First drive in traffic

Will N

Will N

Well-known member
Here's a story about my first drive in traffic. I purchased my T just before the onset of this last winter. I didn't register it until just last week, so the only driving I'd done until now was around my immediate neighborhood, which is isolated from traffic. Last Friday, when I took it out to have the state inspection done was the first time I drove it in traffic, which was a little scary.

The engine wasn't running quite right. It kind of hesitated and bucked a little when in high gear. But I fiddled around with the spark advance until I found one sweet spot where the engine ran pretty well. I also adjusted the carb to get the engine running fastest and smoothest. I stalled it out coming to a stop at a traffic light (this was during rush hour mind you), and had to get out to crank'er up. I thought I might not have had the pedal completely in neutral when coming to a stop- it's going to take a bit to get the feel of the ******. There was a long line of cars stacked up behind me, but surprisingly, nobody was honking their horns. I guess the novelty of seeing a car hand started was too entertaining for them to be upset about being stuck at the green light. I got her going, and got to the inspection shop. It turns out my inspection guy had run out of stickers, so I had to return on Monday.

Over the weekend I tried to start her to take her out of the garage, and it would only fire briefly, then stall. I cranked the engine over slowly while it was switched to battery, and found that one of the coils wasn't buzzing. I have spare coils, so I switched out the bad one, and she fired right up. Not only that, but when I took her out on Monday to be inspected, she ran like a champ. There wasn't just one sweet spot on the spark advance any longer. The engine speed increased smoothly the whole travel of the spark advance. And the acceleration (if you can call it that!) was much brisker.

I imagine that the bad coil was failing on Friday, and maybe that's why it ran rough and stalled. What do you think, bad condenser in the coil?
 
I had a ride in a stock T once. Between hand signals, a city bus trying to cut us off, the driver was busy as a one armed paper hanger. It seemed both feet and both arms were busy the whole time. Today we drive a car. On a T, the person behind the wheel needs to be part of the machine.
 
Sure it could be a capacitor or 1/2 a dozen other things, (points, ect.). Since you seem new to T's I'll make a recomendation: Change the Caps and have the coils set up on a StroboSpark or hand cranked tester (HCCT). If you think it's runing good now you have no idea how much better it will be with properly set up coils. The job is not hard and if you order a set from Lang's (about $10 for a set of 4) it comes with instructions. If you want further info on this let us know.
 
Good job!! You are one of the few that can drive a T. A few years ago we built a T ( I own three of them) as a wed night project at the sjhop. Built it from the frame up out of old parts etc. Put a truck bed on it and there was 10-12 guys involved in one way or the other. When completed i gave driving lessons to any one that wished to drive around in it. There was a few that just took to it right away and there was a few that will NEVER be able to drive a T. Just too much going on with the pedals,throttle, brakes ( or lack of brakes) etc.
Like i said you are one of the few.
ME , i am hooked and love them........
 
Don and Bubba, that's why I love old cars. You can feel the machine working under you, and like you said, you feel part of it when you get the technique mastered. Modern cars are isolation booths.

Charlie, Langs has a strob-spark, but it goes for $350! How often do you need to adjust the coils? I mean, if it's fairly often, then $350 is probably a wise investment.
 
As a small timer it doesn't pay to buy one. You should get in toutch with a local club that might have one available and you could be able to get someone to set them up for you. How often? Depends on your driving. They can last years without resetting. The timer will probably give you more trouble than the coils. I'll say again, replacing the capacitors before testing is a good idea.
 
I had the same, well almost experience 2 weeks ago when I got mine licensed. First time I drove it on the road. What a blast last on the road in 1939, still has a windscreen sticker with 3/1938. I was very surprised on how good the suspension and torquey the engine. Funny though when I took my wife for a run a coil stopped working and she hated the change into top gear with a gutless "donk". I replaced it with my only spare and away she went again.
A couple of old timers rekon you need a spare timer as well as a coil in your toolbox. ( I've ordered both).
I have little driving experience but I change into neutral and slow right down at evey intersection, in case I need to stop. Then hit the low if I have slowed down too much to release the handbrake/clutch lever and still pick up the rev's in top gear.
Keep driving and enjoying every minute Will. cheers, John.
 
Had it out again this weekend in some areas not too far from me that have some small hills. It performed pretty well on the uphills- better than I would have thought with only 20 horses. But as you mentioned Bull, it's the torque that does the job! I got a little more comfortable with finding neutral using the pedal when coming to a stop sign, but I did use the hand lever to put it in neutral when I had to wait at a traffic light. I have a couple of spare coils and a spare timer too.
 
Learn to use you hand brake to go in neutral when stopping or backing up. I use mine a lot in tight places.I would have rocky brakes they make driving a lot nicer. I would not drive a T without them.A must with a Ruckstell rear end. They make braking a lot better stopping. Enjoy your T
 
I purchased a coil tester off ebay, and this morning, I took the coils out and set them up per the instructions in the blue bible: 1/32 gap and 1.3 amps draw at 6v. It turns out the coils were all over the place before. Took her out for a spin just now. HOLY COW! What a friggin difference! Talk about smooth power! Starts on the first pull, and I had to reset the idle speed because it was running too fast now. Thanks to all you guys who clued me in on the importance of getting the coils set up right.
 
The difference in the way the engine runs with properly set up coils is almost beyond description. People just can't believe it. I had replaced the capacitors on 4 spare coils and checked them with a buzz box which really only shows that they spark. (I resisted the proper way for years. Just didn't believe it). A friend on another site contacted me and said he had a hand cranked coil tester, commonly known by it's initials: HCCT, and would set them up for me. Believe it or not I was on the verge of doing a valve job because it just wasn't running right. That went out the window after we installed the set up coils and he hand crank started the car with a cold engine on Mag. Although I still have to open the carb needle a bit when cold starting, (that's normal), cranking by hand is a real show for on-lookers.
 
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