Who knows what this hole is for?

Discuss all things Model T related.
Forum rules
If you need help logging in, or have question about how something works, use the Support forum located here Support Forum
Complete set of Forum Rules Forum Rules
User avatar

Topic author
Thorlick
Posts: 215
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2019 7:17 pm
First Name: Terry
Last Name: Horlick
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1927 Roadster Pickup "Mountain Patrol vehicle" from Los Angeles City Fire Department and a 1912 Model T omnibus restoration project
Location: Penn Valley, CA
MTFCA Number: 50510
Board Member Since: 1999

Who knows what this hole is for?

Post by Thorlick » Tue Apr 14, 2020 3:27 pm


Ford Used the Ford Vaporizer (AKA Holley Vaporizer) starting in late 1925 for some Model T cars and 1917 for Fordson tractors. By late 1926 they used them on all model T cars.

I have four of these carburetors plus more parts. I found that of four vaporizers two had the pictured hole and two did not. I know what this hole does but suspect you may be scratching your head to figure it out. Let's see who guesses correctly!



Hole in Vaporizer Carburetor
Hole in Vaporizer Carburetor
[/size]
Terry Horlick, Penn Valley, CA
1927 Mountain Patrol Vehicle from the Los Angeles City Fire Department (L.A.F.D.)
1912 Model T Ford English Station Omnibus

User avatar

Steve Jelf
Posts: 6463
Joined: Fri Jan 04, 2019 9:37 pm
First Name: Steve
Last Name: Jelf
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1923 touring and a few projects
Location: Parkerfield, Kansas
MTFCA Number: 16175
MTFCI Number: 14758
Board Member Since: 2007
Contact:

Re: Who knows what this hole is for?

Post by Steve Jelf » Tue Apr 14, 2020 3:53 pm

That's for the water injector that gives you 200 mpg. :)
The inevitable often happens.
1915 Runabout
1923 Touring


RxGPoblet
Posts: 30
Joined: Fri Jan 11, 2019 3:25 pm
First Name: Garland E
Last Name: Pobletts
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1915 Model T Touring
Location: Naples, FL

Re: Who knows what this hole is for?

Post by RxGPoblet » Tue Apr 14, 2020 4:00 pm

Nitrous oxide injection port. Gets you all the way to thirty hp

User avatar

Mark Gregush
Posts: 4956
Joined: Sat Jan 05, 2019 1:57 pm
First Name: Mark
Last Name: Gregush
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1925 cutdown PU, 1920 Dodge touring, 1948 F2 Ford flat head 6 pickup 3 speed
Location: Portland Or
MTFCA Number: 52564
Board Member Since: 1999

Re: Who knows what this hole is for?

Post by Mark Gregush » Tue Apr 14, 2020 4:10 pm

Air balance port for when the choke is closed and flapper is too. ;)
I know the voices aren't real but damn they have some good ideas! :shock:

1925 Cut down pickup
1920 Dodge touring
1948 Ford F2 pickup

User avatar

Topic author
Thorlick
Posts: 215
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2019 7:17 pm
First Name: Terry
Last Name: Horlick
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1927 Roadster Pickup "Mountain Patrol vehicle" from Los Angeles City Fire Department and a 1912 Model T omnibus restoration project
Location: Penn Valley, CA
MTFCA Number: 50510
Board Member Since: 1999

Re: Who knows what this hole is for?

Post by Thorlick » Tue Apr 14, 2020 4:14 pm

I'll jump in when someone hits it's function correctly.

Steve, that speed range might be reached solely due to the amount of weight which that hole eliminates.

Garland, I'm flabber-gassed by your guess!

TH
Terry Horlick, Penn Valley, CA
1927 Mountain Patrol Vehicle from the Los Angeles City Fire Department (L.A.F.D.)
1912 Model T Ford English Station Omnibus


Joe Bell
Posts: 1053
Joined: Thu Feb 21, 2019 1:20 pm
First Name: Joe
Last Name: Bell
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 24 Fordor
Location: Tiffin Ohio
MTFCI Number: 24066

Re: Who knows what this hole is for?

Post by Joe Bell » Tue Apr 14, 2020 4:48 pm

I take it no one has ever seen the 90 degree sheetmetal elbow the bolts on there!


Joe Bell
Posts: 1053
Joined: Thu Feb 21, 2019 1:20 pm
First Name: Joe
Last Name: Bell
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 24 Fordor
Location: Tiffin Ohio
MTFCI Number: 24066

Re: Who knows what this hole is for?

Post by Joe Bell » Tue Apr 14, 2020 4:49 pm

They are almost always missing and they where used for only a short period.


keen25
Posts: 99
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2019 5:14 pm
First Name: Eric
Last Name: Keenan
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1923 coupe, 1925 TT, 1926 coupe, 1925 Tudor, 1925 pickup, 1926 fordor
Location: Vineland, NJ

Re: Who knows what this hole is for?

