MTFCA Forum

Allan

John, those are kerosine side lights, not gas. Even harder to get a blinking flame from them. Perhaps some kind of shutter device would suffice. :D Andre, our Canadian sourced cars had large red lenses to the rear and small clear lenses to the side. I wonder why yours are the reverse? Allan from dow...

Allan

No problems Rich. I have had some experience with the two large holes in early heads. I had a Reeder reproduction head alloy head on my speedster with the two large holes. The block did not have the corresponding second large hole. That cylinder head warped between cylinders 2 and 3. Before it was r...

Allan

Robert, demountable rims on Civilian cars were Zinc plated rather than painted. That is why they appear silver in colour, and that is why many of them are painted with silver paint when they are restored. WW 1 production wheels would have all been non demountable wheels. That means the rims were pai...

Allan

Backwards installation swaps the gasket from end to end. This does not shift the large hole between cylinders 2 and 3. Frank's explanation makes good sense.

Allan from down under.

Allan

Or a throttle linkage on a RHD car.
Allan from down under.

Allan

Just to stir the pot, the factory describes the fenders as left and right. There is then no confusion like there is when using driver and passenger side as a descriptor.

Allan from down under.

Allan

Gary, if you'd posted that photo initially I wouldn't have had to go looking on the internet to see just what you were talking about!

Allan from down under.

Allan

Chris if you are having to bring the front of the fender forward to get a better fit, I would be checking to see if the fender brackets are allowing the fender to sit at the correct height. Perhaps the.y need some fettling to set them higher, which will bring the front forward some. Allan from down ...

Allan

Bob's brackets look like new reproductions. The originals with which I am familiar are of somewhat heavier gauge, and they are a bit more complicated than they seem at first glance. Because they mount to a curved splash panel, the two hole side of the bracket needs to be curved to match that curvatu...

Allan

The larger pulleys on the later Canadian cars are cast iron. If they get loose, some of the suggested remedies may not work. However, on the pressed steel pulleys you fellows have, and the earlier small pressed steel pulleys we have, I rebuild the centre. I have a piece of medium wall steel tubing w...

Allan

12 th photo of the tourer shows a lot going on. Looks like a 1914 body style with lots of accessories. It has shock absorbers, fork mounted electric headlights, later side lights, crowned aftermarket fenders, Firestone demountable wheels, cowl and windscreen and a hand claxton horn. Have I missed an...

Allan

A couple of new lock washers and that Bendix is about as good as you can get.

Allan from down under.

Allan

Dan, the way I have seen some of these bent up, I'm pretty sure they are steel forgings.

Allan from down under.

Allan

Brent, my OF weeps from the bottom of the vertical throttle shaft. I found an interesting modification on an original OF I bought at a swap meet that fixed that. Over the bottom of the shaft they had soldered a cap to the carb body. Simple, but I wonder if there were any implications for the fuel be...

Allan

Robert, look on line for brass tube extensions. I see 2" ones lasted for $3 each or a set of 4 for $20, and that may be AU$! Ditch the heavy flaps and save another $250. Use rim liners. You can cut them from an opened up bicycle tube, at a cost of AU$8 each. This makes a cost of just AU$11 per wheel...

Allan

If the cold chisel doesn't work, you are left with drilling the rivets out, so the valance panel needs to be removed, and that means the running board too. The back two rivets could be drilled off from the INSIDE, but to do the same with the front two, you would need to remove the hogshead! I reckon...

Allan

It is not good practice to bolt panels together with any tension between them. It will almost certainly lead to cracking. Get the panels to align first, then manipulate the brackets to get them to fit. Rivet them to the fenders and use them as a guide for the bolt holes in the aprons. Resist the tem...

Allan

That fellow in the check shirt looks to be in fine fettle, but, are you sure it is Steve Jelf? Where are the bibs he usually wears?

If it is you Steve, keep up the good work.

Allan from down under.

Allan

A T exhaust pipe is 1.5" d1ameter. The reliefs in the block for the glands is 1.25" I have a length of 1.25' exhaust pipe in my workshop, clearly labeled "EXHAUST GLAND RINGS ONLY" So far other nefarious uses for it have not surfaced, unlike my hidden stash of silver solder! That remains so well hid...

Allan

First check with the miller to see how he would like it seasoned before milling, and be prepared to stack it away to air dry once cut. There's more to lumber milling/drying than meets the eye. I applaud your wishes to make the best use of the logs. I have a 13' long x 18" diameter iron bark log in m...

