MTFCA Forum

If you do remove the tank which can be a hassle and have it cleaned, repaired and etc remember to fill it with gas and let it sit for a day or two with the gas cap on it. Only after doing that replace the tank. Don’t assume it’s OK when you put the car back together and then put gas in it. Believe i...

Some of the steel felloe’s in the 17-25 era are so close you can hardly see the difference. The rims will bolt right up to them. People would use what would work when T ‘s were the common car and that’s probably why there are some that are found that have mismatched wheels on them.

Mark
I’ve had this cover and nut for years in a box of parts and thought it looked like the later style cover but mine looks shorter so I wonder if it’s for a Ford. It’s marked Schrader and 2 1/8” long and the threads are good on the cover and nut.

The question would be, does he sell it and what would they do with it.

Soak them in your bathtub. That’s worked for some people. A friend here in town years ago did that to help shape the bows. Anyway in water for a day or two will get you to the point where you can shape them.

I would use red since that’s what seems to be closest to what Ford probably used. Notice I said ‘probably’ since that’s what the vendors say. As for clamps the original style that’s being sold is OK but as George says you can’t get the hoses tight enough in some instances. One of my cars has a recor...

Good point Rich E. After a while a lot of people could go out and buy a nice T. But also a lot of people wouldn’t have the time or money and maybe not even enough nohow to build one up from parts. Not trying to run anybody down but there is a satisfaction in knowing that you did something that not e...

Like other Model T components they weren’t always made to exact measurements. They were generally in the correct position but not exact. Machined parts were a different story but body parts and etc not quite so close. My opinion after buying NOS parts and finding out they weren’t as accurate all the...

It could be that the dealers, agency’s, independent garages and etc. would have parts ready to go and rebuilt for T’s as time went on. Since many of the parts and assemblies would work on different model years of a T it’s probably why many cars aren’t exactly as they should be according to the puris...

As far as my cars go I did try keep them period correct as much as I could. The 19 and 21 I have are around 95% or more correct according to their year and body style.

Go to the MTFCA home page and go to resources and then go to suppliers. There are companies that make the Kevlar bands. Nev r wear, red hook and others sell Kevlar bands. Also Snyder’s has them in their catalog. You can check out their web page and contact them. Contact the other companies to see if...

Isn’t the guy Will Rodgers? I’m not for sure but sort of does look like him.

I was thinking that the business was taken over. I’m thinking I read that on the forum but not sure.

Cory, I have 2 Model T’s (cobbled together) as some say but as you said built up from parts. My first T was the 24 Coupe which I inherited from my Grandfather in 1959 and it was a complete car. The other 2 are built up from parts. My 1919 Roadster was a main body shell I bought for 25.00. The fender...

If I was going to add brakes to one of my T’s I think I would go with AC brakes. I met the owner at Chickasha a few years ago and checked them out. Probably Rocky Mountain brakes are the most popular but the AC brakes are pretty good too. In my mind they’ve been under the radar for many years. Then ...

Hey George! I meant to say flat tube when I was referring to my comment about radiators. And yes he has a flat bed! And the flat tube radiator I bought was a Bergs. Great radiator and works just fine. No boil over. If there is a good older radiator shop in your area they can put in a flat tube core ...

The originals were made in the USA. Later they were made in Japan. I have one that I used and it worked fine. The Japan made ones must be at least 40 years old I would think as that’s about the time I bought one from JC Whitney.

Another good T information book and history of the changes of the car over the years is ‘From here to Obscurity’.
Of course there are a few other good ones but the above book really helped me along with the Ford service manual. And your wife will love that one! Maybe

The last paragraph of Norms post says it all. Take a little time and find a running car that’s still pretty decent. Before that find someone or a club in your area and ask to take a drive in one and just maybe they will let you drive it. Get the Ford service manual and get aquainted with what makes ...

From your description it sounds like the pedal notches are worn to the point that your pedals are going to far over or bottoming out and yet you still have good band thickness. In other words no more pedal left to adjust. Has the transmission cover been gone through before? If not remove the cover a...

