Story by Mark Wing. Photos by Don Neidigk and Mark Wing
Larry held a busy Tin Lizzies workday on Saturday, February 15th. Visiting Larry’s Garage for the first time was new Tin Lizzie member Mark Overberg and perspective member Mark Reinwald. Mark Overberg is a Sandia National Laboratories engineer and already owns a Model T truck that’s stored in Massachusetts. This truck has been in his family since the 1960’s and he’s looking forward to learning to maintain and drive a Model T. Mark Reinwald lives in Santa Fe, NM and is interested in Model T speedsters. Mark owns 6 collector cars, but so far, doesn’t have a Model T. He was at the garage that day to meet Larry, see his shop, and to meet some of the current club members. We sincerely hope Mark R. joins the club!
The largest project in Larry’s garage that day was the removal of Don Neidigk’s rear differential from “Arty”, his 1926 Coupe, and its upgrade to a Ruckstell rear end. The stock rear differential was in good condition as it was recently rebuilt in Larry’s garage. Don had purchased a Ruckstell axle assembly from fellow club member Art Gebeau that had been removed from a running car. Assisting Don were Larry, Dave Ferro, Jeff Richards, and Angel and Lucien Pena. When the workday ended, the assembly process was progressing nicely with Larry planning to add shims to fine-tune the ring to pinon gear lash.
Mark Wing brought a 1913 engine block in need of oversized valve stem reaming. The block was acquired from fellow club member, Frank Lewark, and is now in good condition after some metal-stitching of water jacket freeze cracks. The cylinders have some wear and scoring, and the block is slated to go to Empire Engines in Albuquerque to be bored 0.020” oversize. Upon closer inspection, the typical 1/64” (0.327” dia.) oversized reaming for the valve stems wasn’t going to work if the goal was to keep the diameters uniform as some of the holes were seriously wallowed out. The decision was made to ream the holes to 1/32” oversize (0.342” dia.). In addition to the engine block machining, Mark brought an original crankshaft to mount to Larry’s large lathe to check for straightness and journal wear. The first crankshaft inspected was well within acceptable wear limits and can be used without straightening or regrinding.
Frank Lewark also brought a crankshaft for evaluation for his 1915 project. Larry determined that Frank’s crankshaft was very near new-old-stock specifications! After the positive news, Frank began fitting connecting rods to the crank journals. These connecting rods had already been rebabbitted. The engine block was mounted to Larry’s milling machine for reaming to accommodate 1/64” oversized valves. This machining operation went very smoothly and efficiently.
Jeff Richards brought some generator armatures to check the windings, polish, and test for short circuits. Jeff likes to have spare armatures in his inventory for future use. Scott Stuart also attended the workday to look for wheel parts.
It was a busy and productive day. Thank you, Larry, for opening your shop to the club and for your expertise and mentorship!
