MTFCA Forum

My question is in regards to the spring strap that holds the time housing to the engine. Where does that bolt go? If it goes to the front plate lower hole is there a lock nut at the base of the threads on the bolt? It seems to me for the spring strap to work it has to bear down onto the cover, yet not so far as to pull it out of position, which suggests that the bolt has a shoulder and a nut, otherwise the lower plate hole would weep oil...does anybody have any pictures of the Oil Fill Timer installed onto an engine? I did a net search and couldn't find any, but maybe one of you folks has one of these on his car and also has a picture of it, if you could post it I'd appreciate it, thanks.

What is an oil fill timer? All timers I have seen have fit right over the camshaft .
Norm

Remember that old TV show on KTNT where contestants tried to do the fastest oil
changes ? If memory serves, the timekeeper's name was Schlomo Stein and the announcer
was Cornelius Beauregard. I always thought they had the best names. Technically
speaking, Schlomo was indeed an oil fill timer.

Art are you talking (or writing) about the cam gear cover that has the oil filler cap, or the timer cover itself? Might be able to help if I can figure out exactly what you want.

No, I'm talking about the 1912 Oil Fill Timer that was on Model T's from late in 1911 thru early 1912. It is a really bad design, which is probably why Ford dumped it after only 6 weeks of production and offered everybody who bought a car with this timer on it, to return to the dealer and he'd put a new timer (probably the Anderson) on for free.

It looks like this, what I'm inquiring about is the bolt and spring strap that holds it to the timing cover.

For some unknown reason Ford didn't think that the timer was getting oiled on a regular enough schedule (probably because nobody did it on a regular schedule). So, to fix the problem, which it must've of been, Ford made it so oil went into the engine through the timer. It didn't work too well and tended to spill oil all over the engine compartment, you, your garage and the street, just about where ever it went actually.

Since I've never seen one on an engine I have no idea how the bolt and strap worked without some sort of jam nut on the bolt, because something has to keep the front of the timing cover from weeping where this bolt would be screwed into. So I thought I'd ask here, somebody here just has to have one of these on a car either it is a museum piece and never runs (which would be a good idea) or a trailer queen that also never runs. But somebody must have a picture of this timers set up on and engine...that's what I'm looking for and would like to see.

The oil fill timer uses the same spring as on other timers but the bolt is longer and there is a spacer between
spring and timer housing. That is missing in your drawing.

Thank you that is what I was wanting to know and was my original question.

Ok how's this?
The spring strap will look a bit foreshortened because of the angle upon which it is drawn (take position of the bolt hole, add elevation of the divot on the timer housing and position when installed onto timing cover), which positions the arm at this angle. It isn't rocket science, but it does employ some rather odd physics called Diametric Projection, which can look a little weird in a basically Isometric layout.

Now my one remaining question...does it have an oil cap?

Yes it did.

The oil in oil-fill timers gets grimy, gritty and dirty. When that happens, the timer housing needs to be pulled off and it and the roller need to be cleaned. Then, the roller needs to be oiled and the whole thing put back together. After about 250 miles, my engine will start occasionally skipping fire while idling and that tells me it's time to clean the timer—again.

As this is an operation requiring repetition on a more-or-less scheduled basis, I have to tighten and untighten the retaining bolt over and over and over, and this is a little hard on the threads. If I don't tighten the bolt down good and hard, it could vibrate loose and that would be... well, bad. What to do, what to do?

Well, I drilled a couple of tiny holes in my retaining spring and a hole through the head of my retaining bolt to accommodate safety wire (pictured just below).


Now, though I don't tighten the retaining bolt down too hard, I know the safety wire will keep it from vibrating loose. This does a good job of preserving the threads.
Oh—by the way, I also safety-wired the drain at the bottom of my carburetor bowl and the threaded oil-drain plug at the bottom of the engine. I use a safety-wire plier, purchased from Harbor Freight, to keep things nice and neat (pictured just below).


