Looking for local T wisdom

[erkbrn]

Hello, everyone. I am a fairly new T owner and am looking for a T veteran to give me some pointers with my new (to me) 1915 touring. I have been going through tons of old forum posts and performing many of the checks and maintenance steps I have found here. I am trying to get a feel for how well the current running condition of my T stacks up to that of one considered in good running shape. I feel that I have it running and driving reasonably well at this point. However, since I only have experience with one T other than that which I now own (the former being a 1917 touring that seemed much less temperamental than my 1915), I don't have much of a baseline to judge whether or not it really is running well.

Is there a T expert in the San Diego/Miramar area in California who could spare some time to check it out? There are a few concerns I have about it, which would probably be easily dismissed or confirmed by a T expert within a few minutes of looking at and/or driving it. At the very least I would have more direction in what is left to be adjusted/fixed. Much obliged!

[TWrenn]

Eric, technically your '15 shouldn't be all that much different from a your former '17, or any other T for that matter. It all depends
on how well your coils are, your engine is tuned/timed, and especially the condition of your timer. And by all means don't forget to inspect your coil box under the dash...they are often overlooked, and more often than not, in need of "new wood", or better yet, the so-called FunProjects coil box rebuild kit, which is some sort of a plastic material, and is SUPERIOR. I kept having issues with my '15 Touring after even rebuilding the engine, as well as my '25 TT Firetruck, and after the F.P. kit...voila!! Ran like brand new. And don't forget to thoroughly inspect the brass contact bolts in the box, they get pretty crappy with age and don't make good contact.
Also, make sure the U-joint is thoroughly loaded with grease (most are not) and pump a decent amount into the driveshaft bushing next to it. I use the "cheater" cups with the grease zerks. That big ball for the U-joint just takes too much to mess with the grease cap. This is a good start anyway! Good luck!

[Mark Gregush]

Besides coils/ignition system, how is your fuel system/carb? Have you check compression? Compression can be checked even with a stem winder. Barrow or buy a compression tester (0-200 range one will work) and get and adapter. The readings might be a little lower hand cranking but will still work. If the compression is too low, it will run but the power will not be there. Do a cold dry reading (no oil), hot (no oil). If the readings are low do a cold with some oil added to the cylinders. Do all the test with all the plugs pulled and throttle open.
Does it by any chance still have cast iron pistons? My 25 still does, she does not have the quick response of one with aluminum pistons but still goes down the road fine.

[Norman Kling]

I would recommend that you join the Model T Ford Club of San Diego. If you live south of Miramar Road. If north of Miramar Road, either Model T Ford Club of San Diego, or Hidden Valley Model T Club. You can find out the contacts and information on where the club meets through the Web Page.

We have in both clubs, Tony Bowker, the current holder of the Rosenthal Award. This award is given annually to a person who is most helpful to the club members. Tony is the one. There are also others in the area who would be glad to help you.
Norm Kling

[DLodge]

When I first read your post, I was going to suggest contacting Norm Kling, who posts here frequently. Then I saw that he has answered you. Anyway, what Norm said....

[erkbrn]

The 17 I was familiar with was fairly modified from what a stock 17 would have been...it had been upgraded with electric start and some other later T parts to make it more modernized. This 15 is much closer to stock, only with the addition of a battery to help start. I drained and cleaned the fuel system, rebuilt the sediment bulb (cleaned the screen), took apart the carb and cleaned it with new seals, greased and oiled all the points on the chart, fresh fluids, etc. Coils were rebuilt fairly recently (last year or so), and the engine was rebuilt in the past few years with aluminum pistons, .270 cam, lifter, valves, etc). It runs fine once you get it going and it only takes a crank or two to start from cold. My concerns are:

1) How much forward creep is normal when the clutch lever is in vertical position? I've read that there's no true neutral with T's (when compared to a modern clutch system) so some is normal. This 15 seems to have more creep than I remember from the 17.

2) The car seems to run a bit roughly on magneto. I checked the post, no lint or shavings or anything, but it sounds like there's a consistent misfire every few engine cycles. The 17 had a battery charging system in it, so it was never driven on magneto at all (so I cannot compare the two).

3) The engine seems to struggle going up even mild hills in high gear. Power output in high gear seems very low.

4) The front end of the car seems to have a slight lean towards the driver side. Possible that the leather spacer has worn out or was improperly seated?

The first three concerns could be attributed to rough driving technique on my end, hence the search for someone who knows more. I had seen Tony's name floating around the San Diego T scene and will try to contact him to see if he has time to take a look. Thanks!

[John kuehn]

Your new to you 15 will be a little different in some ways than your previous 17.
It will be in a good way though.
All T’s are a little different in starting and driving. You will get used to it. Have fun!

[fbergski]

Pull and inspect the timer, Is mixture set correctly when driving?

[Norman Kling]

One thing to check is the gear ratio of the rear axle. You can put it in high gear and note the location of one of the rear tires, maybe put a chalk mark on the tire or start with the valve stem right at the bottom. Now move the car forward by turning the crank. Count the number of turns of the crank per one turn of the rear wheel. Keep the crank in the same notch while you do this. You might need someone pushing gently on the car while you do this. The crank should turn about 3.6 turns per turn of the wheel. If you find that it only turns 3 turns per turn of the wheel, you have a higher gear ratio than Ford used. This will cause the car to go a bit faster on level ground but poor performance going uphill.

Other modifications which can affect hill climbing would be high compression head. The head looks the same on the outside, but the shape of the combustion chambers has been changed to raise the compression. This head would improve the hill climbing.

These cars are also very sensitive to weight variations. I have a hill which I can climb in high when I am alone in the car, but when I have passengers, I have to shift down. So body style of the car makes a difference. A roadster climbs better than a touring, and a sedan is slower.

You say the car tends to misfire. Check the compression. It should be almost the same on each cylinder, about 50 psi. If one is much lower, you will need to address this before it will run smoothly. Other causes of misfire, will be fouled sparkplug. Run at a fast idle and ground each plug wire with an insulated handle screw driver. one at a time. If grounding one causes no change in the way it runs, you are not firing on that cylinder. Try first swapping coils with that cylinder and another which runs. If the misfire changes with the movement of the coil, you have a bad coil. If it stays the same and you have a spark at the cylinder which is misfiring, you have a bad spark plug, and if you have no spark, you could have a problem with the timer or the wiring between the timer and coil box.

Fuel mixture is set by rotating the adjustment clockwise until it starts to slow down, the counter clockwise until it begins to run rough. Find the spot between those positions where it runs smoothest. You need to make this adjustment when the engine is at the normal operating temperature.

I hope I have been helpful and that you find the source of your problem.
Norm