MTFCA Forum

I have a 1927 Touring and was ordering some parts from Langs and saw these, what are they for and where do they go?

First one is dustshields between the crankcase and the frame and the "where do they go" question's answer is: "in the trash the first time someone worked on the engine"

as for the second: the felt goes into the top of the steering bracket mounted to the frame

Scott answered while I was fixing my photo
The first ones fill the space between the oil pan and frame, enclosing the bottom of the engine compartment. It attaches to some of the oil pan bolts and the to a couple of bolts on the frame. Some guys run without them....it doesn't seem to make much difference...maybe the engine stays a little cleaner. I bought a pair on this forum a couple of years ago-have yet to install them.

The second one goes into the top of the steering bracket which is attached to the frame. The steering shaft passes thru the hole and you have to tamp it into the bracket. When you pump grease into the bracket it acts as a grease retainer and helps keep dirt out. See photo

The engine splash pans were probably the first parts that weren’t put back on by T owners after they worked on their T at home. By the time a T was 20 years old or older and still being used most were long gone.

I use the pans. They catch some of the tools I drop.

Do the engine pans help with cooling? That's what I was told, but it is difficult for me to believe....

One could argue that it forces more air along the length of the Engine instead of down towards the ground.
Prevents water slashing up is another reason they may have been installed but there aren’t many T’s around now with them fitted that’s for sure but Henry must of had a good reason to keep them as their deletion would have been a real money saver!
Alan in Western Australia

My car has them in place. I believe they contribute to good underhood airflow when the car is moving down the road at any significant speed. At idle, with or without a fan, I think that most air that passes through the radiator goes out the hood louvers. They do prevent road splash from reaching the engine and the uppper end of the steering bracket. On a car equipped with a fan, I believe they reduce the amount of road dust that reaches the carburetor intake. They probably increase the amount of radiated engine noise. Covering the underside of the splash shields with a thick coat of undercoating material might reduce this. As mentioned above, they'd have been a very easy item to delete, yet Ford did not do so in spite of the evident cost savings.

Bruce- do yourself a favor and put the shields on, you'll be glad you did.

I always get a kick out of the guys who determine what parts are or are not not needed based on the level of difficulty installing them...

Even though those will work, they are not what Ford supplied! The left on is correct, but the right one had two holes. One was for if you had an NH or an L4 carburetor, and the other was for if you had a vaporizer. They show up on ebay occasionally.

Scott_Conger wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 30, 2022 8:12 pm

First one is dustshields between the crankcase and the frame and the "where do they go" question's answer is: "in the trash the first time someone worked on the engine"

as for the second: the felt goes into the top of the steering bracket mounted to the frame

Couldn't agree with you MORE Scott!! Shucks, every car I bought that had those stupid things, I didn't even wait til I had to work on the engine! It was the first thing I put my hands on...to REMOVE!! There's where the "buck stops" when it comes to keeping a car so-called "original", accurate, whatever. They're just a complete nuisance. Drove them with and obviously without, and see no difference in the temp of the engine either like some say.

It looks like a set could be made with a sheet metal brake and a plasma cutter.

Intended Design: The "Engine Splash Pans" are one of the components of the cooling system, along with a louvered hood, and radiator by creating a negative pressure zone in the engine bay when moving by drawing more air through the radiator and out the louvers". You can see how more louvers were added to hoods over time. The fan is intended to draw air through the radiator when stationary or creeping along.
While there are opinions on the effectiveness of this design, there is consensus on them being an inconvenience to remove/replace when working on the engine.
Experiences are dependent on where one lives, ambient conditions, how one drives, radiator condition, engine modifications, coolant, hoods and splash pans etc all have an effect on cooling the engine. Perhaps it would be one of the questions to ask those with over heating problems, if they have splash pans or not.
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As Larry noted: The reproductions are to accommodate different configurations. So when installed one needs to further modify them to match there engine configuration. One size fits all is never without modification

Louvers were added to you could hear the horn!

Mark Gregush wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 31, 2022 12:31 pm

Louvers were added to you could hear the horn!

I thought that's why the splash pans were removed.

Does anyone have a picture of the engine splash pans installed?

Bruce

I have my 1915 apart for some work, but the pans are still in.

I was very glad the splash pans were on my '26 the day the top of the coil box came adrift and was caught there , not ending up on the road.

My 1925 which was very road worn, still had them on. When the engine goes back in so will they.

I repainted mine in 1977 against the recommendation of an old timer born in 1908. When removing the starter in 2016 I joined the pan free society..

Art Mirtes

My thrashed '21 still had the pans. It was also STD. bore and had the original Ford script head gasket leaving me to believe that the engine had never been worked on. This car was completely thrashed and then driven 10's of thousands more miles. Way Way past being simply wore out.