Ford T vs New Car 🤯 3D Animation// What changed in engines in 100 years?
2022 ж. 11 Мам.
870 546 Рет қаралды
In this video we analyze in 3D the LEGENDARY engine of the Ford Model T.
We will see how it is built and what changes with a modern car.
Its pistons, connecting rods, crankshaft, valves, etc.
#repairman22 #Ford #FordT
Of course a car made 120yrs ago appears primitive by modern standards, but if the alternative was having to ride a horse I'm sure even a modern motorist would be grateful!
$ 5.00 a gallon gas ...we might go back to horse and buggies..
*laugh in Amish*
@@tommywatterson5276 nah just walk and riding bicycle
@@tommywatterson5276 Gas in 1915 was 21 cents a gallon, the equivalent of $5.15 in today's dollars.
@@mikefrech1123 in 1915 there were 25 cars per 1000 people. In 2012 for instance there were 800 cars per 1000 in the US. So I guess cars and the gas infrastructure to service so few cars in 1915 were both for the wealthy.
They paid me one summer about 50 years back to drive a few of these around Greenfield Village, where they had a small fleet of them when some of the newer models were only about 50 years old. Brakes were always terrible.
Well they were only on the rear axle, but that increased the reliability by 100% lol
They were terrible. You had to plan ahead for your stops. I would also use the reverse pedal to help out some. The only thing that I could not plan on was when someone would pull in front of me and slam on their brakes to make a right turn. They would then find out what a model T horn sounds like. I added Rocky Mountain Brakes to the rear wheels, but I could not figure out how to properly set them up. I knew someone who would add a hydraulic master cylinder, and disk brakes to all 4 wheels. He used Honda Gold Wing motorcycle calipers, and he designed his own disk rotors. He had a large lathe in his garage that he used to make the rotors. He was an absolute genius.
@@garylangley4502 that’s cool, I would’ve loved to see what he came up with
Buy better shoes to break harder, Flintstones style.
@@hicknopunk Sure! Just take up the floor boards and drag your shoes on the ground. Say! My son would be great at that, he is 6'4" and weighs 380 pounds with size 15 shoes. "Sasquatch"
The T engine was bolted into the Chassis. The spark plugs were fired by flat uninsulated brass conductors, that were bent and so held themselves in place. The lack of fuel pump required it to reverse up hill. That reduced road grip. Drivers always needed water for the engine. The wooden spokes, in artillery wheels, might Take a long soak to swell and tighten up.
sort of like a woman?
I remember the spark plugs were fired by flat uninsulated brass conductors on the Model A. They were short as the distributor on the A was in the middle of the head. I don't think they were on the model T..Could be wrong.
@@drpoundsign Correct, because they want everything
Compared to modern vehicles, that sounds perfectly acceptable.
@@nevillediener1495 No distributor on the model T, like the video mentioned it’s waisted spark. The primary side was done with a magneto, like on mopeds.
My grandfather told me if a hill was too steep, he'd have to go in reverse up the hill but I forgot why as I was very young when he shared the stry. Now I remember, graviyy fed fuel! If he didn't go in reverse up the hill, putting the tank above the engine, it would stall for lack of fuel to the carb. Thank you for bringing back a memory of my granfdfather.
Going in reverse up a hill caused all the engine oil to go to the front and on a long hill could result in destroying the rear main bearing. This happened numerous times on route 15 in Springwater, N.Y.
Marc , why did not they fit a higher secondary smaller emergency hill use FUEL Tank or that on the Roof ? AND WITH a foot or hand operated fuel pump to manually use and assist when going forward UP the steepest hills ? Lame Brains ?
@@MrJACK695 Yes ! But , so did , W . W . One & Two ! Marc , One Mark Two ??
@@MrJACK695 What now , Brown Cow ? Doctor ? Jack ?
@@georgehorobin2225 Are you OK? It look like you were having a seizure when you posted this.
