MTFCA Forum

I made my own for my taillight using a socket out of a marker light and a 28 volt aircraft bulb - hot from the headlight switch on the dash, and grounded next to the lamp. It was a matter of necessity - the '15 taillights have an anomoly in their design where if the wind catches it from the back of ...

Ahh, if we only had the space and time and manufacturing resources you have down in Corona up here in the (currently frosty) north state... And of course, a healthy pile of cash... losing you and your business will be a hard pill to swallow, but yeah, I absolutely understand wanting to enjoy life, a...

Chris, as long as you're there... Something I am curious about. The second entry shows the alleged "joined" date - down to the time - and puts it in 2019 somewhere. Yet you go down to the bottom - and it says when you ACTUALLY joined the "board" (in my case back in 1999 somewhere, and likely it was ...

You really do get a lot of oil dilution when you have downdraft carbs that leak into the crankcase via the rings... like on a motorcycle, or on a downdraft car. On a T - when the carbs leak, generally it's out the air intake on the carb. Sometimes out the float bowl top. I've yet to see one leak out...

Sounds like it could be carburetion, maybe too lean? check your vaporizer for cracks, and make sure you have good crush gaskets under the maniforld hookups. Beautiful car... trying to chase the history of a "branch" car (one built at a branch, not at Highland or Rouge) is always interesting and a ch...

Good question, a lot of us kinda want to know where our brethren (and Sistern) of the Model T are. Never worried me if someone knew where i was from - actually, if someone up here near Mt. Lassen got stranded in their T, I would hope they would know they would have a helping hand nearby... So yeah, ...

6-8 volts are battery headlights. 9 volts are early (series) Mag Headlights (just don't rev the motor too far at night)... 18 volts are the same, but wired parallel, not series. 24 volts are aircraft lights... they work, but man, are they dim. I ran one in my taillight conversion using a wire off my...

Either the passenger side headlight socket is grounded or there is a short to ground somewhere in the wire that goes across to the drivers side. If the drivers side bulb was blown neither would work. Yep, this. One of the downfalls of a '15 running stock lights is normally if you lose one, you lose...

There is no specific location for a clock... since '15 was the first year Speedometers were an accessory, it COULD go where the speedometer is. But being an accessory, any location is fair game. I've also seen some double mounts (on other and earlier cars) where the speedo and a Clock were one over ...

aDave Where in holy name of Henry Ford do you find a battery that last 10 to maybe 15 years ? There's no such critter in my neck of the woods ! I hear you. I had an alleged "84 month AGM" mattery in one of the modern cars that was dead in 18. I had another that was a 72 month battery that lasted le...

I haven't seen it for a while, but if you ever find a bottle or 4 of motor oil with graphite in it, don't walk, RUN away from it.

At least if you want to keep your mag working. Same with your timer...

HORRIBLE stuff. I *guess* it was fine for modern iron, but definitely a no-no in a T.

Email sent...

One of my early jobs was in a *real* service station with a real shop in it (none of this MiniMart stuff)... we had "Full Service" where, yep, for a huge 10 cents a gallon more (big money back then) you got your tires, oil, battery, belts, water and coolant checked and your windows washed while the ...

I needed to "unlock" mine to get the cover off the steering box. While it was apart, I fized the mechanism and had a local locksmith make a new pair of keys for it... Not that anyone could figure out how to start it, but it's nice that it works! (And yes, you never know when some rascallion will try...

Great topic. I'm trying to work out how to rig an oil pump on a pre-19 motor... I have a pre-19 block that's been drilled and tapped for pressure oil but don't have an idea how the person setting this up was planning on pumping oil...

1913-1916 are the flat sided radiators, 1917+ are the rounded-side radiators. They remind me of something from the front of a tractor. It IS a nifty idea, tho... if the tubes had rubber o ring seals,to and the tank was also sealed to the top of the able to be removed or installed not with a solderin...

Exactly. They did a demo in shop class this year on a head milling machine (using a modern, junked, cracked head) to show just how easy it is to overmill a head in to a water jacket. I also remember someone selling a stock T head that had been milled into the water jacket... :shock: Remember, these ...

