It’s alive!!!
So many pieces! Hello rustlovers today on the free model T is a day of completions and new beginnings! I am focused and have goals and deadlines and a new method to meet the challenges. Here is what’s going on. I just changed the head on my wife’s escort, bought a cheap Honda civic with a blown head gasket, got the suburban running and decided to build a model T. Also I finished that ranchero transmission a long time ago and never wrote about it.
So much. Much of it too boring to write about so let’s leave out the escort for now. Yes, I got another car, no I haven’t sold any, yes I have reached critical mass. I now have fifteen cars which is WAY too many and a tie for the most I’ve ever had. My happy number is 7 cars and trucks, preferably 1975 and older. The Honda was not free but it is a cute red car that I can make a quick buck on.
Ok now that I have that off of my chest lets talk about the fun stuff! I actually finished cars!!!! You may remember the 62 ranchero that came to me with a noisy partially functioning transmission. I changed the bearings and syncros. It failed. It came back in a box and I was unable to do a proper postmortem so I pieced it back together and… It failed. Third try’s the charm! Mr. Pipe and I made quick work of pulling the trans out again and I scoured the manual with an old man friend and we found the culprit was a missing snap ring. The best part? it had never been there from day 1! I bought $20 in syncros gaskets and snap rings and had it humming down the road the next day. Then my friend sold it and moved to Wisconsin, the end!
Ah the Gamble. She runs! She drives! She overheats. No big deal! Here is a picture of the motor!
Yeah, I’m one of those guys that paints any and all parts I pull off of an engine.
Heads? Paint! Manifolds? Paint!!! Pistons??? Ok maybe only the outside parts. I had a nightmare of complications putting this together that would have been awesome blogfodder had I had the patience and cleanliness to snap some pictures. Unfortunately slimy hands and iPhone don’t mix. The exhaust manifolds didn’t fit, I had to oblong almost every bolt hole. The smog junk didn’t fit onto the new exhaust, I had to re bend all the tubes. The distributor cap screws were stripped out, I had to buy a new distributor. The harmonic damper had slipped on its rubber ring so I had to make a new timing mark which was useless because it won’t pass ca. emissions like that. Oh we’ll at least the damper will be easy to change with the radiator out because it LEAKS! Ahhh!!! Enough to drive the most patient restorer to drink and the most patient wife to wonder where her husband has gone! Well the good news is it runs and drives BEAUTIFULLY and will be ready for the trip to baja in September.
Alright! Completion! And all thanks to my simple new system which is… The perfect subject of another post! Buahahah!!!! And as for this model T that I’m going to build; it will be a Frankenstein and I will try to build it FOR FREE. Yes it will be The Free Model T. Here is the plan:
