Wednesday, January 2, 2018
I did a little more work on pulling the engine from the runabout, and cleaned up and painted some parts.
Thursday, January 3, 2018
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Friday, January 4, 2018
The main project today was straightening warped exhaust manifolds. It's very rare to find one that isn't warped. I have ten wih good to excellent threads, but not one of them was straight. I fixed one of them today and will do more tomorrow. I aim to keep at least three to use, and will sell the others. I had time only for one today because I had to go pay the water bill, do laundry, and do some shopping. One item I bought was a new electric blanlet. Those things seem to last only a year or two before they start to fail or quit working altogether. I'll see how long this one lasts.
Saturday, January 5, 2018
Today I got a couple more manifolds straightened before I started to run out of acetylene. I'll have to wait until Monday to get another tank so I can do more. I hauled some wood to the splitter, and tomorrow will be the day for cutting, splitting, and bringing in enough to last another week or two.
Sunday, January 6, 2018
The Model T Ford Club of America has changed its online forum format. The old software used since the nineties hasn't been supported for years, and the time for the inevitable change finally arrived. So this morning, after filing receipts and taking care of some other clerical chores, I got on the 2019 forum and spent a few hours participating there. In the afternoon I got out the chain saw and played firewood the rest of the day. With a fresh chain and a good splitter firewood almost qualifies as fun.
Monday, January 7, 2018
Well, shucks. I went to the welding supply where I've been getting my acetylene and oxygen and found it closed. Not just closed for lunch or closed for the day, but closed. So I drove up to Winfield and got my acetylene there. Later it occurred to me that there's another welding supply in Arkansas City, so I stopped in there and asked if they're a dealer for the same supplier. The answer was yes, so I'll still be able to get my gas locally. On the entertainment front I just checked the Wichita theater listings to see what's playing next weekend. Only two movies are scheduled. Apparently on Monday they don't yet know what movies they'll be showing Saturday.
Tuesday, January 8, 2018
Today I finished straightening exhaust manifolds. I ended up with six good ones. Three others were so badly warped that they were beyond fixing, and a couple of others were disqualified by other defects. One of the straightened ones will go on the 1915 runabout, and I'll keep a couple of the others for spares.
Wednesday, January 9, 2019
This morning I decided to try straightening another manifold that I didn't attempt yesterday because it was at least ¼" out of alignment. I needn't have bothered. Trying to fix a manifold that's warped that far is just too much bending, and it ends up cracked. So I put away the straighteneing jig and went to work on a spark plug tester. I want to paint the case, so today I took off all the other parts. I hope tomorrow I can sandblast the case and at least a few of those manifolds.
Thursday, January 10, 2019
I despise the way cold air turns my nose into a snot fountain, especially when I'm wearing a sandblasting hood. I was going to blast the case for a spark plug tester and get started on exhaust manifolds. I stuck with it long enough to finish the case, but that was it for the day. I don't need any of the manifolds right away, so they're going to wait for warmer weather. With the case blasted, I went to town and bought paint for it, along with some O rings and a spring to hold the mirror. It's painted and cooking overnight, and tomorrow I'll see whether it's ready to reassemble or needs another coat of paint.
Friday, January 11, 2019
This morning as the rain fell outside I caught up on filing receipts and paying bills. After a run to town for bananas and celery I checked the paint job on that plug tester case. I wasn't impressed, so I sanded it and gave it another coat of paint. I also found a Fordson tractor tire gauge I'll put on the tester to measure air pressure. I took that apart and painted its case, and both paint jobs will bake overnight. Tomorrow I'll start reassembly.
Saturday, January 12, 2019
Rain all day Friday turned into snow in the wee hours of Saturday, and by daylight there was enough to make some nice pictures. I began reassembly of my spark plug tester, and had the usual joy of fumbling with tiny machine screws and nuts in tight places. Fortunately I did take pictures of the thing before I took it apart, so I know what goes where. Saturday being my go-to-town night, I quit about three and headed for Wichita. Why Wichita? Because I wanted to see the new Barry Jenkins movie, which is one of those unlikely ever to play here in the sticks. If Beale Street Could Talk is based on a James Baldwin book of the same name, and it was worth the drive, with fine performances all around.
Sunday, January 13, 2019
Curses! Foiled again! The transformer out of that plug tester has a terminal broken off, and I haven't been able to solder it back together. I went looking online for a replacement, and I've found one, but I remembered that I had another old tester. I'll rob the transformer out of that one, and if that doesn't work Ill buy the online one. This project is taking way too long. I have other things I need to get done, but I need this tester working too.
