MTFCA Forum

Erik Barrett

Find a two port head. They are out there.

Erik Barrett

I don’t buy stuff from ACME.

Erik Barrett

Overheads want more spring pressure because the weight of the pushrods, heavier valves, and higher rpm range can all contribute to valve float.

Erik Barrett

I have seen A springs in a model T. I think they put too much pressure on the cam bearings which are much larger in an A. I use new springs and you can shim them if you want more pressure but I have not found it necessary. The valves won’t float until you are way past the rpm limits of most T engines.

Erik Barrett

Mark, I sent a message. My Dodge is an early 1916.

Erik Barrett

It looks like several Laycock overdrives made for me by Mickey and Rich in Bakersfield. I have never had a problem with any of them and they work great. When used in combination with a Ruckstell with a left land shifter it is the best setup I have ever used in a model T. Test drive a car equipped li...

Erik Barrett

All of the Chaffin Ruckstell parts I have use are of superior quality to the originals.

Erik Barrett

Head gasket.

Erik Barrett

.080” will not be a problem unless there is a lot of core shift in your block casting, which is rare but does happen. I would not be afraid to punch it out to that point, I have built many that large. We have built two full race overhead engines here bored out to 3.879”. That’s nearly.140” oversize....

Erik Barrett

Reminds me of this.

Erik Barrett

Do you have the low or high speed gears? Now is the time to put high speed gears in if you don’t have them. They have six teeth on the worm gear.

Erik Barrett

Second attempt at posting. Hope two of them don’t pop up. Anyway, I have been there. Working late one night shortening a driveshaft tube for a Warford I forgot to put the four bolt collar back on the tube before welding the flange back on. Rats. I sliced the collar in two and welded it back together...

Erik Barrett

If it is a ring seating problem, Bon Ami does work with updraft carbs. Don’t ask me how I know.

Erik Barrett

Do a leakdown test to find out where you are losing compression. Lock the engine at TDC and apply compressed air to the cylinder. You will hear it leak at the carb, exhaust, or crankcase. These Buicks are prone to problems with the valve cages. They can move and misalign with the ports if the nuts a...

Erik Barrett

Either a vaporizer or an NH is correct for 26/27 cars. The vaporizer was designed to use the very low quality fuel available at that time. Really not necessary now and the NH is the better choice with modern gas.

Erik Barrett

There were quite a few cars like the Mercedes that were starter from a static condition. I think possibly the “Beast of Turin” Fiat race car does as well. Engines with raised compression ratios from performance accessories rarely give free starts because they bounce back from TDC before stopping so ...

Erik Barrett

Do you have a gap gauge or do you need to use mine?

Erik Barrett

I have run into these. There were a bunch made years ago. I think it’s Caterpillar brake lining. Hard on drums and prone to chatter.

Erik Barrett

Yes, it is, but it’s for a TT truck.

Erik Barrett

Same parts.

Erik Barrett

Certainly, and as suggested it is a good idea to use studs and nuts. Dan McEachern has them.

Erik Barrett

I set valves at .012” intake and .014” exhaust at TDC compression stroke. Torque head at 25, then 40, then 50 lbs/ft. if you are using the early block. Go to 55 lbs/ft if you are using a later block. Retorque several times until it holds torque.

Erik Barrett

What Dan said. Piston travel adjustment works well with all original Ford parts. Any new parts and you will do better with the cam grinders’s recommendation. Cam gear can go on either way, makes no difference.

Erik Barrett

Ok so the question is now, how far did you drive before you had to turn around and go home? I went about 600 miles.

Erik Barrett

Rats. Got the rig loaded up and make it to Kingman before they pulled the plug. I knew better but couldn’t help myself. Had to tie the stuff in the trailer down real good for this pic.

Erik Barrett

Dodge Brothers

Erik Barrett

That’s pretty much everything. I’ll do this with you. Easily handled in a weekend. You supply the electrical parts, I have the rest. I’ll call when I have a moment to talk.

Erik Barrett

Amen Jim. See you there.

