On this Saturday, the regular work party members were joined by Dave, who we had met at the Old Tyme Shop (ice cream parlor) on our tour to the east mountains on October 13th. He was riding his motorcycle at the time, but found the Model T’s fascinating enough that he attended our last club meeting as well as this work party.
The primary goal of this work party was to finish assembly of Tom Miles 1926 Model T touring engine and get it started. Larry, Tom, and several volunteers, including Gerald and Vernon, had already bored the cylinders to 0.020″ oversized, reground the camshaft, rebabbitted the main bearings and rods, installed the new valves and lifters, rebuilt the transmission, and painted some of the parts. It was now time to add the newly lined Kevlar bands and install the pan and hogshead, and mount the starter. Using new gaskets and silicone, the these parts were added and the engine/transmission moved from the engine stand to a rolling test bed.
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22Initially, the carburetor was malfunctioning and the engine was starving for gas. Larry found a working carburetor in his inventory and it was mounted. When the engine first cranked, everyone heard a snapping noise and the starter spun with no results. The first thing to check was the Bendix spring, but it turned out to be one of the bolts holding the spring that had sheared off. Once this problem was corrected, and the carburetor problem fixed, the engine started right up and sounded nice and smooth after Larry adjusted the timing. Everyone was delighted that the engine ran so well and Larry was also looking forward to finishing this project as there are several other club engines destined for his engine stand that are waiting in the wings.
Dave Merewether brought his 1917 pickup truck for adjustments. Larry took a test drive in the bright red pickup and found the brakes to be almost non-existent! The low band also needed adjustment so Dave removed the transmission cover and the bands were tightened. This adjustment made a huge difference as this car has no auxiliary braking system.
Bob Hawk was using the Bridgeport mill to machine out the area for the hardened valve seats for Mark Wing’s 1925 touring car engine. Larry had rod stock of the correct diameter, 1/64-inch larger diameter than standard valve shank diameter, to center the boring to the valve stem holes. The machining operation will be finished at the next work party then it’s off to Empire Engines to surface the top of the block.
Paul and Marilyn Duncan had made good progress on their 1920 touring car by finishing the upholstery trim and installing the door panels. Marilyn brought new ash top bows that needed filing to fit into the top irons. The car’s original top bows were a bit warped so the Duncans wanted to replace them.
This fall work party was fun and productive and we hope that Dave joins our club.
Thank you Larry and Lorna!