A glass "half-full" weekend

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
WayneJ
Posts: 472
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2019 8:15 pm
First Name: Wayne
Last Name: Jorgensen
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1915 Runabout, 1918 Runabout
Location: Batavia, IL
MTFCA Number: 31697
MTFCI Number: 23399
Board Member Since: 2013

A glass "half-full" weekend

Post by WayneJ » Mon Jun 21, 2021 10:03 am

I find the old car hobby is often a dance with two steps forward and then one back.

Last Saturday my local Model T club had a picnic scheduled in Crystal Lake, IL, which is about 31 miles from my house, and through some pretty congested traffic. Another member who lives about 7 miles from the picnic site, offered his yard to park trailers. So the plan was to trailer to his house and drive my T from there to the picnic. I had been having some starting issues, so Thursday before the picnic I adjusted the carburetor and it now started reliably. Friday I washed the car and touched up the brass. Saturday morning came and it was a glorious day. We arrived at our friends house, parked the trailer, and the T started right up. While still on the trailer I proceeded to put the floor boards, seat cushion, and floor mat (that I remove for towing on an open trailer) back in the car before backing off the trailer. Just as I was about to replace the floor mat, I looked at my radiator and noticed a fountain (not a trickle). Apparently my almost new radiator developed a huge leak where the core meets the bottom tank. Well so much for driving to the picnic!
20210619_093610.jpg
The good news was my T was still on the trailer, we were safe in our friends yard. If you are going to break down, in a driveway is the place to be.

So we proceeded with Plan B, which was to ride along in our friends 1911:
20210619_100900.jpg
20210619_102634s.jpg
20210619_102634s.jpg (65.17 KiB) Viewed 2443 times
We enjoyed the picnic, and I got several leads on local repair shops that will work on brass radiators, so all things considered, not a bad day.

At the moment my garage is crowded, so I can't work on the T without rearranging everything, so I decided (since we are in the middle of a drought) to leave the T on the trailer with a tarp over it.

Last night (Sunday) at 10:50 PM the tornado sirens went off, and they were wailing. A tornado was sited (it didn't touch down) in North Aurora / Batavia. And my T is outside on an open trailer, under a tarp. Only thing to do is go down to the basement until the storm passes. The tornado did touch down in several suburbs to the east of me, lots of property damage, some injuries, no deaths. And so this morning here is my T:
Tarped.jpg
You can barely tell that it had rained. So our glass is definitely half full.
Wayne Jorgensen, Batavia, IL
1915 Runabout
1918 Runabout

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: A glass "half-full" weekend

Post by Steve Jelf » Mon Jun 21, 2021 10:21 am

This is not the first forum post I've seen featuring a repop radiator that failed. Each post confirms how glad I am that I had my original radiator recored by an experienced radiator pro. For a black era car I will go with Berg's. I've never heard of one of those going to pieces. But brass? If the tanks are sound I'll go with the recore.
The inevitable often happens.
1915 Runabout
1923 Touring


ThreePedalTapDancer
Posts: 1419
Joined: Sun Nov 24, 2019 2:29 pm
First Name: Ed
Last Name: Martin
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1914 Touring, 1909 Touring
Location: Idaho

Re: A glass "half-full" weekend

Post by ThreePedalTapDancer » Mon Jun 21, 2021 11:06 am

It’s the solder. The stuff used now is garbage.


Adam
Posts: 1411
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2019 11:57 am
First Name: Adam
Last Name: Doleshal
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: ‘13 Touring, ‘24 Touring, ‘25 TT dump truck, ‘26 Tudor, ‘20 Theiman harvester T powerplant, ‘20 T Staude tractor
Location: Wisconsin
MTFCA Number: 23809
MTFCI Number: 1
Board Member Since: 2000

Re: A glass "half-full" weekend

Post by Adam » Mon Jun 21, 2021 12:17 pm

A lot of the repro radiator issues is that there often is not a good mechanical connection between some parts. The entire radiator should hold together without a drop of solder and the solder should only be a “sealer”. When parts don’t fit tightly together and solder is used as “glue” to hold parts together is where problems occur.

User avatar

Topic author
WayneJ
Posts: 472
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2019 8:15 pm
First Name: Wayne
Last Name: Jorgensen
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1915 Runabout, 1918 Runabout
Location: Batavia, IL
MTFCA Number: 31697
MTFCI Number: 23399
Board Member Since: 2013

Re: A glass "half-full" weekend

Post by WayneJ » Mon Jun 21, 2021 1:43 pm

Well all isn't as it first appeared. I lost a fan blade, which caused the next blade to fold over on itself and then gouged the radiator. So the radiator wasn't at fault.
20210621_120148_resized.jpg
20210621_120128_resized.jpg
Wayne Jorgensen, Batavia, IL
1915 Runabout
1918 Runabout


speedytinc
Posts: 3840
Joined: Fri Feb 12, 2021 12:24 pm
First Name: john
Last Name: karvaly
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 14/15 wide track roadster. 23 touring, 27 roadster pickup, 20ish rajo touring
Location: orange, ca
MTFCA Number: 14383
Board Member Since: 2020

Re: A glass "half-full" weekend

Post by speedytinc » Mon Jun 21, 2021 2:31 pm

WayneJ wrote:
Mon Jun 21, 2021 1:43 pm
Well all isn't as it first appeared. I lost a fan blade, which caused the next blade to fold over on itself and then gouged the radiator. So the radiator wasn't at fault.