Horses at the time were also a viable option. They contained more moving parts but maintained themselves through biological repair processes. The horse ran on hay and grass which was plentiful and free. The exhaust, in the form of smelly clumps of droppings, were non-polluting and could actually be sold for use as fertilizer. A horse had approximately 1 horse power and four hooves which provided locomotion in lieu of wheels. Horses were manufactured by other horses, sometime several at a time, though it took at least two horses to make them. The downside of horses to automobiles was that horses needed to be kept on (alive) at all times, they needed to eat and drink even when not in use. They would also sometimes die and there was no way to bring them back to life no matter how much people paid the local horse mechanic. If a horse's hoof went bad it couldn't be removed and replaced with a new hoof, cars on the other hand could have their tires replaced if one became damaged or deflated.
Horse exhaust was polluting though, and spread disease and did not disperse into the atmosphere. You had to hire a tech to remove exhaust from roads, especially in the city.
@@alyssa7867 that only applied to city horses, country horses exhaust clumps usually went on pasture land which was cycled for agricultural use on a bi yearly basis.
Can you slam a horse tho
Fun fact: the average horse produces around 15HP at max power. Not too far from a model T, is It?
It's true that a 🐎 made about 1 hp on idle. But a 🐎 typically made 12 to 15 peak hp which is the same metric we use for cars hp.
The Ford Ts flathead is about the only thing that remains an astoundingly reliable mechanism. It’s true that the side valve arrangement makes an engine immune to valve drop and eliminates damage potential from extreme valve timing issues. Valve drop, by the 70s, was a virtually unheard of issue, but it can happen in OHV engines. The benefit of the flathead, though, is that you can use dirt cheap materials and not worry about it. The multiple-spark system (called SOS in airplanes) helped with the bad gas available at the time, and improved starting with low-grade fuel. It certainly helped with starting especially, but with modern fuel is entirely unnecessary. The T used a planetary transmission, which reduced its likeliness to strip gears, and it’s certainly less likely than even the most modern manual transmissions to strip out and have serious damage. But it was controlled by tightening cotton bands around the ring gears, and these go bad almost constantly. If it weren’t for the cotton bands, the transmission would have remarkable reliability even today. But because of the cotton bands and how they behave, the reliability is very low. The fuel system is drastically improved by the addition of a fuel filter. The bladder device used on the T was sub-par even for its time, and it said in the Ts manual to filter the gas before it was even put in the car. The oil slingers (called “spoons” here) were so woefully inadequate that the addition of an oil pump more than doubled the lifespan of the engine - when oil pumps were introduced they were seen as being the saving grace to reliability. People who lived in mountain states used to fill them so full of oil that they would smoke as if they had blown rings, so much so that bystanders would think that the car was on fire, and this would wind up doing damage all on its own. In some places people associated oil pumps with clean air. The carburetor was finicky and didn’t have an air filter. If dust gets in it’s like grabbing sandpaper for rings. And in many places there’s dust, including on earth. Finagling the carburetor to turn on the car made the car difficult to start. I’ve had experience with crank-start engines that have finicky carbs and they’re an absolute nightmare to get running. The introduction of electric start seems to us as a footnote in history but to the people at the time it might as well have been a gift from god himself. There is the problem of having to back up hills because of the gravity tank, but that’s not a reliability issue it’s just inconvenient. The lack of a water pump is a nice little niche, but that’s because of the low power of the engine vs. its surface area and size. Anything even slightly more substantial needs a water pump. It’s cool that it doesn’t need one, for sure, but no modern engine can do without it, besides something that’s air-cooled. If the Ts engine were designed today (in fact, any engine in any riding lawnmower has made the same HP since the 80s) it wouldn’t have water at all, it would have no water plumbing nor radiator and would just be air cooled. The cooling system on the T is actually quite a lot more complicated than any equivalent engine designed today.
Thanks for the fantastic breakdown I really appreciated the additional insight!
