Fuel and Intake System
I finished rebuilding my Kingston L-4 carburetor tonight, and I think it looks really pretty! I also blasted and painted the intake manifold, the warm air intake and the manifold brackets. The new gaskets, glands and copper seals will hopefully keep everything snug and air tight!
Kingston L-4 Carburetor, disassembled
The first place I decided to start on my restoration was the carburetor. I picked a Kingston L-4 carburetor for this car – not because the Holley (Ford) NH carb is a bad one, but rather because the Kingston L-4 has a really cook brass “air stop” that goes inside the carburetor. I don’t know why I find this so attractive, but it’s a period-appropriate carburetor for a 1924 model and that’s what I’m going with.
Disassembly went fairly smoothly, and the only bits I needed to find was a new choke spring, new brass “staples” for the choke and throttle plates, and new rivets for the information plate. With everything disassembled I sandblasted the parts (no, I didn’t blast the sensitive needle surface), and painted the exposed steel parts black.
I’m not entirely sure how this carburetor would have been finished at the factory, but I’m guessing that some of the brass would also have been painted. I decided not to paint the brass here; it will take on a lovely patina of its own with age.
The photo to the left shows everything laid out and ready for reassembly. I picked up a gasket set, new plate staples, choke spring and ID plate rivets from Smith and Jones Antique Auto Parts, and I think you’ll agree that this attractive carburetor is ready to be reassembled!
Not dead at all, in fact. Despite the relative quiet here, the Model T project is progressing along.
The first order of business was to outfit my shop. This meant tossing out about three lifetimes’ worth of junk. Getting a compressor and a sandblaster. Finding some of the ersatz tools that one needs for a Model T (like that funky little wrench for adjusting the wheel hub bearings).
Next has been locating some of the other critical components like a frame, a front end and a rear end. Thanks to some of the kind members of the Tarheel T’s club, I’m a lot closer to having more than just an engine and transmission on my floor.
The cover of the Ford "Price List of Parts"
A few days ago I found a Ford “Price List of Parts”. A potential panacea for a restorer, this book lists every part for a Model T – right down to the last nut and bolt. It also has illustrations of many of the parts, making it a useful cross reference when you’re building a car from parts and not quite sure what you’re missing.
Brass Bolt Overkill?
I hit my first Model T engine restoration “snag”, if you could call it that.
The energized terminal screw on a Model T generator uses a peculiar bolt; a 7/8″ long brass carriage bolt with 1/4-24 threads.
If you’re a bolt nerd, you’ll already know that 1/4-24 is a virtually non-existent thread size. A quick look online revealed one vintage motorcycle website with a few non-carriage bolts of this peculiar thread pitch for sale, at prices suggesting Henry Ford himself machined these bolts and lovingly cut the threads in the middle of the night by candlelight.
My paternal grandparents lived in Pittsburgh, PA for most of their life. Across the street from the house they lived in was a man who rebuilt generators and alternators for a living. I have a basic understanding of what goes into a generator rebuild (I did, after all, rebuild the generator in my 1961 Ford Falcon), but only now am I starting to really appreciate how much of a world generators are unto themselves. And I’m appreciating how extensive this man’s talents must have been.
Old spark plugs are easy to love. Many Model T spark plugs can be disassembled and cleaned, and they’re full of cute copper gaskets and white porcelain insulators that are visually appealing and begging to be cleaned, polished and given new life.
Model T Spark Plugs
My engine didn’t actually come with spark plugs (someone thoughtfully plugged the holes in the head with plastic plumbing caps – a creative and effective way to keep dust out!), but these are hardly scarce. And while the basic Champion X spark plug is the de facto Model T spark plug, there’s a variety of period aftermarket plugs that are simply too cool to pass up!
I decided to turn a few screws on the engine tonight. First step: rebuild the generator.
The Generator is Off!
Generators have always fascinated me; they’re tiny ecosystems unto themselves. The generator is only held on by three bolts and removing it seems easy enough. The Model T is a bit different than modern cars; the generator here is geared directly off the flywheel; virtually every other car I’ve ever worked on uses a belt drive for the generator. One certainly doesn’t have to worry about positive engagement here! I was buoyed to see an oily residue inside the hog’s head; while this will be a pain to clean, it also tells me that there’s a good chance the parts inside the engine are well preserved. That’s preferable to the bucket of rust and disintegration that could be waiting inside.
I’ve been a bit surprised at the relative scarcity of online Model T resources. You’d think with over 15,000,000 cars produced that there would be more tribute sites, technical sites and other such information waiting for my Googling fingertips.
Or maybe not. The “newest” Model T car was made 82 years ago, and the youngest T engine is still a ripe 68 years old. A person buying a new model T at the tender age of 16 in 1927 would be 98 years old today (I wonder how many “new” T buyers are still alive?), so it’s a fair assumption that people for whom the T was a real-life experience are dying off. Rapidly.
I mentioned earlier that my engine, serial number 10,593,980, was made in Highland Park.
Well, I think it is. But I can’t be certain yet.
