MTFCA Forum

In all seriousness, it’s all about the weight of the @#*! thing and access.

Using an engine hoist would help with the weight. Access in my 24 Touring is poor at best. I can see how a 26/27 open car would be better.

Very nice.

I’m hoping to have something similar soon.

wayne sheldon wrote: ↑
Sun Dec 08, 2019 5:19 pm
Hey Don A ! So, who has been beating you with a stick?

I’d try Dan’s silicone suggestion first.

ChuckLebeda wrote: ↑
Sun Dec 08, 2019 2:13 pm
Just wondering how hard it would be to do a good job?

Hard.

I’d rather have someone beat me with a stick.

Ask me how I know.

As I was pulling into the driveway today, after a quick lap around the neighborhood, I noticed an Exxon Valdez level oil gusher coming from the engine. Yikes. A quick inspection revealed that 3 of the 4 bendix cover screws were gone. Again...yikes. Fortunately, there was still plenty of oil in the e...

It's beautiful Tim. Nice save.

I did not know Howard but it sounds like he was one of the good guys. The downside of being a member of my generation (I'm 50) is that we seem to be bringing up the rear of the various old car hobby groups (with the exception of the muscle cars and a few others). The rear guard has to watch, with sa...

Those are very kind, empathetic wishes Hank.

Blessings to you and yours.

:!: :shock: :o :shock: Love it ! It was fun....something I’ve been wanting to do for a while. . So did you reply to their *agog* look, with: "What?" That would’ve been the perfect reply. . There’s a Whataburger a little further down the road. That’s my next target. It’ll have something I actually w...

I felt compelled to take the T through a drive-thru. All McDonald’s has that I was interested in was a soft drink but this is the only fast food place that I’m currently brave enough to navigate close to. 😊 I liked the look on the teenager’s face when I pulled up to the window. I don’t think he’d ha...

Whatever tires you decide to buy, check out Summit Racing. All orders over $100 is free shipping all the time. Yes they do carry a number of tires for Ts. Got two sets of Universals (plus flaps and tubes) from them the last couple of years. That's where I bought mine. I lucked out and just happened...

I’ve laid out some $$ for new or rebuilt steering and front suspension components. I want this car to be solid at speeds over 30mph and it’s currently not. and has some very worn, probably dangerous components that are giving it a noticeable wobble. My aim is for every component of these two subsyst...

There was one like that in central TX in the late 1970's/early 80's that I used to make my grandmother take me to. I was living with her and was too young to drive. She was a widow and a pretty good looking 60 year old lady and the yard owner was in his 70's. He was well-known for being completely i...

Thanks Duey...I always appreciate your comments.

Part of the fun of having a car like this is making the little non-stock period mods. Not worrying about the guy with a rule book, who I’d see only once or twice a year, is liberating.

Here it is installed. It works great. Since both ends come apart, it’s easy to put the rod in place. I think the old water faucet handle compliments the old paint on the car. . 35127172-8E53-4F68-B36F-B483A2B2A481.jpeg . 9780DBF4-BF12-4F94-A73A-1A77D7B26CE3.jpeg . The next project will also be fuel ...

Remote Fuel Shut-Off Climbing under the car to turn on/off the gas was getting to be a drag so I engineered and installed a remote shutoff valve today. I bought a two foot long piece of 7/16” steel rod and threaded the end to match a spare brake rod clevis (5/16x24). I also drilled out the two ends...

Looking good.

I especially like the body contour in the cowl area.

Your enthusiasm sure shines thru in your posts! :) Love this thread. Love that Ford photo op too. Later wheels on that A, hopin' they make the contact points that Henry had in mind Thank you! There’s something about driving something so primitive...it sets it apart from other (newer) old cars. This...

I’ve been driving the wheels off of the T and having a blast doing it.

I think I’m going to use the holiday break to install the new spring, shackles, etc.
.

Tim....I'd like to relate a funny thing related to you that happened when the new version of the forum came into being earlier this year. Keep in mind that I don't know you personally so this was based on exactly nothing...except my poor eyesight. I was looking at all the new people signing on to th...

Is it possible to make the seat material (leather?) more pliable? I would think that sitting on it in its current condition would destroy it. That's one of the very few downsides related to owning a car like this if you plan to drive it. There's not much you can do to keep the old seat coverings in...

Congrats. That has to be good for your soul.

Beautiful.

Model A's look best in muted colors with black wheels like this. All too often, they're overyly dolled up.

In a month or so, a friend is going to give me a perfectly good running Model A drivetrain (radiator, engine, transmission, torque-tube, rearend). I've wanted a rumble seat coupe since I was a little kid and see this as possibly a way to get one. So...if any of you know of or have a complete Model A...

