MTFCA Forum

The real reason stock Model T's run rich on the front two cylinders. The problem is due to the design of the carburetor and the shape of the intake manifold. The carburetor supplies fuel at the bottom of the venturi in the form of a puddle. The bottom side of the intake manifold is gently curved fro...

I think the 2nd and the 3rd and maybe the 4th bows are too high. To see if that is the case, the front bow can be lifted up a couple of inches or so to see if the front of the top fits better. For reference the 2nd bow on my 1911 T is 32-1/2 in. high from body pivot to top of bow. The third bow is a...

Hi Dave, Looks like you are having fun. Our car does not have any magnets or slingers on the flywheel to splash oil. Only the bolt heads that attach the starter ring gear. I do have and recommend the accessory oil supply that attaches to the left side of the hogshead and feeds oil to the front of th...

I had a petcock come loose and fall out when I used Teflon tape for sealing the threads, but only tightened it to the position I wanted instead of fully tightening it.
Luckily I caught it in time so no damage occurred.

For minimal cost versus driving improvement, I would recommend the following: 1. Increase the compression ratio with a high compression head. This will give the biggest horsepower gain alone, above all other additions, and it is easy to add. 2. Add dippers and X-groove the connecting rods to get bet...

I like to thread and plug the core holes as was done on the 1913 and earlier blocks. The existing core holes sometimes do not even need to be tap drilled as the holes are nearly the correct size for a 1/2 in pipe tap. I start by getting the tap to go in a short distance. Then I install the pipe plug...

Gene, Glad to hear John is still making top socket sets. A belt sander can make fitting the top bows in the sockets go much faster. As you are fitting the bows in the sockets, install the assemblies on the car in the folded position to make sure they align with each other, and that the sockets fit t...

Gene, I had John Boorinakis make new top sockets for my T about 10 years ago. I think he is still making them. He can make complete sets or use your original ends and pieces and attach new sockets on them. He fills the sockets with Epoxy or something similar to keep them from rusting inside. I am ve...

Here is how I did our 1911. It is similar to what was done on many cars of that period. I made the end covers to hold down the tack strip. Makes for a finished look and they don't come loose. The small strip that covers the front of the windshield frame doesn't keep the rain out. At speed the top ra...

Many years ago while on a tour I had number 1 rod get loose in a freshly rebuilt engine. When I dissembled the engine I found a longitudinal crack on number 1 crank journal. It was about 3/4 inch long and could barely be felt by dragging a fingernail across it. So I'm of the opinion to get a good us...

Out of curiosity I would like to know what the bearing inner diameter measurement is using a precision inside micrometer. My suspicion is the bearing is within tolerance. Since the Ruckstell bronze part is relatively soft, it is easy to form it under size if the bearing tilts ever so slightly while ...

Get some glass fiber reinforced packing tape. It doesn't stretch. Carefully apply the tape on the flat part of the inside perimiter of the steel felloe next to the spokes. Cut the ends of the tape so they just touch. Remove tape and re-apply on a flat surface. Measure the length and divide by PI. (3...

I found on our car when attempting to chase the petcock threads with a new 1/8 pipe tap, that the tap would bottom out against the flywheel before enlarging the threads in the pan. The tap length needed to be shortened to work.

I used a small external extension spring to keep the NH carburetor choke lever open on our car. I installed one end of the spring in one of the holes in the choke lever, then stretched the spring down and around the float bowl and attached the other end to the drain spigot handle. I did it in such a...

The VW distributors need an external ground from the distributor head to the engine to insure electrical continuity while the engine is running. Otherwise the vibrations from the running engine can cause an intermittent connection between the distributor and the ground path and cause rough running.

With the magnets removed from the flywheel, it is common to add flappers to churn the oil. Contrary to what many people think, the flappers are not needed, especially if there is a starter ring gear installed. Also, the flappers are prone to breakage if not built strong enough. I have seen that happ...

Lots of warm engine free starts may indicate that the carburetor mixture is set too rich.

Tony, After messing with the radius rods on the rear end of your car, you should check that the rear wheels are properly aligned. Fellow club member Less V's 13 touring was wearing out rear tires way too soon. He found the rear wheels had considerable tow-out. He was able to correct it by adjusting ...

Steve, If you haven't already, Try adding compressed air through the spark plug holes. That may help in determining where the compression pressure is escaping. Another thing to help identify the problem is to look at what has changed since it was running well. Doing this is not easy and requires lot...

I had a timer brush spring that had too much force fail on a tour years ago. The spring got hot enough from the friction of the brush against the timer contact face that it lost its temper and collapsed. I replaced it with a spring from a ball point pen and continued on the tour. The car ran for man...

There are several things that can be done to help prevent the pistons from seizing. The aluminum pistons that are available today are not optimally designed and manufactured. The areas where the skirts attach to the top part of the piston is comparatively large and lets a lot of heat to transfer to ...

Big Boy 4014 Linkages

Catalina Island 1988; K thru 8th grade school kids posing in car.
I think 11-13 kids got in the car at once, because who wants to go second?

I found on a couple of 1925 1926 blocks I disassembled that the rear main bearings had a considerable amount of contaminants embedded in them. On earlier engines that was not the case. I believe this is because the later blocks have oil supply holes for the rear main drilled on both the front side a...

I have seen a piston pin become slightly tight in a piston after the pin clamping bolt was tightened in the connecting rod. The pin fit was fine before the bolt was tightened and fine when the bolt was loosened. I think it is because the rod does not clamp the pin with even force around the perimete...