MTFCA Forum

Wayfarer

great car ! wish I could find a mirror like that for mine !

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Never run a T generator disconnected!! For the stock T generator ground the output connection and then you are safe. uh oh. this brings up an issue for me on my center door then. it has a generator, but no regulator / cutout on it. sounds like I need a ground wire until I get around to installing t...

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Lessumner wrote: ↑
Thu Sep 24, 2020 5:49 pm
Be sure to ground the generator. Les

I wasn't planning on wiring the generator, with no energy to the field coils it should be ok just spinning "dead" -- shouldn't it ?

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I have this '26 engine I've been picking at, slowly working toward getting it running on the stand. I still need to put the timer on, get my fuel source installed, put oil in it, and I plan to run a water hose in the top to cool it while running. other than that -- do I need to do something to the p...

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dang. I like this design better than the other one I just got two months ago.

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jiminbartow wrote: ↑
Thu Jun 25, 2020 12:33 pm
Frank. What holds the wrap in place so that it does not unwrap? Do you use a special heat resistant tape? Jim Patrick

stainless steel "zip ties" or bands

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Allan wrote: ↑
Wed Jun 24, 2020 9:00 pm
Canadian mufflers had a deflector riveted in place as standard. I make these for the mufflers I reproduce. Sorry, no photos until I can work out how to post same from my Phone.

Allan from down under.

in for pics.
i'd like to have the right stuff on my '23 center door

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my understanding is that all oils rated by the SAE are required to be mixable

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If I remember my reading the steel firewall was introduced in April of '23.
My car is December '22.
I also have heard tonight of an all original late '22 center door that has them.

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does anybody khnow if they were year-specific, or within a range ? seems like all the pictures / cars I see are '17 to '19

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The first photo you posted is my 1917 roadster. In 1917 the metal cap did not have a gutter and is not correct for 1923. Don't know what year the gutter was added to the cap but I'm sure your '23 should have a gutter. You'd have to do some research. it's not the top piece I'm looking for (I already...

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On our Canadian sourced cars those trim strips are made of very thin material, not much heavier than the tinplate used in food containers. The folded over edges are only 1/8 - 3/16" wide. I had an idea they were not nailed on separately before the hood welting was fitted. Rather, the hood welting n...

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Rich Eagle wrote: ↑
Thu Jun 11, 2020 7:09 pm
This?
DripStrip.jpg

no, not the top piece, the side pieces

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thanks Hank !
do you have any pictures of then separate from a car ?

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I posted a WTB thread in the classifieds looking for these parts, but I don't know much about them, so I figured I'd post here on the main board to try to gain knowledge. I recently purchased a "rain gutter" for my wood dash '23 center door. In reading about that piece, I learned that there should b...

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I don't think is NECESSARY, but in my case I thought it would be "better" there are generic 100psi air pressure gauges out there, but they all seem to be 2" I figured I'd buy a 100psi tire pressure gauge / hose kit and put that gauge with my compression tester alternatively - I realize now that I co...

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vacuum test while running will indicate specific issues, but not which cylinder compression test will tell you which cylinder, but not what the specific issue is leakdown will tell you which cylinder, and what the specific issue is cylinder balance test can indicate which cylinder, but not what the ...

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for reference, here's a couple pics from the forum about the "drip edge"
I'm looking for the two side pieces below the hood hinge notches. I can't find any pictures of these pieces off a car. It looks like they might just be a right angle bend with some nail holes.

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for leakdown on a model T I would think you'd want close to cranking compression for your pressure - 50 to 60 psi, no more. Then adjust to see what the leakage is. 20% should be the limit. I've recently become a fan (again after many years of not using one) of vacuum gauge diagnosis. The vaccum gaug...

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I recently went through a similar issue

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=12187

Mine is not over yet. waiting on parts now.

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you need one of these

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I'm in the same boat with my '23 that sat for a couple decades.

waiting on parts right now, but she's getting a whole new valvetrain

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looking for pieces I'm missing, for my December '22 center door -- the two metal pieces (one each side of the wood firewall) that go between the firewall and the hood lacing, below the hood hinge notches metal "pie pan" dash shield correct coil box also - who builds a "correct" or high quality wood ...

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the compression ratio difference,as recorded in other threads about this subject, is minimal. Neither head approaches 6 to 1 compression ratio.

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since I've just been going through a misfire diagnosis and repair issue myself - I feel your pain. I wish I had gotten as lucky with the Seafoam.

best of luck with figuring out the issue and preventing its return in the future

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as a follow up - I spoke with Steve at Lang's today - new 1/32" over T valves are .340" stem diameter. It is the GUIDE that would be .342", not the valve.