My dad told me about using gasoline to start them. After it warmed using kerosene or diesel to run down the road during WW2 and before. IN 1969 I had a Corvair. A air cooled flat six. It got 30 MPG but it also required a minimum of 95 Octane and retarding the timing 2 degrees when 100 octane was not available. If you compare 1965-1969 Corvair 110-140 to 2015 Trax. The Corvair is larger and more comfortable. But if you got the 2 speed slushomatic, lower gas mileage and a lot more time to get to the freeway speeds. The 4 speed stick was better than the 6 speed in the Trax. No flushing required. Could change out the then $25 dollar clutch in any cement floor in one hour. Happened about every 25-30 miles because I got 18-20 MPG. The engine and trans was easy to fix also. 6 new jugs, two easy to get at heads. If the piston is not damaged, just put in new stock rings. The head work cost more than the jugs. Only took 8 Bolts to remove the whole thing. Only takes $8,000 and 21 hours of labor to fix the engine and trans in a Trax. Yep you can say things have improved. The price of fixing has not.
Some electronic ignition systems today are multi-spark. For example, the recently introduced Boyer Bransden ignition system for English motorcycles is called the Tri-Spark
@@pashakdescilly7517 this is true, SOS systems are being put into cars more and more often. This is mainly because gasoline quality is being chipped away in order to have cheaper fuel. As cars progress they're being built to handle more varied grades of fuel, which widens the margin of error for fuel quality, and enables more experimentation. Shower of Sparks systems prevent missing hits and reduce emissions as a result.
So why not an improved Planetry Transmission for modern engines ? And why not more effective oiling of motor & Gearbox , WITHOUT oil pumps ?
I had a 1926 Ford Model T Coupe in the late 1980's. Yes, the splash lubrication is simpler, but there is a problem. The T was designed in Michigan where it is fairly flat, but I live in San Diego California. I was driving up a long hill with my T, and burned up the rod bearing on the #1 piston. It was not getting enough oil because the oil was mostly in the transmission and back of the engine due to the incline of the hill. In the Model T club, people add an extra quart of oil if they have to go uphill. The brake band in the transmission was just not enough for going down steep hills. In '26 the brake band was made wider to try to help the situation. Due to this, companies made what were called "Rocky Mountain Brakes" that were attached to the rear wheels. An air filter for the carburetor should have been supplied from the factory. In all, I enjoyed driving the car to special events or on special occasions.
Can you retrofit the Model T with a modern external oil pump for hilly areas to prevent the problem you had? You could suck from the oil pan but can you pump to #1 piston?
@@markae0 Yes, that can be done. It can be huge flying leap down an incredibly deep rabbit hole, but here goes. One system I have seen is to connect a VW oil pump for an air cooled bug onto the back of the camshaft. This would eliminate the magnets for the magneto, but a lot of people do that anyway to increase power. The output is piped in copper tubing and now designs differ. It is fairly easy to drill holes in the block to the main bearings so these bearings are pressure fed. What comes out of the main bearings provide splash lubrication to the rods. The next step would be to drill the crankshaft from the main journals to the rod journals and make a groove in the main bearings so that the rod bearings are fed all of the time. There were oil pumps made for this back in the '20's, '30's, and '40's. Most were driven on either the front or back of the generator. One was driven by the gear on the front of the crankshaft. I have seen people cast new timing gear covers at home, and put a pump in there. Austin A style engine pumps are of interest, but people are using small block Chevrolet pumps, and early Ford Flathead V8 pumps too, along with industrial machine lubricating pumps. This is just scratching the surface. Mostly these are people tinkering in their garage trying to solve a problem.
@@markae0 The original system uses the flywheel as an oil pump, but not very efficient. There are several aftermarket ideas that uses the flywheel's oil pumping ability more effectively, the Texas T version is most efficient and gives all the oil you'll ever need in the front (maybe it'll even starve the rear of the transmission when going steep downhill for too long.. )
@@rogerkarlsson3996 I remember seeing a small funnel with a tube that attaches near the magnets on the flywheel and the tube goes to the front main bearing area in the crank case. That may be it.
Am enjoying reading about the old vehicles idiosyncrasies!!