I'd love to see the flow characteristics on the "squished" ports... I wonder if it was an attempt to get a flat dispersal of the combustable mixture to improve burning characteristics?

They're still alive as Continental Aerospace Technologies, a *lot* of private aircraft run Continental engines... Also, they still make both air-cooled (inder the "Wisconsin" brand) and liquid cooled industrial motors. Back then they built engines for a bunch of different makes... May not help a *lo...

I'll jump in. My August 15 car has no electric horn nor the button for it. As it was technically a "branch" car (parts shipped to a branch and built there, although this one was from the exhibition line at the PPIE) I'm not surprised... then again, Typical Ford SOP was apparently "use whats on hand"...

That 1/2" makes a difference. I didn't notch one on my car, and sure enough, it took out the then rubber valve stem. (lesson to self - always pay the money and get brass stems!)

He was able to crawl out of the car but ended up getting taken to the hospital, was released later in the day. Car was on its side, the down-side (left) rear wheel was broken off, the body looked like it took some pretty serious internal damage After the shock wears off, tho, it does look repairable...

Nice find! I think I'd have to frame that one for the wall of the shop!

The one on the left is a hotter plug, the right one allows the heat of the plug to bleed off into the head easier. The hotter the plug, the better suited it is for slow, laborous work as it burns off the carbon easier. Faster motors need cooler plugs.

What in the... ??? Um. No. make that NO. Let's see... it's a pile of parts someone threw together to make something they could somehow sell. As a something. Like a bunch of car parts mushed together to make... something. It's been a LONG time since I saw a $100 collection of car parts... this almost...

This is why Fords outsold the competition back when they were built and designed to do this. The whole reason T's have open channel frames, 3 point suspensions, and use a liberal mount of springy Vanadium Steel.

Like they say in movies... No T's were harmed in the making of this picture.

adave's post; you cannot give rides to 18 year olds or younger unless the vehicle was designed with proper belts & restraints. I took my driving test in a '15 roadster without seat belts (or turn signals... or back up lamps... or 2 tail/brake lights... or NHTSA approved rollover protection) at the ...

in the late 70's, I worked in a truck shop that had a welded heavy steel pipe tire cage that had bowed out sides from rings that cut loose. Back then we still had split ring rims... ALL new employees got rotated through tire changes when they first started (maybe to lose fear of the things), and mor...

If I'm in a roadster, does this mean I have to lock my children in the turtledeck, strapped to a carseat? Since, of course, they can't be in the front seat...

OK... Electrical, Mechanical, or Hydraulic?

Smith's... it's not a Form-a-Jack, is it? (Godawful screw jack things that were the scourge of british car owners in the 50's...) I like the idea of a combo oil/water pump that runs off the mag, combined with a rectifier and regulator so you can charge a battery from the mag. How's that? Am I close?...

There's a metal tube inside the black insulation that the bullets plug into on either side.

Until the ignition switch jostles over to "mag"... :shock: It just makes it easier to tow, subjects the drive train to less reverse stress without having to pull it over on compression, and reduces the heat generated from said compression... I'm still trying to figure out how leaving the plugs out w...

I've seen a couple of films like that but it's been the tow rig taking a vehicle considered (by the standards of the day) to be not worth repairing, to the foundry to be remelted down... :( so it really doesn't matter if they're running the gears without oil and damage the clutch plates, transmissio...

The "ball choke" is actually a muffler - it changes the tone of the allegedly annoying "hiss" that Winfield carbs have to something less "in your ear"... I've never really noticed that it was particularly annoying myself, but I guess some people do. Maybe because I run the car a little faster and th...

It would be fun to re-create that Shell station... wonder if any of these are still around? Noticed also there's (apparently) pumps on both sides.

I am guessing... looks like a 24 or 25 license plate on the Ford?

Years (and years) ago I saw a T set up like that, small drum, not large - the (lined) parking brake would expand at the same time the external band would contract, squeezing the drum. IIRC I asked the car owner about it and he said it worked really good, but it was a so-and-so to get all 4 shoes syn...

Sorry, dupe post, unable to delete.

Pictures and more info, please...

This is kind of embarassing... but I really don't know the answer, and can't find it. I received a '17 short block that was babbitted, but missing literally everything else. I was going to start sourcing parts, and all of the sudden, it hit me... WHAT were the "standard" specs for a T engine? I have...

