MTFCA Forum

Unless I missed it nobody else has done it, so I'll kick it off this month.

Today I got around to replacing my bad perch with the good one Phil Maurici gave me at OCF. Thanks Phil!

The old perch doesn't have enough threads left to hold a nut.

This is the accessory to apply when a perch nut is lost or won't hold. The bend at the top (right) end goes around the perch (on top of the axle) and the clamp goes under the wishbone.

Have a pic of how it attached

Steve, That looks a lot better! Did the new perch fit good and snug in the axle bore? I was concerned that it might have been a little worn since it twisted around so easily. You were very lucky that day!! Glad I was able to help you get it patched up and back on the road. That was a lot more fun than the auction.

Be caeful about "jerry rigging" perches. A spring perch went away for Meeks and his prestine touring rolled and killed him. (The perch was aftermarket)

I'm so sorry to hear about the person having the T flip and kill him. There are so few of us left and drives home ( to me ) how dangerous these things can be. My prayers for the family and friends.

The holidays were a slow T time here. Between sickness and the holidays I didn't get much done. I finished up the frame work for the seating are and now will begin the upper parts and firewall of my T delivery/hack.

I'm disassembling two rear ends to make a good one for my car. It looks like this bearing sleeve is probably original. The upper surface is worn through and the "V" split is closed. My sleeve removal tool was not useful in this case. It took a hammer, chisel and vice grips to get this out.

Yup, a crack and extruded material on top where the sleeve carries the weight of the car, pretty much normal wear.

Please be sure to replace that spring steel reinforced inner seal with the modern neoprene seal, those steel "fingers" can rub on the axle shaft, creating an area for cracks to form.

I'm replacing my front spring, perches, bushings, etc.

My car also had the same perch brace thingamabobs that Steve's car had, although Steve's looked like an actual aftermarket item. Mine looked homemade.

Hey Mark, those these newfangled free floating axles huh ?

Hello Steve here,
I have started to rebuild my 1926 rear axle. New sleeves, new axles, new brass thrust washers, new pins. Now I'm looking at the drive shaft.
I have a new brass bushing but I don't have the tool to remove the old one. I hate buying these expensive tools when I plan to use then once. On with the build!!!

Beaver1054 wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 10, 2020 11:41 am

Hello Steve here,
I have started to rebuild my 1926 rear axle. New sleeves, new axles, new brass thrust washers, new pins. Now I'm looking at the drive shaft.
I have a new brass bushing but I don't have the tool to remove the old one. I hate buying these expensive tools when I plan to use then once. On with the build!!!

This link has good advice and shows a low-cost bushing removal method. I did as shown in the article and it was easy to remove the bushing.
https://modeltfordfix.com/rebuilding-the-drive-shaft/

I see that you used cotter pins in the differential housing nuts. Chaffins book shows that but the service manual says to wire the three nuts per paragraph 607 and figure 349.

Anyone want to weigh in on which is preferred?

This past Wednesday I stopped by Classtique to see Mike and pick up my new top boot for my runabout. Fits perfectly.

To answer Mark's question, if there are thru bolts, cotter pins are fine. If studs, safety wire.That is my opinion.

Steve is correct.
When you cotter pin a stud you turn it into an un safetied bolt.
I made an off field landing because of two studs that held the rocker stand to the head that had cotter pins.

Well, I got some gas and went driving today. I'm going to do it again tomorrow too!

My inspectors are checking my work

... I got some gas and went driving...

That's what they're for.

First post in eight months.
Making a top hinge from scrap steel.

I tore down my frame. Maybe went too far?

We'll this one is not my T, but I helped some friends at a local shop get this 25 roadster running and driving after a several decade long hibernation.

Thanks Mark,
This is Steve, the post helped allot I will try the pipe trick to remove the bushing.
Looking at my drive shaft tube I noticed that the old bushing has already been replaced with a brass one. I also noticed that the oil hole was never drilled.
Again Thanks!!

The time study in the service manual says it should take 38 minutes to pull the engine. Ha!

Anyway, I finally got it out today. The car has been waiting for me to get to it since it came home on a trailer last summer.

