MTFCA Forum

Luke

Not wanting to contribute to too much thread drift here, but apropos Jim's comment I'm reminded of when we had some fairly devastating earthquakes here and it was the job of various groups to attempt access to every building in town in order to determine if there were people trapped etc... It turned...

Luke

I suppose that, at least initially, I'd try a little more finesse than Dan (it ekes out the fun!), what sort of lock is it you're wanting to have a go at?

Luke

Matt, The speedometer comment was probably a bit of a non-sequitur. I had thought I'd mentioned it in this thread previously, but perhaps not - and in any event it would have been a long time ago now! Regardless, there was another thread on it that didn't go anywhere because I'd spent most of my spa...

Luke

Well said Luke, but what is the project?????, Is it an electronic circuit exercise showing a visual display that a coil produces when battery voltage (DC) is applied to it, or is an exercise to properly adjust a MODEL T FORD ignition coil that was designed to start and run on an alternating current...

Luke

Good job Matt, and pleasing to see there's still some life left in this project...

Luke

I recently posted on this subject, apologies to those that have seen this already but I remain concerned that people sometimes don't realise it's important to heat the entire rivet, not just the head: An important point to note when you're doing the job (and really the main reason for riveting rathe...

Luke

There was a time when kerosene was cheap and plentiful. It works well for parts cleaning but now is pretty expensive. Bear in mind that most jet fuel is more or less kerosene (Jet A / A-1 etc), and it works well as a cleaner. Should be gallons of cheap/free time-expired stuff around (anyone nearby ...

Luke

.... Of that number about 600 survive now in the UK (that excludes a further 600 imported from the USA in the last 30 years) .... it's hard to believe that the number now is more than 50000. Chris, Interesting to see your numbers, thanks. A while ago I did an extrapolation from our own data and cam...

Luke

Burger in Spokane wrote: ↑
Sat Nov 07, 2020 1:08 pm
Everybody knows that color didn't exist before 1933 !

Actually in my country color has never existed, colour on the other hand ...

Luke

... Question then can the exposed electronics be adapted to work properly - it costs $10 with $1. 50 shipping. ... Frank, I couldn't see any schematic with that link, but from what I could tell from the photograph the high-current components looked as if they may well be wired as a you would expect...

Luke

The three-brush generator on the Model T (and Model A) will work fine at either 12V or 6V. In standard form you need to use a cutout (mechanical or solid state) and manually adjust the current - there is plenty of good information on this site how to do that. Better still you can use a voltage regul...

Luke

To further illustrate what I was describing above here's a couple of video clips on the how to go about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sn1m1egXY5I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWmFxtGw_Lo At about 1:30 on this video you can see a good example of what I was getting at about how the rivet shou...

Luke

An important point to note when you're doing the job (and really the main reason for riveting rather than bolting): The entire rivet should be heated , ideally in a forge, before putting in place and hammering. If you can't do this then at least the entire shaft should be heated by whatever mechanis...

Luke

Chris, I can only speak from fundamentals, others may have actual experience, but my initial view is that the right LED lamp should cope with a magneto. As LED's are a current device many headlamps will have proper drivers contained within the carapace of the unit, which themselves tend to have wide...

Luke

Snyder lists LED replacement headlight bulbs for MODEL A's in their catalog. Are the locating pins the same as a Model T? Would they work? Terry, as far as the base is concerned they are the same. In terms of the business end, the Model A has a 50/32 CP (Candle Power) bulb, the Model T manual "Answ...

Luke

Thanks Bill, I'll pass that link on to Steve.

Luke

No matter how LED's are arrayed, they cannot be made to replicate the pinpoint light source of an incandescent fillament. At best, multiple LED's can approximate this, but it is still a scattergun approach, made worse for oncoming vehicles by the intensity of the light. As for low beam, how does th...

Luke

For those interested in the human side of this story I spoke with Steve again today; he's been able to decipher some of the documentation he received from which some interesting things have turned up. It turns out that his Dad was captured by the Germans in 1942 or thereabouts. His brother was sent ...

Luke

Over the past year I went to some trouble to locate an [inexpensive] LED replacement for the tungsten filament bulbs in my T. I wanted to use LED's for the low(er) current requirements, which meant I could reduce the generator charge current and save the battery from cooking, amongst other things. W...

Luke

Ok, some more searching using a different engine ... from the following photograph I think it is a Model A (look at the dash etc) but with V8 wheels, odd lights, and of course those grass doors: beach-boys-history2.png I don't know a lot about the models that came immediately after the Model A, or e...