Is the radiator an original or a flatbed replacement or? If it’s an original that’s probably part or all of your problem. But as others have said it could also be overfilled, timing etc. In my experience I’ve found that if you deal with heating problems it usually turns out to be an old radiator. I ...

Yes, the drag link you have is totally worn out. I don’t think the insert you can buy would help it.
Call Lang’s and see if they have one. They have lots of good usable parts.

Hi Lisa and welcome to world of Model T’s! Yes Model T’s are unique cars. And at the same time you will be dealing with almost 100 year old technology. Remember that a Model T won’t drive like a modern car or pickup. They don’t have real brakes like the car you drive and speed away from a dead stop ...

The switch Back is an original pin type and not repo. The first harness I bought a few years ago had the correct eyes for the screws. The last harness I bought had eyes that were almost big enough that the original screw heads would almost go through it. I should have called the supplier about it bu...

That’s good that you found it!
The simple fix things are usually the hardest to find sometimes. I’ll bet that’s happened to more than few T’s.

I was lucky on one case just carefully prying the tabs just enough to get the rods out.
Taped back down OK.

Not so much on the 21 case!
There was enough of the broken ear to tap back down but I think one more time I wouldn’t be so lucky.

I replaced the switch wire harness on my 21 Touring 2 years ago and the terminals on the wire were to big that attach to the switch plate back.They worked but it bugs me to the point of replacing it.
Anybody know if that’s been changed since then from the vendors.
Thanks

WOW Dan!
That has to be one for the record books!
Using that gear as a guide for how long they will run makes Ignacios gear look
good for a lot more miles down the road.

In my case I was restoring the car so I pulled of the fenders and running boards so I could straighten and repaint the fenders individually. I removed the spare tire carrier so I could roll out the chassis from under the body. The spare tire holder is attached to the frame and was to tall to clear t...

Here’s what I did to remove the body of my 24 Coupe. It’s essentially the same for the later 25-27 T’s. This is the one man way to do it. Find a location in you shop to set the body in place. Remove the body to frame bolts and the exhaust pipe. Remove the fenders, spare tire carrier and running boar...

Think he means the field coil.

For what it’s worth I used Johnson’s in Oklahoma for my 21 Touring wheels. Excellent quality plus extra nice crating for the wheels. Their packing and crating was over the top and that’s what was impressive.

It would interesting to know how old the buyer of the 1914 was. I have to agree with FJ that things will be different in some ways. Peoples point of view of what’s really important will change.

In today’s world and what’s going on has a lot to do in interest in old cars, and anything that’s collectible. Circumstances dictate any kind interest when times are unpredictable. To be realistic in the old car world what would you do if you were around 60 years old and you saw a Model T, a 57 Chev...

Is your gas caps vent hole stopped up? The next time your car gets hot after a drive and you park it remove the gas cap a bit and then try to start it. If it starts right up your car is vapor locking. Most any old car or tractor that has a gravity feed gas flow will do that if it gets hot with a non...

Yes I’ve seen pics of the axle straightening wrench and the repos. It did seem to me that using a 1/2” piece of steel and making the wrench end and welding it on a piece of thick wall drill stem pipe about 5-6 ft long would work. Ive got the drill stem and flat iron on the farm to make one. Thats an...

Thanks for the replies. Crawled under the front end and noticed some looseness in the ball and yoke. Went ahead and ordered some tie rod bolts and replacing those while I’m at it with a new yoke and ball. I don’t think it’s the reason for pulling to the left and will check things out closer after th...

Interesting post about the old style rods. Without a doubt lots of the old style heavier rods were sent to the scrap yard over time. Most vendors won’t take them for a core for rebabiting so the question would be what to do with them. I have a few still around somewhere if I haven’t thrown them out....

My 21 Touring seems to be pulling to the left. I intend to check the toe end this weekend and have read previous posts about it. Seems that folks have different ideas about the cause of pulling to one side. Don’t think the axle is bent but would out of adjustment toe end cause it?