Post by keen25 » Tue Apr 14, 2020 5:05 pm

It is a hole that you use when you rebuild the vaporizer, an alignment pin is inserted to clock the assembly.


Moxie26
Posts: 1315
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2019 8:20 pm
First Name: Robert
Last Name: Jablonski
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1926 Runabout
Location: New Jersey
MTFCA Number: 407
MTFCA Life Member: YES
Board Member Since: 1999

Re: Who knows what this hole is for?

Post by Moxie26 » Tue Apr 14, 2020 5:05 pm

Joe Bell, I agree with you that elbow was put on in late production and attached with a screw and nut

User avatar

Topic author
Thorlick
Posts: 215
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2019 7:17 pm
First Name: Terry
Last Name: Horlick
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1927 Roadster Pickup "Mountain Patrol vehicle" from Los Angeles City Fire Department and a 1912 Model T omnibus restoration project
Location: Penn Valley, CA
MTFCA Number: 50510
Board Member Since: 1999

Re: Who knows what this hole is for?

Post by Thorlick » Tue Apr 14, 2020 5:07 pm

Joe Bell !!!!!!



Wow, I thought this was going to be a hard one. Joe hit it right on the elbow.


Elbow
Elbow


I have only seen two of these. One was an obscure photo in Bruce's encyclopeda. It was just a generic vaporizer photo which didn't mention the elbow. The other one is the one I found at a swap meet. I had to buy the carburetor to get the elbow. I am now preparing to get it onto my late '27 T (I have to use a casting which hast the hole as the vaporizer on Rusty did not have it!).. The rest of the carburetor it came on will go into the parts pile since the JB Weld repair on it may not be period correct!

Have any of you ever seen one of these before? Joe, do you know when the carb came with the elbow (early?, late?, mid-production?, Fordson?).

Vaporizers run the cars quite well, but they can be difficult to get sealed to work well.

By the way, Mark the port you are thinking of is at point A and R in this diagram:

416080.jpg




TH
Terry Horlick, Penn Valley, CA
1927 Mountain Patrol Vehicle from the Los Angeles City Fire Department (L.A.F.D.)
1912 Model T Ford English Station Omnibus


Jim Bowery
Posts: 29
Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2019 5:59 am
First Name: Jim
Last Name: Bowery
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 26 Roadster, 27 Touring, 26 Depot Hack
Location: Wellsburg, WV
MTFCA Number: 19036
MTFCI Number: 14288

Re: Who knows what this hole is for?

Post by Jim Bowery » Tue Apr 14, 2020 10:05 pm

I have the elbow on my 27 touring, and I have on my spare vaporizer.

Jim Bowery


Joe Bell
Posts: 1053
Joined: Thu Feb 21, 2019 1:20 pm
First Name: Joe
Last Name: Bell
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 24 Fordor
Location: Tiffin Ohio
MTFCI Number: 24066

Re: Who knows what this hole is for?

Post by Joe Bell » Tue Apr 14, 2020 10:21 pm

I know I have given a couple friends the elbow to make there's complete and maybe one may be in my parts bin of vaporizers. But what year and when?? Hope this helps, there are better historians than I when it comes to the vaporizer!

User avatar

Ruxstel24
Posts: 2345
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2019 11:25 am
First Name: Dave
Last Name: Hanlon
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 24 Touring car
Location: NE Ohio
MTFCA Number: 50191
Board Member Since: 2018

Re: Who knows what this hole is for?

Post by Ruxstel24 » Tue Apr 14, 2020 10:39 pm

I just figured the hole was for a nail to hang it on the wall, after extreme frustration for a whole summer of tinkering with it.... :mrgreen:

User avatar

Mark Gregush
Posts: 4956
Joined: Sat Jan 05, 2019 1:57 pm
First Name: Mark
Last Name: Gregush
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1925 cutdown PU, 1920 Dodge touring, 1948 F2 Ford flat head 6 pickup 3 speed
Location: Portland Or
MTFCA Number: 52564
Board Member Since: 1999

Re: Who knows what this hole is for?

Post by Mark Gregush » Wed Apr 15, 2020 12:29 am

Idea correct, location wrong. ;)
I know the voices aren't real but damn they have some good ideas! :shock:

1925 Cut down pickup
1920 Dodge touring
1948 Ford F2 pickup


Scott C.
Posts: 805
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2019 11:44 am
First Name: Scott
Last Name: Clements
Location: Waynetown Indiana
MTFCA Number: 49592

Re: Who knows what this hole is for?

Post by Scott C. » Wed Apr 15, 2020 12:41 am

There was one on my 26 coupe when I bought it, but, I converted it back to an NH.
IMG_1376.JPG

User avatar

Duey_C
Posts: 1518
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2019 12:28 pm
First Name: Duane
Last Name: Cooley
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 18 Runabout, 24 Runabout for 20yrs, 25 TT, late Center Door project, open express pickup
Location: central MN
MTFCA Number: 32488
Board Member Since: 2015

Re: Who knows what this hole is for?