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Have you considered knurling the valve guides? If done properly, it is gives better oil retention. Though when I was in the business, I only worked on one Model T engine. I converted it back from a Fronty set up. I reamed the guides out to accept a 3/8" valve stem and used the larger stemmed exhaus...

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cool history lesson related to my Canadian '23 center door
thanks !

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Cory, work with your machine shop. They should be able to install a set of K liners to take up the wear and give you a neat valve guide at the same time. Allan from down under. I've installed k liners before in OHV heads, and I like them (some people don't) I tried to put them in a Flathead six Mop...

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tore into the engine in my '23 center door yesterday and today, and was disappointed to find the condition of the seats, valves and guides. The valves are already "second oversize", which is advertised as .342". In measuring the non-wearing areas above and below the guide contact area, my valves wer...

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harbor freight compression tester is cheap and functional, however... 1) I recommend the adapter from the model T parts suppliers over the rubber tip of the tester jammed in the spark plug hole 2) a lower 'resolution" gauge - 0 to 100 rather than 0 to 300 for the same cost, a leakdown tester gives m...

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I have the ashes of a dear friend in a metal locket / vial thing inside the handlebars of the Harley I bought from his widow. I think about him every time I climb on.

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bringing this one back to the top again finally tore into the engine today, after the Seafoam treatments made no difference. #3 exhaust valve stem shows evidence of "chatter" indicative of a sticky valve (could also be that the guide has been knurled, and the valve was stuck in place, leaving behind...

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I think the modern average is something like 12,000 to 15,000 miles per year. I doubt the average miles per year up to at least the 1950's was anywhere close to that.
the first interstate opened in 1959

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still fighting a misfire in my Canadian '23 center door. I'm going to do one more seafoam treatment. if that doesn't show signs of improvement, the engine needs to be opened up. Since there are no head gaskets available, it just means more waiting.

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http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/50 ... 1434340728

link to previous thread with chart showing rim styles. below that is part numbers for lugs, but no pictures.

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my Canadian '23 ( engine is December '22) center door has the flat ones. Some of them are stamped "Kelsey" and some are not what rims are on your car ? right now mine has a pair of Ford 2845C, and a pair of Ford 2845D rims. the spare rim was a 2845D also, but is bent so badly I took it off the car. ...

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I recently went through some of what you're describing, with my '23 center door. I am also a T noob. I didn't remove my sediment bulb or tank, but I did replace the screen and lead gasket. Soldering the screen was an interesting challenge. I posted a thread you can find if you search. My car had a c...

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I'm pretty new to this stuff - would all wood firewall cars have had this originally, or is it an accessory, or ?

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bringing this one back to the top again. I put the manifolds on, everything back together, and had the same rear intake port vacuum leak, and a massive exhaust leak at #1 Back apart again, clean everything up, check exhaust manifold for straightness -- all good. I noticed at some point that that the...

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Lang's, Bob's, Snyders, Birdhaven, and Mac were all out when I was looking a week or so ago.
if you find one, PM me !

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I had no idea what you guys were talking about, so I googled it.

VERY COOL !

I had no idea that existed, shouldn't have looked it up. Now I want one !

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I have a set of the Harbor Freight gray ones. Don't care for them at all. I also have a pair of GoJaks, they are awesome. One of these days I need to get another pair

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What kind of spark plugs are you using? Most modern plugs act just as you describe, especially in my '21 Roadster for some reason, and so I use only the original Champion X style plugs. currently they are new Autolites. It had old Champions in it, and switching to the Autolites made no change My T ...

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private message sent

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just tried the propane for vacuum leaks. No changes in idle or idle speed. Curiously though, I put the propane directly in the throat of the carb, and nothing changed ? shouldn't the engine rpm have come up ? unsatisfied with that, I used a spray can of mass airflow cleaner -- obvious rpm drops at t...

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Jerry VanOoteghem wrote: ↑
Thu May 07, 2020 10:34 am
What kind of spark plugs are you using? Most modern plugs act just as you describe, especially in my '21 Roadster for some reason, and so I use only the original Champion X style plugs.

currently they are new Autolites. It had old Champions in it, and switching to the Autolites made no change

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very narrow richness adjustment on an L-4 is indicative of a damaged needle and seat on the jet. Pulling the side plates to the valves will reveal oil, a little goop, leave you with another oil leak, and make you wonder why you just did that. hahaha. thanks for the giggle and reality check Scott. !...

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UPDATE TO THE UPDATE : two short test drives, and then I drove her to work this evening. 6.7 miles one way. in between the two test drives I reset the timer and re bent the rod. seems well. the car most definitely has more power and drives better than before, but the misfire is still there. It's not...