Get you a screwdriver or something that will wedge between the frame and the bottom nut and then try to remove the top nut. I’ve also used a chisel that worked just right before that wedged pretty tight.

George I have used as well as others a 1/4 drill to clean up T blocks for years with no issue. In fact it’s works fine. Unless the numerous blocks I’ve had were misdrilled from the factory a 1/4” drill works fine for me. To each their own.

T radiator too.

Ignacio, Very interesting to hear your experience when you pulled the head on your engine and found out how much the engine was stopped up in the water passageways. Years ago when taking apart the engine on my first T I wondered why the block didn’t have the back 2 small holes (or so I thought!) tha...

First impression is a 16 with the headlights and later stuff added on but what caught my eye was the radiator. Looks like it has been leaking for a while and probably age has caught up with it. Wonder what the title says what year it is. Brass cars have the big ticket item which is the radiator and ...

If your car hasn’t had the head off in many years the best way to clean up your block is to remove the head and clean out the small water passageways with a 1/4” drill. You may can flush it out to an extent but flushing won’t remove the hardened rust from the small passageways well. The holes are ju...

When the car is warmed up and running smooth does it seem to stumble or have a slight miss when you speed up the engine while in park? Does it speed up smooth at different spark spark and throttle positions while in park? If it does any of that it could be carb or coil settings or issues. But if it’...

If that’s the only so called defect in the horn that’s not much to worry about. Everybody has their level of how perfect they want their car to be but fixing the crack by soldering or whichever way to make the crack less noticeable would be fine. After the horn is polished or painted nobody but a pe...

Somebody body needs to buy it and drive it in a Labor Day parade.

If you take your axle to a shop please tell them not to try to ‘force ‘ the gear on the new shaft! If they have a large press the operator will the have the idea to force it on and be done with it. Ask them to mic the i.d. of the gear and the o.d. of your axle shaft to make sure the shaft isn’t to b...

Good luck to whoever buys it.

Wonder if they had fashion face masks during the 1918 flu pandemic.

Easy to identify the 26-27 transmission covers. They have the 2 ears on top where the bolts go through to the rear of the engine block. They are a dead giveaway.

Could be talking about the corners of the transmission cover where it meets the engine block. The corners are notorious for leaking in that area after a few years. A good dab of sealant in those corners usually cures it.

Didn’t no that about the magnet bolts and whether to wire them or not. I had to think twice about it after seeing this post. The last T I restored was my 21 Touring. I found a correct engine for that year at Chickasha and rebuilt it. It had the magneto bolt wires on and I rewired them after the tran...

Wonder what the folks looked like inside with the flying glass in the center door! The glass went somewhere! But maybe the cars parts were piled up after the wreck? Kinda looks like it was staged that way with the people standing behind it. Makes you wonder.

Agree with the above. What ever you do don’t take the car all apart at the beginning of trying to get it running. Do what some call a refresh of the car. Not a restoration. Clean up the gas tank, go through the electrical wiring, get the coils rebuilt, change the oil, get a new battery of course and...

Is it brass? The last brush end bushing I took out was made of some sort of pot metal or hard aluminum. Maybe Ford started using brass as a replacement material in their later parts to be used in production.

Have you tried getting a bonded title? There are bonded title companies in the states that deal with old cars that will know what you need In most situations. It’s fairly common to locate antique cars that don’t have any kind of paperwork and sometimes using a bonded title company is the only sure w...

Starter armateur bushing on the brush holder end I think.

Going through T parts I’ve had since the late 60’s I saved the borderline parts and stored them out of the weather. I may thin things down some more but I saved this pre starter flywheel. So far! When did Ford use this style of magnet clamps. These are different than the later style that’s usually s...

The bolt that’s missing is exactly the same kind that’s right above it. Not trying to be a smart ***** but the bolt is a fine thread like most of the other engine pan bolts. That paticular one is an all thread 3/8 24 x 1 1/2“ length but not exactly sure about the length. Be sure when you replace it ...

Here’s an exploded view of a Kingston L4. It may give you an idea of what the parts are for. Click on the pic for larger clear view. It’s from Lang’s catalog.