Allan

There are machined brass valve extensions available. They are often used on trucks. The best ones seal on the old stem, and have the valve core in the extension so they work just like a normal valve stem. Others have an internal mechanism which is pushed down by the head of the inflating connection,...

Allan

I have two sets of these shockers on T's. Duncan and Fraser offered English versions of these, made by Richards Willcox. They work really well on my wide body roadster, so I left them on Henrietta when I returned her to the road. There were no bushes in the cast arms on ours, so I fitted bronze bush...

Allan

George, the new manifolds fit well. Indeed they are straight, and will stay that way, ONLY if they are fitted with gland rings. Forget the split, rolled sheet metal types the vendors sell. They will distort and allow the manifold to "walk" on the block face, and away warpage will go on again. Henry ...

Allan

I bought the top kit for my Ford bodied 1915 tourer from the USA, from Carter's Cut-n-Cover if I remember correctly. I ordered the side curtains with NO fittings installed. That way, we could fit the bow fittings first and then align the curtain fittings to suit. Ready made curtains, and any made to...

Allan

My "old" one not only leaked, it became very hard to turn off/on without pliers.

Allan from down under.

Allan

Craig, I have to refit the manifolds on the barn fresh car I am working on in the near future. I will post photos of the installation when I do the fitting, including shots of the offset glands.

Allan from down under.

Allan

Norman, in most cases the warpage occurs throughout the manifold, not just at the rear. If the straight edge is lined up on ports one and two, invariably port three is down a bit, and port four even more so. By lining up ports two and three, you can determine just how much the end ports are out of l...

Allan

In Australia, many of the T's built by different body builders in each state came with metal framed windows in the back curtain. these have a frame on the outside, then the curtain material, then the glass and these are sandwiched together by an inside frame which screws to the outside frame. To my ...

Allan

The fellow who does the absolute best job of canvas tops on our Australian bodied cars makes the curtains without the clear plastic fitted. Then he fits the blank curtains to the bows. Once they are fitted and taut, he marks the windows out while the curtains are still on the car. That way the windo...

Allan

Vincent, your crack comes under the "If it don't leak, don't fix it" category. I'd leave it alone as long as it stays OK. There does not seem to be leakage so far.
Allan from down under.

Allan

Tim was making a lever type choke control. This was an alternative genuine Stromberg item, as shown in the booklet Stan Howe sent to me with my rebuilt OF.
This type may be easier to re-create using other choke cables available.
Hope this helps.
Allan from down under.

Allan

If I remember correctly, some A models came with a bar between the two sides of rear bumperettes, and I have seen trailer hitches mounted/welded to that bar. Perhaps the same method could be used on your T. It is certainly neater than some Heath Robinson constructions. Donnie, did you check out the ...

Allan

They don't have to be die straight either. If they are not eroded and have good thread for the packnut, warpage can be accounted for. I make offset steel glands to enable warped manifolds to be fitted well. Step !. Cut 6 gland rings from a piece of exhaust tubing the same size as the ports in the bl...

Allan

Over the years I have had a team of helpers lift the body onto a number of restorations. A couple of 2x3" bearers and a helper on each end left me free to supervise and line stuff up. I did get into trouble when i built my shooting brake, with not inviting the lift team to help. the body was on stan...

Allan

If nothing else works, attack it with an angle grinder. The heat generated will help. Grind away until almost through to the spindle, then attack the flat you have made with a cold chisel. Even if you get clumsy and nick the spindle, it is of no real consequence.

Allan from down under.

Allan

Were not all early model T's magneto powered? Dry cell batteries were retro fitted to aid starting. Did it really matter if the dry cell was negative or positively grounded? If the battery power is to enable the use of electric headlights, the grounding can be either. It all depends on the applicati...

Allan

3/4" plywood needs a weeny bit shaved off the edges to fit the rain gutter and the two little tin bits that are on each side below the hinge rod relief. I have just done this on a 1922 car. Easily done with a little Stanley thumb plane. I plane the body side edge, which is not seen when the car is a...

Allan

I'll just stick to model T stuff. If you want to go OT, just say so in the topic heading, and we can skip over it.

Allan from down under.

Allan

A T with electrics is usually negative ground. However, it may make absolutely no difference which way you hook it up, depending on what the supply is used to power up. Without knowing this, the answer may be moot.

Allan from down under.

Allan

By definition, if it's clatter, it is not the coils buzzing. If it is the coils buzzing, it is not clatter.
Allan from down under.

Allan

Tom, I thought you'd have loads of offers by now. I can help if you can't find one locally. I only save nice ones though.

Allan from down under.

