MTFCA Forum

Just purchased a Ford script tire pump on eBay, might be Model T, might not. It's gloss black now and I am thinking of repainting it OD green for my WWI ambulance project. On the other hand, if I take the time to remove the black paint, will I get a brass cylinder that I can polish and buff out? That's a nice look. Or will I just get a steel tube?

Here are some pics of the pump I purchased. I'll hang up and listen.

Robert,

I guess you lost me. That tube looks like brass and not gloss black to me.

Are all the tools on an ambulance painted green? What is the possibility that a tire pump was painted green or just left as brass and black?

Your question is confusing. The pump pictured has black paint on the brass looking tube? If you remove the paint will it still be brass?????? The brass tube pump has black paint [on the base] and is it brass under the paint? No the base is not brass.

The tire pump is indeed Ford Model T. The brass looking tube is solid brass. The base and the cap are painted cast iron. The pump shaft is steel...if that helps.

I guess you can do whatever with the actual pump. Our problem with the older pumps is sourcing suitable hose. If anyone has ever tracked that red hose down, would like to know

I never found a source of red hose, so I made do with black.
Sometimes when a pump is found to lack a check valve, it's assumed to be non-functional. Not so. It will work now, just as it did 100 years ago. Will you be able to get 70 psi or more? It takes a lot of pumping, but yes. I've done it just to see if I could. I did have to stop and rest a time or two. What about that lack of a check valve? There's an explanation here: https://dauntlessgeezer.com/DG115.html

A check valve at the cylinder outlet might improve efficiency a little, but it's not necessary as long as the valve stem core is working. A shorter hose with a small ID is more efficient than a longer one with a larger ID. A check valve at the pump outlet makes the volume of the hose less important. Either way, pumping up a high pressure tire will give you a good workout. Balloon tires aren't much better, since the lower pressure is offset by larger volume.

Is the air hose ID 3/16”or 1/4”. I have a steel bodied pump just like the one pictured that’s all black and has the Ford logo. The hose is black but after an online look there is a few places that have red rubber air hose. Or so they say. Maybe what’s available isn’t authentic enough.
The suppliers use to sell tire pump repair kits for Ford tire pumps as I remember.

Polished brass in the services is for parade use only. If yours is to represent a working ambulance, eschew polishing anything.
On the red hose connection, one half of a hose set for oxywelding is red, the half that carries the acetylene. I saved a piece by splitting it off from the black hose which was attached to it.

Allan from down under.

I don't think they wanted anything reflective on field ambulances.