There was also no oil filter and the bearings were poured babbit. This engine had more in common with briggs and Stratton lawnmower engines
I actually have a perfect first-hand story to go with this. In 2020, my mom was preparing to have liver transplant surgery, so with the many appointments leading up to it, she and my dad had to go constantly back and forth between where they live, and the hospital in the middle of the state, about 100 miles each way. My dad's truck - a 2011 Toyota Tacoma (with roughly 265k mi) - had the alternator die on him, so he was not able to use the truck at the time. Instead, they had to use my mom's car, a 2007 Lexus GX470 with about 180k mi on it. One day, as my dad is driving up to get my mom at the hospital, the transmission fails, and he has to get it towed. (Very luckily for him, it happens to break down just before the exit to my brother's house - in the town we all used to live in - so he was able to get it towed to a mechanic he knows, and borrow my sister-in-law's car for the day.) Ultimately, the cause was determined to be that the transmission fluid line had rusted apart, destroying the transmission and totalling the vehicle. So now here my parents are, with a 2011 Toyota Tacoma that won't start, and a 2007 Lexus GX470 with a busted transmission. And what was the one vehicle in their driveway which was in running condition, and had active insurance and registration? The 1926 Ford Model T. They sure don't make 'em like they used to! (Side note: a close family friend bought the truck from my dad, came down to the house with cash and a new alternator and serpentine belt, and drove the truck back to his house. Later, he got ahold of that Toyota frame rot warranty thing, where Toyota replaced the entire frame of the truck, so now the truck runs great and we still see it occasionally. My mom junked the Lexus and used the money to get a gently used Cadillac SUV.)
How is Mom doing with her new liver?? Still going strong? How long has it been?
The T was made in an era when there was little if any mechanical distinction between cars and farm equipment. It had problems of course, but it's amazing that it was able to run relatively well using such primitive means of lubrication and cooling.
Yes indeed, in a time where Ford was expecting buyers who'd never owned a car before due to the T's affordability compared to most previous cars, they assumed a lot of owners would be far away from convenient car mechanics, so being easy to fix for anyone familiar with basic farm equipment was probably a really good selling point. Keep it simple, and the owner that was able to fix minor issues themselves easily just ends up liking it even more.
AND ? 15 Million ? CAN ' T ? be wrong ?
@@G1NZOU Most Certainly , YES . But don ' t even touch " Todays " motors , by yourself . Even trained mechanics hardly can fix them easily .
Yup . Shows just what . Can be done .
Yes ! Old sayings , ARE often the truth . This one , for example . " The Simpler , the Better " AND , what of the Worlds ' Future ? Futures ?? Billions ARE helped MORE by simpler , cheaper things in a world of 8 billion variations of Life Styles . Cher sings about lf l could turn back time , if l could find , a Way . . . . " Would she turn time back to 1 9 3 9 ?
A lack of oil pump is not a point of reliability because oil pumps generally do not fail. On the list of parts that fail in car engines, the block and crankshaft are much closer to the top than oil pumps are.
total B.S. i've seen many oil pumps fail, as opposed to practically no cranks and only block failures were thrown rod or freezing.
@@maddhatter3564 I've seen failed rods, blocks and cranks, usually due to lack of oil changes or cooling system failures. Never seen a broken oil pump.
The T cannot even be compared in reliability to the cars of today. The lack of these listed moving parts on the T do not make it more reliable. Typically this is a true sentiment in todays time but these particular parts are essential to longevity and reliability in vehicles.
In part because it did not have as many moving parts of other cars of its time, it was indeed more reliable compared to the other cars. For the time, however.
If modern metals/metallurgy were used in that engine I bet it could last a good long time, be bullet proof and what cars today are not, HIGHLY maintainable by a shade tree mechanic. Being side valve, low compression and it's inherent design it would never make the power or be as efficient as a modern engine, however those things have nothing to do with reliability.
I grew up on a (modern) Kansas farm. An older neighbor still farmed with a team of horses but he went around the countryside in a model A ford. He drove the heck out of that old vehicle but it stayed running till he had to quit driving due to old age, just a fun memory.