Allan

Brooks, I can hardly believe how good and flush the solit in your rims lines up. You are fortunate to have such good rims. Usually they are a bit mangled/hammered/miss aligned through years of being worked on by tyre fitters, some of whom were not well versed in the correct fitting procedures. Allan...

Allan

Robert, 26-7 wood spoke wheels are a plug and play swap for your wire wheels and hubs. if you find replacement wood wheels, you will still have to find split rims to mount the tyres. These are not all that plentiful in good condition. However, they are 21' wheels and will look heavier than the wheel...

Allan

Norm is correct about the rear wheels. All you need is a pair of 30" x 3.5 standard wheels and then swap the brake drums over to large drums. You should not have to dis-assemble the spokes if the wheel is sound, but you will need six new hub bolts to have enough length to peen them over once install...

Allan

Definitely do the bands before the body goes on. Even if they weren't shot just yet, it is worth saving the angst of doing the job with the engine in the car.

Allan from down under.

Allan

Mike, neither are they 17-25 radius rods They are round in section until the back end. 20's rods were flat, with a seam on the under side, which means they are left and right when fitted. I am not sure when your rounded type were replaced by the flattened ones, but if I had to guess I would say late...

Allan

Donald, if you are stickler for originality, you will have to drill two holes either side of the split to pass the rims off as Canadian. They used a special tool made of heavy spring steel rod to collapse the rim to fit the tyres. Our Canadian sourced cars had this feature on the 26-7 improved cars....

Allan

Vincent, your split rims are unlikely to have been galvanised. Galvanising is dipping components into a bath of molten zinc. This would certainly jam up the latching mechanism at the split. The rims were electro plated Zinc. This is not galvanising. It is a process which results in a silver coating ...

Allan

In the last photo there is absolutely no distortion in the part number and the maker's mark. This would suggest there is no modification to the arms, as these marks would be distorted in any bending. The mystery remains.

Allan from down under.

Allan

Bush painting can be entirely satifactory. It is the process used on all vehicles prior to the advent of the spray gun. Like all paint finishes, you should spend time sanding down the substrate to get it as smooth as possible. Te paint should be spirit based enamel. Use the best quality brush you ca...

Allan

As a matter of course these days, my auto elec. son solders a short lead from the bulb socket to one of the rivet heads in the light bucket. This will effectively ground the bulb/socket and guarantees lights of the same intensity.

Allan from down under.

Allan

James, you have hit the nail on the head nicely. The Stewart speedos with the plastic tumblers are serviceable, and that is the one Russ sold me. Those with the potmetal tumblers are often not rebuildable, even if they can be dis-assembled. Ford did recommend them, but what contra deal may have been...

Allan

The Stromberg is a set-and-forget carburetor as stated. Come to think of it, so is an NH Holley in our climate. There were two types of choke cable used on the OF. Tim Morsher reproduced on type a little while back. Mine is a nicely designed pull knob with detents to set it at varios levels. It is c...

Allan

If the castellations do not line up to insert the split pin, All you need to do is dress a little off the back of the nut with a good file. That way it will go on just a tad further to line up with the hole. Washer now redundant.

Allan from down under.

Allan

Which is why I suggested you first get your speedo head, and then went searching for matching components. There's lots of different stuff out there and most is incompatible between brands.

Allan from down under.

Allan

That is a nice one Kevin. Of the two Kelsey designs we have, that is the better one. The triangular ridge on the inside diameter is easy to line up on the felloe when fitting, allowing easy setting up with minimal run-out. A bonus is there is no slot where the lug foot engages like there is in the t...

Allan

I was told to avoid Stewart speedos which have numbers painted on the tumblers. Many of these have paint flaking off, but the worst of it is the tumblers are diecast potmetal which swells and is impossible to repair. The advice was to find a head with tumblers where the numbers are etched/cast/engra...

Allan

Tim, I'll sell it to you for $50 and you can put it on ebay

Allan from down under.

Allan

Using the livery of a real/existing business will require permission/possible fees/specific requirements etc. all of which might be a real pain in the butt. When I built my 1912 van, I approached a local family owned company for permission to use theor livery. They were only too pleased to oblige. T...

Allan

The Dodge ones with which I have limited experience are a size bigger than the one on my Tarrant tourer. The Tarrant has the fuel tank suspended under the spare tyre carrier at the rear of the car. Hence the need for the vacuum tank. On a one-of-kind Duncan and Fraser built tourer, they lowered the ...

Allan

Tim, the unit came on the bows, attached to the male stud, with remains of black top material still in place. The male stud differs from the usual type in that the knob on the end is reduced in height, so it does not protrude so far. The four bend over tabs are on the back assembly with the wire spr...

