At the previous Saturday work party, Orlando Ortega (and his neighbor Tony Schroeder), brought a 1927 chassis to Larry’s garage from Portales, NM, (southeastern part of the state).  At this work party, the chassis (with its petrified tires) was pushed into the garage for disassembly.  Orlando, Roger, Bill, Larry, and Don quickly removed the wheels, front and rear springs, and front axle.  Larry’s air tools were a great help in freeing the rusty fasteners.  After a little more preparation, the frame will be ready for sandblasting.  This frame will be modified by lowering it approx. 4-inches in keeping with its new life as a speedster.

Bruce continued drilling and tapping his wheel adaptors for his 1926 roadster project.  Bruce had unknowingly bought Model A wire wheels and, with a lot of machining time by Larry, was creating his own set of adaptors as opposed to using the commercially available ones.

Nick Serna had been working on his transmission and it’s ready to go.  The engine is now apart and Larry and Nick assessed the condition of the parts to begin compiling a shopping list.  Nick had the unenviable job of cleaning his very greasy engine block with gasoline.  As soon as his new 0.030″ oversized pistons arrive, Nick will take the block to Empire Engines for boring.

Mark Wing resumed engine restoration for his 1925 touring car.  This restoration project had been on hold while a cracked low-speed drum and magneto repair on Mark’s 1924 coupe had taken higher priority.  The coupe project included recharged magnets, a newly rebuilt field coil, and replacement of the cracked drum.  Now that the coupe is operational again, attention could be focused back on the touring car.  The first task was installing a new Stipe 280 cam that had been purchased from Texas T-Parts at Chickasha a couple of years ago.  New cam bearings were also being fitted.  The front bearing was approx. 0.020″ too long and retired Sandia National Laboratories master machinist, Bob Hawk, helped Mark machine the bearing to the correct length.  When inserted into the block, the bearings were too tight so Larry brought out his “Time Saver” abrasive compounds to lap the bearings in.

Luke, with the assistance of Mike Housholder, continued working on his 1920 speedster project by removing headlight supports from a stock Model T headlights and will adapt them to some 1920’s period drum-shaped headlights.

It was a great work party with a wide range of projects and a lot of progress made.  Thank you Larry!

Moving Ethan’s chassis into Larry’s garage for disassembly Bruce bolting his wheel adaptor plates to the drums Orlando and Roger removing the wire wheels from the chassis. Roger, Bill, and Orlando working on the chassis Larry checking the cam gear on a new Stipe 280 cam Bruce’s wheel assmebly Larry (with camshaft) and Bruce Removing the spring shackles to release the rear spring Another view of the crew at work Nick Serna with parts to his 1926 Tudor Don working on the large-drum backing plate Orlando removing a wire wheel Roger and Orlando disassembling the front axle Bob Hawk machining the front cam bearing for Mark’s 1925 touring car project Larry grinding excess weld on Bruce’s wire wheel adaptors Nick Serna degreasing his 1926 engine block