I drained the oil (most of it) before I pulled the engine, and had to use a piece of wire to clear the drain several times. Only one band lining was damaged, but it was thoroughly shredded. The band was broken in two.

The low drum may need to be resurfaced.

Today I continued the dismantlement.
The old hub plate tool is still handy.

Sometimes you're lucky and things line up just right.

Fishing out the clutch disks was easy enough.

The Ford clutch puller was adequate for the job this time.

Raising the transmission off the main shaft took some persuasion.

Uh-oh. I don't like that.

I think I'll get one of Dave Nolting's new drums. It won't be cheap, but it will be less worrisome than an old drum.

Wow! That's a lot of work Jeff. It took me a few days to take my motor out. It was my first time.

Made some racks for my Roadster pickup.

Steve, I presume the blow-up caused the transmission drums to be difficult to lift off the shaft. Using a puller on the reverse drum as you show is not something I would recommend, unless conditions demanded it. Any real pressure applied is likely to damage the drum. I would suggest that it be spun in a lathe to see if it runs true before contemplating re-using it.

Allan from down under.

I would suggest that it be spun in a lathe to see if it runs true...

Good idea. I will check it out.

Steve, thanks for the post. It’s always a treat to see your shop and your work. Same for all you fellers getting stuff done. It’s an inspiration !!

what have I done in January?
So far, not a frolickin’ thing !!

(So much for New Year’s resolutions - I have plowed a lot of snow, however.)

Today I trial fitted the front fenders and running boards. My fender braces are going to need a lot of tweaking. Neither brace is close to the bracket under the fender. The left front fender really points outward at the front. The bottom of the firewall is just touching the top of the fender and the running board braces are in a bind to reach the holes in the running boards. All in all a pretty good day. Art

Art what is the paint you used on the body? It's just what I have been looking for! Beautiful!

I wish I could tell you, It came painted the dark maroon with black fenders and black wheels. I am going to take a door to the paint store to have the color scanned because I have a couple of areas to touch up so I will let you know what they come up with. Art

Set the engin back in the frame.
Pulled the front end for rebuild/ new bushings and king pins. w

I've been picking at this thing.

It got its new head gasket, and passed the compression test. coil box (thanks AdminJeff) coils, plugs and wires in. Setting up the timer this weekend.
oil pan inspection plate straightened, ready to install.

need generator mount, generator, and carburetor (mine is bad, can't get the main jet out)

...can't get the main jet out...

Try the heat wrench. Turn the body red and let it cool.

I have most of the suspension parts rebuilt and painted. Assembled the springs today. Waiting to get the frame blasted and front axle. After those are painted it all goes back under the roadster pichup aka Swamp Donkey.

Upper hinge will do. Looks like I will have to modify the pin to make it look right as we cannot buy one.

Will these work? https://www.modeltford.com/item/5205BX.aspx

Did some repairs on a vintage winterfront radiator cover.

I got my rear axle built. I have a Ruxtell ,high speed ring and pinion, Rocky’s, floating hubs, modern bearing in the pinion. Can’t wait to get it on the road. Going under a 23 touring.

Mark, thank you for posting those winter front pictures! I may try to make one like it on my old sewing machine using some top material I have around.

Dismantled the front spring, had it sandblasted and powder coated. Pressed in new bushings, painted the moving sections with graphite paint, and finally reassembled with a new bolt to replace the rusty, misshapen original.

Came up with an issue trying to fit new spring clips and finding that they weren't wide enough to slip into place. Some wise folks sent me down the learning trail and the discovery that, some time in the foggy past, someone had slipped in a Model A spring. Not sure yet what they did to the frame to fit in this wider spring but hoping that's not going to be the bad news that I think it could be.

The upside is that this project has resulted in one of the best looking mistakes I've ever made. I've certainly worked much harder to create much worst outcomes so maybe I am learning something after all.

Front springs for 1927 T -- another item to add to the Chickasha Swap Meet wish list.

Today I got back to work on my new top socket.

Using body solder is not one of my skills, at least not yet, so this took more time and solder than it should have. Recently I had the socket come loose from the base because I applied too much heat, so the first step was to reattach the two parts solidly.

I clamped a strip of can around the joint to keep the hot solder from leaking out as it had been doing.