No one has ever made an engine block of vanadium steel. Back in Henry's younger days it would have been impossible to cast and machine such an engine block. Vanadium STEEL was used for stressed chassis and suspension parts.
They were cast iron
I had a knife made from just s30v so I believe you.
@@VadidElab Just yesterday I as looking at expensive chefs knives and cleavers but they were all made from ordinary stainless and would soon be blunt. My Malaysian friend showed me the cleaver traditional given to daughters getting married. It's hammer forged in one piece over a charcoal fire and really heavy but hasn't needed sharpening over many years.
Thanks for your keen attention to accuracy 👌
@@ernesthill4017 Truth counts.
I saw a T engine at the Hershey PA swap meet once; it had port injection, insert bearings, & an overhead valve conversion. Made over 100hp i believe. It’s incredible seeing modern tech used to make century old tech live up to it’s potential!
Wow. surely had more than 150hp.
Probably the Frontenac OHV cylinder head, a popular after-market conversion in the day.
Very cool, I had no idea ohv conversions existed but with the enthusiast community, of course they do lol. There's gotta be one for the flathead V-8 too, wonder what those can crank out with decent compression and revs!
I live in hershey and it's owned by a guy who owns it and rents it to the AACA for shows and stuff. It regularly shows up at the local gas station. And it keeps up with modern cars pretty well, accelerating from a stop to the speed limit just as fast as all the other daily driven cars.
I love seeing classic things be improved by modern tech. It's why I find Half-Life 2's level designs so interesting. Classic Eastern Europe Architecture being modified by the futuristic and high-tech Combine technology. I also believe in preservation so maybe not have everything be converted into modern.
My grandpa's Model T had two forward gears; low and first. It was one-wheel-drive. In 1941, my mom had to drive it 250 miles on the main highway with no brakes. 😊
In 1906, the Land Speed Record was broken by a Stanley steam car, piloted by Fred Marriott, which achieved 127 mph (204 km/h) at Ormond Beach, Florida.
Considering that only a few years earlier, in 1899, the speed record for a street car was 105 km/h (set by the "La Jamais Contente", an electrical car), this is quite an advancement. Fun fact: around 1900, 38% of the street cars in the US were EVs, 40% were steam cars and only the remaining 22% has internal combustion engines.
To think that a century later, I could go get in my little hatchback and beat that right now
@@klausstock8020 I've read that WW1 is the reason EV died out. the military needed vehicles that could travel farther and invested heavily in diesel. And EV was just abandoned. If that hadn't happened, we may have had EV all along
@@motioninmind6015 EV's had short range and the charging network back then was atrocious, people simply could live with a fossil fuel or steam car instead, had longer range and cars got simpler to the point electric cars had no advantages other than running costs.
@@motioninmind6015 You read wrong.
The main reason the T had such a low rev limit was not the long stroke, it was the fact that the crankshaft was completely unbalanced. There was a constant, oscillating force from each piston/con rod assembly that would start shaking the whole car apart if you exceeded 2,000 RPM.
The long stroke was a contributing factor. A long stroke and small bearing journal sizes means no overlap between the main and rod bearing journals, combined with only three main bearings this gives a weak and spindly crankshaft design which has often been compared to a bent wire coathanger (as were other engines of the era to be fair). The original cast iron pistons were also quite heavy which increased forces on the crank.
@@ferrumignis - You are correct. I should have said "not only the long stroke."
So if you balance the crank (and while you are at it the pistons and rods), any idea how much faster the engine could rev?
VW air cooled engines also had a Long stroke. It gives lower RPM but higher Torque. When you get more torque you lose in horsepower. That is the trade off. The engine also lasted over 100,000 miles But it only burned gasoline(am doubting kerosene) though I have never tried it. Kerosene is cold weather replacement for diesel as they are close to the same in lubrication quality and kero does not get sludgy and freeze in the fuel line from the tank to the engine. Which is why kerosene is used in jet planes.
longer stroke also limits the rpm. I rented garage space at a place called the model T garage in tulsa. the guy had many old racing parts for the T (even a factory overhead valve setup). No matter how crude, remember this was the first affordable car in history. Many others had better design but cost $20k to $30k at the time while the T was about $500.
