MTFCA Forum

These pictures of Halloween costumes from way back when do look strange to our more modern eyes. Times and styles change over time. SyFy as we know it wasn’t around back then to influence kids like it does these days. But yes they do look strange to say the least! If those kids came around nowdays t...

It could be that the head hasn’t been off the engine in many years. Now would be the time to clean things up. While you have the head off and have access to the block make sure all the water passages are clear. That includes the holes in the block and head. Carefully clean them out the best you can ...

If you have the Ford service manual it gives you the general idea how to reinstall the transmission cover. A detail not clearly mentioned is getting the gaskets in place. Before you start to install the cover use some silicone sealant to hold the transmission gaskets in place. You can also use some ...

Check the oil and see if you have coolant in the oil. And if your pretty sure it has a blown head gasket and water is coming out between the block and head your going to have to pull off the head. No getting around that. Hope it’s not anything else and not some other issue. You mentioned you bought ...

A good original tie rod assembly can be found fairly easy. I think I would find another and save time and money.

Model T’s from 17-25 have a removable firewall. When your pulling the engine it does make it easier when the firewall and steering column is removed. You don’t have to raise the body on the cars I have. I’ve removed and reinstalled the engines with and without the firewall in my 24 Coupe, 1919 Roads...

There are more than a few T’s that have these wheels on their car. You have to look pretty close to see the difference. Over time people would go to their local wrecking yard and find replacement wheels and probably found wheels that would fit. This type would.

Herb Now that you know what kind of block that is, advertising on the early Chevrolet club website under the prewar forum might get you some takers. I don’t know if you want to sell it but that’s the place you would get some interest. They don’t make them anymore! If the right guy gets to see it I b...

Good job Steve reminding T folks what’s needed for a tire repair. I have a wheel chock block somewhere in my garage that is stamped Tire block or something like that. It was used to chock a wheel to keep the car from moving a bit if your not on level ground. If I can find it I will a post a pic of i...

Remove the transmission cover and see if you see anything loose or broken. Have you tried to slowly turn the crank, key off off of course, and see if you hear anything clanking or etc? It may or may not be a magnet but could be anything at this point. If your certain it’s something in the transmissi...

Well you could ‘sort of’ fit the 5 piece earlier rear section on a 24 Touring front half but it wouldn’t be quite right. Believe I would try to find a 17-20 front half to go with the 17-20 back half. Or find 24 back half to go with the 24 front half. One more thing to do is if you have the front hal...

Using a little grease on it to help hold it in place helps but not necessary. I’ve done with and without.

Lots of T’s in the brass era have been converted to use a starter. It’s done for the same reason Ford started using them in 1919. It makes thing a little easier for the T owner. It’s OK for me if you want to hand crank your car but remember what can happen if you forget to retard the spark lever. My...

Typical spreading of the jaws on the band wrench. Over time these wrench’s got used over and over for other things besides working on a T. They found their way in a farmers tool box and got really used up, thus the spread jaws. Over the years when I found one of these they were really spread. Don’t ...

If they were uchannel accessories for the T’s that had the u frame running board brackets it seems to me that the way the originals were installed and had the strap that attached to the top of the frame the original set up would carry a good amount of weight. I have several frames in my T parts pile...

I saved the postal service the trouble and voted in person. Works every time

What occurred to your engine to warrant a tare down. If it ran well 2 years ago has it run since then?

It’s pretty much known that Ford was a practical guy and that usually could be seen in the way he built and produced his Model T. The more the better and what ever it took within reason he would do to increase production. If there were ways he could take a short cut and save time and money along the...

The steel frame door change has always been kind of confusing For me over the years. I did have a 25 Fordor sedan that I inherited as a parts car for the 24 Coupe that was given me years and years ago. I sold it but the 25 Fordor had wood framed doors as the late 24 Coupe had wood framed doors. The ...

I have a 24 Coupe that I restored and doing so I found out the my car has wood framed doors but during late 24 Ford introduced steel framed doors which would be used on into 25. But I don’t know if the 25 steel framed doors would be the same as the later 26-27 doors since those bodies were a little ...

Looks great! Did you submerse the cans all at once or one at a time in a container. I have a 25 block and thinking about using evapo rust and wondering how much of it to use.

