Larry held a work party following the Tn’Vittles breakfast at Vic’s Daily Cafe. The primary focus this day was to prepare our Ts for the upcoming tour to Portales, NM in May.
The Duncans were replacing their original wood felloe wheels with a matching set of 30″ x 3.5″ wheels with new spokes and demountable rims. These new wheels look very sharp and undoubtedly much safer than the originals. It will also make changing a tire while on tour much easier.
Tom Miles brought his 1926 roadster to the work party that wouldn’t start. Larry very quickly diagnosed the problem as being two stuck valves, due probably, because Tom hadn’t driven the roadster very often. The valve cover was removed and the stuck valve resisted being freed by pliers or a screwdriver. The valves were eventually loosened by tapping them down through the spark plug hole. After some carburetor adjustments, the roadster is running smoothly!
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32Other projects included Betty and Michael Housholder rebuilding a loose front end on Betty’s 1921 coupe. This included replacing and reaming the bronze bushing in the front end, lubrication and adjustment. With Don and Mark assisting Betty, the front axle was cleaned before reinstallation of the spindles. After Michael’s rebuild, the steering response was much improved!
Bob Sieglitz, our newest member, who amazingly drove a 1921 Model T touring car from Los Angeles to Albuquerque in 1937, brought a 1926 stake bed truck to be worked on. Among the tasks were to replace the rear spring, clean spark plugs, check all lights, mount a license plate, build a spare tire carrier, check the coils, check fluids, mount wind wings, lubricate front and rear wheel bearings, and check cotter pins. Whew – what a list! Amazingly, great progress was made with the O’Brien’s (Neil and son Jeff) taking care of the license plate holding plate and spare tire mount and Larry and other club members, such as Vernon, Bruce and John, taking care of the other items on the list. A review of the car’s cotter pins revealed that most of them were missing! In terms of safety, replacing the missing cotter pins was extremely important as it’s the primary way of ensuring that parts don’t vibrate loose.
Ken Gordon had brought some coils to check with Larry’s hand crank coil tester. Mark Wing was cleaning up body brackets (bought while at Chickasha) as well as some top iron parts for his 1925 pickup truck project. Most of the parts are there, but he’s still looking for the front (detachable) irons. Dave Merewether had tested a 1926 engine on Larry’s engine stand earlier to be installed in his 1917 pickup truck. Dave has found hand cranking too difficult and using an engine with a starter would greatly improve his enjoyment of this T. He also brought a generator that was malfunctioning. Larry cleaned the generator and got it working again without having to rebuild it.
This work party was very productive and also very well attended. Thanks Larry for a great work party!