I remember talking to old timers saying the Model T could not go uphill due to the gravity feed. They went up hills in reverse!
▪ Electric fuel pumps and fuel filters were easy to retrofit. ▪ The ignition could also be improved with electronic ignition. ▪ The cooling with retro fitted electric water pump and an electric cooling fan. ▪ Modern fully synthetic oils make matters far, far better ▪ Modern fuels make matters far, far, better. ▪ Could even install an electronic single point fuel injection system. The simple engine could be made far more efficient.
Boosting the compression for modern fuel would be the biggest increase in efficiency. The higher the compression, the more efficient the engine. OL J R :)
Still only had peripheral Oiling . And the Ignition was already Multi Spark and Adjustable on the Fly . With only Three Main bearings , you do NOT want to reach to far in the Horsepower hunt . Especially not with poor oiling .
Poor lubrication of model T, poor head flow and only 3 babbitt bearings for crank or more likely a leather bearing, none of these design flaws could allow this engine to increase hp or efficiency
@@lukestrawwalker compression can’t be boosted much past 8:1 because it’s a flathead and when you try to make the combustion chamber smaller there’s nowhere for the gases to go in and out. Gotta find the sweet spot. One of the many flaws in the flathead engine
Using synthetic oil in an engine that has used conventional all its life or vice versa is a terrible idea. It will leak everywhere.
"Unbreakable" The model T was far from reliable, regularly snapping cranks and rods. It's simply easy to fix.
Thank you.
Unkillable would b closer to the mark rather than unbreakable
Modern Engineering could make the rods and crank harder to break.
@@TheAzureNightmare yes for the rods, but the design was fundamentally for the wrong for crank, and better rods would be heavier, exacerbating the issue. Thin, long bearings prone to oil starvation, twisting, and shearing under load. The engine used in the model a was very similar, and there's a guy who documented the process of re-engineering that one.
@@CreeperOnYourHouse Now you got me curious! Did he make a video on KZhead about it?
I loved this, and was wondering how they compared to today's cars. Thank you so much for posting.
lol i love oil
A 2.9 4 banger today, could probably crank out 250+ HP in today's engines, 16 V etc 🙂
I remember my grandpa saying when he was young. When he drove model T you pulled up to a gas station . It seemed like you filed the oil and water and checked the gas. God bless Y'ALL !
The block on the Model T is NOT vanadium steel. It's plain old cast iron, and they wore rather quickly, unless steel sleeves were installed. Many engines were lost to broken cranks because of the lack of counter-balancing of the crank throws, and only 3 main bearings. Especially on the trucks. A neighbor of mine has a 1925 1 ton truck and it was recently (within the last 30 years!) outfitted with an external water pump, and a Ruxtall 2 speed differential to give it a total of 4 speeds for moving heavier loads.😄 Even so, it's broken the crank at least 2 times that I'm aware of.😝
7:57 dont forget that the T was a model that was much more limited in it's evolution. a 1st gen corolla, F series, or Civic has little to do with the current one being sold. the only other real challenger is the Beetle.
And if Volkswagen has decided to market the Golf as a continuation of the "Beetle", we'd see it on top of the chart with 53 million units (with a bar too long to fit the chart shown). Of course, Ford could have chosen to retain the "Model T" nameplate...then not only in 1966, a Grand Turismo "Model T" with a height of 40 inches would have won the 24 hours of Le Mans, but it would also fare much better in the chart. Which would have been more "natural" for the Model T compared to the Corolla, as the "T" was already a universal vehicle, with pickup, box truck, ambulance, sedan, cabriolet and whatever models already on the market early on.
@@klausstock8020 "decided to market the Golf as a continuation of the Beetle" Well, they did market it as the successor to the Beetle, because it was, of course. But there's no way to legitimately continue the stats as there is nothing in common between the Beetle and the Golf except they both have four tires.
