Cool as a Cucumber

Cleaned up the original water pump for Clyde, added some more packing to the shaft seal nut to help slow down any leaks, cleaned out both of the grease cups and repacked them full. Then reinstalled the pump onto Clyde. Removed the radiator and flushed it out good with water also flushed out the engine. Reinstalled the radiator and filled up with water and a gallon of antifreeze. Then Janice and I took Clyde out for a ride around town. Went down to Village Market to get some bread and milk, stopped and got about 3 gallons of gas, and then headed back home down Barker street. Got stopped by a long, slow moving train at the crossing. Let Clyde sit and idle while waiting for the train to pass, he hardly raised the temperature on the meter. Continued on down around Grand Ave and back to home. Still running very cool when Janice and I got back. Put him away in his new shed and took the picture of  the MotoMeter after about 10 minutes which shows the highest reading that I got, he ran about half that level around town.

The marking on the pump for the Jenkins Vulcan Spring Co in Richmond Ind. Is the home of the Model T Ford Club of America Museum.

Kids! Kids! Kids!

Mom is here for a few days so Sunday had family over to visit her. My three kids, Debbie with her daughter Elizabeth and grandson Kennison, Dave with his three kids Emily, James and Lucy, and Becky and her hubby Dennis. My sister Linda and her husband Jim and their grandchildren Austin, Kamryn, and Mikayla.

After eating had to give everyone a ride in the T.

Becky Debbie and Kennison

 

 

Becky, Lucy, Mikayla, Kamryn, Debbie, Kennison

Becky, Austin, Linda

 

Becky, Austin, Emily (she's got the wave down good)

Elizabeth and Kennison

Completing another run.

James, Elizabeth and Kennison (and Becky, again)

After five runs around the neighborhood, Clyde was getting a little weary hauling all these kids around, but he was a trooper hanging in there until the last ride was given. Now back in the garage to continue getting the new top installed.
I have installed the side pads, center straps and rear straps. Need to complete the front tie down straps and then the rear curtain and top. His new home in the back is nearing completion, just need to finish the trim and painting and it should be ready for Clyde to move in.

(thanks to Dennis for taking these pictures and Becky for riding herd on the hooligans in the back)

Relay for Life

Took Clyde out for his first car show at the Wellington Relay for Life 'Cruisin for a Cure'.

He was one of 9 cars there and was the oldest. There was a 1931 and 1936 Model A, everything else was 1960 or newer. The 1931 Model A Coupe was owned by Dwight and Elaine Holt, old friends from Kipton whom we hadn't seen for a long time and it was good to sit and talk with them for awhile. He had just purchased the car this spring and wanted it because it was manufactured in the year of his birth.
They had us park on the north side of the parking lot behind the town hall, which was in full sun all the time, so we sat on the south side in the shade of the trees.
At four o'clock prizes were awarded for the top three cars and all the new iron were the winners. But didn't go with any ides of receiving any trophy or other wise.

Long Hot Drive for Chicken

Drove Clyde to Valley City Sunday for a barbecue chicken dinner at Saint Martins Church on Station road. The Bumps and Grinds Model T club was meeting there as they have for many years. The trip was about 20 miles by the back roads and without the top on Clyde and the sun shining, temperature around 90 degrees, it was a warm trip. Took the GPS to measure the speed of Clyde and got him up to 37 mph on a fairly flat section of road. Didn't want to run at that speed long so backed off to around 25-30 for most of the trip.
Clyde is running at the top of the temperature meter when running at speed but actually cooled down a slight bit when he came to a stop or slowed way down. Not sure what the cause of this is. I had adjusted the timing before taking this trip as it was to retarded, and would not even run unless at least half way advanced. Thought that might make him run cooler since I now could advance the spark more, but actually was running hotter than before I think. Also ran the fuel mixture a little more on the richer side, again hoping for cooler running. I guess next I need to pull the head and look at the water passages and flush the engine and radiator as well as I can.
There was about 20 or so members of the Bumps and Grinds group at the dinner. You got a lot to eat for 10 bucks, leg and thigh, noodles mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans (yuck), coleslaw, pie and a bottle of water. More than enough to fill you up. Had an enjoyable time talking with some of the members, and looking at the many old cars there.
After the trip home, Jan had a good red tan on here legs and neck from the hour drive there and hour drive back. She said no more rides until I get the top on, so I guess that will be my next major T project.