Erik Barrett

Thanks guys. I promise when we get there everything will be right side up. Looking forward to the pizza feed. My best memory of those events in the past was many years ago when I was there and Bruce McCauley walked in. I shouted ALL RISE! When they saw who it was they did so. My dad worked for Bruce...

Erik Barrett

1910 T and 1909 EMF stuffed in the trailer. Leaving next Sunday. Pics are sideways as usual posting from IPhone. Only a problem here.

Erik Barrett

I will as soon as I pick it up. I am delivering it there for a friend.

Erik Barrett

Bringing a 1910 T and a 1910 Flanders.

Erik Barrett

Auburn Ca. Not quite as far as Seattle.

Erik Barrett

What Norm describes is a cylinder leakdown test and is exactly what should be done next. It will provide a definitive answer to where your lost compression is going. Most likely it will be valves but there are several possibilities. The trickiest part of this test is getting the engine on perfect TD...

Erik Barrett

Thanks everyone. Dad was in L.A. when the MTFCA was started. He was a member of the International club and retained that membership but embraced the new club and its different attitude centered on touring and fellowship rather than showing brass era cars. He knew all the founding members. Not only d...

Erik Barrett

Thank you everyone for your kind words. We all miss dad and are thankful for the times we had with him.

Erik Barrett

Yesterday my mentor, teacher, role model, best friend, and father passed away at 85 years old. He taught me how to be a man, to love others as myself, how to work on the old machinery for which we shared a passion, and about God’s grace so abundant in our lives. He taught me how to drive a model T a...

Erik Barrett

Les, I would like to have one for my TA14. Count me in.

Erik Barrett

I am going to agree with my friend yellow T racer on this one. The specification he gave is about twice the positive caster Ford called for on the model T. We have found this is perfect for light cars and especially for fast cars. And he’s right, model T’s don’t need laser alignment. A carpenter’s s...

Erik Barrett

I had the privilege of working on some parts of this historic car. I would live to see it there and meet the man who has made it happen. It’s the oldest four cylinder Ford running.

Erik Barrett

The crank broke. It was a Sure Mike vintage counter weighted unit. After the block was repaired I put in a Scat crank.

Erik Barrett

Use a late crankshaft. Preferably one marked EE. The early ones are not nearly as good. If you have a 1911 block you want the best crank you can afford. I just repaired a 1911 engine the broke the crank and ripped the rear main web out of the block. Had to have lock n stitch put it back together. Ex...

Erik Barrett

We will be there. Have not missed one in 43 years. Every year I threaten to make it the last one. Rumble Seat Garage in GG 59-64. Will have T stuff.

Erik Barrett

My original Rajo four valve had separate shafts which damaged the head. It’s a bad design. I went to a single stainless shaft with great results.

Erik Barrett

We just worked on an engine similar to this one. It took a whole bunch of work to stuff a model B crankshaft into a T. You have to turn both the rod and main journals down to model A size or it won’t fit. There have been some T’s built with model B rods but they are OHC jobs with no camshaft in the ...

Erik Barrett

Jem, Merry Christmas from across the pond and then some. Hoping your new year is not dry but not rainy either.

Erik Barrett

Les, we built an engine with one of these and have had no priming problems. We primed the pump and lines with heavy weight oil when we built it and have not touched it since. We are careful to watch for pressure on starting.

Erik Barrett

A great loss to the T community and to speedster people in particular. I have met Howard many times and had the privilege of talking with him and Fast Frank Harris weeks ago when they they came to see us race Chris Egsgaard’s blue Long Beach champ in Murietta. They had not seen it race in 45 years w...

Erik Barrett

I do these all the time. I braze them up and rebore them. Most of the time the brass is all gone when they are bored out due to shrinkage as they cool. Dozens of repaired ones out in the road.

Erik Barrett

Closed cab TT truck.

Erik Barrett

If you think he is pale you should have seen him after the first time I turned him loose with the Wild Cherry II. He was ashen, absolutely terrified.

Erik Barrett

Admin Jeff did a fabulous job wiring the car. You can tell he is used to working with high end cars. Very meticulous. The car had a quarter mile test drive today and went into the trailer for the races. Robert came back kind of pale so I think it is running well. We are southbound at this time on I-...

