Bent thick bar to hang off the undercarriage wood frame.

The lamp already had a drilled hole under the housing for I guess someone's use to wire it up, so just enlarged the hole and added grommet for wire protection of the 6v tail light, brake/stop light, and ground wires. Ground wire soldered to the socket.

Next fitted a headlamp socket by pop rivet to a small radiator clamp, and wrapped it around the wick holder. That socket has two terminals so using a newer type of 6v RED LED tail/brake stop lamp that also has array of white for display out the side clear lens to illuminate at the license plate too.

All done, lites up bright, and the brake lite too. Old Victor vintage look with modern electric bulb that won't need feeding by kerosene.[

Pushed the T out into the hot sun, stretched the vinyl top, and tacked into place. Then screwed the two drip rails which I made from stainless steel with stainless Philips drive screws (which I will hide in the near future). My top kit came with what I believe to be Hidem welting. I did not like the rounded ball appearance so used some scrap cobra grain and folded my own welting for the front and rear. There is a bead of silicone over the tacks before the top flap gets folded down. I suppose this is one of the many wrong ways to do it. Also, this kit's instructions said to use chicken wire. To the dislike of many here, I followed the instructions.

I finally finished reaming valve guides and cutting new seats. I spent way more time making fixtures than the actual job. I had a valve guide that had broken off at the roof of the valve chamber. I bought universal bronze guides, drilled out the iron valve guide and pressed it in. It took me two try's to get the valve and tappet in alignment.

The Neway seat cutters work easily enough. The final surface was not as smooth as when using a stone. To smooth the cut surfaces, I finished using very gentile pressure (gravity) while turning the cutter. That helped a little but if others have a better method, aside from lapping, I would like to know. (Neway says not to lap.)

Fixin’ to swell up the spokes on my ‘14 runabout crossing this stream close to Mason, TX on T Fords of Texas club tour last weekend.

A good friend helped me replace the rear wheel hubs on my ‘24 Touring. Worn keyways in the hubs and were not fitting well with new axles. Were able to drive hubs straight out without disturbing the tenons in the felloes by supporting the hub end of the spokes by means of a special tool. Then, with the use of a Regan press, the new hubs pushed in with the aid of a little grease. Now I am more confident in safer travels. Thanks Steve!

Finished the speedometer set up today. Everthing works as it should. After much considerstion, decided to mount the head in the lower of two positions I have reason believe were used. I located the wheel gear screw holes using a tool fashioned from a front wheel spindle. There is virtually no run out. I had some difficulty getting the cable lined up with the head due primarily to a sprung bracket. As with most work on a Model T there were difficult moments. Its funny really. All the components were restored and ready to mount a year or two ago. What I thought might be a half day job turned into a three day venture.

I chose to buy a running chassis for my speedster rather than do it all from scratch. Cheaper, easier, and quicker than my original intention. I began mocking up the body prior to starting the final one. It's been a challenge but one where I have the skills to do so, I believe.

One of the many sub assemblies I’ve been wanting to get done for awhile… I had this Repo Stewart cable from Vintique with the generic cable ends. I wanted to replace the ends with the knurled nuts on both ends. I purchased two Stewart ends from Restoration Supply. The ends are really nice and the knurled section looks more like the originals rather the ones from Vintique. I did have to open up the ID area a little bit to fit the cable, but also milled off the knurled section to look more like the originals. I thought they came out great!

They sure look nice. Ive seen those style connectors in both brass and steel.

Mostly clean up and general check and prep work. Then a tour with the T club, about 80 miles with the group but 185 total counting driving to meet them and returning home. Cold (38) in the morning but bright and sunny and upper 60's by the time I got home. Hats, coats, gloves and sun glasses came in real handy. A very good day.

RGould1910 wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 23, 2024 10:12 pm

They sure look nice. Ive seen those style connectors in both brass and steel.

Thanks Richard! I also began working on getting my Rands windshield together from your excellent article you shared!

Two new Blockley tires, a rear view mirror on the right, and a cigarette lighter plug to charge my phone.

Found out why one of the carbs was leaking gas, and solved it. I thought it was the float level, but that didn't make sense.. Took carb out and reset. No difference. So I got under the carb, drained the bowl and removed the float and needle. Looking directly up into the valve l found the problem. There was a TINY piece of plastic the size of a pinky nail clipping in the valve, preventing the needle from sealing. After removing it, the float works perfectly. No gas leaks. Made my day!

Maybe you will have to ask your wife to do her nails somewhere other than the front seat.

'26 coupe...
Installed rear window on Tuesday night, left rear window Thursday night.
Last night we tried to install right rear window but the wood was too think at the bottom. So, shaved it with a reciprocating saw, painted it and hopefully this morning, we try again.

Installed third glass, trimmed the silicone.
Installed rear coupe panels. I used exterior duck cloth, same as on seats, not a pro job but not bad either for a first time to mount cloth on panel board.