Great animation. One small comment on the ignition system. It's actually quite complicated. One was supposed to start/crank the engine on BAT (battery). On BAT the spark(s) were delivered way after TDC multiple times making a sure ignition and making backfire almost impossible. When running, one switcher to MAG (magneto) where the spark could be adjusted to even BTDC. One spark only, like today's cars. People got in trouble and had their arms broken when they didn't keep good batteries and cranked on MAG. The the spark could be BTDC and backfire.
I heard Edison and Ford were great friends. Tesla had the "Points-Coil-Condenser" ignition patent and they didn't want Tesla to make his patent money.
If one gripped the hand crank properly, it was unlikely to break the driver's arm or hand if the spark was not properly retarded. One should always grip the crank with the thumb beside the index finger, never over the crank as though one is making a fist with the crank in the middle. The break caused by mishandling the hand crank is called a chauffeur's break. Not all those who got one were driving lowly Model Ts in the days before self starters. Some were drivers PAID to drive expensive automobiles. When my son was studying to be a doctor, the professor said he had no idea why it was called a chauffeur's break. Since I'd discussed the fine art of hand cranking with him several years earlier, he had the answer.
@@peterdarr383 never heard that but it sounds exactly like something those two would do
starting a car with a crank is a learning process, when its cold my T loves a good "backfire" that resulted in a very painfull wrist for ca 6 weeks, and me with only one hand to start her, yes, the left, and that is the only way, since the crank kicks away from the left hand, and whatever you do, dont turn the crank more then from bottom to top, thats half way, now i start her anytime with ease, and many times she does not even need cranking,
Yes what you say is quite likely the truth . But l thought maybe a better cranking , Handle to Crankshaft componentry assembly would be necessary AND a greater safety feature help . My dads ' 1964 , 3 Litre Rover Sedan with a 6 cylinder 8 to 1 compression ratio , was hard to crank start by hand action sure enough . But usually did start first go . And when kicking back occasionally gave a somewhat nasty surprise ! So l thought a better coupling mechanism would be most welcome . At a " flat battery " stage of events !
My old landlord talked about getting his dad's T when he replaced it with an A. He said he reduced the cylinder volume to up compression and completely stripped it down. He could race his friends and be competitive then. They were teens in the 30s, original hot rodders. That old T is a few rusty tins now in a bush. I found the frame on the other side of the 40 and plan on hanging it from the rafters of the barn eventually.
Great vid. Learned more about Model T in this eight minutes than in previous 50 years. Thankyou.
Okay, you had me until you started stanning thermo-siphon. That method basically never, ever worked and was the main reason most cars from the olden-times overheated constantly. It was one of those ideas that sounded just fine (hot water DOES rise, after all) until you had to live with it. The pressure in a thermo-siphon system is pretty pants, and the hot/cold exchange doesn't really happen with any urgency. Other than that, yeah, the T engines were pretty bulletproof.
Well, if the engine only produced 20HP, and was that big, I don't think it would have problems as there so much mass to dissipate heat, and so little heat being produced to begin with. Also, the whole cooling system was made of metals that didn't rust, so they could run on pure water, which is a fair bit more heat conductive than the water/glicol mix modern cars use.
The only time I ever had a Model T overheat was one time in a parade, and it was in July in New Jersey. And that’s with 30 years of driving Model T’s.
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Sales by 1000 people in population. About One in ten people owned a ford. That's crazy
it was a good car for 117 years ago but it is crap today. calling points ignition more reliable than coil on plug is a bunch of crap, points needed to be adjusted all the time.
@@chanceDdog2009 the
I find it amusing how modern people rewrite history about Henry Ford. Today they make him out to be a cranky old simpleton. He was a brilliant engineer for his day and made a simple and reliable car for the time the masses could afford. He was beloved in his day. For the common man, Henry Ford was the guy that took you from a horse/mule to mechanization and made life better big time. He was a hero to the common man during his life. He was the Elon Musk and Bill Gates of his day.