Luke

Brent: Given Henry's predilection for farm-related manufacturing techniques (Fordite, Soy bootlids etc) I wouldn't be so sure! Erik: That was excruciating :-) I'm remain curious as to the origins and subsequent path of the vehicle post this photograph. I'm really surprised there's so little informat...

Luke

I got here in a round-a-bout way after looking at some detail on John Lennon's 80th birthday ... what I found, and was intrigued with, was this photograph: beach-boys-history.jpg I've seen it variously described as a 'Jalopy', 'Truck' and a Model A, depending upon the reporter, but I'd like to know ...

Luke

I like the 4th photo, where the guy has just broken his wrist from cranking. I was quite taken by that photo too. I tried to enlarge the relevant area to see where the advance lever was at, however the original quality wasn't quite good enough (and the reflection on the screen didn't help). It did ...

Luke

For anyone interested in this thread, here's a short update... Steve recently obtained his dad's service records. Unfortunately they're all in Polish, which Steve doesn't read, however (thanks to an online translator) he's been able to determine at least that his dad spent 1942/1943 as P.O.W. in Ger...

Luke

John, Good to see your build - it looks as if you have a slot for two coils? If you look back through the various posts you'll see a fair amount of into that may give you some idea of the target TTF and how that is derived. In my view, based on personal experience, first principles, and information ...

Luke

Matt, Good on you for doing this, I hope you get some responses. Over here I'm beginning to see one or two things I ordered back in January, so perhaps I'll have some gear to work with by the time our summer break comes around. Not sure yet if that'll mean much change to the code/hardware, but a bit...

Luke

Rick, There are several things that could be at issue, and at several thousand miles distance it's a little difficult to go over all of them, but the likely problem is simply 'connections'. There are connections in the coils themselves (eg. points), the box that houses the coils (eg. the spring conn...

Luke

Here you go ... Tank removed, colour, sepia, and grey versions. I've 'aged' the sepia and grey photo's a little - the grey photo more so. I've also added a cropped version that sharpens the image and gets rid of the, er, 'newer' machinery evident to the LHS ;) green_truck_colour.jpg green_truck_old_...

Luke

Tom, See the drawing below. Is this what you were looking for? I hope it's clear enough - unfortunately I was struggling with low light due to some faulty fluro tubes so the sketch isn't as good as it could be (and it just 'grew' rather organically). With my car I discovered that there appeared to b...

Luke

Tom,

I have a '26 Roadster, I've no idea if it matters but as it's ex-U.S. it should be ok to get the measurements from.

Unfortunately I may not be able to get to it 'till Wed morning our time, however if no-one else has come up with anything I'll check it out then and post the information for you.

Luke

Frank, you're right the trail can seem to go on forever! Thanks for spending your time on this - Steve has requested his father's U.K. service records, but due to recent events he hasn't rec'd that data yet. It's probably more the mystery around the Model T photograph, and Karol's time in the U.S. t...

Luke

This is turning out to be quite an international trip ... Steve sent me some more info today that he'd got from his sister in the U.K. "It appears that Dad enlisted into the Polish land forces in 1944,and was in the 1st armoured division.. we got this off his cap badge and sleeve badges... later he ...

Luke

Allan, do you think the chairs you mention could be as old as 1940? I know that's what the thing looks like, but I suppose I thought they'd be more wooden legs and canvas seats etc at that time. Tim, I still can't 'see' the lake, but I'll have another look in the morning! Thanks for the info on the ...

Luke

Wow, thanks for all the input everyone! Thomas, Frank, Jim, I agree it looks like a chair, but it seems to be floating in space - which does make it look a little incongruent to the rest of the photo. I think at this stage it's not likely to add much more to solving the puzzle? Unless perhaps someon...

Luke

A few months ago I visited a friend, Steve. We got talking about old cars and he mentioned that he had a photo of one that he'd be interested to know more about. Just today I had the chance to visit him again, and obtain a copy of said photo. Below you'll see what that photo was of - I make it as a ...

Luke

Darin,

It's very kind of you to offer your help, thank you - very much.

I've responded to your email (where's the thumbs up emoticon!

Cheers, Luke.

Luke

Darin, Unfortunately I can't help you, although I wish you a good outcome in your pursuit. My reason for responding is that I have a little personal interest in what you come up with. My own Model T was shipped from Douglasville, GA, in about 2012 and although I've been able to find out a little abo...

Luke

Interesting information Tony, thanks. An Austin Seven was the first vehicle I drove (apparently), when I was three years old. I remember nothing of it but I had let off the handbrake and nicely reversed it down a significant hill into a neighbours drive - more, I suspect, through good luck than good...

