'26 and '21 getting ready for spring

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You can bother me if it's necessary but please keep in mind; I'm in the shop.

[Jack Innes]

Mike,

Yesterday I ended up installing a trailer hitch for friends who had come to the "we can't get there from here" point.

The problem was fishing 8 bolts out through holes in the boxed frame.
After the unthinkable act of reading the instructions I found mention of fish wires?? In the bottom of the box were a pair of wires as shown in the picture below. I may be uninformed but I have not seen these before but they work unbelievably well! Just fish the wire through then screw the bolt into it, the wire fits the thread so that the diameter does not increase, then you can easily feed the bolt in where you need it.

I immmediately thought of the rear T motor mount bolts that have been the root of profanities not formerly known in any language.

You are very close to needing these & I bet if you found a place that installs trailer hitches you may find them.

Maybe someone else knows of a legitimate source.

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Well, so far everything has turned to sh_t today. I'm getting frustrated like you wouldn't believe. Now I've got to make a two hour trip into town to get a drill press. I hate this job.

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Thanks Jack. Great idea. I'll look for them at a place in town that builds trailers. I think one of our steel suppliers might have them. They sell trailer parts.

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She's all together except for the starter. I'm going to put that on the engine before I slip it into the car. I figure it'll be easier that way rather than try to do it when it's in the car. hardest part of the job today was putting the hogshead on and being comfortable it's not going to have oil running out of it later. The easiest was putting the bands in and hooking them up. I'll have to adjust them a little once everything is in. I'm really concerned about what happened to all those 3/8-24 bolts and castle nuts. I ended up going to the hardware store to get bolts. Now I did have a little bit of a happenstance that was a little on the strange side. I was working on bolting down the hogshead and a plastic mechanical pencil fell out of my pocket and down into the bottom of the pan. I couldn't get it to come out no mater what I tried. I even tried putting tape on the end of a wire but the pencil was so full of oil the tape wouldn't stick to it. I was about to start tearing things back down and then thought I'd try to hook it somehow with a wire and get it up far enough to grab it with needle nose pliers. I'd already put an hour into that pencil and the frustration and put me over the edge. But somehow through some kind of divine intervention ( I know that's what it was because I'd been talking to God for about 45 minutes ) I hooked the plastic clip on the plastic pencil and pulled it right out. And then I went into the house and dried my eyes and blew my nose and finely slowed down to a sort of a low wimper. Then I was ready to go back out and finish working on the motor. I also treated myself to a new purchase today and bought myself a small drill press because I deserved it. The dogs name is Lacey. I think the one thing that really bugs me about this job is that I'm going to be doing it next spring with the Sedan.

[yachtsmanbill]

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Mike Garrison is taking the day off.... editor

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Really I don't want to but 9 hours in the shop yesterday took it's toll. I'm not as sore as I thought I would be but I'm about as fatigued as a guy can be. Maybe I'll eat a little lunch, burger samich, and a cof o' cuppee and a couple cookies, then see how I feel about it. I'd like to get the starter on the motor and get it sitting down in the frame. I just called my buddy up nort' in Grand Rapids MN to see what he's got in his inventory for either a 22 or 357 in revolver. Taurus is making a revolver with a changeable cylinder so you can go from 22 LR to 22 magnum in about 2 seconds.

[yachtsmanbill]

We went to the city wide garage sale in Denmark, Wi. this morning ... 200+ garage sales with 175+ garages full of pink baby clothes; then I looked up one street and saw Mecca! This guy had this one for 18 years and want 10.5K its nice but it aint a T. In the garage was a Fordson small tool box a bit beat up with T period tools all over but nothing script. There was a band riveter for $4.00 I shouldve taken. It was a "Tom Thumb" model much like a REX or TIGER brand... bench mounted.
The3 next door neighbor had a Jim Dandy, Belgian 12Ga. double hammer breech loader side by side. I think the maker was like Stute/Jorgensen. Damasus barrel that you had to pull the hand stock off of to see the twist by the makers marks. The twist was that fine! It was about as ornate as the W.Chance model but this one was kind of a shooter. 2-3/4" black powder loads. 1894 date and a nice smooth brown patina. Pretty nice in all but also $425.00 Let me know if you want it! I may go back tomorrow for that rivet tool.



Nice 1929 Tudor for 10.5K ... Nice, but not a T. You shoulda seen all the Walmartians out from GreenBay... OY!

[LukeDahlinger]

Originally Posted by yachtsmanbill

Nice 1929 Tudor for 10.5K ... Nice, but not a T. You shoulda seen all the Walmartians out from GreenBay... OY!

I hope you don't mind kind sir, but I'm going to start using that term down here in FL. The most perfect description of Wal-Fart customers, and it's only one word!