Post by Duey_C » Thu Apr 16, 2020 12:31 am

By gum, I have one of those on a derelict, numbers matching, rotted off, and Ruckstell equipped sedan chassis here! :)
May of '27's #14,959,211 with that elbow. I thought, "Man that's cool! I should put it on the truck!"... Didn't, too busy.
Glad I left it there instead of taking it off, only to perhaps find nowhere to put it on the truck...
Maybe I'll look deeper on the truck tomorrow.
The spare Vaporub from out west doesn't have the hole and the July of '26 engined truck did not get looked at today.
Some of my photos were soooo close to revealing whether it had that hole or not... Nope. Don't know yet.
Didn't realize these were oddballs.
This may be a dead subject for some fellas. For us Vaporizer liker's, Different story.
I like it because it's difficult and very particular. Today.
Poor old boy hasn't ran in two years. I may have a different attitude on start up day.
Still thinking 1/4 turn more, three chokes and vroom. Hand start only right now. Runs so nice til that one coil warms up.
:)
Thanks Terry! Inspiration.
Attachments
Elbow_Vaporizer.jpg
Since I lost my mind mind, I feel more liberated

User avatar

Topic author
Thorlick
Posts: 215
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2019 7:17 pm
First Name: Terry
Last Name: Horlick
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1927 Roadster Pickup "Mountain Patrol vehicle" from Los Angeles City Fire Department and a 1912 Model T omnibus restoration project
Location: Penn Valley, CA
MTFCA Number: 50510
Board Member Since: 1999

Re: Who knows what this hole is for?

Post by Thorlick » Thu Apr 16, 2020 5:11 pm

Mark, it is now evident to me that the oft referred to vaporizer cut away view which I showed above is wrong. Hole A and R are not on the bottom of the casting. There is no R hole but rather a hole A passing horizontally through the casting and the choke rod. Also there is a small diameter vent hole into the chamber surrounding the inlet tube (D) which would be between A and R on the drawing. When you choke a vaporizer the air intake horn is choked off and the vent at A is closed off leaving only that small vent hole.

The air entering mostly goes in the horn and through the venturi creating a low pressure which sucks mixture up past the stove area and into the intake tube to the venturi. closing the choke shuts off all of the air except for the small vent hole. This allows the engine to suck a very rich mixture composed of raw fuel from the float bowl up past the stove area and a small amount of air from the vent hole. So all the balancing for choking is just mostly choking off almost all air causing almost all air through the vent hole which is an incredibly small volume to try and run the ca upon. No wonder the choke is so effective in stopping the engine!

vap3.jpg
Small vent hole into chamber aroumnd inlet tube.
Small vent hole into chamber aroumnd inlet tube.
I think that the reason the Vaporizer carb gets such a bad rap is that that chamber around the inlet tube which is home to the vent hole is almost always crudded up with dirt and rust. For the carburetor to function this chamber must be cleaned out. To do this the inlet tube must be removed (it has a set screw) and the chamber must be cleaned out. Then you will surely need to replace the inlet tube and nut... The nuts are always buggered up and cracked and you will damage the inlet tube upon removal. I doubt that many people clean out this area and so can't get the carburetor to vent properly thus preventing proper mixture reaching the stove area. Cleaning this area is very difficult and very necessary.
inlet tube and nut
inlet tube and nut
TH [/size]
Terry Horlick, Penn Valley, CA
1927 Mountain Patrol Vehicle from the Los Angeles City Fire Department (L.A.F.D.)
1912 Model T Ford English Station Omnibus

User avatar

Topic author
Thorlick
Posts: 215
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2019 7:17 pm
First Name: Terry
Last Name: Horlick
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1927 Roadster Pickup "Mountain Patrol vehicle" from Los Angeles City Fire Department and a 1912 Model T omnibus restoration project
Location: Penn Valley, CA
MTFCA Number: 50510
Board Member Since: 1999

Re: Who knows what this hole is for?

Post by Thorlick » Thu Apr 16, 2020 5:19 pm

Can anyone tell me the function of that elbow? I don't think it will change the size of bird able to be sucked up into the carburetor as it's lumen is the same size as the intake without the elbow. The only thing I can think of is perhaps pulling the air from the side instead of the bottom will counter-act the mighty torque of the spinning engine. O maybe when fording a 3 foot deep ford the elbow might make it less likely to suck up water.

What do you think that elbow does?

TH
Terry Horlick, Penn Valley, CA
1927 Mountain Patrol Vehicle from the Los Angeles City Fire Department (L.A.F.D.)
1912 Model T Ford English Station Omnibus

Post Reply Previous topicNext topic