Luke

Thanks Keith, apologies for removing the content.

Luke

Thanks Tony.

I appreciate you all responding, apologies for removing the content.

Luke

Recently I posted some information and photographs in three threads entitled " When nobody worried about scratching their T ", " Possibly one of the first single-make car clubs in the world? ", and " Church outing at Peel Forest, Feb 13, 1913. ". The photographs in these posts were taken between 191...

Luke

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Luke

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Luke

Look what I found Adrian, same time and place, just 90 odd years earlier

Luke · Church outing at Peel Forest, Feb 13, 1913. Post deleted

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Luke

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Luke

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Luke

Oops, I've had a busy few days and haven't logged back in until now. sorry,,, Anyway thanks for responding, I'll try and call you both tomorrow (according to the double-duck it's 0040 in Colorado right so guess you wouldn't appreciate me trying you now, Nick!). Chris, do you have a telephone number?...

Luke

Thanks for that information Howard.

I've called Nick and left a message on his answer service.

If you don't mind I may contact you for a headsup on how you went about importing your engine. It seems it could be useful info.

Cheers, Luke.

Luke

Hi all, Sadly my 1926 Roadster suffered a recent motor failure. To be fair this has probably been on the cards for a while, but disappointing nonetheless as I'd hoped, unsuccessfully, to find a replacement before it happened. The bands had been needing regular adjustment too and were getting near th...

Luke

The generator on a Model T is a current -controlled device; you set the current delivery via the 'third brush' and I'm sure you'd find lots of information on that here. If you want to voltage regulate the output of the generator you can use a voltage regulator, but note that it should be a shunt reg...

Luke

I once tried to contact the site owner because I had something I wanted to contribute back to them, unfortunately that was unsuccessful.

However I do have an off-line mirror of the site as of a few months ago. Is there a particular item you're looking for? I may be able to locate it and send to you.

Luke

Barry, It sounds to me like you're on the right track, and will be learning quite a bit on the way. You can get peak currents up to 6-7A or so, meaning the 20A sensor would be better. It's a shame there's not a 10A unit - you will see I used a CT initially, which worked ok, but I think the ACS devic...

Luke

Thanks for the update on your tester Barry. It's a fairly long thread but somewhere back amongst it you'll see I did a little python-based code snippet to plot the results as output by the Arduino. I expect you're doing something more sophisticated, but it may be of some interest. IMV a 5A ACS712 ma...

Luke

Steve, Good to see another tester being constructed, thanks. I'm interested that the SSR seems to be performing ok. I looked at using one of those but decided (from the data sheet) that the rise time was too slow. I did suspect it would be better than advertised, but never pursued it, so it's good y...

Luke

John, Your first car will be a memorable one, no matter what you choose. Bear in mind that if it's an icon you're looking for then in many respects either the A or the T will do admirably, however as a vehicle to take you places and do lots of trips in etc neither will really be up to the task today...

Luke

D Stroud wrote: ↑
Tue May 12, 2020 7:56 am
Luke, I thought that was a T6 or a TD6, but what is a BTD6? I've never seen that designation before. Cool Dozer though, what ever it is.

Dave, I thought this might interest you - local advertising copy for a BTD-8 crawler:

Luke

Adrian's got it. We have both TD6 and BTD6 here in NZ, my understanding is that the former isn't electric start. I think a neighbour had one once and it had a pony motor, much like the Cat D4U etc. I've got to be careful what I say here (looking furtively around) but I've been known to watch the odd...

Luke

Herb Iffrig wrote: ↑
Sat May 09, 2020 3:43 pm
Luke is that A TD9?

Herb, it's a BTD6 - the electric start version. Loves a dose of ether in the morning

Luke

Thanks for the information everyone. That it's an International truck makes some sense, given the original source of the photograph. This came from a company that did photography for International here in NZ, evidenced by various other photographs in the collection of agricultural equipment manufact...

Luke

I found this photo first in some random archives, then went looking to see if there was any associated detail. What I found was: "CHRISTCHURCH, This Day. A motor lorry which, with its load, weighs over ten tons, must, according to regulation, have six wheels. In the Magistrate's Court yesterday, bef...

Luke

I hope you haven't completely cornered the market on timing covers! Since I can't get any parts right now my working mower is bigger and faster than yours - and it's a Ford (where's the 'pokes-out-tongue' emoticon?) - but getting in close to the house is problematic. Mower 1, Window 0 :x -----------...