Did you ask him who the shop was that did it or who did it? Any documentation from the shop or individual who did it? What was the reason to tare it down. Was it giving any problems when you were running it?

What Rajo said about the wooden block clamp. It does help and it also could be the springs that are on each control rod that help put some downward tension on the rods. I noticed the ones on my 24 Coupe were compressed to much from being on the control rods nearly 90+ years. When I reassembled the c...

Maybe I missed it but what effect does it have on babbitt. I have a 25 T block and thought about trying it. By now it seems it’s been done and was wondering how it came out.

The shops you first took your radiator to probably didn’t take the time or look closely and notice it was a flat tube radiator. Probably when you told them it was a Model T radiator that was what was a no go for them. Most radiator shops nowdays won’t deal with old or antique car radiators. It just ...

Here is a tip to keep the new cross member in place and you probably know how to do it anyway. What I did is to bolt the crossmember in place with the same size bolts as the rivet. When you start to install the new rivets remove each bolt one at a time and then install the rivet. Yes it sounds simpl...

This thread reminds me of when I was in high school and occasionally seeing old cars that were in their late 30’s thru the 50’s going down the road and used as basic transportation. That was in the 60’s. Nothing fancy but just to get from one place to another is mostly what they were used for. Those...

Have to agree with Wayne Sheldon on this one! It’s kind of amazing what our younger folks don’t seem to know about the recent past. It’s not necessarily their fault but the the neglect of real history and geography by the educational system that’s gotten away from it. I’m glad there’s some like Rand...

Wow, that House of Crane Cigars T vehicle was quIte a head turner in its day I bet!

When you had the transmission out of the car did you follow the manual information about settings for the clutch screws? The manual has illustrations on the clutch finger adjustments and settings. Your using a to heavy weight oil in my opinion. Try some lighter weight detergent oil such 10w30 or sim...

Just for clarification what year is the T your looking at. But as others have said the engine number is on the block itself stamped over the water inlet. You probably know already but over time the engine number may not be the engine that came with the car. Most T engines would swap out and it was c...

You may already know but Fordwood has a decent 23-25 Coupe body wood picture on their website. You can go to Fordwood and see the drawing there along with the body wood and how it’s put together. It may help some. I have a 24 Coupe that has almost identical wood like yours does. I think that the bod...

My Grandfathers 24 Coupe was his daily driver up to 1954 when he couldn’t drive anymore. He was the 2nd owner when he bought it in 1942. Over time he installed a trailer hitch on it and when the wooden wheels got bad he bought some 28-29 Model A wheels and put on it. The Model A wheels were welded d...

I’m not sure if the blue panels go with the other panels. The two red or primer quarter panels may not be for Ford 15-22 Roadsters. BUT I may be wrong. I have a 1919 Roadster that doesn’t have the lower turn at the top where the quarter panel attaches to the front panel. Others more knowledgeable th...

I’ve had my share of transmission covers and some were worn worse than that. I used a cover that had less wear overall when picking one to use. Lang’s does list good used clutch release rings in their catalog so if someone wanted to replace one they are available. I would think the one your showing ...

Henyford2——-
I meant to say cadmium content rod using cadmium instead of silver. Anyway the health dept. cited the company and we started silver content rods again. And do remember the rods were coated with a bluish colored flux,
I do remember the owner didn’t like it when he got the citation.

I worked at a commercial air conditioner factory as a copper, brass, valve and line fabricator in the 1970’s. The owner was always trying to find ways to save on fabrication cost. We were using silver content brazing rods which were fairly expensive so he found a cadmium rod which worked and flowed ...

It’s probably one of the few if not the only T salvage yard there is. Glad it’s still there!

Say it ain’t so but I’ve thought the same thing. It’s like the Oak Island mystery. Almost but not quite.

These have been on this site for all to see many years. The 15-20 Touring -partial Roadster plans are Mel Miller’s. The Canadian plans aren’t.
If your building a 15-20 Touring these will help.

Concerning the early 2 pedal T’s the MTFCA encyclopedia states the first 750 or so cars had 2 pedals and uses the word approximate to come up with that number. I have a feeling that number has varied as time goes on. So if you see one on Craigslist nowadays you would have to wonder! Floyd Clymers Re...