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I promised to update this once progress was made. I finally got her back together this morning - I posted another thread last week about soldering the sediment bulb screen - Got that done, installed cap with new lead gasket - no leaks ! when I took the cap off, and removed the damaged and partially ...

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my cap is iron, not brass I used a propane torch at first, and then switched to my butane torch, and then to my butane torch with wide flat soldering tip. so...preheat, then preheat, then localized heat getting the solder to melt wasn't my problem. getting it to stick was my problem. possibly a flu...

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my cap is iron, not brass I used a propane torch at first, and then switched to my butane torch, and then to my butane torch with wide flat soldering tip. so...preheat, then preheat, then localized heat getting the solder to melt wasn't my problem. getting it to stick was my problem. possibly a flux...

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got it ! definitely not my best work. I ended up preheating with my butane soldering torch, then paste flux, then wide soldering tip, sort of "puttied" a solder ring on the cap. laid screen on, then put the wide soldering tip down on top of the screen, and kind of "puttied" all the way around, only ...

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I need advice / tips / tricks for soldering the screen on the sediment bulb outlet. cap is bead blasted and the edge is filed clean and shiny, but I can't get the solder to flow. what solder are you guys using ? flux ? what heating tool are you using ? I've sweated copper pipes before, and I can sol...

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Just got the car in February, so March and April have been a flurry of activity trying to get her from “drivable” to “roadworthy”. New tires, new parking brakes, tail lights, brake lights, carburetor linkages. Fresh coils, new plugs, new Anderson style timer. Current tasks — I have all the parts to ...

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well...shoot... drained the sediment bulb, removed the plug to clean the screen. There was more teflon tape in the sediment bulb than sediment. Someone used the teflon tape to install the side plug, rather than the lead gasket. the screen didn't clean very well, so...I'm going to order the proper se...

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Thanks gentlemen ! Here’s a picture of the suspect at the moment You can see how much stuff that filter has collected, that dark stripe in the bottom is all sediment. 9E37A718-001D-4F42-AB32-DC56BA9F8883.jpeg I’ll patch in a hose to try it first, and then today is probably going to be the day to rep...

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I just put about 7 gallons of fresh ethanol free 87 octane two or three days before this episode started. the car has an original sediment bulb and shutoff valve, a short rubber line with hose clamps, and then a translucent see through paper element filter. There is very clearly "stuff" in the botto...

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car was running great one night, we took her to get some fast food. Next day we took her to get groceries, and she was all kinds of unhappy. Misfiring and down on power. I had extra stuff here, so I swapped to a new set of spark plugs. No change. swapped coils from Patterson (according to the previo...

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ABoer wrote: ↑
Wed Mar 25, 2020 12:50 pm
Carson , If your Handbrake don't work , you can always use this .

ToonIMGP0302.JPG

the original brake shoe !

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at that point, you could swap the bulbs side for side to see if both bulbs are good.
do you have a multimeter or test light ?

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She has eyes !

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you're right. no holes.
this could be fun...

EDIT: that was MUCH easier than expected ! I didn't even break a drill bit in the process !

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I looked around and couldn’t find the answer - which direction does the chrome socket go ? The adjuster screw tab is not centered in the length, so does it go short side in the bucket, or long side in the bucket ?

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for the fun of it :

if you added material instead of milling, you would need a theoretical "disc" of metal 3.75" diameter by .130" thick to bring the compression ratio from 5.3 to 1, to 6.0 to 1.

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leap day ! Went for a little putt Longest one yet - 3.2 miles round trip

, and then ordered more parts. Lots of work coming in March. Hope to have her pretty well roadworthy by the end of March

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Scott - I'm not even far along enough in owning my car to buy a high compression head, much less modify one or have two, or whatever. I've owned my car for a few weeks. The farthest I've driven it so far is 1.2 miles to the gas station, and back home. Before I change the dynamics of the car, I need ...

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I've sent a Prus head to Weisco to have it scanned so they can make custom pistons trying to get the compression up. Also getting a lighter piston with a modern ring package. makes sense. I'd like to hear more as you progress. My goal is local drivability. There's a pretty slim chance that I'd ever...

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I've picked up on a few mentions of broken cranks here and there. I understand that pulling a hill in any fashion is increasing stress on the crank, as is increasing cylinder pressure. too much, no matter where it comes from, is bad. for you guys with high compression heads at low altitude - would y...

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Since I got my car I have been reading all the high compression head discussions, but there's a question I haven't seen asked... From what I gather the available heads are at most 6 to 1 or just shy. The Prus heads are advertised at 8 to 1, but are in fact, also shy of 6 to 1 I live at 6000 feet alt...