707-210-xxxx is Napa or the Napa Valley... possibly Sonoma. If he's not from there, or you can't go there to do the deal in person, then I'd just say no and move on.

Deal me in for a set. Prices?

I was going to ask the same question...

Take it aparMy 15 had a similar issue, IIRC I was able to clean up the contact "post" (mine was pitted and corroded) and give it a new life. Worst case scenario you may have to replace it and the contacts it sits in (do both while you're there)...

My dad was on their board for a number of years, and had it (along with a number of his cars) there as part of a display. I figured it was fine as it protected the chassis and eventually (after the dust sttled from my divorce) dad and I could get back to building it - by then,we had also accumulated...

My car that I dumped my savings into to buy as a kid, and was subsequently lifted by a museum and then given the cold shoulder "We know nothing' stinkeye... I know, I snivel about this a lot, but even 20 years on,losing something I put every penny I saved for a decade and a half, just to have someon...

Bad switch or wiring. the later switches (oval plate in the dash) had issues on their contacts. And IIRC no one repoped these (someone should have!!!). The earlier switches were easier to rebuild, and the coilbox switches were EXTREMELY easy to rebuild It may also be a wiring issue - wires on T's vi...

See below - duplicated my post, sorry!!!

Early ones (15/16) didn't originally have the coil - they were a simple push/pull switch on the dash, Mag to Switch to headlight wire. Wired in series, you were ok unless you really overspeeded your motor. Of course, if one goes out, they both go out. But in series, with the 9 volt "Ford" bulbs, it ...

If you take your car to a show or tour, and don't want it dinged/scrathced/etc., then never leave its side. The bird cage incident was just negligent from the airhead on his phone... you either suck it up as oart and parcel of showing your car, and get it fixed, or get the license of the damager and...

Foreign market (Canada, UK, etc.) cars ran 30x3.5" (23" rims) all around. US cars in the pre-demountable era ran 30x3 in front (24" rims), 30x3.5 in the rear. Demountables (available from 1919) ran 30x3.5 all around. A US pre (or non) starter car that was sent to Canada would have 30x3 fronts. I won...

And now to throw even more confusion... The Ruckstell gave a "half low" range to the Ford 2 speed - If you were to work your way from low to high, it would be Ruckstell low (lever back) + Ford low (pedal mashed) --> Ruckstell High (Lever front) + Ford Low (pedal mashed) --> Ruckstell low (lever back...

I suspect the autobiography was done looking at the "rosy haze of history" of one of the most successful products ever... So making it sound like the business decisions of the T were in 1909 (months after the actual launch), in addition to the statement "All Fords will be painted black" is looking n...

Witht he indents I'd say it's for a governor set-up, not a food feed... the indents change the operating speed. Probably missing a couple parts to pick up on the wins from a fan or etc...

You could buy a running chassis for $220. Build a buckboard body out of $10 worth of wood, and there you go... Add some sheet metal, and some accessories, and go play on the 1/4 mile dirt track...

Link??

Darn, so missed that.

To me (and this is just my opinion, please do not put any stake in it) it looks like a hay wagon wheel - no high speed, frequent grease, and built to take a load. I know I may be WAY off, but having dealt with hay wagons before, that, with that taper, is what it looks like to me....

I keep thinking... take the wheel off, and flush/grease the inner bearings. This is all of a 30 minute job per wheel, and probably less... I've done it so many times I could maybe do it by feel. Have a store of inner seals, but it's such an easy job...

So how does this have to do with keeping our cars running, or keeping the hobby alive?

Made it easier to check the oil level and tire pressure. Plus if you had to work on the improved fuel system, it would help drain that tank... Color? I thought those cars were pyroxlin green in '26, but as an advertising stunt, who knows? Looking at the late edition Ford Service book (they show an "...

I had one, thing was so worn out it leaked like a sieve, probably a gallon or 2 a day. So I took it off, and ya know what? It stopped leaking... :roll: .......... :lol: .......... :mrgreen: I could never figure out wy the thing didn't seem to be pumping water. After all, you'd expect to see some kin...