Thanks for the update and am familiar with the encyclopedia info. I posted off the top of my head and couldn’t remember exactly how the 2 pedal cars worked.

The really noticeable difference between the early 09 T’s and the rest of the Brass T’s is that they had two pedals instead of three. That’s the biggest difference. Instead of having a pedal for the clutch or low speed it had a hand lever for the low speed along with a hand brake. So there were 2 pe...

Somebody does know what’s going on with Leon’s plans. And again hopefully they will be made available to the public in some manner.

Kmatts way is how I do it so I guess the trick using the piece of tape to hold things in place isn’t a new way to do it. Using thin wrench’s is a help. I do have a long straight thin headed wrench I use that also works well. And by the way I used lock washers instead of the cotter pins. ;) This is o...

Have to say Mark is right about Howells making the sheet metal parts. And yes I know they are slow and hard to work with. Pretty sure they don’t make up 50 or so panels for a certan T at one time. They probably know what moves the fastest and that they make a good number of them.

I guess the last post about the status of Leon Parker’s wood plans was in June of 2019. Hopefully what happens to them will be resolved soon. The plans being made avaliable in some way could be a real positive for the T Hobby. Hope this doesn’t wind up being a mystery like finding the elusive treasu...

Whatever supplier you buy from don’t expect the panel to exactly fit what you have. You usually have to do a little tweaking here and there. This is sort of the same thing when you buy a wood body kit. It won’t just drop in and match exactly. You have to tweet the panels or wood pieces to get them t...

You’re right. These days there is way to much information that can be had by most anybody.
It used to not be that way but unfortunately that’s the price we pay in our updated world. The internet is wide open to any and everybody.

The holes ought to round and not oval shaped. The holes are slightly bigger than the two pieces going to it. That’s my view anyway. Worn parts in this area can cause pedal adjustment issues. The same thing happens when the pedal cams get slightly worn. The adjustment gets a little different and that...

It appears that the metal firewall is a low firewall which would be a low cowl late 23 Fordor. The earlier 23 Fordor didn’t have the cowl vent. Doing a little reading Ford began to make changes in anticipation for the higher cowl or high radiator bodies. The difference in the earlier 23 and later 24...

I was thinking the body is a 24 or 25. The high radiator cars have the cowl vent as this one does.

The 9th photo down looks like a new 19 or 20 Coupe. That’s a nice shot of the new spare tire rim that’s on the car. If that’s a new T it’s one that hasn’t been driven very long! The Black paint still has that new glow on it even through its a black and white photo! The next to last photo of the Runa...

The original post mentioned that the driver had a hard time using the pedals. I started using the pedal extension for reverse and that helps. I also have the pedal add ons for the other two pedal to give me a little more wiggle room for my size 13’s so I don’t get my boots jumbled up using the pedals.

It would a near impossible task. It would be piecemeal at best. If I remember there is a registry for the 2 pedal T’s or it use to be some type of registry for the very early Fords. And that’s only because it’s not all that many. As Rusty Ford stated it’s hard enough to have one for a single year ca...

I have a 24 Coupe and it’s tight for a 6’3” guy like me. I don’t see how a big or may I say a ‘portly ‘person could get in one. Probably we are so used to using easily adjustable seats in our roomier cars and trucks it really seems real tight in a T. People back in the T era got use to driving a T d...

I have a 1919 Runabout and have to remember to use some sort of stick or dowel to prop up the deck lid if I’m changing the battery or something. I also have a 24 Coupe that has a trunk lid support arm that Ford supplied with the Coupes. Ford equipped the more expensive Coupe closed cars with a deck ...

The white tires I’ve seen on early cars such as a T weren’t really white but more of a Ivory color. Were they really ‘white‘ when new like the whitewall tires of the 50’s? I don’t think so but just asking.

The no.8 photo shows the changing times in a city. The horse drawn wagon going down the street. It looks like it was some kind of vendors wagon.

The 4th photo down with the big touring car isn’t a Ford but maybe a Winston or ?

Check out the suppliers under the resources section of this website. There is listed a gentleman in CA. that makes them. Don’t know if this is the supplier that Lang’s uses but I would call him ask see if he has what you need. His phone number is listed. Check the other parts suppliers first before ...

