MTFCA Forum

The starter does not turn the engine very well at all, even after battery is fully charged or placing the battery charger in "starter mode".
Most of the time, I use the hand crank. Ya'll toad me about the starter already in this older post:
https://mtfca.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=37076

But I did find use for my grandfather's tool, which I keep in the Model T toolbox. This is great for original minded owners that run engine splash pans (but I'm not original minded).

Went to the garage last night to work on the next item but the garage shoes did not fit right. I freed it in a field nearby. The shoes I threw in the trash. It was time.

When I was working on the starter, I found another problem...the muffler bearing is too short.

I'll see your shoe and raise you an engine...

Call you a spare tire wheel well.

Varmint..... Looks like a stainless steel muffler.... Due to the frame flexibility, a muffler clamp really isn't necessary,.... If muffler clamp is used, the mounting bracket for the muffler will be found twisted out of shape. .... After straightening the end mounting bracket on the muffler, just simply put the pipe in the muffler and use some safety wire , maybe two three rounds wrapped around where the exhaust pipe goes into the muffler tied on the battery frame support, this way frame flex will have no effect and disconnect.

Just get an original T muffler and your problem is solved.
Oh and at least yours didn’t have one of these on his tail!

My old father-in-law would diagnose "spoggy shit" welding as the cause of the mufller/tailpipe failure. Little dabs here and there do not constitute a good weld/joint.
The joint between the exhaust pipe and the muffler needs to be a sliding, close slide fit of at least 1.5". No clamp, just let it work as it wants too. If it is too loose, find a food can with the corrugated sides and cut the bottom out of it. Then fashion a collar to go around the pipe. Use the thick crimped edge as a driving point and slide it into the loose joint. Leak solved, as well as a rattle maybe.

Allan from down under.

Maybe eight years ago I decided on stainless steel exhaust but they did not exist that I know of, nor was my request for measurements met. So I built my own. It is what it is. I could have ordered a correct muffler to remove one problem in exchange for the problem of rust. No, have never used a clamp on the muffler and thus the reason it fell apart on the shakedown, first ride on the road. I used up all my bailing wire and couldn't find any in the garage. There is an A-Z within a mile so I shopped there. Even though I have an exhaust hanger, I still like the bailing wire idea better and got some 14ga galvanized wire and wrapped it up. I see the battery support but did not want to put any dent in the pipes at the connection point over time that it could continue to move freely as it always has. So, I used the running board bracket instead.

Steve, you are hand cranking your engine about five times faster than my starter does. I ordered a starter.

That was a nice eastern king snake in the transmission. Keep it, they eat venomous serpents for supper.

Loftfield wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 16, 2025 6:53 am

That was a nice eastern king snake in the transmission. Keep it, they eat venomous serpents for supper.

Absolutly agree, he has migrated over to the tbird and most mornings I can find him on the trunk just soaking up some warmth. My son wants to pick him up and play but I've told him "leave him alone, we want him to be happy here"