blog317

Saturday, March 4, 2017

At last, an auction with stuff to keep me there. This one was near Harper, about eighty miles west. I bought two big rugs, two web chairs, a clock, a shop vac, and a box of miscellaneous tools (mostly locking pliers). I'll take an occasional day off for something like that, but now I need to get back to work.

Sunday, March 5, 2017

One job ate up most of my day. That was taking a bad tire off the roadster and putting on a better one. There's a full description, with pictures, on the Model T forum.

Monday, March 6, 2017

After removing the leaking tube from that "new" tire, I made a trip into Okieland for my annual purchase of Roundhouse overalls, which aren't sold here, then spent the rest of the afternoon doing laundry. Life is all the stuff that happens while you're making other plans.

Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Tube repaired, tire mounted and on the car. But when I drove the roadster to town for shopping there was another problem. I was driving up Summit Street and heard a clicking/rattling sound. The left front wheel is loose from wear. Sometime in the past shims were installed between the spokes to tighten them, and now the shims are falling out and the wheel is getting loose. I drove verrrrry slowly coming home. If I want to drive the car before I get the new wheels ready to use, I'll have to borrow a wheel off the touring car.

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

It was blasting day. I spent the morning masking the wooden parts of my three new wheels with Gorilla tape and cardboard, then set up the equipment and spent most of the afternoon sandblasting the metal parts. My first paint job on them was totally unsatisfactory, so I'm going to repaint them and do a better job of it this time. By 3:00 PM the shadows across my work made it impossible to see what I was doing, so I called it a day. I finished two of the wheels and got started on the third one, which I'll have to finish tomorrow.

Thursday, March 9, 2017

This kind of thing drives me absolutely nuts. My bad habit of setting things down without thinking about it costs me dearly in time wasted. I was going to paint a wheel today and spent over an hour looking for one of the parts for mounting it on the painting fixture. I never did find it and the wheel remains unpainted. I finally gave up looking and got back to blasting, which took up most of the rest of the day. I ended up with that third wheel blasted, plus a Ruckstell axle housing and an engine pan. Tomorrow I hope I can find my missing part and get that wheel painted.

Friday, March 10, 2017

Mystery solved. First I cut a plywood replacement for my missing paint fixture part. Then I used it and painted a wheel. When I set about preparing another wheel for repainting, I found the missing part still in it from the previous painting. So now I have both front wheels done. Tomorrow I'll start on the rear wheels. Another activity today was to start making a spreader to stretch those too-small tires so I can get them on the wheels. Cutting pieces out of 2 x 6 boards with a little jig saw was slow going. One piece done and three to go.

Saturday, March 11, 2017

Auction day. This time the Defore Auction in Winfield had enough good stuff to keep me there all day. My big ticket item was a Dixon mower. I spent a pile of dough on it because mowing season is starting, my mowing tractor is out of action until I can fix it, and my old Dixon is kaput. I also picked up a couple of glass shades for three-way floor lamps, and an air tank. I might have bought a few more items, but the auction ran later than I wanted to stay.

Sunday, March 12, 2017

Winter is back. With an afternoon high of about 42º and a stiff wind blowing, it was a good day to stay inside. Mostly I did Model T chores. The first was shimming the wishbone in my roadster to eliminate a rattle. Then I put the brake drum on my new rear wheel and "adjusted" the bolts.

I dislike the idea of bolts protruding far enough into the drum to possibly contact the brake shoes. That can be very disappointing.

I adjusted the length of the bolts with a grinder...

...and staked them to be sure the nuts aren't going anywhere.

My other project was making a spreader to stretch some too-small tires so I can mount them. I'll show a picture if and when I get it to work.

Monday, March 13, 2017

I spent way too much time online this morning discussing history, but the centerpiece of today's activity was a trip to Winfield in the Suburban to fetch the mower I bought Saturday. I had my doubts about whether it would go into the vehicle, but removing the seat lowered its profile enough for it to fit. On the way home I made a side trip across the state line to gas up the Chebby at the lower Oklahoma price. By using a Shell card I also get a discount of 3¢ a gallon. In this case that amounted to a whopping 77¢. My last chore of the day was taking the truck and the chainsaw down to the wood lot and cutting a box of small branches. That will last about three days. Occasionally now we have warm enough days that I don't need a fire, but most evenings are still chilly. Consistent warm weather doesn't usually arrive until late April.

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

All morning and into the afternoon I worked on a new web page. It took a lot of time today, but it will save more time later when people ask about Model T alignment. In the afternoon I had to go to town for shopping and that pretty well killed the day. I did get a very little bit done on my tire stretchers, but most of it remains to be done. Maybe tomorrow.

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Yesterday's tomorrow became today, and I fnished the stretchers and attacked the first of the too-small tires. I'll leave it like this until Sunday. The forecast is for 80º+ on Sunday and Monday, so those should be good tire-mounting days. Meanwhile, I'm off to Chickasha to hobnob with my fellow Model T wizards. I enjoy the visiting, and I always find something good to bring home. Maybe next year I'll be organized enough to take some things to sell.

Thursday, March 16
Friday, March 17
Saturday, March 18, 2017

Usually when I travel I keep up the blog with my laptop. But this time I forgot to take a mouse, and I hate using a touch pad, so I'm catching up at home. It was a great meet. I enjoyed hobnobbing with the Model T wizards, and I saw some neat stuff, and I picked up some good bargains. The pictures are here.