/thread drift

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If he'll let it go for $300.00, I'll take it. And I'll give you $50.00 for a finders fee. Finders fee to be paid only if you get it for me. That way I'll still have enough money left over to drive out to pick it up. If he goes for it give me a call. I've also got a deal going on a Luger 9mm. As you know I like the old shotguns. But I like the handguns too. Not so much for any long guns after Dec 31,1899 unless it's a particular M1 garand. And I seriously don't know why I'd want that particular Garand other than the fact it's in "never been fired" condition. I really believe that rifle would go fast at around $1500.00 or more because of the beautiful wood and the rebarrel on it. It would be a real candidate for custom engraving and carving. The "A" looks nice but I believe the last thing in the world I'd want is a Ford Model A. I can't believe Henry took a step like that back from the Model T. Haha.

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I put the crank, coolant inlet, starter and starter cover on the engine today. It's hanging on the cherry picker and waiting to go into the body on Wednesday when my son can come over and help me set it in place. Tomorrow is going to be spent getting the sedan ready to go on a short run on Tuesday. About 6 or 7 of us are getting together and driving down to visit some campers at a campground on the East side of St Cloud. So I'll be changing oil, tightening the band for the brake, working on getting my one rattling back window up tight into the channel so it won't be so loud, and then see if I can get the horn to work again. It died last fall and hasn't worked since. I'm really quite excited to have both my Model Ts together for a change. It won't be this way for very long and, barring any more problems with the touring, I'll start improving the sedan.

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The '26 is washed up (including the windows) and it's ready to go on today's tour. It's starting and running better than it ever has. I'm having a little trouble with the switch. I was up until 12:30 last night getting it going. I adjusted the bands, put in rebuilt coils, put in a new timer wiring harness, a new timer, and a new set of plug wires. I really hope I don't have any problems on today's trip. This old car is pretty rough and definitely an 86 year old survivor. It's still got the black paint that was put on it back in the '50's, brush stokes and all. The seats are just nasty and fugly. I put a wool blanket over them to hide some of the bad. So wish me luck. I'm going to take my shower and get ready to go. Ya'll have a good day.

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Well yesterday was an absolutely great time. The '26 ran good and never missed a beat. I drove it south of here about 15 miles to a campground with 3 other cars and had a mini car show for the people who were there. There were a lot of questions and some great conversation. I thought my '26 was ugly enough I better park it off to the side. But I no sooner had it parked and people were gathering around with questions and a few of their own answers. Some of their answers were interesting and made me smile politely and of course I agreed when they said the obligatory "ain't that right". I've seen videos of Model Ts going through some deep snow but I have a problem when I hear about the drifts being so deep it was up to the bottom of the windows and they were actually pushing snow with the radiator. "And nothing could stop that GD T". Another guy was using his roadster to skid logs through the mud. It wasn't built up with a trak-t kit like they sell at Monkey Wards and places like that either. Just regular old 26 inch tires on it. Those T's had traction and would go through the muskeg or mud or anything. Skidding logs! I got so far into it I darn near told them mine could fly but then I figured some of them might have seen chitty chitty bang bang and they'd actually be telling me it was true. I'm glad Dick Van Dyke wasn't there.

Ok, enough of that. Today started off slow because I was really tired because of yesterday's fun. But I did muster up enough ambition to go out and set the engine into the frame of the '21. It was interesting getting the driveshaft square to slide into the back of the transmission but a little cussing and a couple cut fingers and I heard "clunk" and the whole motor and transmission slid back and into place. That was good for a little dance and some excitement. But not to much, I live in a trailer park where I'm the youngest old fart in the place. The rest of the day was spent working on the switch and magneto wiring on the '26. And that was another adventure that's all ready been described in another thread on this website. So I'm getting excited to have my Sedan for touring on cloudy days and my Touring Car for touring on sunny days. It's the best of both worlds. Of course if I was logging I'd need a roadster.

[yachtsmanbill]

Now its my turn to be impressed! Glad to see youre making progress now.... Its early, so Ill be brief but, there a great debate about using a gasket between the ball cap ( #4 main) and the ball COVER that holds the ball INTO the #4. Believe it or not, that extra 1/16 can cause a clunk when driving... I used the ball cap to hogshead gasket (necessary) and used some sealant on the back one just to jerk the judges chains'! Especially with older and worn parts the gap is somewhat of a concern. Something to think about before it gets totally buttoned up! ws

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Your hitting on something I was concerning myself with and talked to Andy about last night. It was pretty cool to see you brought it up. I "was" going to leave the gasket in because though it's an old gasket that someone put in years ago I thought what the heck it's better than nothing. Well it's going to be nothing. The gasket's coming out and a thin coat of RTV is going in. I also got a kick from your remark that I'm finally making progress now. To me I've been making progress all along because it's so nice to have the '26 running so good. When a person's got 2 cars it's easy to get buried with work. But now my focus can be on the '21. I'm 'cited to get it going. Now I'm thinking that when I get the bows and the top on the touring and the seats re-upholstered it'll be a lot more pleasurable to tour with. I'll also continue to make improvements on the sedan but for now the touring will get most of my attention.