Monday, January 14, 2019
Done! Today I finished the spark plug tester, and was delighted to find that it actually works. It will be nice to be able to know which plugs work and which don't.
 I kept the 1932 ground wire
clip, but with a modern grounded power cord it's not needed for
grounding.
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 The wire clips onto the plug
being tested. Air pressure is applied to simulate compression in
an engine. In tbis case it's set at 60 psi, which is more than
Model T engine compression of 45 to 50 psi..
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 If the plug is OK, pushing the
button fires it and you see the spark through the little window.
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Tuesday, January 15, 2019
Never went off the place today. I spent much of the morning and part of the afternoon looking up photos, digging out spark plugs, and photographing some of them to show at the midwinter Model T clinic next week. Champion X is the plug most used by Ford, but there were a great many other makes sold for Model T use. My picture shows a dozen brands, but there were many dozens more. Brands in the picture are Superior, Splitdorf, Sta-Rite, Titan, Wizard, Bethlehem, Firestone, Wards, PAF, Jordan, Rentz, and Horseshoe. They range in age from 80 years to at least 110 years. I tried the oldest, Sta-Rite, in the tester and found that it fires like a new plug. In the afternoon I spent the last couple of hours with the chain saw and the splitter, bringing in firewood. The forecast is for cold weather this weekend, with some single-digit lows, so I need to build up the wood supply for the next couple of days. Fortunately that kind of cold never lasts more than two or three days this far south. It may happen one or two more times before spring, which is now just 64 days away.
Wednesday, January 16, 2019
The main activity of the day was firewood. That's cutting, splitting, and bringing in. I took a few minutes out to pace off an area where I'm thinking of building a garage. I need some floor space where I can sort out stuff I want to auction off, then have it for keeping some vehicles in away from the weather. A small bonus is that clearing the space will provide a nice pile of firewood for next year.
Thursday, January 17, 2019
Spark plugs were the main show today. I went through my boxes of non-Champion plugs making an inventory of lesser-known brands. I have only one plug of several brands, but there are four or more of a few brands, meaning a full set and in some cases a spare or two. The Splitdorf green plugs are usually no good, but four of the white ones tested good and I'm cleaning them up. I may also end up with full sets of Bethlehem and Horseshoe.
Friday, January 18, 2019
Variety was the order of the day. I assembled a couple of Splitdorf white-top plugs and put the bases of two others to soak in Evaporust. I went to town and bought a ball valve and some fittings for my plug tester so I'll be able to shut off the air and won't have to disconnect the hose every time I change a plug. The Camry was due for an oil change, so I took care of that. I paid some bills and drove to the county seat to pay for my trailer registration, and I bought oil and a filter for the next time the Camry is due. That left just enough time to lay the evening fires before it was time to quit for the day.
Saturday, January 19, 2019
 Wire brush clean.
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 Left: cleaned. Right: bluing
applied.
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 Tested and ready to use.
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Sunday, January 20, 2019
When I lit a fire in the stove at 4:30 PM the kitchen thermometer read 35º. By 5:00 the room was about twenty degrees warmer, and my seat by the stove was nice and toasty. With 59 days to spring, the end of wood burning season is in sight. Not that it will end with the coming of spring. Well into April there will be evenings cool enough for a fire, just not every day. And what did I do today? First, the usual Sunday morning online play. Then I got started indexing photo files. I need to keep an index so I can find a particular picture among the thousands I've taken. Today I did all of September and the first few days of October. In the afternoon I finished splitting some firewood I didn't get to last Wednesday.
Monday, January 21, 2019
Winter weather is unfriendly to outdoor work, but if I'm going to put up a new garage I need to clear a space for it. So today I took advantage of a high in the fifties and spent almost an hour with the clippers and a bottle of Tordon slaughtering little trees and trimming branches off the bigger ones. I won't be able to do it every day, but if I spend some time on the job most days I should have a lot of the clearing done when better weather gets here. I started three piles. Small dead branches will go in one pile for kindling. Another pile will be for the smaller green branches eventually to be hauled to a brush pile or burned, and large pieces to become next year's firewood will be the third pile. My afternoon trip to town for grocery shopping also included a new bottle of Tordon for the clearing project.