I have to say to each his own on this one. There was a time when you could find decent bows and irons at swap meets and maybe you still can but the ones that are being reproduced now are pretty good. The later irons around 1919 and up seem to have survived longer than the earlier oval ones. If you c...

When I do searches for T information I go off the forum and do a specific search for the info desired.
I just did a search for Model T 27 Coupe door glass replacement and got several older posts about how to do it. Lots of the forum posts always show up all the time doing it this way.

The photo Steve posted shows the same way the windshield rubber fits on my 21 Touring.
As Steve says the rubber piece is an h and not an H.
In fact the one on my 21 doesn’t look or fit like the one Mark is having an issue with on his 23 Roadster. Could it be that it’s not the correct one?

The windshield sealing rubber should be a little longer than the length of the glass. That allows cutting to fit the entire length of the glass. Looking at your photo close up where the two end caps on the upper and lower meets the upper cap looks a bit cocked up. That may be a rubbing issue on the ...

I do too. That’s what’s this forum is about. Asking questions is how we learn which is what this forum is all about to begin with. I’m not the smartest guy in the world and appreciate folks who answer questions for less educated folks like me that don’t have a ‘self appointed engineer degree’.

Try fastenersclearinghouse.com. They list that size in several different types of screws.

The two running chassis only cars outside must be the ones you could buy and build your own set up on it. It was a good deal and the cost must have been cut at least a third of a complete vehicle. Neat photos.

To Peter in Memphis. You’ve got the right idea on cranking a hard to start starter or no starter T. I learned that from my Uncle in the late 1950’s when I inherited my Grandfathers 24 Coupe. If you have a low battery, carb issues and etc using this method works. It won’t wear you out and not risking...

You can do it easily enough if you pull the motor forward enough ahead of the firewall and remove the transmission cover from there. You also can do it in place fairly easy if you go under the car and remove all the nuts and bolts from there instead of trying to do it from the top. It’s harder to do...

Modern pistons would be aluminum pistons which are lighter and 3 rings above the wrist pins. At least for a T. Most believe they are an improvement and I think they are. I don’t keep up with improvements in auto engines but I doubt any of what we would consider modern autos use cast iron pistons. Bu...

I had some pulling to one side issues on my 21 Touring. Checked the alignment which seemed OK. The tie rod end ball yoke had up and down movement from wear so I decided to buy a NOS yoke from Lang’s. After installing the pulling to one side issue went away! I wouldn’t have thought it would cause tha...

This has been brought up before but what ever happened to this prototype T. Or did it wind up on the early production line and get sold. Guess we’ll never know for sure.

Paint and body stores sell Metal Prep or or something similar in gallon jugs to use when giving auto body parts or entire bodies a wash before final prime and paint. It has phosphorous acid in it to remove any oils or residue and to give good adhesion for the applied coatings. It’s good to use for s...

Jonah what also can help you getting to know a Model T is to get the vendors catalogs. They are valuable in getting to know the parts for a T. There is lots of information about which parts are for what years. You can call Snyder’s, Lang’s, Chaffins Garage to name some some that will send you a cata...

Wrong location. I use the Ford service manual when I put a T transmission together. Or at least refer to it before I put a T transmission, differential or engine together. I’ve rebuilt a few T components but a refresh of what I’m going to do keeps me from doing the wrong thing. Been there and done t...

I have a 1919 Runabout and my top is folded in pretty much like your last photo. I push it in evenly the best that I can and seems to help. Without the boot covering the top it doesn’t have the finished look. But it’s OK. It might help if there were photos from the factory showing what they looked l...

When the head light buckets go repainted did you make sure the bucket socket doesn’t have paint in it? If it’s painted there’s not a good ground.

In Fords thinking if the part worked that was OK. Never mind a blemish. I have a few T blocks and one has a slightly blurred Ford script on it. Sometimes the O in the Ford script isn’t real clear and others are. I’m sure others have noticed this over the years also. Probably when the casting was tak...

If you use some type of sealant make sure the surfaces are clean. If you apply the sealant or glue over the painted surface of the slot the paint might let go and the bumper won’t stay in. The surface needs to be the metal only. My 24 Coupe’s bumpers are still in it and seem to be wedged in tight. W...

Go to resources on this website and to the older version of the encyclopedia. Click on carburetors and you can find pics and information of the NH carburetors. Enlarge the pics to see differences and changes in the NH. You can use Lang’s catalog also to date what changes were made by the years the p...