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thanks Scott ! I originally bought this carb to put on a '26 engine and trans on a stand. Then I bought my center door, which is drivable. It came with a Kingston L4 which runs fine, but has a thumbscrew on top for mixture adjustment. I want all the proper linkages hooked up, so I figured since the ...

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well, the float isn't too high -- see pic.
also notice the massive dent
the rim around the main jet, where the bowl would sit - is also suspect - notice the sharp edge on one side.

I've included a picture of the float, and the rim around the main jet, out of my junk carb for reference

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having trouble with this carburetor, PM sent

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pulled the bowl off this morning. The needle was indeed stuck. put all back together, it appears it's leaking around the gasket area between the bowl and the drain valve. PM'd the seller.

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GRRRRRRR.....

new problem...

turned on the gas, bowl drain leaks like crazy.

I bought this carb from the classifieds here, (to FIX issues, not CREATE them !) "rebuilt", from a "reputable" vendor. Choke installed incorrectly, bowl drain leaking... what next ?

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next question - does this look right for the choke rod orientation, before I bend the ends to keep them from falling off, and before I mount the bell crank

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got it ! easy fix. Thanks gang !

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pictures of my spring, which appears distorted

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oops - I should've specified - this is for my '23 center door. Trying to hook up all the linkages as original - mixture adjustment from inside the car, choke from inside the car, and choke from the front of the car

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I'm swapping the Kingston that was on the car when I got it, for a rebuilt NH I bought from the classifieds here - I noticed while installing that the Kingston choke spring holds the butterfly open, and the NH spring holds the butterfly closed -- I'm assuming the NH spring is installed incorrectly, ...

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It easier to run all the wires up to the front of the car at the same time. If the plan includes turn signals later, do not daisy chain the stop light filaments (the short ones), run an individual wire from each short filament, to the front. In either case, be sure to leave plenty of extra wire up ...

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I bought the pair from Lang's, they arrived today. They are in fact, set up for tail and brake. They have a 6 volt dual filament bulb, and two wires coming out --- one for tail, and one for brake --- they are case grounded by the mounting stud. Plan is to install this weekend, get the tail lights fu...

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pretty cool that there are a bunch of center doors around here !
I guess it makes sense, closed cars given our climate.

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Quite possible the screws are incorrect. I have no idea. That’s just what came with it.

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just after we unloaded her saturday morning

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brought home my first Model T last Friday, a Canadian '23 center door. This weekend I want to start putzing with it in the garage. Adjusting the hand brake lever, flipping the steering wheel over the correct way... You know - fiddling and fretting over the new baby I got all the glass, the interior ...

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I bought my first one Friday !
Canadian ‘23 center door
Spent the rest of the weekend fussing over her, and taking little drives up and down the street to learn how to drive her.
Researching adjustments and then performing them, is next

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Hi Mike thanks for speaking with me yesterday about the car. based on our conversation, and what has been posted here, I don't believe it's a piston or ring issue. If it's a continuous squeal, it's likely a rotating part like a main bearing, rod bearing, triple gear bushing as mentioned above, rathe...

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doesn't get any better !

This is my goal for my 14 year old - get a drivable Model T, and then give him his first driving lesson in it.

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IMG_3912.JPG I've been picking at this thing. It got its new head gasket, and passed the compression test. coil box (thanks AdminJeff) coils, plugs and wires in. Setting up the timer this weekend. oil pan inspection plate straightened, ready to install. need generator mount, generator, and carburet...

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Chris Paulsen - well... I didn't go into "the industry" immediately after college. old cars as a hobby, then old motorcycles, a couple short part time "hang around" gigs at a couple small shops. Then in 2000 I started working at a street rod shop here in Colorado Springs. Did that for 10 years. In l...

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this brings back memories ! I graduated from the program in 1992. I went back once, in maybe 2002 or 2003 or thereabouts. I bet it's changed a ton again.

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Mile High Pedal Pushers is in the Denver area (listed as Arvada) Northern Colorado is also Denver area (listed as Littleton).
If any forum members are from Colorado Springs, shoot me a PM

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I’ll try heating the jet !

I’m in Colorado Springs Colorado. I looked at the chapters - two in the Denver area, an hour / hour and a half drive (at modern car speeds)

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Pm & email sent

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Thanks for the warm welcome ! I tried a bunch of different ways to post the picture, but all I could get was a link. I’ll keep reading and trying until I figure it out. I believe this to be a 26 model year engine and trans, because of the extra mount bolts, 4 dip pan, pedals, etc. I didn’t know abou...

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first post here. I've wanted a T since working on them in college, finally decided to start shopping at Thanksgiving time. While I've been looking for that *just right* car, I picked up a December '25 engine on a stand, to mess with. I'm hoping to collect the stuff, and have it running, or close to ...

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