Erik Barrett

Frontenac crankcase adapter to model A transmission with another adapter to 39 Ford V8 transmission.

Erik Barrett

The car is ready to go and will race for the first time since Long Beach on Saturday at Santa Margarita. This is not a hill climb, it is vintage drag racing, so we will have a chance to spank some flathead V8’s too.

Erik Barrett

Remove the four bolt cover behind the worm gear. Take the big nut off and remove the thrust bearing and worm gear roller bearing. Look in with a pen light and count the teeth on the worm gear. Four teeth, low speed. Six teeth, high speed.

Erik Barrett

Rumble Seat Garage is coming.

Erik Barrett

Got it running last night. Sounds very potent. Won’t idle, need to work on the Winfield D model carb. We hope to race it on Saturday at RPM nationals in Santa Margarita.

Erik Barrett

That’s Egsgaard’s Wild Cherry. It turned the whole hill climb thing upside down and was the beginning of what the Long Beach event was famous for. It is the car we modeled the Wild Cherry II racer after.

Erik Barrett

Chris Egsgaard’s 1973 Long Beach champ is coming back together.

Erik Barrett

I am glad to have been involved with getting this model T back on the road. That’s what we are about at Rumble Seat Garage. Jeff is a great T hobbyist and so much more. He gave up racing insanely fast Porsche race cars for this and I can say he has embraced our love of these cars to the fullest.

Erik Barrett

3:1 gears are not a good proposition for a full body model T. Definitely not for a coupelet. These are for lightweight speedsters or runabouts at most. If you have an overhead on your car you don’t need them either. These engines work at higher rpm ranges so stock gears will give you all the speed y...

Erik Barrett

The price quoted seems awfully expensive until you look a a set of these gears. Reproducing them must have been absurdly expensive. I can’t imagine them being available but hats off to the people making it happen.

Erik Barrett

I have one of the old manufacture New Day timers on my dump truck. The one that says “No oiling”. I go for years at a time without touching it. I have a modern seal on the camshaft so that helps keep it clean.

Erik Barrett

After getting behind the wheel of a model T and getting comfortable with it, you will be ready to give up on the Shelby thing, maybe even throw rocks at it. The T is the most fun for the buck you can have with an old car. People drive them now for the same reason they did when they were new. They ar...

Erik Barrett

We brought a couple of model T’s to our Auburn car show. There were a lot of people walking right by killer street rods and customs to look at these cars.

Erik Barrett

Get a set of .030 pistons and have a competent machine shop bore and hone it. These blocks can go .060” and beyond. If you are worried about the longevity of a block that is .010” oversized at 90 years old you must be expecting to live to be 400.

Erik Barrett

I have repaired two engines damaged when these sight glasses broke on gravel roads.

Erik Barrett

Erik Barrett

There is no reason to worry about double oversized pins or welding up a mangled flywheel. I have stacks of flywheels that don’t need heroic measures to save them. New pins are all they need. Anyone who needs one can pick it up here at no cost whatsoever. Just come and get it. All I ask is be ready t...

Erik Barrett

I have some of those bearing scrapers. They precede the nazi era.

Erik Barrett

Jeff, this is not your first trip down this road. What’s up with that? What are the symptoms and conditions extant at the time of the failure?

Erik Barrett

In the 1950’s my father bought a TT truck with a wooden cab. It had solid rubber tires on the back. They called it the Teddy truck because Teddy Roosevelt was a rough rider. At some point dad scored some 23” pneumatic TT wheels and tires. He backed the truck into the garage at his grandma’s house an...

Erik Barrett

Just leave it a little on the loose side so it is still down there and functional in case something goes wrong with the RM brakes.

Erik Barrett

The TT part is different. It should have a TT part number on it. The difference is the angle between the frame and the column.

Erik Barrett

Herm, thanks for the input. I will stick with grade 2. My book on rebuilding model A’s claims that Ford went to a cheaper lead base babbit because they thought the more robust, larger crankshaft did not require the more expensive grade. Maybe that is why the Ford name is on some lower grade babbit i...

