1921 model T speedster project

Hi,

I have been piecing together a 1921 speedster over the past 2.5 years. I am not a purist and consequently, instead of spending several hundred dollars to put together the orriginal ignition system. I built my own. I took a points plate, points, distributor cap, and rotor off of an early 70's Chevy vega 4 cyl engine. I drilled an tapped two very small holes in the front of the engine casing and mounted the points plate on the front of the engine over the camshaft. I had to determine cylinder 1 top dead center of course first. Then I notched the end of the camshaft to accomodate the rotor, also had to shim the rotor 10 thousands of an inch to get it to fit snug and stay in place. Then I ground the corners down on a four sided nut and drilled a small hole in it and threaded it and the small hole in the cam for a set screw. Installed it all and walla! a great functioning ignition...and to boot! The points plate had a secondary swivel plate on it so I can still adjust my timing on the fly! Now, I didn't have a complete model T exhaust and intake assembly, but I did have a model A setup and installed that instead with a little modification to the intake and exhaust gaskets. Also had to have the head milled quite a bit to level out the warpage and rust pitting...It seems to put out a bit more than 22.5hp even here in the mountains at 6200 ft elevation. There is a lot more to this story if anyone responds.

James

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Speedsters are certainly "do what you want" projects. Some people try to keep the modifications "era correct". That is, they only use parts that were in existance during the time frame of their speedster. Others, like yourself, do whatever. Have you visited the website of the Northwest Vintage Speedsters? See the link.







<ul>[*]Northwest Vintage Speedsters[/list]