Sunday, March 19, 2017

Today I tackled that tire again. It's been on the stretchers since Wednesday, and today I set it out in a black plastic bag in the sun to soften, and this time I got it mounted. With that success under my belt, I stretched, softened, and mounted the second one. The third is on the stretchers overnight, and I'll get to it tomorrow. The fourth will have to wait until I get its wheel painted. While the second tire was lying out in the sun to warm up, I took care of some work that's been waiting way too long, putting several piles of yard waste in the truck and hauling it to the brush pile. There's plenty more of that still to do.

Monday, March 20, 2017

Today's main accomplishment was mounting the third tire—twice! I got the tire on the wheel, then realized I had forgotten to install the bridge washer on the valve stem. So I had to take the tire off, install the washer, and mount the tire again. Fortunately, with the stretched tire warmed up and with plenty of baby powder on the tire and rim, the job wasn't a total nightmare. The other main activity of the day was blasting, painting, sanding, and painting various parts.

Tuesday, March 21, 2017

This was a day for wasting time. I set up the blasting equipment and started to sandblast the metal parts of a wheel when I found air and sand leaking from the side of the fitting behind the blaster nozzle. Over the years sand flowing through the fitting had worn a hole in the side. My first waste of time was going from store to store in town trying to find a replacement part. I should have known better. The second waste was all the time I spent on various websites in another futile search. I finally found a part that isn't exactly the same, but will work. I was even willing to buy the package of three in order to get one. Not wanting to wait for the new parts to arrive, I welded the hole on the old part and reinstalled it. That will work until I get the replacements. I blasted for about an hour until quitting time, and the tough old paint made it slow going. It may take two or three more sessions to finish the whole rim and have it ready to paint.

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Warm weather went away, and a chilly day had me working indoors most of the time. Thinking about hardened old paint making sandblasting go so slow, I remembered that I happen to have a needle scaler. I tried it and found that it easily knocked the old paint off the wheel and the axle housing I have to blast. That should speed up the blasting considerably. I hope to finish the wheel tomorrow and get it painted, and maybe the axle housing too. With any luck I'll have the new wheels and tires on the car in a week or so. In the afternoon I fired up the splitter and finished splitting a pile of wood that was awaiting my attention. Most of it was rotten enough to break up rather than split. That kind of stuff burns well but quickly, and I expect to be rid of it before wood burning season is over.

Thursday, March 23, 2017

Well, the Geezer is a happy camper. Yesterday's session with the needle scaler paid off bigtime. I started setting up the blasting equipment at ten after eleven, and a little over an hour later I had the wheel done. I went ahead and blasted some windshield frame hardware, then did some on that axle housing I started the other day. I quit and put away the equipment because I had something else to do: painting. By 3:30 I had the two pieces of windshield hardware painted, plus the wheel. I still have to finish the hub plate, then I can reassemble the wheel, mount the tire on it, and get the four wheels and new tires installed on the car. If all goes well I should be driving it sometime next week.

Friday, March 24, 2017

Today I finished painting the hub plate for that fourth wheel. I'll cook it overnight and assemble the wheel tomorrow, and mount the tire. I also started puting the new wheels on the car. One rear is now on. Tomorrow I'll install the two fronts, and maybe the other rear if I get to it. Depends on the auction in Winfield. If there's nothing to keep me there I'll probably get all the wheels mounted. If they're selling something I want, maybe not.

Saturday, March 25, 2017

Well, the Defore auction did have a few things I wanted. I brought home a good 3/4" garden hose for $10, two web chairs like new for $10, and a radio for $3. I might have bought more if they didn't spend so much time on all the stuff you'd have to pay me to carry off. It just got too late for me to stay. At home I finished putting one of the new front wheels on the roadster and installed the brake drum and hub plate on the rear wheel I recently painted. Tomorrow I should have all four wheels on the car be ready to drive it.

Sunday, March 26, 2017

Done. I installed the front wheel, mounted the tire on the rear wheel, and installed that one too. The car ran fine on a test drive to the cemetery and back, but the bike speedometer wasn't working. Fortunately, all it took to fix that was adjusting the sensor position. This speedometer is temporary. I have an actual 1915 Ford Special speedometer to refurbish and install. I hope to get that done sometime this spring or summer. There are several other things to fix on the car, but none of them will keep me from driving it.

Monday, March 27, 2017

Three down, seven to go. Friday my ten seedlings from the Arbor Day Society came in the mail. Before I left this morning for an appointment with my eye doc in Wichita, I set them in a pail of water to soak. I got home a little after one and spent the afternoon planting the three redbuds. That leaves two Washington hawthorns, two Sargent crabapples, and three white flowering dogwoods still to plant. I hope I can get all of those done tomorrow before the evening rain arrives. After several weeks of mostly dry weather, now we're in a wet spell. This morning the rain gauge had an inch in it.

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

As much as I dislike working outside in cold weather, I needed to get those seedlings in the ground, so I did. The soil was already a little too wet for ideal planting, so with a 100% chance of rain tonight I wanted to get it done before the ground turned to pure mud. After several dry weeks with an occasional sprinkle, now we're in a wet weather pattern with mostly cloudy skies and some rain every day or two. It tends to interfere with outdoor work, but the plants love it.

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Overnight rain left 2.2" in the gauge this morning. Today was mostly cloudy, but a surprise break prompted me to get out and shoot another portrait, this time in direct sunlight. While I had the car out I went for a test drive around the block (two miles) and found that with the new Stutzman wheels the car moves along at cruising speed (35 mph) without wandering all over the road. I believe now I'm about ready for some serious driving. But first, clean sox. I was about to run out, so did laundry today. While the clothes washed and dried I read a book on speedometers to learn about the original Stewart I aim to install on the runabout.