How to start a Model T

[Art Anderson]

  On 8/28/2013 at 1:05 PM, ZTony8 said:

Many years ago in Special Interest Autos magazine there was an article about starting and driving a Model T Ford.I've never owned a T but I learned all about the experience from that article.

As far as VWs go-the very early cars have a specially shaped crank pulley bolt head designed to engage a specially shaped hand crank.A buddy of mine has a '51 Beetle with this feature.

FWIW,

Every Ford car produced, all the way out through at least the 1942 models, came with a small tool set, which included...................A HAND CRANK! If you look at the grille of any Ford made in the US up through the '42 models, you can clearly see an access hole down toward the bottom of the grille, for inserting the crank (I can't imagine starting a flathead V8 by hand though!).

While Model T's all had a handcrank permanently mounted to the front of the engine, from Model A forward, the hand crank was a separate tool, never to be left dangling from the front of the car.

From Model A onward through the '42 Ford, the engines used a toothed crankshaft pulley bolt which engaged a pin on either side of the inner end of the hand crank. Upon the engine firing, those teeth (more correctly termed "dogs"), with their angled shape pointing opposite the direction of crankshaft rotation, would "kick" the hand crank free of the spinning crankshaft.

Art

Edited September 1, 2013 by Art Anderson

[Pete J.]

  On 8/28/2013 at 4:50 PM, Art Anderson said:

FWIW,

Every Ford car produced, all the way out through at least the 1942 models, came with a small tool set, which included...................A HAND CRANK! If you look at the grille of any Ford made in the US up through the '42 models, you can clearly see an access hole down toward the bottom of the grille, for inserting the crank (I can't imagine starting a flathead V8 by hand though!).

While Model T's all had a handcrank permanently mounted to the front of the engine, from Model A forward, the hand crank was a separate tool, never to be left dangling from the front of the car.

Art

I grew up on the farm and we had a lot of hand cranked, magneto engines on the place. We had a 32 ford truck(a real truck with a large bed and hydraulic lift)with a flathead. I remember hand cranking that more than once when the starter solenoid failed and Dad couldn't get a replacement. We also had an old John Deere that you had an exposed flywheel that you had to spin by hand to start. Amazing when you look at todays world. All that equipment was a hazard to start and run but people lived with it an with the proper respect very few got hurt.

[ToyLvr]

We're also entering a time where most people under, say, age 40 probably won't know how to start a car from the pre-E.F.I. era.

Most carbureted engines had a similar starting procedure: pump the accelerator once or twice (to set the automatic choke), then turn the key. Not that hard, granted, but necessary to know if you wanted to start the engine.

Geez, these days you don't even need to insert a key to start some of these new cars!

[Craig Irwin]

  On 8/28/2013 at 11:36 AM, ToyLvr said:

I've heard that early VW Beetles had a crank pulley designed to facilitate wrapping a rope around it to start the engine by hand, sorta like starting a lawn mower.

Any of you guys who are VW nuts, can you confirm this?

The pull start for a VW was an aftermarket accessory, I used to see them in the "Everything Automotive" J. C. Whitney catalog. It went on the generator pully.

I own a Farmall F 20, magneto with no electrics so I must hand crank or not ride!

I also walk with a limp thanks to an old XLCH Harley Sportster. Old time Harley guys still call a limp a "CH leg". They also would try to run backwards and could pitch you over the handerbars!

Edited August 29, 2013 by Craig Irwin

[Guest]

Fascinating! Thanks Harry!

[Greg Wann]

I actually found a pick of Dads F20. I think Dad said one time that it has a rare factory installed road gear.. I think it's intention was to get to the house and get to the bathroom faster. My Dad talked about using a plow horse when he was a boy. The horse they had knew the sound of the dinner bell. It would take off to the house. A tractor would not notice.

