Tuesday, August 1, 2017
The amazing cool weather continues, and I'm enjoying it while it's here. Soon enough, the heat will return. After all, this is August. I spent much of the day working on a floor plan for a new garage. I simply need more space so I can sort, organize, and rid myself of a lot of stuff I'll never use. My happy-making accomplishment of the day was finding the two Model T outside oil lines I bought a couple of years ago so I can install one on the engine for the touring. I'll do that tomorrow, and tomorrow afternoon the starter Bendix parts I ordered Monday should arrive. Once I get the Bendix back together the engine will go back in the car.
Wednesday, July 2, 2017
Today's Job One was installing that outside oil line. Job Two was spraying Johnson grass and other inconvenient vegetation I didn't get to last time. Job Three, squirrel wars, took up the rest of the day. That is installing steel siding between the eaves to keep my little furry friends out of the attic over my office. Another hour or two will finish up that job on the west side of the building, then I'll turn my attention to the east side. It turned out that the starter parts I ordered won't arrive until tomorrow, so putting the engine back in the car will wait another day.
Thursday, August 3, 2017
As Bushytail Squirrel said when Santa brought him a sackful of nuts, "Oh, I am so happy!" That quote from a favorite book when I was three or four is perfect for today. I'm delighted to say that today I finished putting steel siding between the eaves on the west side of my shop building. Well, almost finished. There's one spot I couldn't reach because of a big tree in the way. If that spot becomes a problem I'll block the gap from inside the attic. After finishing the west side about noon, I went to work on the east side of the building. There was less of it to do, and I finished that side a few minutes after three. When cold weather arrives and the little guys want to move indoors, I'll find out how effective my work was.
Friday, August 4, 2017
I've run into another snag with the "new" 1923 engine/transmission. I can't install the Bendikx cover screws because of paint build-up in the holes. So this morning I ordered a tap of the proper size to clean them out. While I wait for the tap to arrive, I'll work on the 1915 runabout. I spent most of today removing things, getting ready to pull the engine/transmission and find out why it's stuck in gear.
Saturday, August 5, 2017
After picking up trash along the road and doing some mowing, I got busy in the shop cleaning up, organizing, and putting away, making room to move my engine stand and hoist inside. The forecast shows a high chance of rain overnight.
Sunday, August 6, 2017
After an overnight rain that left 3.75" in the gauge, the ground was nice and soft for weed pulling. So that's what I did most of the day. I took time out for an afternoon siesta, then a trip to town for groceries, and then after dinner I went out and pulled more weeds. I've now cleared a great many of the weeds in the lane down to the wood lot, and should finish that tomorrow. Then I'll mow it.
Monday, August 7, 2017
It was a great day for pulling weeds, overcast and cool. I finished most of the lane to the wood lot, leaving a couple of patches that won't be in the way of my mowing. About eleven I switched to the north side of the road and pulled weeds there for a couple of hours. Next was mowing in the lane. I skipped some of that when I noticed several little trees. I didn't want to just mow over them, because most of them would sprout back, so I got the clippers and the bottle of Tordon and put a permanent stop to them. Sometime this month, if it doesn't rain too much, I'll be able to drive my truck down the lane and haul yard waste to the brush pile.
Tuesday, August 8, 2017
More weeding began and ended the day. I started in the lane across the road in the cool of the morning. But without yesterday's overcast sky, by a quarter after nine the sun persuaded me to go elsewhere. I turned my attention to the back yard and attacked the weeds there. Then I mixed a couple of gallons of weed killer and sprayed the area where I intend to put a new garage. Weeds pull easier when they're dead and that garage space is one area where I don't need to avoid killing the grass. In the afternoon I got busy in the shop, cleaning up and putting away stuff to clear a path for my engine hoist. I moved it to the south end where the runabout is parked, and tomorrow I'll use it to raise the body and pull the engine. After dinner tonight I was back in the lane pulling more weeds, quitting about sundown.
Wednesday, August 9, 2017
Today's Model T activity, after moving the hoist to the south end of the shop, was to raise the body on the roadster. That allows the engine to slide forward when I pull it out. That isn't necessary on a later Model T, but on this 1915 the body brackets are inboard enough to be in the way. The body doesn't need to be up very far, just high enough to sit on a couple of 2 x 4 blocks.
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Thursday, August 10, 2017
Took a day off to do laundry and go to a meeting. The East Central Kansas T's meeting was in Burlington, which is 2½ hours away if you take the main roads. I started early so I could explore some of the county and township roads, but was still almost an hour late to the meeting. I found that the Delorme atlas is worthless when you get off the main roads, because most of the back roads are unlabeled. Which line on the map is the road I'm on? There's no way to tell, so you do a lot of guessing and wandering.