Wow....stunning.

As others probably have I’ve been interested about the future use of the plans and what would become of them. It would seem to me that if the plans would eventually become the property of the MTFCA that would be the best way for them to be used and sold through the MFTCA as one of their products. M...

Those were the days when people would pick up pennies on the street! Now I don't even keep coins in my pocket. [/size] I still pick up pennies, and I prefer coins over paper dollars. sacagawea-dollar.jpg My wife (and kids) are direct decendents of the lady on the coin. Sacagawea is my wife's Great ...

I'm envious. My view this morning (and every workday) is of angry or frustrated people jostling for position, going way too fast in Houston traffic. My view after that is of one of two things...either an office desk or the fractional distillation columns of an oil refinery. When the point comes that...

As you can see...things are pretty much shot to hell in that department.

.

Santa (the mailman) delivered the last of the bits I need to replace my front spring and perches.

Now to set aside a Saturday to do it.
.

Thanks for the info Mark.

My 24 Touring shows what I believe is evidence of the flowed-on paint method. These stripes in the very old paint are what I’m referring to. They continue around the entire body in a way that allows you to see exactly what the pattern was that the painter was following. Also present at the bottom of...

Neighbor just inherited his grandfather’s Model A. I was asked to help him learn to set the timing, etc.

I figured why not drive the T over and get a family photo.

Allan wrote: ↑
Sun Nov 17, 2019 9:39 pm
DON, I can still give your F truck a good home. It would look mighty good at Chickasha with a load of new purchases in the back, heading for the west coast and beyond.

Allan from down under.

Don, thats why you need two T's! When one needs a day or a week at the spa, you can still have fun with the other! What scares me is that this sort of insane logic is starting to make sense to me. But then my 66 F100 is starting to give me the stink eye because I used to take him out goofing around.

Another good day of T’ing.

Took the T to Sonic. The route I took was about 25 miles each way. Fun, fun, fun!

I am however, going to have to choose a time soon to install my new front springs, perches, shackles, spindles, etc. That’ll take it off the road for a short time.

Interesting food for thought Eric...thanks.

John l wrote: ↑
Sun Nov 17, 2019 8:41 am
You might want to check with some of the other posters. I think your new battery red battery cable should be souldered instead of crimped.

Certainly couldn’t hurt.

The temps rose to the high 60’s today so I took the T out for a longer drive. Thus time I went about 20 miles in one direction. So...a 40 mile round trip.

The little touring car performed flawlessly.

This is so much fun. I should’ve done this a long time ago.

As I’ve mentioned before, most of what they’re after is simply posting a link on a highly ranked, long-established site like this one. The search engine algorithms place a lot of value on this. The best deterrent is for the admins to remove the post. If the post stays there for a long time, even if ...

That is a compelling case. I’d love to spend about an hour looking at it and the paint chunks that fell off, very closely. I’ve heard of much later model cars shedding chunks of paint when they were suddenly moved to a very cold climate after spending their whole lives in a very warm one. Somewhere ...

Original T’s with original paint DO shed paint in big hunks (and/or small crumbles), HOWEVER, what is under the original paint is bare, clean, shiny, un-sanded steel. NOT white primer like in those pictures! Gotta respectfully disagree with you there. Although I’ve only owned one for a few years, I...

Dogs, grandkids and Model T's....pretty much all a guy needs.

I have two out three. I'm hoping for the trifecta before too long.

Model T's don't shed original paint in big chunks like this one is doing. It was almost certainly re-sprayed at some point. . 00D0D_dXokrzQUSoH_1200x900.jpg . Scott's point about 30K on a T is correct. That's a lot of miles for a T. If it's been driven that far, and hasn't had some serious attention...

Really enjoying your posts! Downtown Conroe looks like my kind of place :D Thanks Jason. Conroe has a beautiful old downtown that’s underutilized IMHO. It’s the county seat so there’s a lot of lawyers offices. But, the fact that Houston is swallowing it is bringing more fun things into the downtown...

You, my friend, are living the dream.

Neat stuff....following along.

Just noticed this tonight...the Ford stamp on the front crossmember.

Further evidence suggesting that this car is wearing original paint. This faint stamp would’ve almost certainly been filled in by a respray.

Have you replaced or checked out any or other bushings in the entire front axle assembly? If the spring perches are worn than probably all or most of the rest need to be checked or replaced. You may have already replaced some of them but if you haven’t now would be a good time to drop the front axl...

