Among the projects on this Saturday was to replace a front cross member on the Lance Family’s 1925 runabout frame.  Phil bought the runabout recently and it had a front cross member that had an additional plate welded to the top.  Using a cold chisel, the old rivets were cut off and a replacement front cross member was provided by Dave Ferro.  Phil brought a new rivet kit and, using Larry’s pneumatic equipment and heating up the rivets, the replacement cross member was installed.

Kirk Peterson needed to replace the spokes on “Buster”, his 1925 Model T coupe.  He prepared the hubs and, using a hydraulic press, installed the spokes.

Mark Wing brought some parts to clean up and a 1911 exhaust manifold.  The manifold was sagging over a quarter of an inch, but Larry has a technique to heat and bend the manifold back so the holes are in alignment.  He had created a fixture that holds the exhaust holes for cylinders 1 and 2 securely, while allowing numbers 3 and 4 to be pushed via bolts until they’re all in alignment.  This early manifold (with straight threads instead of the later style tapered threads) proved quite a challenge as it didn’t act like typical cast iron.  Once Larry heated the manifold and allowed it to cool, it would spring back!  After several tries, Larry modified the number 3 and 4 port inserts to push the manifold approximately 0.2″ past the usual target.  Once it cooled, it sprang back to very close to where it needed to be.  Could it be that the early exhaust manifolds have a different metallurgical composition than the later ones?

Thanks Larry for a great work party!