This was the first work party at Larry’s garage in the spring season and the weather was beautiful in Corrales, NM.  On this workday, Mark Wing’s older brother, Keith, was visiting from Delaware.  Joining us for his second work party was Kirby, who joined the Tin Lizzies club as a member on this workday.  Welcome Kirby!  To add to the excitement, Vern Willan brought this Model A speedster down from the east side of the mountains.  He had been working on this speedster for awhile and everyone gathered around to admire it!

As usual, there were many projects in progress on this workday.  Larry showed everyone the 1927 engine and chassis that he and his grandson Cole have been working on.  This special engine has a balanced SCAT crank, pressurized oil system, overhead valve Frontenac head, and period-correct magneto.  Larry started it for everyone to hear and it sounded terrific!  Larry custom-made many of the parts for the engine including the header.

Mark Wing is in the process of rebuilding a transmission for his 1925 touring car and needed two replacement drums.  Luckily, he had two spare transmissions so he and his brother, Keith, dismantled them to salvage and clean the parts.  By mixing and matching, it should be possible to find parts in good condition, and also of similar weight (such as the triple gears), which will help with engine balancing.

Dave Ferro, Marilyn Duncan and Don Mitchell focused on pressing the gears off of and old set of tapered axles so Dave could mount them onto new ones from Chaffin’s Garage.  It was difficult to do, but with the hydraulic press, they were able to coax the old ones off.  These new axles are slated for a total rear differential rebuild (including Ruckstell Axle) for his 1918 depot hack.  The engine had just been rebuilt, so it should be a fantastic runner for the upcoming Silver City, NM tour in the first week in June.

Art Gebeau continued work on his 1926 speedster transmission.  He and senior club member Neil O’Brien were wiring the transmission bolts, and later, measuring run-out on the transmission shaft.  Art’s engine and transmission are coming along nicely and should be reinstalled on the chassis soon.

Nick Serna was working on his 1926 Tudor project and was preparing the engine block for main bearing babbitting.  Larry has his technique perfected and on this day he and Nick prepared and poured the main bearing caps and the main bearings on the block.  Nick has been building his Tudor from various parts sources and is still looking for a good passenger’s side door for his Tudor.

Kirk Peterson, a board member and club member from Santa Fe, was working on a rim and tire.  Assisting him was our latest addition to our club Kirby.

Thanks Larry for a terrific work day!

Vern Willan’s very nice Model A speedster Model A speedster (owner Vern on the left) Model A speedster Larry with 1927 touring chassis Cole’s touring engine and chassis Custom touring engine with Frontenac head Bruce admiring the overhead valves Marilyn, Don, and Larry (Nick in the background) Transmissions ready for disassembly Disassembling the transmission Neil and Art working on Art’s 1926 speedster engine/transmission Dave and Don cutting off the old axle shaft Dave, Marilyn, and Don at the hydraulic press Pressing of the axle gear off the tapered shaft Mark Wing at the coil tester Nick (with Marilyn observing) preparing his block for babbitting the main bearings Larry heating up a cap for rebabbitting Larry heating up a main bearing cap Preheating a block Pouring babbitt for a main bearing Art and Larry checking for transmission shaft run-out Depth gauge for run-out measurements Art admiring his transmission Kirk removing a tire from the rim Mark and his brother Keith working on transmissions