As an aside, my grandmother used to tell me that during/post WWII, lots of T's hit the road again as purchasing tires for "newer" cars was all but impossible for a good while, and "T" tires were plentiful. Perhaps that is the genesis of your "resurection"...who knows? Could very well be what happen...

Last year, I disassembled, cleaned, slip-painted and reinstalled the rear spring and installed new perches and bushings and wow...what a difference. The front spring is in even worse shape. The side with the most wear, is worn so badly that the spring eye is actually sitting on top of the axle. So.....

I’ll be interested to see what it all looks like as it cones apart. The bushings in the perches are worn all the way through, into the perches themselves. So...they’re getting replaced. The spring bushing on the driver’s side was worn all the way through and has cut away part of the spring eye, so I...

What year did they switch?

Just a little frivolous bit of nothing....but I added this vintage 1940's Texas roller-rink sticker to the windshield. I had a NRA (National Recovery Administration) reproduction vinyl sticker in that spot, but it didn't look old. This one actually is old and had some nice shelf wear on it...which h...

Yes, your car is wearing some extra parts. I wonder what their logic was. Do you think the extra two could be to keep the car from leaning so much when they had it loaded down? Maybe I'll get the springs out and discover that one of them is broken and they were using the other two clips to patch th...

Here’s another, higher resolution photo.

The two outer ones sort of look like rear spring clips.

I'm about to replace the front spring, perches, shackles, etc on my 24 Touring and am wondering about this spring clip configuration on the car and whether it is stock. All the forensic evidence points to this car as having been revived during WW2. What I believe they did was take a pretty much rust...

I saved some money on the front end by buying exactly the body/condition that I was looking for, but with thoroughly worn out mechanicals. I spent nearly three years going through pretty much everything suspension and mechanical related and have spent more on these things than I did to purchase the ...

There are also days where I'll drink a beer just staring at the car. Theorizing and such. Those days are super crucial to the end result I feel I couldn’t agree more. I do that as well. I’d rather do that, and finally have the epiphany moment and get it right than hurry a process and get it wrong.

I'm one of those who constantly looks at this thread but rarely comments. Although I'm a good all-around mechanic, I lack the skills that you and a lot of these other guys have and I don't feel qualified to say much other than "nice work" occasionally. Once I retire (about 7 years from now) from my ...

Neato.

And yes, you're fortunate to have kids with that level of interest.

Scott_Conger wrote: ↑
Sat Nov 09, 2019 6:46 pm
Am enjoying this more and more...

Thanks Scott. I’m realizing now that I should’ve bought a T a couple decades ago.

I’m getting better and better at driving this contraption and I’m slowly dialing in all the controls. All that adds up to something I have more confidence in. I drove it to downtown Conroe, TX again but this time took a more direct route. I’m staying off of roads with a speed limit greater than 45mp...

Well he marked it sold....not sure if he thought I was just coming to buy it without looking deeper. But I msgd the seller saying I was gonna pass and keep looking. No response yet. Count your blessings. Whatever the he** that thing was...it was a mess. You did a smart thing by posting here though....

It wasn’t until I installed my radiator for the first time that I realized that part of the lower thimble’s job is to guide the radiator and shell into position.

It's one thing to look at a Dorothea Lange photo of the Great Depression and quite another, to lay your hand on a utilitarian machine that gave it's all to survive through it and imagine the people who's lives may very well have depended on it. That's so very eloquently stated. Here's a fender on m...

Thanks Donnie. I’ve had restored cars in the past and didn’t get a fraction of the enjoyment that I’m already getting out of this T. Yes...that’s a very nice weathered tall shell that a forum member sold to me for way less than it was probably worth, in order to help me put the T on the road with it...

The trend toward "conservation" and an appreciation of "patina" are evidence of a mature approach to "old cars", and that's a good thing. I couldn't agree more. Fortunately, there seem to be a good number of Model T's that are being preserved. When I was heavy into Model A's, I noticed that a much ...

That is a pretty building.

I believe there's a similar one in Dallas.

Mark Gregush wrote: ↑
Tue Nov 05, 2019 12:04 pm
One of the car resale company, maybe just in the west, has an ad that shows a car vending machine that looks something like that only more modern.

Carvanna.

I recently bought my wife a Nissan Pathfinder from them.

My 24 was used thoroughly on a Texas cotton farm during WW2. Mechanically, it was shot and the body shows all kinds of signs of heavy farm use while remaining remarkably rust and rot free. It even managed to hold onto most of the factory black paint, although it's VERY thin. I'm having a great time ...

You guys need a hobby.

oh wait.....

If you haven't put upholstery and a top in it yet, you might consider having Classtique make you kits from "distressed vinyl" to match the patina of the car. Here is an example of the material available, there are several sources, it might pay to search around to get the desired look: https://www.d...