After dripping plenty of solder down into the tube and heating the joint to make sure the solder had melted into it, I let it cool and pulled off the strip of can..

The two parts are solidly connected, but the joint looks pretty rough.

So, using a 000 tip with the smallest flame I could manage, I built a glob of solder around the joint.

Then came lots and lots of filing.

In the end I got a joint I'm calling good enough. An application of primer should fill the pits.

All the T work I got done today was cleaning up the hardware for the new top socket. Maybe I can get the thing assembled tomorrow.

I'm cutting out the pieces of black vinyl needed to make a winter front for Betsy. The sides will have more seams than absolutely necessary, but I wanted to make maximum use of the material I have available. I still need to cut out the part for the center roll-up flap and make a strap to hold the flap in the rolled up position. I may also go looking for some lining material to make the winter front a little less floppy and more resistant to the heat of the radiator shell.

Once all the pieces are cut and marked, it will be time to start sewing!

Not my T specifically, but made a batch of NH float valve tools. I ended up scrapping the "pin" design pictured, for a machined from solid and case-hardened design with a little heavier handle. Overall looks the same though. Wasn't happy with the cheapened design and went with what has worked for me over the last 15 or so years.

Gotta stay busy.

Oh, and Mark...really like the radiator shroud. That's cool.

I spent most of the day on the new top socket. Being a clumsy oaf, I took it verrrrry slowww so as to not mess it up. I should have it assembled and ready to paint tomorrow.

I noticed increasing areas of erosion on the contacts of my TW timer - at the start and finish of each segment.
I removed it and carefully set it up in my 4-jaw lathe chuck and made very fine cuts across the track. Then polished it.
I was surprised to find that it required removal of almost 0.015" to clean it up. I guess that the rate of erosion increases with use. The brush will not easily follow the eroded area, so more sparking and faster erosion.
I have the rectangular section brush, not the round one.

Nevertheless, the TW maintains performance longer (and is easier to fix) than the Anderson.

My car a 26 coupe is still at the upholstery shop getting a complete interior and top.

Continuing with my winterfront project, I finished cutting out all of the vinyl pieces and bought some heavy interfacing (backing) material to help give the vinyl some stiffness so that it will hold its shape (except for the roll-up center flap, of course). I also sewed the pieces together for the sides that wrap around the radiator shell.

not much done here bernie[image][/image]

I've been working on a pattern for a top cover for my 1911 touring. Since they were not a factory item, but were available aftermarket, I am taking some creative liberties. The cover is held in place by the Murphy fasteners on the top sockets that hold the side curtains in place. After I finish the pattern, I will send it off to Mike at Classtique.
: ^ )

Made new crank for my t..lol

Rebuilding the wooden structure of my 22 center door sedan in my basement.

When it warms up, I'll start building it on its frame outside. (Still have to pick that up)

I just barely made it by the end of January, but I finished the winter front for Betsy today. I used common sense fasteners instead of snaps to attach the main flap.

A few more pics of the finished winter front.

This January 2020 I took up the connecting rod bearings on a 1911 Touring. As you know the miserable number 4 bearing on a 3 dip pan is always a bear. For some reason this is one went very well. I removed one shim (0.002"), but the remaining shim pack was still thick. These shims would not stay in place with grease as I attempted to replace the cap in the 3 O'clock position as viewed from the front. I finally held the shims in place with dental floss that I had hammered out to less than 0.005" inch. The caps went right on, the shims stayed in place and the bearing fit was excellent. Have a look at the right side of the photo and you will see the dental floss holding the shim pack, and all the rags of course, which totaled 7, are to keep anything falling into the transmission. The older I get, the more I enjoy a 4 dip pan.
Stu Tomlinson

I got my wheels back from Stutzman's and mounted all four new liners/tubes/tires on newly painted rims without a scratch Yeah!
I had all four wheels rebuilt and Stutzman's did a fantastic job.
Ready (almost) to tour!!
Highly recommend the use of plastic rim guards like the motorcycle guys use to mount the tires with irons without scratching the rims. Available on Amazon pretty cheap.

Not much, but I rebuilt and installed the muffler on my 1915.