Allan

Clever thought Mark. If the tie rod and drag link are standard fitment on Wide tracks, it make good sense.

Allan from down under.

Allan

No seal will work if the seal runs on the keyway. On both the modern aluminium type with lipped seal and the old felt washer type, the seal must run on a plain section of the axle. If, when the metal caps are installed to the correct depth on the axle housing, the seal is still over the keyway, some...

Allan

Four mounting holes makes that an early gear. Later editions have just 3 mounting holes.Might be just what someone is after

Allan from down under.

Allan

Buy a copy of Russ Furstnow's book on speedos. While you do need a swivel like the one in No 6, the angled one shown is not usual. The swivels also come with different drive ratios. Most T's used a 2.5:1 ratio. They also come left and right hand drive, depending on which wheel it is installed. All o...

Allan

The beauty of a shipping container is its portability. You can take it with you when you move. It must be well vented. I would specify a wooden floor. It is easy to attach a roof over it to have added protection and to provide an extra air gap for ventilation/cooling. We bought an as new one for gen...

Allan

FWIW, screwing fittings into potmetal fixtures like the vacuum tank top is fraught. On my Tarrant special T tourer, I often have to prime the tank if the car sits for a month or two. Into the port that takes the steel plug sealing that hole, I screwed a brass adaptor, sealed with permatex. The steel...

Allan

Ron, sent an email suggesting you deduct the cheap national flat rate shipping from the overseas shipping costs and charge me the rest accordingly. I can wait for you to get a postage quote and send the required funds.

Best wishes for 2024.
Allan from down under.

Allan

I recently bought a set of roadster hood sockets to go on a barn find tourer backboard like my Henrietta. This lift-the-dot fastener was attached to one side. The male piece is as usual but I have never seen the likes of the second piece. It certainly looks neater than the usual type. The real puzzl...

Allan

21 original Lug nuts. Re-polished and re chrome plated. I did these for my speedster, but sold the car before getting around to swapping them over. $180 posted to your door. PayPal for payment.
Allan from down under.

Allan

E mail sent.

Allan from down under.

Allan

Donnie, you have the upgraded driveline with your Warford. An overdrive and underdrive are ideal. If you were here, I could direct you to S.A. Trailer and Chassis, and they could make the axle any length you like, and drill the brake drums to suit your wheels. Check out the electric brake controller...

Allan

Seventh photo down may be an Australian car. Note the different hood and side curtain windows, the curved windscreen pillars, the glossy but light coloured paintwork, and the hood irons with the timber bows down the outside. The windscreen is typical of early 1920's Tarrant special tourers, with bod...

Allan

21 original Lug nuts, re-polished and re-chromed. I had these done for my speedster but never did get around to swapping them over before I sold the car.
$180 postage to your door included.

Allan

I have a vintage wooden box trailer, made with a T frame rail as the drawbar. It will go nicely with my unrestored tourer buckboard, Henrietta. However, Henrietta is tired, and I am loathe to ask her to pull a trailer, especially with some sort of load. My thoughts are as follows. A standard T needs...

Allan

Search Redarc brake controller for the best solution. No clumsy control box in view. It can be mounted remotely. All you see is the controll button on/under the dash. Infinitely adjustable to suit load, braking effort, road surfaces. Cheaper for you than us, due to exchange rates. Hope this helps. A...

Allan

Joe, to remove the gear you first remove the round collar which runs in the babbit bearing in the starter snout. The collar is threaded onto the assembly, and the threads are staked so it cannot wind itself off. Look in the end and you will see the upset thread. Find two bullet head nails of a diame...

Allan

Richard, I wondered where that post went! The only time I have ever encountered timing gear lash problems was when the machinist was off a tad when setting the distance between the camshaft and crankshaft when line boring the bearings. The solution was to take .005" off the OD of the alloy timing ge...

Allan

Keystock is available from many sources, usually in foot long lengths. All you need is the size of the stock. Model T;s use 1/4" square, TT's most likely bigger, perhaps 5/16". Just measure either the axle or hub keyways.

Hope this helps.
Allan from down under.

Allan

Warwick, when I built my speedster, the spring set-up was standard. The car was light enough that I thought I could delete two leaves from the rear spring. No way! if handled like a bucket of slops. In the end, we locked both front and back shackles at one end, and this stopped the bump steer proble...

Allan

Keith, I checked my jar of horn parts today and can supply: Switch housing with the small cut-out in the side for just one wire as was used in the early cars. This housing does not have the dimple in the back which the later switches had. You will need to bend the tabs flat to mount it on the steeri...