Friday, August 11, 2017
This afternoon I pulled the engine out of the roadster and got it on a stand. Before that I spent a good part of the day dealing with last night's mishap. It was dark and rainy and the road was poorly marked, and I drove too far to the right and took out at least one of the steel posts beside the road. So today I had to get an estimate and file an insurance claim. The body shop guesses the repairs will take nine days.
Saturday, August 12, 2017
An auction in Rose Hill drew my attention this mornng. There was a lot of good stuff, but nothing I needed or wanted. So I came home and worked in the shop. I was going to install the starter Bendix on the 1923 engine, but found that I've lost the key and will have to order a new one. While I wait for it to arrive I'll work on that 1915 engine/transmission that's stuck in gear. This afternoon I removed the hogshead (transmission cover) and started removing cotter pins and bolts from the oil pan.
Sunday, August 13, 2017
Today's main event was digging into the 1915 roadster's transmission to find out why it was stuck in direct drive. It turned out to be less dire than I had imagined. The clutch has 25 disks, and the thrust washers between the clutch drum and the brake drum had allowed enough space for the first disk to get jammed between the two drums. I think I have usable replacement parts, so this should be a relatively easy fix.
 The scene of inaction: clutch
drum (left), brake drum (top center), thrust washers (lower
center), and first clutch disk (right).
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 The damaged tabs on the first
disk were jammed
between the two drums.
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 I'll need to replace the gouged
clutch drum.
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Monday, August 14, 2017
Well, most of my Model T work has ground to a halt. This morning I ordered parts for both cars, and I won't be finishing either one until the parts arrive. Meanwhile, I have plenty of other things to do.
Tuesday, August 15, 2017 Taking advantage of a cool, cloudy morning, I spent an hour and a half pullling weeds. After the sun burned trough the overcast and warmed things up, I retreated to the shop. My first job there was cleaning old gasket material and sealant from the roadster's engine and oil pan so they'll be ready to reassemble after I finish with the transmission. In the afternoon I worked on the radiator, attempting to fix some leaks on both sides of the top tank. I'm letting it sit overnight with water in it, and if there are no more leaks I'll clean it up and put it back on the car. The question is whether it will stay leak free after it's subjected to the vibration and stress of drivng. |
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Wednesday, August 16, 2017
Mowing day. I decided I'd better get busy on it before the grass gets out of hand. I took a little time out for equipment improvement. A problem I've been having is long grass getting jammed between the blade and the guard so the blade won't turn. I've spent way too much time having to stop and pull out the jammed grass. So today I took off the blade and trimmed about a half inch off each end. That seems to have done the trick. The blade hasn't got stuck since. I got most of the yard mowed, but quit about 4:30 with the grass by the west drive uncut. Dark clouds and thunder suggested that a storm was coming, and it did. We got another good soaking.
Thursday, August 17, 2017
The rain left 1.35" in the gauge. I was going to pull weeds, but everything was just too sopping wet. The nice thing is that after the storm was over the humidity dropped so much that salt would come out of the shaker. I spent the day on reinstalling the engine in the 1923 touring. In theory it shouldn't take all day. In reality I'll have to work on it some more tomorrow.
Friday, August 18, 2017
Work on it some more indeed. I had a doctor's appointment in the morning, got home a little after ten, and spent the rest of the day getting the engine back in the car. That was just getting it set in place. I still have to put back a lot of nuts & bolts and install the fuel line, carburetor, manifolds, plugs, timer, generator, radiator, lights, etc., etc. I'll be glad if I have it done and running in a week.
Saturday, August 19, 2017
Bummer! This evening I drove up to Wichita to buy a couple of the big jars of kimchi that I like and to see Wind River. The Asian market was totally out of kimchi, and the movie was sold out. I did have a good dinner at the China Super Buffet, but otherwise the trip was a waste of time. Before that, I started the day with a walk to town to fetch the Camry from the body shop. I did a bit of mowing, then worked on the radiator from the roadster. After I mostly fixed the leaks Tuesday, I filled it with water and found that there was still one little seeping spot. So today I applied a bit of solder to that. I filled the thing again and will find out tomorrow if I fixed it.
Sunday, August 20, 2017
Never went off the place today. It was a lazy day. I did a little on the roadster, and a little on the touring, spent a lot of time researching parts, and took a couple of naps. After eight weeks of no real exercise following my spill off a ladder, my Friday morning three-mile run and yesterday's four-mile walk have me a little sore. No big deal. It will wear off.
Monday, August 21, 2017
Eclipse day! I drove up to Nebraska to be in the path of the total solar eclipse. There was some cloud cover, but it was thin enough not to hide the show. I shot film, so I'll have to wait until it's developed to find out if I had a good time.
