Timeless Ts - Ford Model T Repairs & Services

Directly from Daniel Bratcher, owner/operator of Timeless Ts.

We have all heard about the shoe makers wife that had no shoes. That's what I felt like recently on our club Spring overnight tour in Lampasas, TX. As everyone gathered to start the tour, there was one car missing : mine. When asked where my car was, I had to admit my car was not drivable. You have a Model T Repair shop and your car is not running? Like the shoe makers wife without shoes, I was the Model T mechanic without a car that would run. I had loaded Old Blue, my 1926 Touring, on Thursday afternoon. I had pre-checked it to make sure it was tour-ready. It was running well. Having hauled it to Lampasas, I was having unusual difficulty starting it on Friday morning. When it did start, it sputtered and bucked and had little to no power. I only had three cylinders firing.

After a quick examination, I determined that I had no compression on number 3. A valve was stuck open or I lost a valve spring keeper. Not worried. I always bring parts I’m most likely to need to repair any cars that may break down. I was not expecting the car to be mine. Mike Mackechney, my friend and partner in crime, brought two cars to the tour and offered me one to drive on the tour. I took him up on his offer and decided to repair mine when I returned home and could take it to the shop. It's not what you know but who you know.

I know the owner of the San Antonio T repair shop and he put my car at the front of the line – for once. I opened up the valve cover and the keeper pin on the intake valve on number three piston was broken. It had both ends worn off. One other had worn off one side of the pin and would also fail soon. I decided to replace all the pins and spring seats. I also replaced the manifold gaskets with copper rings because the metal clad paper exhaust gasket had blown out. When the repairs were completed, Old Blue fired right up and ran well and quieter . I have attached photos of the valve pins I replaced. And a photo of me taking Old Blue, my 1926 Touring car, out on a test drive the following weekend, checking the route of the next club tour, which I am leading.

Things are going well at Timeless T's. A couple of Ford Model Ts have recently been returned to their owners from my shop in San Antonio. And a couple more have just arrived. One of them is a 1926 Dr. Coupe. It came in to have disc brakes installed plus some other issues. The window regulator on the driver's side is broken, and it seems to be running a little rough. The owner is from Fort Worth and is a member of the Cowtown T's. He brought the parts to tune up his distributor.

One of the things about working on 100 year old vehicles is that you never know what unusual decisions have been made by previous owners and mechanics. The “interesting” thing I found on the coupe was that the wheel lugs were not peeened to prevent the nuts coming off. Instead they were welded. You can imagine how much fun it was removing the nuts as a result. After it was disassembled and the disc added, I used a chisel to peen the lugs properly. The next person who ever has to remove them will think a little more highly of my work than I do of the previous person who did what they did, with the best of intentions no doubt.