Probably what happened there was a design change and there were wrenches that weren’t stamped very well and yours was used when the new different script logo was used. It wouldn’t be surprising that there are wrench’s that had defects and yours was one of them and was finally used. But of course it’...

Post a pic if possible. I have some T brackets for the top bows but not sure what you mean.

Rich E’s Dodge pic looks to be right on. Think he got it in my view! The inside door latches look alike.

I don’t think it’s a Ford. Looking closely the steering wheel is different than a Ford and the small light or whatever it is on the cowl isn’t Ford. To me anyway. To me it’s maybe a Dodge or similar car that’s a Fordor. There were other cars in that era that had the Fordor look that were real simila...

Wouldn’t look to good but you could put a small water hose clamp around it to help hold it together! There is room for it to clear and it would work but would look patched up. Some would not like that.
That’s what’s called a farm fix but would work till a better transmission cover is found.

As for BucketT’s or as some say T Bucket’s even in my younger hot rod days they just didn’t appeal to me. But the early V8 Fords did. Wished I would have bought one in those days. Saw several for less than a thousand but wound up with a 56 Ford for $175.00. I still think about the 34 Ford V8 Coupe t...

Since the parts are not in a bind or stress or in other words just sitting there using JB Weld might work for a while. BUT the parts have to be really clean! Use lacquer thinner, gas or somthing to get the pieces CLEAN! Carefully use the JB weld to repair the two pieces. After they have set and and ...

The guy that put in the comment about Model T parts in the add is same kind of guy that will put ‘bumpers’ in the back of a crowd to get people to keep bidding on an item to get the highest price. Not all auctioneers would do stuff like that but it does happen. Also using the term buyers premium foo...

Hopefully the two bottom holes have good threads. The threads can be stripped if the pieces aren’t lined up correctly when they are assembled or over tightened. But by all means the wire is necessary to keep the bolts from turning out.

What’s the difference. Heat range or?

Go to Wal-Mart, the Dollar Store, Auto-zone etc and buy their house brand oil. No need to buy exotic expensive oil. I like 10w-30 and as others have 5w-30 if your area gets really cold. And again house brand oil is much better than oil used in the ModelT era. You can’t go wrong with it. You can spen...

Put some Motorcraft or Autolite new plugs in it. Their inexpensive and see what’s happens. I have I have Motorcraft in mine and it runs fine but all T’s are a little different. Champion X’s are fine for some but for others other brands work better. Everybody has their preference. That would be the c...

Did it have a rough idle before the new coils and Anderson timer? All the connections tight going to the coil box from the plugs? I had an occasional miss on my 24 and checked and rechecked until I found the barely loose plug wire to the coil box. I checked all the harder things over and over and ov...

Learned something on this post about those felt wicks being in the holes in the handbrake. Didn’t realize they were originally there for lubrication and oiling. The ones I have looked at over the years were stopped up with crud or so I thought! If the shaft was rusted tight I don’t think I would for...

Larry have you gotten any of the repair manuals that’s available to repair parts of a Model T? The vendors sell them and if you don’t have them the Ford service manual is overall what’s needed to learn about repairs on a T. Also available are the individual manuals for different aspects of a T. If y...

Good post Chad on the modifications that need to be done for the aluminum radiator to fit. It sounds like you could have a new core put in an original radiator if you paid someone to modify and buy an aluminum one. Some have the skills to do it and others not so much so that would be an issue for so...

Tdump makes a lot of sense! It sure seems like that the folks in China could make a radiator that would fit a Model T with no modifications. It may be there is more of a market for the hot rod market than for original cars but what do I know. At least they could move the water inlets to the correct ...

The answer to the question of whether the $300.00 aluminum T radiator is junk is no. It won’t leak and it’s designed for what the add says. It’s cheaper because it’s all aluminum and cheaper to make. T bucket hot rods with a modern V8 engine of some sort is what it’s for. It would work in a stock T ...

Surely the steering column isn’t a piece of tubing! Hopefully at least it was the standard solid column. But I would never thought a steering column would twist in to like that. The ones I have found in junk yards and farm auctions were used as pry bars, chisels and no telling what but for a break l...

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