In the small, dark space available in which to perform the timer cleaning chore, bending and pulling the tiny little cotter-pin out of the control rod and then replacing it and bending the little legs apart is a bit difficult, so I replaced the stupid cotter-pin with an easy-to-remove, easy-to-install hitch-pin clip (pictured in the first picture).

Cleaning the timer housing and roller is simple enough with a handful of paper towels and several squirts of WD-40. Be careful when wiping the roller, 'cause you don't want to damage or lose the little spring. I lube the timer with ordinary motor-oil. I've tried everything from red grease to Vaseline to 3-in-1 Oil, and for me, it turns out motor-oil works just fine. It's what I have laying around anyway, so it's convenient.[/size[/size]

What you call a "hitch pin" is what the oldtimers I knew called a "Jesus pin".
I never thought to ask why, assuming it related to what was exclaimed when
the little bugger shot off into la-la land and a hands-and-knees search was about
to get underway !

Ummm, Bob, what year is that timer, because that isn't the one in my drawing, that's a standard looking Anderson with a later model timing cover. The 1912 Timing cover that was used for the Oil Fill Timer here has no oil fill spout on the cover at all, the fill spout and the timer are the same unit, hence it being called the Oil Fill Timer and the timer not only oil in it but was the only means by which you can add oil to the engine at all.

It looks like this on an engine. Notice there is no filler spout on the timing cover, only on the timer? Yours may be what they went to after this boondoggle, because this one was only in production for about 6 weeks, then they scrapped it. Lang's sells a copy of the housing (I think they got one for John Regan to make the casting from). So if yours is also a 1912 then it must be the one that replaced this one...sounds like yours works better than this one ever did though.

Oil Fill Timer with Oil Cap...

Martynn-
Pete Ratledge ran one on his late 1911 for a while. I think he ended up taking it off and going back to the replacement timer.
-Keith

I wonder if the introduction of the "mushroom" on the oil cap (which previously was a fine mesh screen) had anything to do with trying to keep the oil contained within the oil-fill timer unit?

Hmmmm...

Keith, you're probably right about that, but that isn't the only place where oil escaped from...the seal between the timing gear cover and the timer itself, was another problem. To make an oil tight seal with felt, you pretty much have to saturate it with grease, but eventually the heat from the engine, the constant movement of the timer and the hot oil would soak through the grease and of course out through the felt too. The only thing that kept the timer snug against the felt was the spring strap 3163 and the bolt 3162...and you know how bolts are on Model T...they tend to loosen a bit if not checked periodically (which is why I put aircraft grade anti-vibration nuts and bolts all over my car...to hell with original bolts and nuts, if these were available in Fords day he'd of used them too!).

But I think to make the oil cap work he would've had to have it screw on much like on our pressurized oil systems on modern cars...but then that would've been an extra cost and Ford would never spring for spending a couple of cents for (what to his mind I'm sure would've been a flamboyant measure), when just a tension fit would due...when it comes to being "thrifty" Steve Jelf (as thrifty as he is) is a piker compared to Henry Ford.

Thank you for the information. I had never even heard of an "oil fill timer". Seems there is always something new to learn about these old Cars.
Norm

Here is an image of an oil-fill timer (that has a later oil cap) and is mounted on an (earlier) non-oil-fill timer block. I dunno whose. I wish I could photo credit.
The blocks that used the oil-fill timer have this funny hump on the back side of the timing gear. It is essentially a widened oil passage.
This is an old photo of my engine:
Here is an image of the inside of the oil-fill timer timing gear cover:
The diagonal bit matched up with the hump on the back side of the timing gears and was intended to direct the oil past the timing gears and down. The problem was the oil went all directions!

Most people have never heard of the oil-fill timer and for good reason!

: ^ )

Thanks for those pics, I wondered how the oil made it to the sump when you poured it into the timer.

Keith, I notice it was on the upper passenger side of the engine, they probably put it up high figuring the oil wouldn't find it's way out...boy were they wrong!