Erik Barrett

The block is clamped down through the cylinder bores. The rags are there to protect the deck surface from scratching. The mill drives the bar with a flexible coupling so perfect alignment is not required, but I get it close. This block has been opened up to use babbit on the upper main bearings. Ori...

Erik Barrett

Herm, please elaborate. I’d like to learn more.

Erik Barrett

I buy government grade #2 from United Metals. They publish their formulae online and it is what Ford used for model T’s.

Erik Barrett

Well done! The best is yet to come, you have many good times to look forward to. Your model T will often require your attention but will pay it back many times over. Any time you have trouble there is help here.

Erik Barrett

Yes it is an early one. Number is just over 5000. I know the owner as as Micheal.

Erik Barrett

One of today’s projects. Main bearings on a 1909 block.

Erik Barrett

Still need to have the ball cap fourth main.

Erik Barrett

Stan’s advice on a new bronze plate is good. If that thing is bent or dished it is impossible to get correct gear mesh without resorting to questionable methods. A wise investment and new ring gear bolts too for sure.

Erik Barrett

Les, that is how the French bar locates the bore. It has four support bearings which is an improvement over the KRW unit.

Erik Barrett

I bored mains for years with a KRW bar. I now use a French bar and used it on this block. With these kind of machines any setup error is more likely to place the crank too far from the cam rather than too close unless you abuse the equipment with a hammer or other implement of destruction. I am very...

Erik Barrett

Yes, it has happened to me. About 30 years ago I was driving my dump truck loaded heavy to our club swap meet. It had a Ruckstell, Warford, and no auxiliary brakes. They were not available new at that time and I had been unable to procure an original set. Spare me the lecture, we all know it was a d...

Erik Barrett

I believe that Governor Newsome and and his cronies in the State legislature truly believe if they passed a law mandating the sun not come up tomorrow, that it would not! Who do these freaks think they are? We are a very long way from independence from fossil fuels, regardless of legislation.

Erik Barrett

4-8-8-4. 600 tons watered and fueled.

Erik Barrett

Allan, LOL, that would be a little messy and it would have to be a big bucket. If it’s anything like 844, the fireman has a couple valves to feed it fuel. It uses steam pressure to atomize the oil and inject it into the firebox. I dont think one stoker could have shoveled enough coal to power a big ...

Erik Barrett

1.2 million lbs of railroad history. Do you know they are fueling that beast with used motor oil?

Erik Barrett

Transmission rebuilt with bushings too tight. Most likely triple gears but any of them can cause this. I have had to fix many of these here. Some of them are so bad they rip the pins out of the flywheel. Others just weld the bushing to the pin. Anyway, your engine is coming out for repairs. A proble...

Erik Barrett

Put me down for one.

Erik Barrett

You are better off just swapping ends with the axle and leaving the perches alone. Now would be a good time to make sure your spindles are not on the wrong side also. That can be dangerous.

Erik Barrett

I thought some might be interested in how we pressure test model T’s. Every block and head that comes out of here goes through this. It’s very simple to do but it has prevented quite a few flawed parts from being sent out the door only to cause problems later.

Erik Barrett

All things are possible. I am going to try to reunite Terry’s model T with its original engine block that matches the frame number. It’s a sad case that is going to need a lot of work, but will be worth the effort if it can be done.

Erik Barrett

This was a car I bought from the estate of a local club member. I put in a Stipe cam, Reeder flathead, and a couple other goodies. The bearings looked good, I was told they were redone when the car was restored. My guess is the crank was not magnafluxed and was put in cracked. I had it on the Nation...

Erik Barrett

Bent rod can cause noise.

Erik Barrett

Those Ford time studies are a crock. Flat rate times are still that way today, and even worse if it’s a warranty job. They assume nothing will go wrong like a broken bolt, incorrect parts provided, and a host of other things. This job would have taken me 30-40 hours to do by myself. I had good helpe...

Erik Barrett

Erik Barrett

Well, it was quite a weekend. I had an ideal combination of parts, equipment, and people helping to make the project a success. Steven and my model T partner and best pal Robert Weitzel were troopers on this job. This is a car I got from the estate of a local club member. I did not build the engine ...

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