Tuesday, January 22, 2019
Here it comes, said the forecast. Steadily falling temperatures all day and rain starting around noon. So I was out with the chain saw first thing, to get some wood cut before the moisture arrived. Well, I did get some cut. But the rain arrived ahead of schedule to keep me from getting it hauled in while it was dry. Good thing we have some sunny days coming to dry it out. With the weather being uncooperative, I spent the rest of the day taking pictures and getting organized for my spiel at the Model T clinic on Saturday. I still have to set up the projector and relearn how to operate it. It's been so long since I used it that I've forgotten how.
Wednesday, January 23, 2019
A diminishing supply of clean sox made this laundry day. With that out of the way I got back to preparing for the Model T clinic, taking a few more pictures and organizing. I'm going to blather about restoring spark plugs and installing metal valve stems in tire tubes, so I'm gathering lots of photos on both subjects. My only other work today was bringing in most of the wood I cut yesterday morning.
Thursday, January 24, 2019
Why not get out and clear a little more space for a new garage? After all, 35º isn't all that bad. But a 20 mph north wind persuaded me that five minutes out there was more than enough. Some other time. My indoor work was finishing up the pictures for my Saturday program, setting up the projector and relearning how to operate it, and gathering some of the tools and materials I'll need.
Friday, January 25, 2019
Finishing preparations for tomorrow's clinic was the job of the day. There was a big glitch when I tried to put too long a spark plug into the tester and it cracked the glass. Of course the glass shop won't be open until Monday, so I'll have to fix it next week. The glass is cracked, not broken out, so the tester still works, but I don't know how long it will work with 60 psi in it before the glass breaks. Anyway, I'll take it along and we'll see how it does.
Saturday, January 26, 2019
Some days I never go off the place. Other days are like this. At 6:45 AM I was off to Hutchinson for the midwinter Model T clinic. Several of the other guys showed and talked about various tools, and I blathered about refurbishing spark plugs and installing metal valve stems in tire tubes. We wrapped it up about 3:30 and I was on my way home by 4:00. Saturday is my night to eat out and see a movie, so I stopped in Wichita for dinner at Mexico Viejo and On the Basis of Sex at the theater. I enjoyed both very much.
Sunday, January 27, 2019
This morning I discovered that Stan & Ollie is playing at the Warren East in Wichita. If I knew that it would still be playing next Saturday, I'd see it then. But apparently the Regal theaters website doesn't know what will be playing at Regal theaters until two days before showtime. I didn't want to take the chance that the picture might be gone next weekend, so I went to see it this evening. It was well worth the trip. John C. Reilly and Steve Coogan are amazing. They resemble The Boys pretty closely because of makeup, but they absolutely nail the voices and the mannerisms. Coogan walks like Stan, and when they do the old routines it's like watching the actual guys. The great performances of Reilly and Coogan are wonderfully supported by Shirley Henderson and Nina Arianda as the wives. An old parody of Movie advertising says, "You'll laugh! Youll cry! You'll wish you'd stayed home!" In the case of Stan & Ollie, you'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll be glad you went. I rarely go to the same movie twice, but if this one's still playing next weekend I'm going back.
Monday, January 28, 2019
Today's activities included shipping and shopping. The shipping was an exhaust manifold I'm sending to another Model T guy in Ohio. It's one I straightened to replace his warped one. I removed one of the little windows from my spark plug tester and took it to the glass shop as a sample so they can make a replacement for the broken one. I ordered two so I'll have a spare just in case. The rest of the shopping was for the week's groceries. All day a strong wind blew from the north and kept the temperature at about 40º until sundown. According to the forecast we're about to plunge into the icebox, but it won't be as bad as what's happening farther north and east.
Tuesday, January 29 2019
Repair day. First came exhaust manifolds. Namely, straightening a couple that were slightly warped. Then I went to the glass shop and got those little windows. It turned out that they were made just a bit too big to fit, so I had to grind them down to the right size. Glass is hard stuff, so it took a lot of grinding. Anyway, I got the tester fixed and now it works the way it should.
Wednesday, January 30, 2019
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Thursday, January 31, 2019
In the chill of the morning my work in the shop was preparing to pull the engine from the runabout. I removed the engine pans and hood shelves, disconnected and raised the steering column, unbolted the firewall brackets, and disconnecterd the wishbone. I still have more things to disconnect, maybe tomorrow. By 1:30 the outside had warmed up to 40º and it was time to do some outdoor work. That was firing up the splitter and splitting enough wood to last a few more days. We have 48 more days to spring.
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