Metal in Hogs head

A

Ashley

Junior Member
When changing oil a piece of metal was found in hogs head . I removed
the starter and was able to remove the metal (part?) with a magnet. The starter drive cover had a small brass screw head in housing found in rear . Could this be a magneto clamp and screw? The car was running great on battery with no noises. What do I do next? How do i check to see if Magneto clamp or scew is missing. What other part could have come lose or been dropped? Car model is 1926.

Thanks,
George
 
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George, The brass screws that hold the keepers on the ends of of magnets get brittle and often break. This is the only screw holding the keeper and it will go flying. This is a flat rectangular piece of iron with a counter sunk hole in the center.
This puts the entire transmission in danger and could do serious damage.
I think you can see the tops of these keepers if you remove the mag post on the top of the transmission cover. (look toward the rear as the mag ring is directly under the post) Get someone to turn the engine and see if any of these are missing.
Starter removal is a sure way to see the keepers.
 
Your car will run on battery is the magneto stops working. If you've got a charging system you can actually drive the car for a long time without the magneto. A lot of people, when the crankshaft endplay gets to be too much will run on the battery and never use the magneto. However the magneto will make the car run a lot better. Some people put a distributor on the engine. That's a pretty good fix too. My only concern with running the engine that's got the brass screws breaking would be the opportunity for all those ugly steel plates to get into the transmission.. And then of course if one of the magnets break, which will happen from time to time, all hell can break loose.

Brass screws can become "work hardened" by tightening them and then having them take the stress of holding the plates on the magnets. Some people think there's no problem rebuilding a magneto and reusing the brass screws over. I think it's like walking on a minefield. There's always that chance nothing will happen. If you decide to rebuild your magneto do it right and replace the screws, they're not that expensive. And do yourself a favor and take any advice that tells you to reuse the screws with a grain of salt. It's your decision but...
 
Here is an update on metal in hogs head. Today turned engine with crank
and shining a light through starter hold found magneto screw broken
flush with flywheel. The spool is missing and screw was laying near stater
housing. Still missing are some of magneto clamp and spool. Too many parts missing so it's out with engine and tranmission. Any better ideas?
Thanks for input.
George
 
Thats why Ford made it so all you needed were tongs and a hoist to get that engine out. Don't buy gyp parts he always was impressing.
 
Removed engine which turned out to be quite a job. Wooden blocks on engine frame mounts turned sideways while removing and placed a bind
on removal. Clearing pedals was also no fun. Hope reinstalling engine
goes easier. There must a short cut to placing blocks and bolts in frame. Now on to finding metal in hog head. The 1926 pedals seemed to grow during removal.
George
 
Drain the oil so that you can lift way up on the crank and walk it out past the firewall... Also. Remove the brake and reverse pedals, and take out the external low band adjusting screw and wire the pedal down against the hogs head. Its way more fun going back in!
Is this a closed car or an open car. Those dang doors sure get in the way dont they Mike? ws
 
I don't know "YET" Will. I'll find out how bad they get in the way when I change the bands in the '26 Sedan. I know for sure I'll be taking out the floorboards and the seats.

When I took the motor out of the '21 it came out pretty easy. I only had to remove the firewall to get the pedals to clear.

The guide book "The Engine" from the MTFCA helped me a lot. MTFCA has a series of books Titled "Repairing and Restoring The Model T Ford". I've bought 3 so far that give a lot of great information about engines, transmission and electrical systems. I wouldn't have even considered working on my transmission without their book giving some really good advice on how to do the job. Between that book and a lot of excellent advice from Andy, I think I've done as good a job as anyone could.
 
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