Earning His Keep

Yesterday Clyde got to earn his keep. Finally it has dried out enough that we can get into the garden, so we needed to get some tomato and pepper plants, well Clyde was called on for this duty. Fired him up and Jan and I headed out to Hoffman's green house on Bursley road, this way we could get there and back just using the back roads. Hook's greenhouse on route 18 is out of the question, to much fast traffic for an old "T" like Clyde he likes the slower pace (and so do I). This was Clyde's first trip out of the big city, and onto the open roads. He did a very good job. Did notice what I think is an engine knock at the higher speeds which I have not heard before, so didn't open him up to maximum speed, but otherwise the trip was an enjoyable ride in the country. While at Hoffman's an older fellow came up to us and remarked that he remembered his father having a model T pickup and riding in the bed. (this is what it is all about, rekindling those enjoyable memories of the past).
Coming back on Jones road near the reservoir came up on a couple of bicyclist's , this was the winding section of the road with a double yellow line, no way I was going to get around them not knowing what might be coming the other way, so they became our pace car for the next quarter mile or so until we turned off onto Greenview Ct.
Got home and put in the pepper and tomato plants, went to get the hose to water them down, but it would only reach half way to the garden. Forgot last year the extra hose that was attached had sprung a leak, (cheap Walmart stuff, only lasted 2 years) so needed to run up town and pick up a new hose. Clyde to the rescue. Drove him to Farm and Home Hardware and got a new hose, the same as I already had (which I've had for at least 4 years). Got some paint for Jan and a couple bunches of red onions.
All in all a good productive day for Clyde. This is reason I got him, to just jump in a run those quick trips up town or a ride in the country when ever the urge strikes.
16 miles.

Out and About the Town Again

Took another ride around town, this time touched all four corners of the village. Additionally, my wife and I had a new passenger, Buddy Love, my father in laws sheltie dog. He sat on Jan's lap and took it all in as he was the king of the "T". Unfortunately had no one to take a picture of his inaugural ride. This was his first "T" ride as he has never been in my father in laws '22 touring.
Got better at shifting into high gear, need to throttle way down. Still seems to run fairly hot, on the motometer right near the top, but this is short streets with lots of stop and go driving. Probably not a good parade car with out a water pump. Will need to work on the leak in the pump and see about putting it back on and seeing how that works.
7 miles.

Out of the Garage and on the Road

Was able to get out Sunday and go for our maiden voyage in the topless Clyde. It was a beautiful day with sunshine, temps around 80 and it wasn't raining, for the "T's" first introduction to the village streets. The wife and I took drive around the southern side of town, stopped and got some gas and just enjoyed the ride. After that our daughter and her fiancé came over and I took them both for a short ride around the neighborhood, put a total of about 9 miles of travel on Clyde.

He ran very well, and the wife remarked that he seemed a lot quieter than her father’s '22 touring, to which I agreed as you could clearly hear the coils buzzing away, but I don't have a cover for the coil box and we didn't get much above idle speed in high gear as we were on residential streets. Shifting in high gear is not as smooth as her dad's "T", with a fair amount of rough chatter. Transmission brake was fairly good but could use a little tweak and need to adjust for a better larger neutral position on the brake lever as there is not much movement between having the rear brakes on and before high gear kicks in. No major territory marking just a little oil from the rear of the transmission at the ball joint.

Need to get the new top on, pretty warm sitting in the sun. Hopefully we have finally arrived at warmer and dryer weather and we will have many more enjoyable days of driving.

Honeycomb Radiator

Here are a few pictures of the honeycomb radiator on the "T". I have not had the shroud off so don't know if there are any hidden marks under it.
The first is a front view, the repaired leak was in the lower right corner.

 

The next is a rear view.

Here is shot of the upper right side numbers "159216".