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Originally Posted by Jack Innes

Mike,

Yesterday I ended up installing a trailer hitch for friends who had come to the "we can't get there from here" point.

The problem was fishing 8 bolts out through holes in the boxed frame.
After the unthinkable act of reading the instructions I found mention of fish wires?? In the bottom of the box were a pair of wires as shown in the picture below. I may be uninformed but I have not seen these before but they work unbelievably well! Just fish the wire through then screw the bolt into it, the wire fits the thread so that the diameter does not increase, then you can easily feed the bolt in where you need it.

I immmediately thought of the rear T motor mount bolts that have been the root of profanities not formerly known in any language.

You are very close to needing these & I bet if you found a place that installs trailer hitches you may find them.

Maybe someone else knows of a legitimate source.

Jack, I'm working on a 3 door touring car and the drivers side rear motor mount looked to me like it was going to by pretty tough. But I adapted your fishing wire adapter into a method that seemed really close in theory and worked really good. I simpley wound a top "E" guitar string tightly into the thread and put some electrical tape around it. Then it was just a matter of pulling the bolts up through the hole and holding them in place while I started the nut. So thank you for the suggestion. It worked really great.

[yachtsmanbill]

GEEZ!! I forgot that was a 3 door! Ya hafta lift the body to do a band job? ws

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Originally Posted by yachtsmanbill

GEEZ!! I forgot that was a 3 door! Ya hafta lift the body to do a band job? ws

No, everything can be done through the right side door but it gets awful tight around the shoulders. Everything about a Model T is tough for a big guy. I don't need to jack up the touring to get under it on the creeper but the '26 is a different story. I'm able to get around that though. I've got a 2 1/2 ton air jack that will lift it about 32" off the floor. That helps alot. Speaking of the '26, I don't know if a Model T could run and drive any better than that old car. It starts really great and runs like a champ. I'm putting about 35 volts out of the magneto and with the new coils it's just great. I'm seriously considering using it for touring this next weekend and not force myself to depend on the touring so soon after finishing the transmission/magneto rebuild. That gives me a little time to run the thing a little bit before I use it. A kind of transmission break-in. Besides if I put all my bets on the touring and end up with a heck of an oil leak around that hogshead it'll be nice to know I can depend on the sedan.

OK, I'm going to make a confession. My brother lives about 170 miles north of here. I'm thinking, if the upcoming tour works out ok with the sedan and I'm comfortable doing it , I'm going to figure out a back road route up to my brothers house and spend a few days. Now understand this is speculation but I truly think I'd be able to do it without problems. I am of course going to lube everything, grease the wheel bearings and oil the steering wheel. Change the air in the tires and rotate the exhaust hangers. Torque the radiator cap, clean out the bumper sumps and twist the fritz pins on the axle shifters. And I think I'll be ok giving it a shot.

The one thing I figure might be the weak link is the old radiator and the water pump. I don't care for water pumps on Model T's and this one has already presented some issues around the packing nut. But I'll bring along a couple spare parts and some tools and a little food because I could get stranded in a blizzard (after all this is Northern Mintersoda). And of course some drinking water. I really think it'll work. I'll keep you informed.

One last thing I'm looking forward to is putting the bows and the top on my touring car. I've got some rebuilding to do on the bows but the top is brand new in the box. I'd also like to put new padding into the seats on the touring. The covers on the seats are excellent but there's no batting or support left. It's kinda like sitting on a board. Then I'll be able to start doing the extra stuff with it like a spare tire carrier. Mounting my T toolbox on the running board. Replace the glass in the windshield with safety glass and yadda, yadda, yadda. -Mike

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No work on the T today. Pretty severe back spasms. The most I've been able to do so far is run into town to get a tire changed for the truck, then get home and put it on. The thing with the T is that I've got only one good days work and I could get it done but with my back like it is I'm having trouble walking. If it doesn't settle down by tomorrow I'll go into the urgent care clinic at the hospital and see if they can help me with it.

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Tonight I didn't work on the '21 but I did take the '26 for a ride. Took Lacey the dog with me. She usually likes riding in the touring. She stands on the seat and looks around the windshield and at 30 mph she's in her glory. But she's not as crazy about the sedan. She has to be bribed with milk bones to get her in there. But once she's in and realizes she's gonna be ok she settles down and has a pretty good time. Tomorrow I might skip out on the touring again. I want to pack wheel bearings on the front of the sedan and get the horn working. No matter how bad of a day I'm having it all goes away when I'm driving my T. I'm pretty excited for the tour this coming Saturday. It'll be a trip to make sure the car is roadworthy enough to make another 170 mile trip up to my brothers house in Northern Minnesota.