Not quite sure what that last bit about pot shops etc. has to do with the price of Salt Pork in Portland... we're talking about asbestos. My granddad died of what was then called "Mechanic's Lung", probably meso or asbestiosis. So did my uncle Buck. Both were mechanics for decades, Granddad died in ...

If I was on the other side of the state I'd be there. Sounds like 2 different and distinct issues causing 2 problems - (1) - the car starting then dying after a few seconds sounds like a fuel issue. Make sure your sediment bulb isn't full of water / dirt / grit. (EZ to check on a '27 as its right th...

I use 2 different greases on my car - all my cup greasers get Sta-Lube NGLI2 straight out of the tube or pot. I got a bunch of it from dad's garage and so far haven't had to pull anything apart and flush it. The wheels run Valvoline Blue Waterproof - I figure if it can live in an overloaded, neglect...

I always look at those "compact" stencils on the pavement as a warning not to park anything larger than a cub cadet or roadster there... and even then, expect to get your paint dinged.

Sure you can. Building up worn parts isn't hard, If you're talking the shaft cam(s), build up the surface with a welder and then dress them back down to the original profile. Just know what the profile should be originally and take your time dressing it down to match. EZPeazy, just make sure it's sm...

Put the front and rear axles on blocks to get the tires off the ground, and wrap them separately from the car unless the car will be stored in the dark. Make sure you oil all the oil points and grease all the grease points. Battery out and on a tender. Drain the gas tank, mist the inside of the now ...

Couple hours. And it sounds like you are removing a LOT of stuff you don't have to to pull the motor, like the firewall, windshield, steering column and engine pans (??) - is the car being stripped to sell parts, because these don't come out for a straight motor pull. Couple hours to get out, anothe...

Its a a forged steel Paulyhook to hold the Exhaustum Compensator off the Differentialatum compensator, otherwise Ford would not pass the National Safety Requirement of 1923 Regulations without putting this in place... No one knows where it goes. It was rumored to be the 17th itineration of a selden ...

TDC - put a chopstick in the #1 cyliner to find #1 TDC.Check your timer - its either on TDC or 180 off. Then pop the head and look at the valves - if #1 both valves are seaterd you got it. Otherwise you are (likely) 180 degrees off. If so go to the NEXT #1 cylinder TDC and set your timing. I=If a fa...

My guess is someone back in the car's past replaced the original (blown, worn out, etc.) motor with another one (either in '27 or out of a 26/27 car), and then later someone, either to make the car more authentic OR to replace yet another sick motor (my $$ is on the former), replaced it with a corre...

At least. :shock: Also I think it's part of the annual refresher for your T certification, and a required subject in your post grad T operator degree. My dad (rest his soul) showed me it could be done (on our '15 roadster, also sans-magnets) then dropped a nut down there and made me fish it out. Hec...

Any time someone wants payment via gift cards or venmo it's a scam - those are 2 ways to not trace your payment. They go there I just hang up, hoping they didn;t get my phone number from caller ID to use my number (next) for their next scam on "Duesenbergcollectors.com" classifieds. Also 541 is Oreg...

Running out extra stock of firewalls after the stock of speedometers was exhausted? After all, firewalls were factory produced at a "dime a dozen" and Speedo setups were an ouside purchase from various vendors. This would fit with the then Ford philosophy of "Use it until we've depleted current stoc...

Curse me if you must, but I switched from 85-140 back to 600W in mine, and the problems I had (hard shiftinng, whine, etc._ went away. I only have about 4-5000 miles on the car since the switch, so I worry about it's imminent failure... (Yes, I know it's "steam oil") Sorry. I know people thing moder...

I've never had a problem either starting a T right handed or even occasionally "spinning" the motor... on mag. If your car bites back on mag, and you have your levers set right, something is wrong somewhere. The rare times it's bitten back (on battery) the motor is turning over really slowly, and if...

These are just my thoughts on why T's are slow to sell... my opinion, after 50 years (Jeez, really? Got involved back in June of 1969, so... darn... wow...) in this hobby. Please don't be offended. Most of us who were raised in the hobby are now approaching or past our 6th decade. And this may sound...