I took a minute to go back through the build thread back to the ones on the old forum.

The T has come a long way.

This evening I cleaned, rerouted and reconnected all the starter button connections. B94653B3-169C-4DA9-987F-FBC2AF0141E9.jpeg It was kinda clunky when trying to start. That’s gone now and the starter engages immediately. I also trimmed the positive battery cable to a more correct length, installed ...

The T is running exceptionally well and I’m getting pretty good at using all the misc controls so I decided to take the next step and drive the T to downtown Conroe, a large suburban town about 10 miles from my house. The trip required multiple stops, in traffic, with lots of cars all around. Fortun...

Look how tight that top is on the improved car

I suggest that you go to one of the guys here who sells used or NOS parts and get an OEM one. If an NOS isn't available, reconditioning a good used one is better than one of the repros. I've been very satisfied with 95% of the repro items I've purchased from Langs, Snyders, etc, but anything ignitio...

Whereabouts in TX are you?

Nothing more precious on this earth than puppies and little girls.

My little girl isn't so little now at 23 years old.

Eric. I'll be concise. 1) The child was not in harm's way. 2) If the do-gooder was a real man (or woman), that person would've respectfully spoken to the driver instead of leaving a note. 3) The do-gooder wasn't a real man (or woman), but that person could've still written a constructive note, sugge...

I don't take threats very well...like...not well at all. I'm one of the most pleasant, happy, smiling, generous people you'll ever know....until you threaten me or my loved ones (or any random child or otherwise helpless person). After that, I get quiet and mean. But that's just the me that the mili...

I'm not going to admit to how many times I've ordered the same part multiple times because I didn't remember that I already had it. :oops: I sometimes order parts months before starting a project to spread out the costs. I keep spreadsheets for both of my cars where I list parts or services purchas...

Major respect to you Don, for saving something so hacked together.

otrcman wrote: ↑
Tue Oct 29, 2019 4:30 pm
Sounds like (in Texas, at least) there's a tool made by Winchester that would be pretty useful.

Yeah...those little ones are tasty and you’d need a “tool” to collect one or two.

Was out in the T yesterday just before sunset and these guys were right on the edge of the road. Literally just a few feet from the car.

We hollered at then and they ignored us.

Feral hogs have been a big problem in TX (and other states) for a while now, but these were especially bold.

We weren't here for an hour when a guy came up to me and asked if we were evacuees. He offered me a 30amp power plug and WiFi. People really do come together in times of need. That is so cool....warms the heart. When things get horrible around here (Houston) with the weather (often), it really does...

Dallas Landers wrote: ↑
Tue Oct 29, 2019 11:45 am
Don, it gets harder every year to get up from the knees but what prompted me to install a remote shut off on the TT was that blistering hot exaust pipe.

yeah...I can see that being potentially rather unpleasant.

Good advice Scott....thanks. One thing I love about Model T's is how you can actually feel the engine operating with your foot. These cars are as close to being alive as anything mechanical I've ever come across. Next little project for me will be a remote fuel shutoff valve. I'm not as "advanced" i...

Cleaning up is good. I do it about once a month and while I'm building a car, I go through my mis parts bins to remind me what I've already ordered for that car and what I need. I'm not going to admit to how many times I've ordered the same part multiple times because I didn't remember that I alread...

Mark, the new seat looks good in your unrestored car and it’s pushed me to possibly go that route with mine.

Ditto on the plug wrench.

I always use it instead on a modern wrench. I like the way it fits down in the plug recess.

Spent some time perfecting the low to high shift and finding/using neutral between high and low with the pedal. Once I increased my comfort level with the controls, I took some longer distance journeys down rural roads. Then, once the World Series game started and the neighborhood streets completely...

We'll be there again in the North Bldg We’ll be located in the North Bldg, Spaces NJ 8-9 with my Leather LIcense Plates. Hope to help make the last one the best one in years! I’ve stopped and looked at your plates the last few years. I don’t have a car that old, but I sure do admire the craftsmansh...

Here’s another short video of the T in action.

I’m getting better at driving It.

https://youtu.be/whv2DbawDlw

I plan on getting a couple spots at Chickasha 2020. I'd really like for it to go out with a bang instead of a whimper.

Anyone else planning on attending?

Living in Southeast Texas makes this an issue that I don't really have to deal with.

However, the next time we get that rare snow, you can bet I'll have the T out in it to get some photos.

Dallas Landers wrote: ↑
Mon Oct 21, 2019 1:41 pm
You made a new friend with pretty lights on his truck?

Just my friend Alex the cop....couldn't resist having him do this.

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