I can imagine that the classic car industry of parts houses, auctions, restoration shops have slowed down in one way of another because of the COVID situation. Probably some more and some less depending on the state and hysteria some will have over it. The Ecklers folks continually send me catalogue...

Wow! That’s really nice those young guys are actually doing something and learning some skills! This is teaching them how to function in life and be useful! Not just about learning about Model T’s but staying off their phones and knowing there is other things that’s to do besides using X boxes and I...

Yes if you have the engine that came with the car there should be someone in you area thats a rebuilder. Ask on the ad page who is a rebuilder in your area. You will find one that way. But if it’s just the car without the engine you will need to find a engine or at least a block in that year range t...

Also could be the engine was put together to tight. Ford would run them in at the factory.
Nowadays some tend to make the tolerances really close in thinking it’s better that way. It would be but to much could lead to issues. Could be some of the areas mentioned earlier.

Glad to hear some interest in my post.
Rickg—— could it be that one wore more because of the way it was set up?
Hard to say I guess what it was but seems like the roller bearings would work and be an improvement but I guess it’s “try it if you like it” I guess.

Old tractors are kinda of that way too. Fairly easy to fix and simple mechanically. No computers, electronic ignition and etc. Used to be an ‘old sayin’ that was ‘simple works the best‘ and that’s pretty much true. Believe it or not more than a few young mechanics at car dealerships have never set b...

Finally getting around to going through the differential in my 1919 Runabout. Wondering how good are the thrust washer roller bearings that have been around for many years. Yes I know the preferred original style brass thrust washers seem the best type to use going by past posts but somebody still m...

I went through 3 radiators, cleaning them up and etc, for my 24 Coupe. The last one I bought was a decent looking original and after a short drive and a boil over I finally spent the money and bought a new Bergs. No more boil over and the car just seems better with a good working radiator. You may g...

For what it’s worth Lang’s sells the rivets 6200RIV for most 17-27 carburetors,
1/16” dia. X 3/16” long and have a oval head. So says Lang’s.
So if you have a 1/16” hole maybe a tap or two to put them in if the holes are not exactly that size and you didn’t wallow out the hole?

On that carb drip, slightly tap on the carb and it might stop the drip. That’s an old trick to see if the needle is sticking in it. If it stops dripping you’ve found the issue if not it could be a bowl gasket.

If at all possible don’t throw them away. What’s welded on can be taken off easy enough and they can be cleaned up OK. Lots of old parts have been saved and cleaned up. I try to save what can repaired and used again. If the parts are to rusted up and it’s just a part of something they are to far gone.

If at all possible don’t throw them away. What’s welded on can be taken off easy enough and they can be cleaned up OK. Lots of old parts have been saved and cleaned up. I try to save what can repaired and used again.

For what its worth they make reproduction tags and also the rivets in case you try to remove it. I haven’t had to do it on my NH rebuilds. I’ve used air and fine wire such as a guitar string to clean out the small passageways. But if you mess up the original trying to take it off the new ones look p...

Since you have it out get you some fine sandpaper, steel wool or something similar and polish it nice and smooth. The stationary “roller” and the channel it rides on. Think of keeping a slide in a pistol smooth. The smoother it is the better it works. The smooth surface will make a slightly noticeab...

The roller might ought to roll. Not sure but it sure might. I used white grease on the tracks and the roller of my 24 Coupe It works good for tracks, rollers, slides and gear drive chains. It won’t congeal or get hard for a good while if it does at all and cold won’t affect it. We used it in mainten...

When you have followed the forum for a while you will see that folks will have different opinions about which is best or not about things about T’s. As far as timers are concerned the New Days are what I use in my T’s. A lot of T owners use and like them and the best and simple to use. Roller timers...

Welcome to the world of Model T’s ! You mentioned your car is a 23 Touring made in late 22. If that’s the correct engine that came with the car it’s a low cowl 23 T in that time frame. A little later the bodies were changed again to the high cowl or high radiator style as some call it. The low cowl ...

