Work Party at the Azevedo's Garage

Club members gathered on Saturday, February 25th at Larry and Lorna's garage for another fun and productive work party.  Making a appearance for his first work party was Troy, our newest club member and the proud owner of a Model TT truck currently in pieces.  With the club's help and advice, and a lot of hard work and enthusiasm on Troy's part, the truck will no doubt be up and running soon.

Among the projects for this particular Saturday was continued progress on the 1923 Model T engine to be donated by the Tin Lizzies of Albuquerque to benefit the Model T Museum currently being renovated in Richmond, Indiana.  Larry was instructing fellow club members on the considerations and proper techniques to line bore Model T main bearings after having poured new babbitts.

John Hayne was focused on freeing an early style spool from a rear differential.  As the parts were quite rusty, parting them was proving to be quite a challenge even after a liberal dousing with Aero-Kroil and the application of heat!

Mark was busily cleaning parts for his 1925 touring restoration project.  In spite of a nasty case of rust, most of the part are cleaning up well, and those that aren't, are being replaced with (whenever possible) original parts in good condition.

As is our tradition, the attendees enjoyed a delicous and relaxing lunch as well as quality time spent among friends.  On a sad note, Larry and Lorna's long-time neighbors Bobby and Jolene are moving to Arizona and this would be the last work party they would be attending (at least for a while).  Bobby is a very accomplished pin striper who has embellished several of our clubs cars including the "Lorna Special", Lorna's white brass-era speedster.

Thank you to Larry and Lorna for hosting this wonder work party!

Neil and Vern cleaning up babbitted main bearings before line boring.

Neil filing the main bearings of excess babbitt.

Bob, Larry, and Don reviewing the measured and calculated boring dimensions.

Jahn cleaning up a main bearing cap.

Neil, Bobby, Jahn, and Vern. Sadly, Bobby was saying goodbye before heading to a new home in Arizona.

Larry and John trying to separate an early differential spool from it's housing.

Heating up the part didn't seem to help separate the rusted parts.

John applying strategic blows with a hammer and center punch.

Troy (our Club's newest member) with Neil and Larry.

Bob, Troy, and Don

Taking a break for lunch

Lunch in the barn

Larry taking measurements in preparation for the line boring operation.

Larry and Vern discussing the boring procedure.

The Model T block now mounted to a lathe for the boring process

Boring fixture in place

Larry checking the ID of the bored main bearing

Larry measuring the OD of the Model T crankshaft

Bob Hawk, a retired master machinist with Sandia National Laboratories, checking the progress of the boring operation.

Mark's 1925 Model T touring engine in it's condition as puchased from fellow club member Bruce.

Engine parts from the rusty 1925 touring after cleaning at Larry's garage.

Other parts, such as a differential spool, timer and throttle linkages, and a bendix cover from the same rusty Model T engine after cleanup.

The 1925 touring car restoration includes changing the stock small drum rear axle to a large drum (1926-27) version. These later brake shoes will provide better gripping power while parking and the larger 11-inch stock drums are already the correct diameter for Rocky Mountain brakes.

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