Model T Ford Speedster Specials: November 2019

Monday 11 November 2019

The Gin Runner comes to life...

Almost a year of short T breaks, 10 minutes here, 1/2 an hour there.. fitting new valves, cleaning up and freeing off all of the pedals and linkages and getting the radiator re-cored. Fitting a modified Model A manifold and the SU carb I used on my old Indian with a 90 degree adapter, fitting a Texas T distributer (kindly lent by my mate Shaun).
Four weeks ago I pulled the T out of the barn, jacked up the back wheel ( to let it spin and free the transmission off) pulled the choke on cranked the motor over twice to prime, switched on the ignition and second crank she fired and kept running :) A few adjustments here and there later I was driving around the paddock. The motor feels crisp and responsive and its driving in all 3 gears.
There's a still a bit to do tidying up the body tub and the emergency brakes to sort out but with the road wheels and tyres on it should be roadworthy in the new year. It needs some fettling, the SU and inlet manifold needs modified to clear the bonnet, the ignition feed cable tidied etc. but, it is finally a runner! :)

The Plan .....................

You've got to have a plan!

Started out looking for a Model A engine to fit into a 1927 Austin 10 rolling chassis that I had been offered, I wanted to build a VSCC eligible vintage sporting trials car with a bit of a lean towards a period hotrod. I got put in touch with Phil Wells thru Britchopper Magazine who in turn put me in touch with a guy called Nervous Bob, a deal was just about done then II happened on an ad for the ex Pig N Ford racer and the plan changed!!!
Another deal was done, some bikes n bits were traded and the T arrived on the driveway.
So, the plan is still to build a vintage sporting trials car, keeping as much of the character and patina of the existing '26 T racer, adding some minimal bodywork and making it road legal. Maybe i'll put a roadster pick up bed on the back but, for now I'm going to concentrate on making it run handle and stop!

Tuning a Model T

Cant remember where I found this but its all good stuff!

Just changing the body could add 10 to 15 miles an hour to the top speed.

Sometimes it was necessary to remove a leaf from each spring because of the lighter body, and you had to lower the steering column because the new sporty body sat lower.

If the hot-rodded Model T was to be used for race-track work only, the suspension could be lowered, and there were several ways of doing that. The best way was to have a new front axle made which effectively raised the axle spindles and lowered the front end. A cheaper method was riveting pieces of channel iron on the front of the frame, letting them stick out in front about 5 inches.

The back could be lowered by cutting off the side members in front of the rear axle and installing modified steel forgings.

Hotting up the engine was just as important as changing the body, and there was a lot you could do Ford's early four-banger.

Heavy cast-iron pistons didn't like to rev too high, so aluminum ones could be used. If you were financially challenged and brave as well, you could lighten the cast iron pistons by drilling holes in them! You could do the same to the con-rod, drilling holes in it and carefully dressing it with a file. (Don't try this on your car!)

Raising the compression wasn't hard. You could use an earlier cylinder head with shallower combustion chambers, or you could plane 1/8 inch of the existing cylinder head. You could even buy an after-market sixteen-valve high-compression head for the Model T.

The breathing could be improved by using larger valves, and there were several types of high-speed cams available. For racing, stronger valve springs were recommended but they were noisier and likely to break valves, though you could buy tungsten steel valves as well.

A larger carburetor "say of the 1 inch size" and a larger intake manifold were both par for the course to get more power.

For a free flow exhaust the muffler could be removed for racing, and for road use you could remove the baffles or drill extra holes in them. To get that racing car rumble from the four-cylinder Model T engine, you could run the exhaust pipe into a larger cylindrical amplifying chamber, with a metal cap in the end with several holes drilled in it.

It was good practice to add an auxiliary oiling system and better cooling because of the extra power and higher revs. Better brakes were a must as well. The rear brakes of the Model T weren't that good, so you were looking at around $16 a set for the best aftermarket brakes.

For a moderate price your Model T Speedster could most likely hit 70 mile per hour, and if you wanted to spend more money, you could pick up a few more mph.

So it seems our grandfathers and great-grandfathers weren't all that different to us when they were young. Nowadays young guys hot up engines, upgrade the running gear and change the bodies.

Nearly ninety years ago, when my granddad had returned from the war to end all wars, young guys were hotting up engines, upgrading running gear, and changing bodies. The Ford Model T and the new after-market industry gave them the opportunity.