Here is a drawing I got several years ago from the radiator stud kit for my 24 Coupe. Bought it from from one of the vendors. I was thinking the pads were used up to 1919 then discontinued. May be wrong and not sure. Anyway the drawing gives you an idea of the sequence for the pieces.

On my tractors and the T ‘s that I have I make sure the hose fittings are clean and when I install them I coat the inside of the hose with a light coat of grease so the hose will easily slide on the hose outlets. Been doing it that way since I was a kid here on the farm and repairing tractors. Works...

I went to those early pasture Pate swap meets. Around 30+ years ago at the very least.
Wonder where that TT went to. At least there is one out there somewhere. Maybe.

Interesting information. There was a type of the woven screen similar to what’s pictured in some of the air base hangers I worked in years ago. If a Dodge Truck body with the screen survived there should be a Ford screen body somewhere I would think that survived. But like a lot of the less popular ...

Wonder what the screens would have used for at the time. Probably why you see more of the panel and stake bed style than the screens. The screens weren’t that popular.

Somebody has one like I thought! Just wondering if you still have the screens, neat.

Going through my reprint Ford March 1927 body parts book I saw this Truck body. The book calls it a Canopy Roof and Screens body for 24-26 Trucks. Didn’t see one on the Photos page for Trucks. Maybe I missed it somewhere else.
I’ve seen the rest but not this one. Is it scarce?

Wow! Your farm trailer, hay wagon has the same tounge set up on it like the one that was a T chassis(wagon) I bought at a local farm auction 40 plus years ago! That must have been some type of kit or the same guy was making them and selling them. I’m in Central Texas close to Waco, so not all that f...

As Norm said and also a way to to see what kind of clutch adjustment you have is to place the car on a level floor and place the hand brake in a straight up position. You should be able move the car fairly easy by either pushing it or pulling it by the spare tire carrier from behind. Or see if you p...

Steve —on your tank stick I’m assuming that the square tank reading would be for the 26-27 cowl tanks? The earlier square tanks in the early Coupes had a square tank. Just wondering.
I have a tank stick but it has oval and round tank markings only.

This has been an interesting post and with lots of ideas. I think we need to remember as others have stated that Model T’s aren’t really all that safe to begin with with what we nowadays are use to. When they were built it was less than a generation from horse and buggy’s. There were no seat belts, ...

That’s something that’s overlooked. New fenders don’t have the brackets. The reason is probably that the original brackets were pressed into shape on a press and the cost to reproduce them wouldn’t be cheap. Lots of old rusted up fenders have gone to the scrap yards when the brackets should have bee...

I have a NOS pair of rear fender brackets for a 24 Coupe. Think they are the same as the 24 Roadster. Let me know if you can’t find any.

What kind of car and year.

That’s a really nice unit for the shop! I think we know that these older shop tools and equipment aren’t as plentiful as they use to be. It’s great that they are still out there but at the same time many wound up in salvage yards and still do and scrapped. That’s a shame. At the largest salvage yard...

If you want to find another tapered leaf, the shortest one, you could use a later leaf which are more plentiful and grind it down to a taper. Or just find the later short leaf and use that.
You would really have to look to notice it. Depends on how correct you want to be of course.

That’s the best answer yet!

A what if, could be, ought to, depends on situation, in the best interest of, and etc response for the question.
Seat belts in anything that moves? But as Dan says it’s all over the place.

Hello As stated in other postings the black era cars will be more plentiful and maybe cheaper on the price than a Brass T from 16 back. Black era cars are from 17-25 and called that because black was the only color you could get and those years were when they were more cars made than the earlier yea...

The last trans cover I removed was in my 24 Coupe. I pulled it off and replaced it while the engine was in the car. That was a few years ago BUT now since I’m older and can’t twist and turn like I use to I’m not so sure about doing it again! Took about a day at the time and a few breaks between the ...

I have a 1919 Runabout, Roadster , Torpedo or whatever you want to call it just like what’s pictured. I restored mine to as close as I thought I could get to what I thought it was. In saying all that I decided it was at least a 1919 because of the seat riser which had the hole for the starter switch...

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