Story and photos by Mark Wing (unless otherwise noted)

After the breakfast at the LePeep restaurant in the Uptown area of Albuquerque, several club members made the drive to Larry Azevedo’s garage in Corrales. Larry held a work day the previous week and the work day today was a continuation of projects in progress. Visiting Larry’s Garage for the first time was Bob Richards who lives on an island off the coast of Washington State. Bob is the brother of Tin Lizzie member Jeff.

Work continued on Art Gebeau’s 1924 speedster that was having problems shifting. Larry and Art had first heated and bent a brake handle outward to miss the 1926/27 style low band pedal. After some testing of the Warford and low band and reverse pedals, there was a problem with the reverse pedal stalling the engine when depressed. This problem (perhaps not enough oil between the clutch plates after long-term storage?) cleared itself up toward the end of the day and now the car shifts as it should.

Don Neidigk wasn’t able to attend the Work Day due to an illness in the family, but work continued on his 1926 coupe. The next step was to grind and reseat the valves. Mark Dominguez cleaned the top of the block and pistons. He and Larry then ground the new valve seats. These are the original non-adjustable valves and once the valves were sitting lower in their seats, Larry carefully measured (with feeler gauges) how much clearance he had to the lifters. He then cut off the excess valve stem length. This valve job will greatly improve Don Neidigk’s compression and engine performance, but this was considered a repair to buy time. The valve guides are worn, and a proper valve job will be performed when the engine is pulled in the future.

Al Schwanke had experienced cracked low and reverse drums. Dave Nolting’s ductile cast irons drums have a wonderful reputation so Al had already ordered the replacement drums as well as arranging to have Dave Nolting rivet on the gears to the new drums. The brake drum was in good condition so it will not be replaced. On this work day, Al was cleaning parts with the assistance of club president Paul Duncan. After the new drums arrive, reassembly of the engine can begin.

Paul Duncan brought two front hubs for his 1920 Model T touring car that he acquired from fellow club member John Hayne. In spite of shimming prior to the recent Raton/Clayton tour, the original worn hubs in the touring were still causing a wheel shimmy problem. After cleanup and inspection, one of the hubs acquired from John was in good condition and the bearings fit fine. The second one was too worn and a replacement is in order.

Mark Wing brought a running board tool box for wire brushing. This tool box will be mounted to the driver’s side area of the running board on his 1925 Model T touring car project that is nearing completion.

As usual, it was a very productive and enjoyable work day. Thanks Larry!