MTFCA Forum

Edit: The splash guard was too bent in the area hitting after looking at a new one, I bent it back and it travels full course now. Thanks everyone and that one guy who said it looked bent.

I think I asked before, I not sure but here goes. My spark quadrant has its notches, roughly in the middle it has this large notch, the lever stood there and doesn't go further, but that's because the attachment point or the rod hits the splash guard. What is the point of this notch? Does it indicate a position of importance or was it a defect? Also should I just cut a hole around where it hits so it doesn't hit it anymore?
My lever rods aren't bent so it's not because of that. See the images attached of it helps. Also one question, where is it my spark should be? I mainly run it at the middle where the lever stops it around better but after running for a bit in high gear it feels off, maybe that's the cause? How can I gauge where it should be once corrected?

Bump down the left side splash guard/engine pan where it’s far enough down so the spark rod will get a little longer stroke down. Looks like to me the guard/pan took a lick and was pushed upwards sometime in the past. You may not have to cut out a notch to get it to clear but not sure.

Your spark lever/interference problem was correctly diagnosed in January by Dan Treace on one of your other multiple posts. He even took the time to post a picture for you to follow. You should consider fixing it correctly before you start bending metal.

Scott_Conger wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 30, 2025 7:32 pm

Your spark lever/interference problem was correctly diagnosed in January by Dan Treace on one of your other multiple posts. He even took the time to post a picture for you to follow. You should consider fixing it correctly before you start bending metal.

Thanks, I'll see if I can't find my post and resolve it. I didn't know I posted already but this shows my terrible memory.

John kuehn wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 30, 2025 7:19 pm

Bump down the left side splash guard/engine pan where it’s far enough down so the spark rod will get a little longer stroke down. Looks like to me the guard/pan took a lick and was pushed upwards sometime in the past. You may not have to cut out a notch to get it to clear but not sure.

Im probably going to have to bend it out and cut a notch, Thank you

So, I'll reiterate: you do not have to bend or "notch" anything. You need to assemble the rod correctly.

Cutting original metal to facilitate operation of an incorrectly assembled part is a choice. Assembling it correctly is a choice, too. Dan Treace posted a picture on your thread in January, (https://mtfca.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php? ... 46#p354146) which shows it assembled correctly, and how it differs from how yours is presently configured.

Any advice advising to hack away at perfectly good original metal to "fix" something should be immediately suspect.

Scott_Conger wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 30, 2025 9:31 pm

So, I'll reiterate: you do not have to bend or "notch" anything. You need to assemble the rod correctly.

Cutting original metal to facilitate operation of an incorrectly assembled part is a choice. Assembling it correctly is a choice, too. Dan Treace posted a picture on your thread in January, (https://mtfca.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php? ... 46#p354146) which shows it assembled correctly, and how it differs from how yours is presently configured.

Any advice advising to hack away at perfectly good original metal to "fix" something should be immediately suspect.

You'd be delighted, no notch needed, after looking at a new splash guard and my dinged up one it was real bent there, it's bent up and down everywhere but it looked fine at the spot in question, no it was bent up in comparison, it clears after correcting it. Thank you though, and yes I agree, fix is better than cut, just this t suffers from post model t abuse from the last owners, it was "restored" incorrectly some time ago by some guy prior to my ownership so some things don't belong and need modification, late parts early parts and things done half baked or backwards. I'm getting there in my addressing of these issues. Thanks

Just add this to yet another of my list of arguments to just get rid of these engine pans. Yeh, I'll be raked over the coals for it but I don't care. Mine are gone, and I'm glad of it. Cooling issues due to it? Ha ha....not in the least! I can work on the carb or anything else needed with ease without these stupid things.

Come on, folks, this ain't rocket surgery. Picture #2 shows the rear end of the engine pan notch, bent upwards, interfering with the timing lever. The obvious solution is to remove the upward bend (bend the pan back down to where it belongs).

I keep my pans. They catch tools and parts I drop.

This pan is not bent upward.

The pan is bent toward the frame rail. That's what cracked the paint and started the rust you can see.

Allan from down under.

Oops! it is bent away from the frame rail, inwards to the steering shaft.

Allan from down under.

There are two different spark lever designs. One is straight, and the other bent one is earlier. Maybe that's your problem?