Luke

There is an earlier posting from Tom Carnegie that contains several images of the magneto waveform FYI:

http://www.mtfca.com/cgi-bin/discus/sho ... ost=914602

Luke

I designed something similar to this a while ago (at least I assume it's similar - if there is any detail it'd be interesting to see?). Mine was effectively a rev-counter also calibrated in MPH, driven either by magneto, timer, or magnet/hall effect device on a wheel. For the magneto drive I used a ...

Luke

I have noticed, with my electronic tester, that a few coils set for the 'optimum' ~2ms time-to-fire or ttf at 12V (which I believe is what Mike's machine utilises?) will not fire well in a vehicle, nor in a HCCT. Adjusting the electronic tester voltage down tends to support the observed issue (ie. m...

Luke

No, John's correct.

2 x 0.47uF 400V caps in series will give a total capacitance of 0.235uF at 800V, certainly near enough to the 0.22uF required.

Luke

If they're standard tungsten filament bulbs then generally yes (with disclaimer below). If they're LED's then possibly not, as many of these are DC only. Even if they have rectifiers built in 12VAC may be too much. Bear in mind that 12VDC is simply that, 12V. However 12VAC could have a peak voltage ...

Luke

Tim, do you know anything about the subject, or the ultimate source of the photo? Seems to me there could be quite a story there...

Luke

All these aviation stories remind me of another forum I belong to! Stan, I wonder if you have the co-ordinates of the [scary] Dupuyer airstrip you're talking about? I had a quick look around but wasn't really sure of where to settle on. I think it's extremely unlikely I'd ever fly in there, let alon...

Luke

John, Good to see it in a box, and with the 4-line screen. That's what I was going to leave mine at, but Matt's idea of showing the ramp etc is a good one. It may be possible to have both the LCD and OLED screens running if you'd want - as long as the i2c address of each unit is different, and the A...

Luke

.... Access there is by horse or foot, it does have an airstrip at Benchmark which will pucker all but the best pilots -- you'd better be there early in the morning or late at night, be underloaded, know mountain air currents and have a plane built for flying in and out of airstrips like it. The co...

Luke

Steve (and others), I apologise but I'm still waiting for components to arrive before I do much more on this. They're taking a very long time, I assume it's to do with the virus. As I don't have an OLED screen the same as Matt's I can't test any changes I'd make to the code, hence it's best that he ...

Luke

I had a go at cleaning up the image and enhancing it to see if one could get more any more detail.

Unfortunately the original isn't all that high a resolution (do you have a better scan Rich?), and I was probably a bit aggressive with some of the tweaks but here it is FWIW:

Luke

Larry,

Top marks for the quantitative analysis!

However it appears there's no free play shown? Was there indeed none, or did you start the measurement at first engagement rather than say with the pedal lightly back against it's stop?

Luke

Further to my previous 'historic' posts here's an article on "The Quiet Ford" which appears in the Progress Magazine, Wellington NZ, 2nd August 1909. Between some OCR'ing (thanks to Tesseract and the NZ National Library) and a little manual editing I also add a text version at the end of this post. ...

Luke

I came across this article in the Sept 1908 copy of "Progress Magazine", a [approx monthly] periodical published in New Zealand from 1905 to the 1920's. The mag appeared to have a reasonable degree of motoring and other contemporary engineering news, and had obviously been given some 'inside news' r...

Luke

As a result of some other research I was doing I came across a little more New Zealand motoring history. More earlier Ford related rather than specifically Model T, but perhaps interesting all the same. In 1905 and 1906 we imported several hundred vehicles, of which approx twenty were Ford's and spe...

Luke

I was interested to see if this was part of the Burton digital archive - in the hopes that a higher resolution image might have been available for enhancing (I had a go with this one but couldn't improve it much). While I wasn't able to find it immediately I did find the following image of this hard...

Luke

ivaldes1 wrote: ↑
Fri Feb 14, 2020 11:49 pm
While I am waiting for a starter, I wonder what I can cover the starter hole with and just crank start it? -- IV

Yes, this works fine.

Just make a cover plate out of a piece of 20g steel (or whatever) and fix on with the starter bolts/screws...

Luke

Luke, if you purchase a new notch, let that be your guide as to how much your pedal ramp needs to be built up.... Yes, thanks Allan (and others), however I don't have a new notch at this stage - and don't know if need to get one or not without any standard to measure it or the pedal by. Larry and o...

Luke

Scott,

Thank you very much, however I mixed up my pedals - it's the brake pedal that's the issue, not first gear, sorry!

Do you know of any dimensions for that pedal, particularly around the ramp boss?

Luke

Scott,

Mine's LHD - '25 trans, if that makes a difference.

