T Time again

Odometer  67964

New River, AZ

The '17 Touring gets a scrubbing

The new girl in town is a 1917 Model T Touring car

We are back at Model T world and a new girl just came into my world.  She is a 1917 Model T touring that has been stored for the last 6 years.  Was a good runner when put away.  I get the job of going over her and checking everything out.  Oil change, water in the radiator, plugs cleaned and gapped, coils all delivering voltage, gas tank removed and cleaned, fuel tap removed and cleaned, gas line blown out with compressed air, carburetor cleaned and adjusted, battery charged (replaced with new).  This one is hand cranked only.  After some adjusting the mixture we got the engine to start, but the running was ragged.  It took me several hours of tuning to get it to run well- and it was worth it!  Joan and I spent the next several days touring it around our neighborhood.

 

Broken fan blade

Then the unexpected happened.  A blade broke on the 4 bladed fan throwing the remaining three blades into a wobble that threw one blade into the casting that is the cover on the front of the engine block, and one nearly into the radiator core.

Broken fan and offending blade

Damage to the engine casting

The photo on the left shows the crack made in the cast metal timing cover and the cam gear cover both!

Ominous rain clouds move in

We are in for a spell of bad weather so I dig in and take the T apart to fix the damage.  

Down to the heart of the problem

I quickly decide trying to remove the radiator.  Getting everything off without this step is possible, but taking the radiator off just makes the whole job a lot more fun.

We have a LOT of T parts around so we set out looking for a timing cover for this model year.

Test fitting a later cover on and early engine

We found some cast covers, but none were the correct one for this engine.  This one is too wide to the left (picture left, car right), but fits all the rest.  If I can find a generator mount from a later car, this cover will work- and I could mount a generator on this motor at some future date.  Hmmm.

One thing is certain, the car is out of service until we either locate another original cover or a generator casting to go with this one.

Learning the ways of the T

We are making plans to visit a fellow "collector" to see if we can find the parts we need to get this flivver back on the road.  That can't happen until Monday because tomorrow we are going to take the Model Ts (there are lots of spares) on an Art tour called Hidden in the Hills.  We've done this for a couple years now and I blogged about it here if you want to know more about this very cool event this link will open in a new page and you can return here whenever you want. Hidden in the Hills

Stormy landscape outside our window

Then, just as predicted, the heavens opened up and the rains came down.

Normally dry stream bead is brimming with runoff

Two inches of rain gives me good reason to stay in the shop and work on the T's !

Your Traveling Friends

Jeff and Joan