Tuesday, August 22, 2017
An hour and a half of weed pulling in the cool of the morning was today's first exciting adventure. Later I went to work on a bit of house repair. I finally had enough of the front door being hard to open because of the latch being loose and getting stuck. It's been missing a screw because of a "wallered out" hole, so I glued in a piece of broom handle where the hole should be. Tomorrow I'll file it for the latch to fit in, drill a new hole, and put the latch back in with both screws. My other chore today was hunting up a clutch disk and notching it for spot welds. It will be welded to a .125" spacer to make the spacer another .042" taller. That will make up for wear in the face of the brake drum where the spacer rides, which conveniently happens to be .042".
Wednesday, August 23, 2017
Today I finished up the front door repair, reinstalling the latch with both screws. My shop project was making a drill guide for putting holes for cotter pins in bolts. I proceeded to do just that, putting holes in a couple of bolts and using them in the ongoing reassembly of the 1923 touring. I should have got more of that job done, but I spent way too much time online.
Thursday, August 24, 2017
More 1923 touring reassembly. I installed the body-to-frame bracket bolts. It was especially tough on the left side, getting them into the frame without removing the Bendix and starter. I taped the bolts on a stick so I could reach in behind the starter to get them in the holes. Doing it took a lot longer than describing it. The final job of the day was installing the steering column and adding a shim to tighten the drag link. I spent way too much time looking for parts I should have put in the box with other stuff I took off this car when I pulled the engine. I have no idea where the engine mounting blocks and bolts are, but I know they'll turn up if I buy new ones.
Friday, August 25, 2017
Most of the day I worked on the touring car. This evening I took the clutch spacer from the roadster's transmission to a friend who is set up for electric welding, and had him spot weld a clutch disk to it. That will fill a worn place in the face of the brake drum that allowed the spacer to get stuck between the brake drum and the clutch drum.
Saturday, August 26, 2017
Today I worked on the roadster transmission. The story of that is here. This evening I drove to Wichita to see Wind River. Last week the show was sold out, so this time I went to the theater before dinner to buy a ticket. I was told that now the film is being shown only in a "21+" auditorium where they sell booze and charge double the normal ticket price. After I calmed down, I decided to see The Big Sick. But that one was also being shown only in a 21+. I overcame my disgust and saw The Hit Man's Body Guard. It was fun, but not the movie I wanted to see. The theater's new management will hear from me.
| Sunday, August 27, 2017 Except for a trip to town to buy bananas, today's activity centered around the roadster. I finished assembling the transmission, installed the oil pan, and set about preparing to install the hogshead (transmission cover). That last part took way too much time. To compress the low pedal spring I first tried a plastic zip tie. That was easy to install but wasn't strong enough to hold the compressed spring. So I tried the same thing with safety wire. A single strand of that wasn't strong enough either. I doubled the wire, but that broke too. Finally I quadrupled the wire, and that was strong enough to hold. |
 Zip tie: easy to install, but
failed.
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 Single strand of safety wire:
that failed too.
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 Four strands of wire did the
trick.
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Monday, August 28, 2017
Except for time out to go buy groceries and a new tube of sealant, I spent the day on the roadster. I installed the hogshead and the ball cap (fourth main bearing) and hunted up some parts. About noon Fedex delivered one of those NOS New Zealand tyres. These things have shrunk with time so they're impossible to mount as delivered. So after unwrapping the thing and washing off the green coating, I put it on the stretcher. I'll leave it that way for a couple of days, then I'll take it to town and have it mounted. Even after stretching, mounting one of these things is too much for me. I'll let the pros handle it.
Tuesday, August 29, 2017
Another day on the runabout. I finished installing oil pan and hogshead bolts and shoved the engine back in the car. It takes a lot longer to do it than to tell it. Until I get around to making a proper u-joint installation tool, I make a hook from a piece of baling wire to hold it in place so it will fit in the back of the transmission. Tomorrow comes engine mounting bolts, manifolds, pans, steering column, carburetor, fan, etc., etc., etc.
Wednesday, August 30, 2017
More runabout assembly today. Jerry Loomis dropped in, and we had a nice visit while I installed the steering column and more body-to-frame bolts and nuts. Shorty barked when he drove up, but she didn't jump all over him. At a year old, she's calming down a little. I took the new tire off the stretcher and went to town to have it mounted. The guy who first tackled the job was getting nowhere, and it ended up with three of us together finally rassling it on. When I got home I put the wheel back on the car, reinstalled the hub keys in the rear wheels, and aired up all the tires. The last job of the day was putting sealant on the U-joint cover and bolting it in place. Tomorrow reassembly will continue.
Thursday, August 31, 2017
Laundry used up most of my morning, but by noon I was back to work on the runabout. I installed the last of the body-to-frame bolts, ball cap bolts with wire & cotters, wishbone cap & wire, engine pans, hood shelves & clips, manifolds, coil box & plug wires, carburetor & rod, timer & rod, u-joint grease, engine oil, and a few other odds and ends. I should be ready for a test drive soon.
SEPTEMBER 2017