Has to do with the law, and handling hazardous/dangerous chemicals (like, yeah, Gasoline)... I forgot about that when I went up there a few weeks back, until he shows up to pump gas... I was just opening the door, when the guy walks up to get my card... :oops: I still laugh when its the other way ar...

It could be knocking from having overadvanced timing,,, kind of a low distinctively hollow thumpy sound. Especially noticable when running off a battery / distributor system. Some dizzys can way overadvance your motor - we had a delco in the '15 roadster that was miserable for this - and it was a sh...

Looks laquered to me, too. (The speckley finish is what says that to me...). My dad's 15 roadster (the one I took my driving test in :mrgreen: ) had a lacquered radiator that looked just like that. Safest way to do it is take the radiator off (not hard to do) to protect the paint on the car, use lac...

Take the car to a diferent CHP office to have it verified... Some of the guys doing that have a chip on their shoulders, mainly because they're stuck in the office doing this boring stuff than being one of the guys out on patrol. The car is a complete car, right? So the issue is... um... it's not a ...

It is, thenk you for your hard (and dilligent, not to be confused with Dillinger) work!!

Susanne

Sure, just can't afford the buy in for this car. Sorry.

I keep going through the theatrics of re-establishing all my preset pages, still, I have few pictures that seem to work, I have to log in every time I try to enter the site, and my old bookmark still gives the evil 404 message. And it won't let me stay logged in, apparently... Not sure what happened...

Clearing my caches did not work at first - I still got the following screen: (none) from 67.45.112.102 /index.php 404 - not found Our 404 message Chris Brancaccio - 2013 mtfca.com Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_14_5) AppleWebKit/605.1.15 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/12.1.1 Safari/605.1.15 ...

While the big cars slog around the track The Ford speeds by to bring the honors back. :shock: The heavy racers all huff and wheeze While the little Ford will win with ease. :lol: The others all battle and give it their worst while the mighty Ford car brings home another first. :mrgreen: Darn, wrong ...

The '26-'27 have a different script (smaller and tighter) than the early ones... I have one of each on my '15 (had to swap one of them because it catastrophically fractured), they both look fine, but up close you can tell...

PM sent...

Our closest "big city" has a population of 3000 spread out over 30 miles, and the real "big city" is 85K and 40 miles distant. I can't see either neighbor's house from our porches, and our "small" trees are 50' tall (and the big ones 4-5x that). And while we're technically in California, a lot of pe...

Worn crank end play allowing your magnets to distance themselves from the field coils? Happened to me, and it's a common enough thing they actually make main caps to make up for it in the short term... I was thinking parasitic DC voltage, but that usually kills the magnets, not just weakens them... ...

This in a city that holds what was once called the "Towe Ford Museum"... :lol: (... and please don't get me started on that... those who have seen me on here for a while know that particular sad story...) This started to prevent people from running auto repair shops out of their family homes in resi...

If you look at where the hood and radiator meet there's a strange shadow... Something just doesn't look right about the RMS one, maybe the way the wheels are a bit too tight and the background looks more cut and pasted? Either way, I'd have liked to see the car in person, not the composite picture w...

Open valve motor - if you enlarge it you can see them. Stripped to bare bare basics (I noticed a friction shock on the back end, tho...) There must be a HECK of a story about this thing. Plus being in front of a Stoddard-Dayton dealer... and the big block lettered "FORD" on the sideways gas tank... ...

I was thinking the same thing - I've always wanted an open valve car, but I can't justify hitting my savings that hard.

Does it do it both on bat and on mag, or on mag only? If it only does it on mag, you may have too loose end play in the crank, as when you engage the motor, it will pull the magnets away from the field coil, and your ignition will suffer or die... Don't ask me how I know this, but it is indicative o...

When I was a young parts collector, I bought a really nice high head that had a casting date of 1937. I'd love to find one of those " '40 Ford" model T motors... just because...

YIKES!! :shock: NO federal agency whatsoever contacts ANYONE by phone or email... Initial contact is ALL done vial snail mail letter. I know you know this but if you ever, EVER question if it was really the IRS/FBI/DHS/etc., trust me - it's NOT! If it's THAT bad they'll send an agent to your front d...

I'd ask to be put on reserve if Dan backs out, but I'm sure he won't... but if he does...

Susanne

Thank you!!!

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