20210621_120148_resized.jpg
20210621_120128_resized.jpg
We see this a lot. Is the answer to upgrade fan & pulley to much later unit & loose the "original" aspect or is there a good replacement/fix? I am thinking Its time to get proactive on my brass T.

User avatar

Topic author
WayneJ
Posts: 472
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2019 8:15 pm
First Name: Wayne
Last Name: Jorgensen
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1915 Runabout, 1918 Runabout
Location: Batavia, IL
MTFCA Number: 31697
MTFCI Number: 23399
Board Member Since: 2013

Re: A glass "half-full" weekend

Post by WayneJ » Mon Jun 21, 2021 3:40 pm

Well the sad part is I had already purchased a new fan with a ball bearing hub and was planning on installing it this week. Oh, well!
Wayne Jorgensen, Batavia, IL
1915 Runabout
1918 Runabout

User avatar

TWrenn
Posts: 3389
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2019 10:53 am
First Name: Tim
Last Name: Wrenn
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: '13 Touring, '26 "Overlap" Fordor
Location: Ohio
MTFCA Number: 30701
MTFCI Number: 24033
Board Member Since: 2019

Re: A glass "half-full" weekend

Post by TWrenn » Mon Jun 21, 2021 5:32 pm

Wayne, sorry to see that. It sucks!
John, don't hesitate to "upgrade" to the modern ball bearing unit..you can thread the grease cup on the inside end of the shaft and no one is the wiser. I've done this on two of my brass cars over the years and love them. And no more pigged up engine compartment either! Even seems to run quieter.
Just sayin

User avatar

joe.wal
Posts: 74
Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2019 1:33 pm
First Name: Joerg
Last Name: Walther
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1916 Touring
Location: FarFarAway (Germany)
MTFCA Number: 31419
Board Member Since: 2014

Re: A glass "half-full" weekend

Post by joe.wal » Sun Jun 27, 2021 7:49 am

Find a good radiator shop, they should be able to solder this relatively small damage.
It worked with mine and it is cooling fine, absolutely no overheating.
And the damage was massive:
20200903_140848.jpg
1916 Touring


ThreePedalTapDancer
Posts: 1419
Joined: Sun Nov 24, 2019 2:29 pm
First Name: Ed
Last Name: Martin
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1914 Touring, 1909 Touring
Location: Idaho

Re: A glass "half-full" weekend

Post by ThreePedalTapDancer » Sun Jun 27, 2021 9:20 am

I strip every fan to bare metal for inspection prior to repainting and installing. More often than not, I find cracks emanating from the rivet holes. Fan blade inspection should be a frequent point of maintenance along with other critical parts or adjustments.

User avatar

Jay In Northern Ca.
Posts: 1399
Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2019 9:59 am
First Name: Jay
Last Name: Buscio
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1913 speedster 1915 roadster pickup 1915 touring, 1927 speedster
Location: Sacramento Ca.
MTFCA Number: 49997

Re: A glass "half-full" weekend

Post by Jay In Northern Ca. » Sun Jun 27, 2021 10:27 am

glass-half-empty-glass-half-full-always-full.jpg
glass-half-empty-glass-half-full-always-full.jpg (49.04 KiB) Viewed 1928 times


Loftfield
Posts: 223
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2019 1:26 pm
First Name: Thomas
Last Name: Loftfield
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1912 Touring, 1912 Express Pick-up
Location: Brevard, NC, USA
MTFCA Number: 49876
MTFCI Number: 24725

Re: A glass "half-full" weekend

Post by Loftfield » Mon Jun 28, 2021 7:14 am

The pessimist says the glass is half empty. The optimist says it is half full. The engineer says the glass is too damned big.

User avatar

Topic author
WayneJ
Posts: 472
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2019 8:15 pm
First Name: Wayne
Last Name: Jorgensen
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1915 Runabout, 1918 Runabout
Location: Batavia, IL
MTFCA Number: 31697
MTFCI Number: 23399
Board Member Since: 2013

Re: A glass "half-full" weekend

Post by WayneJ » Tue Jun 29, 2021 7:03 am

I got my radiator back from the radiator shop yesterday. I think they did a nice job. $165. Fortunately only one tube was damaged.
20210628_160221.jpg
If you need a radiator shop in the western suburbs of Chicago, I can recommend them:
20210628_162948.jpg
Wayne Jorgensen, Batavia, IL
1915 Runabout
1918 Runabout

Post Reply Previous topicNext topic