Chris Bamford

Thirty years ago in northern Alberta:

Some questions have more than one right answer. Case in point, how to repair my KisselKar water jacket crack... Option A: • Remove and store hood, remove manifolds, wiring, valve train, magneto, coil, rear jug (cylinders 3 & 4) and all brass fittings, etc. • Vee out and clean repair area • Find a competent cast iron welder to undertake the repair • Preheat casting, weld crack, cool slowly, dress repaired area back to original height • Repaint jug • Reassemble jugs, brass fittings, manifolds, coil, magneto, valve train, wiring and hood; go driving Cost & Time: $100s, could be over $1000. Minimum a week or two, could easily stretch into a month or two. Advantages: Assuming all goes well, a permanent repair that will never, ever, fail. Disadvantages & Risks: Tying up shop space, repaired & repainted jug will look out of place; risk of breaking, losing, or otherwise discombobulating rare parts; risk of further damage or warpage to the jug casting and all that might entail to correct. Option B: • Vee out and clean repair area • Apply Right Stuff sealant and brass shim as described above. • Cure overnight, fill radiator and go driving. Cost & Time: $2 for Right Stuff and shim stock. Several hours over several days. Disadvantages & Risks: It may fail again in a few years (rinse & repeat) Plan B was right for me. YMMV 🙂 For more about my KisselKar click here

The next owner can sort it out with my executor.

The JB Weld thread inspired me to start a related one — let's see examples of effective and lasting repairs using various goos and glues at which many here would turn up their noses. A good example from the JB Weld thread is Ben Bruce's diesel fuel tank repair story. Here's one of mine... I've long been a fan of Permatex's Right Stuff sealant which IMO could almost be marketed as "miracle in a tube'. Twelve years ago I used it to repair a water jacket crack in my 1912 KisselKar when the previous JB Weld repair failed after only 14 years. Photo-story below was published in our local club newsletter. Photo underneath is the repaired area as of this afternoon. Not bad results for $2 and a couple hours messing around!

Thanks PK!

A club member would like an ID on this grille. I don't know but I'll bet the forum does...

I’ve found Tesla’s charging stations a major disappointment…

I’m no judge, but for my taste, I would be most impressed if the clock was ticking away and read the actual time 🙂

Will do, and thanks for the Taco Tip.

Keith, I think you are somewhere around Kamloops — we’ll be tootling down 97 bound for the Fraser Canyon in my ‘24 T Speedster on about June 23. If you can get over to Cache Creek or similar in that lovely ‘38 of yours I would be happy to exchange driving experiences….

All true regarding Model Ts with their gas tank under the front seat (almost all models pre-1926). Another factor was gearing — Ts have only low and high speeds forward, but reverse is a lower ratio yet and would have better climbing power, provided you could get traction. It’s been said that the steepest grade one could climb in a T without starving for fuel is about 14%, which by coincidence or design is about the limit one could climb without starving the #1 rod for oil. Maybe correct, maybe not. I have personally had to back a ‘12 T roadster up a steep grade because of low fuel level (and have also lost the #1 rod Babbitt climbing a steep hill in my ‘24 Speedster.)

I’ll forward your request to a local Franklin friend who might be able to help.

This fork is only half the height, but it is stuck through the world's biggest perogy. Found in Glendon AB, and one of a series of 'Alberta Monuments'... the world's largest Easter egg, honey bee, kubasa, mallard, baseball bat, kerosene lamp, tepee and so on...

As far as I’m concerned, whoever invented spellcheck can just go to hello!

I have a soft spot for worn out POS runners... can we see a picture or two?

We drove my '47 Dodge from Edmonton to Hershey in 2010 and visited Detroit on the way. Whilst poking around the Packard site I liberated a souvenir brick and roll of rusty window screen from one of the side buildings (Photo1). It's been fun using bits of that screening over the years for various workshop projects, most recently in a decorative cover for the exhaust fan in my new garage (Photo2). We were amused when a wedding party bus pulled in behind us and the bride and groom hopped out and asked to use the Dodge as a photo prop (Photo3). Photo4 is the old administration building across the street from the main plant. The yellow tarp covered our camping gear and some resale items for the Hershey swap meet. We got our HPOF at the Saturday show.

I'm a volunteer motorman (streetcar driver) with the Edmonton Radial Railway Society. We use a 'box car mover' as Ronnie describes to move inoperable equipment around the barn. Brief action video HERE.

Are you sure on that Dave? Given that "attention to detail is important in all we do", we need to give some of that attention to the time of year a given period of time starts: Jan 01/2021 to Jan 01/2022 is one year not two. Dec 2020 to Jan 2022 is about +/- 13 months, not three years. Jan 01/06 to Apr 05/22 is 16 years, 4 months and change.

The OP's query was probably not wasted. I expect he's culled the list of prospective carriers if he does purchase the car.

Man, that is a whole lot of ugly. I don’t imagine any of the Packard club members were happy about having that turd on the tour.

I’ll let him know you’re asking again…

I sent a friend in Edmonton, Canada a link to this thread. He advertised his car for sale a couple years ago but still owns it. Is he the guy you were thinking of? It's a pretty nice car with IIRC a known history.

'26 Model T, November 2020

Thank you Larry for posting these. Always interesting to look at period technical literature. As it happens, all the KisselKar diagrams are for models newer than my 1912. 1913 was the Kissel's first year for electric start, generators and electric headlamps. As Dandy Dave commented above, the earlier cars are pretty simple to understand and reverse engineer. On the other hand, the new-fangled electrified machines were doubtless a mystery to most mechanicians when they first appeared. Hence the need for technical literature like this textbook.

The 4-50 is the 50 HP,” and largest of the fours. The only larger 1912 model was the 6-60 with 60 HP from six slightly smaller cylinders. AFAIK, the twelves appeared several years later. Any 1912 KisselKar wiring diagram would be of interest, and there is likely little difference between my four and the six. Thanks!