MTFCA Forum

I bought (stole) a Ricardo High Compression head at the Auburn swap meet a few weeks back and finally got it installed yesterday evening.

Holy COW!! this is by far the single biggest improvement so far. My 1/2 mile hill up to my house is a killer. I've had to use low Ruckstell/low band every time the entire way - even if I make a run for it. That's until last night when I was able to climb it in high Ruckstell/low band the entire way at low RPM/speed with no struggle.

This is the last in a series of upgrades after the 280 cam, aluminum pistons, Zenith carb & distributor. All that and all you fine fellas still call this a "stock engine". I guess I'm going to have to adopt that vocabulary term even though it goes against every known norm, at least in the racing world which states "if it's not the same as it came off the factory assembly line, it ain't "stock"!!!

I think I'm going go stop here on the motor mods... Sorry Robert Weitzel & Eric Barrett. No Wild Cherry for me!

I am still thinking about changing my large drum Rocky Mtn brakes for something that will hold me in a stopped position on my hill vs certain death. Still not sure which way to go there. I really wouldn't like the look of the disc brakes on this "stock car"

AdminJeff

We told you and have always said increased compression is the biggest bang for the buck you can get in a model T. Now you know. Brakes next. Left handed Ruckstell shifter too? Wild Cherry is not a tour car. We only get about five miles on the engine between rebuilds. Still would like to take you for a pass in it. This thing will put your nuts in your back pocket. As a racer you know what that’s like. Would your Porsche daylight the front wheels?

Erik Barrett wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 19, 2019 3:51 pm

This thing will put your nuts in your back pocket. As a racer you know what that’s like. Would your Porsche daylight the front wheels?

YeeHa!!!

Jeff, The best after-market brakes ever made in any quantity for the model T Ford were the original Rocky Mountain large drum brakes. They were offered in both small drum version with special drums that had both inner and large outer drums, and a large drum version for the '26/'27 Ts (not very common). Nor-Cal Jay had a set of the small rear end Rocky Mountains for sale at the Auburn meet. I don't know if he sold them since or not, but maybe you should contact him?

Glad to hear you are having fun with the new power-house T!

Compression is a wonderful thing !!
26.5hp of neck snapping, axle twisting, ground pounding terror !!

I don't know your hill, but not many around here I can't climb in high Ford/Ruckstell...

Ruxstel24 wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 19, 2019 5:59 pm

Compression is a wonderful thing !!
26.5hp of neck snapping, axle twisting, ground pounding terror !! :lol

Yeah it’s almost enough to make me want to get seatbelts.... or was that my wife....??

surveyking wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 20, 2019 5:10 pm

It seems to me that the higher compression might cause extra stress on the crankshaft, are you not concerned about that?

I agree. Does it still have the original "balin' wire" crankshaft? That is the weakest point of any T engine.
Yeah, compression is king.
Seth Harbuck said that (along with a lot of other stuff) several years ago and he was right.

What's also a problem on a standard T crank shaft is lugging the engine due to lack of power I've fitted HC heads to 4 of my 5 T's and many rebuilds for others, never broke a crank shaft as yet, (touch wood)
Lots of other causes of crank failure before I would blame a bit of extra compression.

Without getting into the whole "what breaks cranks" ball of wax, you should note that the Ricardo head is not really a high compression head. I double checked on the Tulsa club website and the compression ratio is listed as 4.2:1. The performance gains come from a much better chamber design.

Andy

fschrope wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 20, 2019 9:10 pm

I agree. Does it still have the original "balin' wire" crankshaft? That is the weakest point of any T engine.
.

It’s an EE crank so, no, not worried. We discovered that on the last engine rebuild.

Jeff

Does your NOS head still have the orange paint on it?

Original Smith wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 21, 2019 10:58 am

Does your NOS head still have the orange paint on it?

No, it was grey. It’s now black!.

A good friend of mine has a NOS Waukesha head in the original box with instructions. It is painted orange.

Close to original color

It looks like it is Chevy Orange?

Admin jeff head is a Ricardo not waukesha ricardo
Compresstion is about 6.5to1

Chevy orange it is Joe

As far as I know, a Giant Power head has the same combustion chamber as a Waukesha. I put one on my car awhile back and noticed MAYBE a 1 % improvement. To me it wasn't worth the effort.

Nv Bob wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 23, 2019 1:38 pm

Admin jeff head is a Ricardo not waukesha ricardo
Compresstion is about 6.5to1

I didn’t know there was a difference... so Andy said “checked the Tulsa club website and the compression ratio is listed as 4.2:1” - that would’ve been for the Waukesha Ricardo head?

Jeff