Luke

Please excuse me for butting in, however in relation to this I wonder if anyone has specifications for the pedal cams? I've had a look at the service manual but it doesn't mention anything - perhaps they were all too new when that was written - but it'd be useful to know what the cam/ramp dimensions...

Luke

Bob, Although the points are on the low tension side you'll have back emf enough that you'd probably get a shock if you utilise non-insulated tools. However the bigger question is why would you want to this? To what standard would you measure against? Ordinarily coils are adjusted outside of the veh...

Luke

Ed, Erik, You won't get a lot of disagreement from me, however in my case after a series of earthquakes the garage floor just isn't what it was so finding a reasonable spot to use a square isn't that easy. As I use the laser for other cars it wasn't hard to use it on the T, and since I see no reason...

Luke

Good to see that innovation, Dick. It'll be interesting to hear how your trials go with a few more miles on them, hope you have continued success. FWIW I have a plastic coil here that I was given recently. I'm think I'm going to use it when I research and design my own electronic timer; it's trivial...

Luke

Jim, Kevin, Rick, Thanks for the continued information. I find it fascinating in general, but also useful to give me a better idea of what I've got. Kevin, you may be close to what's happened with mine as I had to replace the front chassis gussets prior to registering here. Hard to say whether they ...

Luke

Allan, If you have a perfectly flat floor then that should work fine (flat not being the same as level!). Out of interest; over the years I've tended to look for simple but accurate methods to do my alignments. The first one I did was nearly 40 years ago now (using a Dunlop optical gauge that I stil...

Luke

I never knew you could buy an Electric Model T. Must have only been for sale in NZ. We're pretty special down this way :D Actually, I recently took my T to an electric car group evening 8-) . Took several people for a ride and generally had a good time - there's just something about the beat of a T...

Luke

Allan, First of all my apologies, I grabbed my metric verniers when I went out to my car... I get 117mm between the centre of the bottom and top flanges. At 5 degrees the difference from vertical would be 10.2mm, at 5.5degrees it's 11.2mm. Also, when I did my alignment recently I used a cross-laser ...

Luke

Dan, thanks for your info. Interesting re GA, that would have been useful to know when I was trying to deal with the bureaucracy here! FWIW the car does seem to appear in an online register, its VIN is the engine serial number. The trans pedals are pre-26 (ie. not wide), so perhaps a complete engine...

Luke

As part of some research for a friend I came across some interesting newspaper clippings: The first was a letter to the Otago Daily Times, dated 16th Dec 1929. Clearly there had been, or was about to be, a significant increase in the cost of spares, and the writer was unhappy: odt_16_dec_1929.png Fo...

Luke

I'm happy to do that Tim, have sent you an email.

Luke

Tim, Danny, I hope you don't mind but I've taken the images, cleaned/straightened them as best as possible, and created a PDF manual. The result is attached here, I've had to downsample it 'cos I couldn't upload a 5.7MB file, but it's ok I guess. Tim, perhaps you could check if I've got the pages in...

Luke

Tony, As luck would have it I'm in the process of moving my car over to 12V and LED lighting and have been going through the research/design stage. By my calculations I'd be needing just on 5A at night with the lights and motor running, so with your customer and similar LED's your name would still h...

Luke

Not as if I didn't have a lot of other things to do I thought I'd take a quick peek to see how many Model T's we had in NZ. This is a question I'm almost always asked whenever someone sees my car and I have, up 'till now, not been able to answer. Fortunately I've ways of dealing with big data and ha...

Luke

Dan, yes I did read about the early metal-metal brakes. Guess they really were for parking only! I accept that one could use pop rivets, it's just that I wouldn't. I'm no stranger to doing whatever's needed to make things work, and I expect if one only used the brakes when stationary it would be fin...

Luke

Gosh, thanks everyone for your help - it's certainly given me a bit to go on! Dan & Larry, I'll attach a couple of photos below, from your information it seems to me that the motor may not be original as it doesn't appear to have the boss, also it doesn't have the wider brake band so I guess it mean...

Luke

Tailpiece - having looked again at some of the postings I'd previously seen I now recollect that I did see the rivet 'reversed' in the band material :oops: clearly my recent foray into the brakes and the horror story there was too vivid in my mind. At least that's my excuse, maybe age has something ...

Luke

Not wanting to hijack Scott C's thread on his 26-27 Roadster, but it prompted me to ask something I've wondered about for a while. I have '26 (well, maybe it's a '26) 'New Beauty' runabout. It was imported into this country from Douglas County, GA, somewhere between 2011-2013. Having looked it up I ...

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