Finally a look at the center rear, can't make out these number "***47"

Water Pump

The original water pump is leaking and looks to have been for awhile as there is a good rust stain at the moter pan joint. The "T" has a honeycomb radiator which the previous owner had just had repaired before I purchased it, (this was in the lower front right corner of the radiator). I thought I would try without the water pump and see how Bonnie/Clyde performs.
Removed the water pump and found that the horn  support bracket that was attached with the water inlet bolts had one ear cracked off so needed to replace it. Attached a new water inlet casting and horn support bracket with new bolts. Found that the horn would now hit the steering column if mounted with an extra bracket attached to the horn. Need to make a new plate to offset the horn up and away from the steering column.
Put the water hoses and pipe on to the casting and attached to the radiator bottom. Refilled radiator with water (no antifreeze yet).

Rear Wheels

Pulled off the rear wheels with the help of a borrowed wheel puller. The brakes are metal shoes without any lining, maybe latter I'll replace with lined shoes. On the drivers side there was a slight leak of fine lubricant. removed the end cap, felt seal and washer, and pulled out the bearing. This bearing had no grease in it just fine lubricant like oil coating. On the passenger side removed the same parts. This bearing was packed with dried grease such that I had to scrape and dig to remove it. Neither side had internal oil/grease seals. Cleaned both bearings and measured them and they were all around 0.498 - 0.497 diameter and looked in good shape (these are the original Hyatt style bearings). The sleeves had some pretty good grooves in the outside edges so replacement was called for. Installed new neoprene seals and bearing sleeves, packed the bearings in grease and reinstalled them. Cleaned out the two grease cups on the axle shaft and repacked with grease. Replaced the end caps, felt and washer with new components, and reinstalled the wheels after cleaning and painting.

Crank

One of the parts that I received was a spring for the crank to keep it disengaged. I installed this spring on the crank. Additionally I installed a front choke wire which was not on the car. Now I can choke it from the front while cranking without opening the hood and stretching to reach the carburetor.

Going Topless

As noted previously the top is in real bad shape and needs to be replaced. Got a replacement top from CarTouche, instructions say that it is best to install when temperature is about 75 degrees. Well this is the middle of winter it's going to be awhile before we see that. Anyway in preparation removed the old top and bows. The bow wood have a lot of tack holes in them and the front bow at one end had some rot from a previous moisture leak. Started to fill in the holes with toothpicks, but as I proceeded I got to looking at the joints to the bow irons.
These bows are 3 piece wood assemblies in the irons. A curved piece inserted in the irons and a straight section across the middle riveted to the irons at each end. These joints were fairly loose so I decided to make new cross members after filling the old wood with hundreds of toothpicks (looked like a porcupine). Using the old sections as pattern cut new cross bars out of oak. Sanded down the irons and repainted them.
Right now Clyde is topless ( thank goodness she isn't Bonnie at this time).

Toot, Toot

The horn was not working on the "T" when I got  it, the previous owner was trying to fix it, but I took it off his hands before he got it working.
I completely disassembled the horn and cleaned everything up and repainted the steel parts as required. The internal terminals were corroded and need some clean up. Otherwise the internals looked pretty good. Bacically the vibrator points needed adjusted. Got it working, not as well as I liked but maybe as good as it gets.

Keep the Current Flowing

The main battery wires look a little ragged so decided to replace them and also clean up the electrical joints. Replaced the battery to starter switch and the switch to starter cables. Additionally replaced the battery ground strap and cleaned up the chassis ground connection. Put a piece of wood under the battery to raise it slightly to allow better routing of the cables over the battery holder top. There are no battery hold downs.
The rest of the cars wiring had been replaced by the previous owner with replacement looms. He said when he got it some one had wired the "T" with all the same color wires.

Tight Wheels are Happy Wheels

Pulled the front wheels as there was a lot of side to side movement. Wheel nuts were very loose, kingpins don't have much play in them. The bearings looked in good shape so cleaned them up and repacked with grease. put wheels back on and snug up nuts just to the point of wheel drag. Now have very little side play. Should be good for many fun miles.