Allan

There are disadvantages with the distributor set-up. There is little you can do to set the correct gear mesh between the van gear and shaft. It is a fit and forget set-up, and you can only hope it is corect. A problem when operating same is a problem for all cylinders. With standard coils you can ju...

Allan

To get maximum thread engagement when fitting a Z head, I swap out the T head bolts for some from a popular GM six cylinder Holden. These are long enough that I have to trim off a bit on the ends of some when they bottom out on a cleaned out T block. In their original application some of them go int...

Allan

I have posted this selection twice now, and no-one has responded. I presume that it is not generally known when the variations occurred. The pliers Alan is looking for with the Ford script on the jaws is another variation. Is it known to be an early one that is indeed for a 1011 toolkit? Allan from ...

Allan

Eric, I have a nice set of polished originals ready for nickel plating. I have yet to get a price for that.

Allan from down under.

Allan

Might the engine number only be accurate for the build date of the engine? With assembly plants in various locations, and overseas, the cars were built at various times. I can't imagine there being control over the stamping of build dates co-ordinated daily for each assembly plant. Allan from down u...

Allan

When applying tension at the starter cable terminal, you should use two wrenches. A thin one holds the lower nut on the terminal while you screw the top nut down on the cable terminal. That way you are not screwing the terminal on the busbar in the starter. You will need to re-solder the connection....

Allan

See Kerry's first response. Subsequent posts suggest the same thing, but I suspect they didn't recognise what a ring spanner is. How you guys get a box wrench out of a circle is beyond comprehension. Does it hark back to the horse and cart days when axle nous were square, like a box? ;) Dan, I must ...

Allan

Tim, I believe the wear register on the inside edge of the rim is allowing the rim to go further onto the felloe, resulting in the rolled part of the rim making light contact with the felloe. After a 100 or so years of use it is bound to happen. I have a Hayes wire wheel where that wider inner land ...

Allan

In a previous post it was indicated in the patent application that the U shaped lug which bridges the rim bolt nearest the valve stem was described as a driving lug. I have seen combinations of wear in that particular rim bolt and the lug where the bolt has been worn nearly half way through and both...

Allan

Dan is partially correct. The Canadian switch was used to the end of production, mounted on a flat sided round nut which held the steering wheel in place, so the mounting tabs went straight down the sides of the nut. However, that is not the only difference. The metal housing on most has an indent o...

Allan

That darn Ford script turn up in multiple places and formats, so will we ever know what came when. Here are pairs of pliers I have. The top ones have a bolder, more crude script so I have them in my 1912 van kit. The middle ones have the script in a depression like the Canadian tyre irons I have. Th...

Allan

John, those were the ones which required a deal of manipulation to get them to fit. Nothing that a couple of hours of couldn't fix A convenient fork in a tree made a useful tool to adjust the bends to get the tailpipe heading in the right direction. I suspect they were made individually using a set ...

Allan

From our house to yours.

Allan from down under.

Allan

I would not bother "cleaning" them up. Let them tell their story as they are. By all means clean any machined surfaces so that they are accurate and easy to use. As someone once said, " They are only original once."

Allan from down under.

Allan

Here you go Tim. These are both Canadian Kelsey felloes the black loose lug one made in 1923 and the red fixed lug one in 1925. 20231226_101841.jpg Note the much wider inner land on the red fixed lug felloe. This felloe is 0.2" wider than the black loose lug felloe, all the difference being in the w...

Allan

If you follow the rule, 2 x 3" = 6. Take 6 from 30" and you get a rim of 24". Front tyres of 30 x 3" will not fit on rims made for 30 x 3.5".which fit a 23" rim. while the 30 x 3" tyres on the front of US Fords may have save a few cents for Henry, the Canadian same-size-all-round was a far more sens...

Allan

Austin, the ring test is often advised to "test" for crankshaft bends. These forgings do give some indication in their ring, but still it is not reliable. I doubt it is reliable at all with a casting. Others may have different opinions.

Allan from down under.

Allan

John's advice re setting the pinion gear mesh is correct, but contrary to accepted recommendations. Setting the backlash between the ring gear and pinion by shimming the driveshaft in or out will not necessarily get the correct full face engagement between the gears. That is done by shifting the dif...

Allan

You blokes get it easy. Try forming a pipe that gets from the manifold, around the ends of the pedals, clear of the underside of the starter switch, and then out the back to the muffler. I loaned a chassis, complete with engine in place, to a local specialist exhaust shop, and they wrote a program f...

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