Edited September 16, 2013 by Greg Wann

[tbill]

I've been lucky enough to work on some old stuff at the dealership I work at, nothing like a hand choke, mechanical brakes, and the starter button on the floor! then there's adjustable generators, tightening the water pump packing etc.. my favorite is probably the lack of oil filters on the early stuff. finding a good power valve that won't leak seems to be a challenge in itself at times.

i'm a chevy guy, but nothing sounds so nice as a ford flat 8 cranking over......, well, maybe the sound of it running thru headers and some porters......

[Art Anderson]

One of the neat "diocentricities" of the Model T Ford (indeed of many other cars built in the day of manual spark advance and an individual ignition coil for each spark plug!) was that a Model T Ford can be started "on compression". It worked like this:

A Model T, having a "buzzer-type" induction coil for each sparkplug, and a mechanical "timer" (works just like an old fashioned distributor, except that instead of "jumping" a spark inside a distributor from the rotor to an electrode for each plug wire, Model T timers use a small roller that actually makes contact with a smooth brass contact as it revolves around inside the body of the timer, making direct electrical contact to send a charge through the wire to the plug). A well-broken in T engine, if shut off with the low gear transmission band engaged, can be made to stop with one piston just past "top-dead-center" under compression with a full fuel charge in the combustion chamber.

With the engine still hot, and the ignition switch turned back on imediately upon the engine stopping, the buzzer coil for that cylinder will build up, within a few seconds, an electrical charge sufficient to ultimately send a spark across the electrodes of the particular sparkplug--and the engine will start all on its own (the engine has to be not only fully warmed up, but certainly on the :"hot side" of warmed up). Jokesters learned to play with that--it went like this:

The driver would pull his car up to a group of people, shut off the engine with the transmission still engaged, quickly retard the spark all the way, turn on the ignition, get out of the car, walk toward those spectators, and when a few feet away from his T, he'd turn his head, whistle at his T (as if calling his dog!), and presto! That T would start up all by itself, and roll toward it's owner! In the earlier days of the old-car hobby, a Model T gathering wasn't complete without some character making this little trick happen! (My dad related similar stories about an uncle of his who would have great fun doing this in front of unsuspecting bystanders!).

Just a fun little thing that some people used to do, to amaze their enemies, scare their friends, I guess.

Art

[Art Anderson]

Another "trick" that certainly Model T owners liked to pull (and even Model A Ford owners as well, as those had hand-operated spark timing--"spark advance" was to take their cars "Window Shopping". It works like this:

Again a well broken-in Model T (or Model A) engine, carefully timed, can be made to run VERY slowly, even with the car in high gear. With the engine well warmed up, and on level pavement (this works best on smooth pavement), slow the car down, with the spark lever completely retarded, until the engine is merely idling. Now, Model T's and Model A's are almost legendary for low-end engine torque, and it is possible to literally slow the car down to a walking speed, with the engine turning so slowly that with the hood open, you can actually count the revolutions of the cooling fan very easily 1-2-3-4-5.... While the vast majority of US-built Model T Fords have no entry door on the driver's side of the front seat (roadsters and touring cars), a Model A driver could actually open his door, step out of the car, and literally walk alongside it, then climb back in, sit down, and gradually accelerate the car to as fast as he wants to go!

A great many brass era cars (and even larger cars well into the 30's, could be put in high gear at speeds as low as 5mph, and made to accelerate smoothly (albeit sluggishly!) to ordinary driving speeds--a lot of people did that back in the day--my Dad almost never used 2nd gear in any of his flathead 6cyl Plymouths--he'd just start out in low, and at about 7-8mph, shift into high, all the while claiming that using second gear meant more wear on the clutch and wasted gas!).

Most cars could do this to some degree in the years of long-stroke, low compression engines.

Art

[Harry P.]

Great stories. I like that trick of whistling to your T and making it come to you!

[Art Anderson]

  On 9/18/2013 at 6:55 PM, Harry P. said:

Great stories. I like that trick of whistling to your T and making it come to you!

The first time I saw a guy do that, I nearly passed out laughing!