He also hated the Jewish people. "German diplomats award Henry Ford, center, with their nation's highest decoration for foreigners, the Grand Cross of the German Eagle, in July 1938"
@@markae0 in which he later recanted. He was not a saint, and neither are you. He contributed more to humanity than you’ll ever dream of contributing.
@@steveimhoff5646 I don't know if God would agree he contributed to humanity with the amount of pollution cars have put into Gods creation. All the oil/ gas/antifreeze/ put into drinkable water besides the exhaust.
@@markae0 being you are on a computer/ phone replying to my post tells us a lot about you. The phone/ computer you are on ( electricity) and the battery it operates on is horrible to the environment. Something tells me you are a hypocrite. You get your food from tractors (farmers) and that food is transported by diesel trucks. If you were living in a cave and plowing the ground with your hands for your food I might listen to you. You want the benefits of Henry Fords efforts, but just want to complain with no viable alternative. Go live in a cave and hunt for snails under rocks. You won’t…. You’ll just complain about others from your laptop. You are the kind I was referring to in my initial post 😜😜. Never accomplished anything and jealous of anyone that has.
And if you read about it there were valid reasons why
I liked your video, so I subbed n belled. My Dad is 92 and healthy. He lives with me. His Dad’s 1st car was a model A. My Dad was 5. The Model A cost Grandpa $35. I just asked him. He’s still talking. Lots of stories!
My grandad died last year at 93. I miss his trucking stories. You better cherish every moment.
Today I drive a 2L 4 Cylinder petrol with 186 hp and 43 mpg. Label says itll do 52 mpg. So it got more than 8 times the power and does almost 4 times the mpg all while weighing over 1.4 tons. So i think weve come a long way.
Sound like less than a decade of progress if you comparing it to the computer procesors inductry... Ford-T also replaced electric cars as the most popular type of car and nowdays we are thinking hard about going back to them and replacing internal combustion cars with electric cars-> so are we moved "a long way" or are we making a circle here?!
@@Bialy_1 well its a weird comparison. Combustion engines are energy converters while semi conductors are energy users. Diesel engines on ships actually run at around 50% efficiency which is some of the highest in the sector. But its Apples and Oranges. Semi conductors have become more energy efficient but are still extremely wasteful btw.
@@Bialy_1 Like the other guy said, try comparing apples with apples.
Thing was and is still pretty brilliant! I wonder with newer technology if this was redesigned with the same basic ideals what it would look like and how it would do. I wonder if it could be sold. Nice video and visualizations!
If it had to pass a crash test then no. but if it was sold as a recreational/work vehicle like a john deer gator then sure.
No computer chips to go bad ! Not so sure how they would do in a modern crash test - and I have to say, I do love anti-lock brakes. And all-wheel / 4 wheel drive is very nice in the rain and snow - oh, plus ac and heat - oh and stereo radio.
@@kfl611 my 1980 mustang has 1 of those options. You can guess which.
With gas at high prices , what other combustible fuel sources are there? Like brewing your own beer and wine, could people brew a fuel source?
@@markae0 woodgas... or if you have a corn farm and a moonshine still...
Those old motors, Model T Flathead 4's, were great for the time, but in comparing to a modern 4 cylinder engine, the old T produced no where near the power, they were no where near as efficient, and they did not go 250,00 miles like many modern engines do. Not a fair comparison. Ever sat behind an old flivver and got to enjoy the exhaust smell? Modern engines are truly amazing.
Neat video on a whole, but I have to give massive applause at the end where the number of units sold is compared to the population of the time -- that's rarely done these days, making newer and newer things, be it video game systems, cars, guns, whatever, seem more popular than they really are simply because more people exist to obtain the product -- penetration percentage of the population of the time is often the more accurate metric to go by, as opposed to raw numbers, and this is one of the few times I've ever seen that mentioned in anything talking about overall sales rates of anything between the past and today. Bravo.
Quite correct. On the other hand, though we have three times the population of 100 years ago, all these extra consumers have MANY times the choices available to them. E.G; In the 60s, when there were only 3 channels, the Ed Sullivan Show might get a 50 share. Nowadays, even the Superbowl only gets a 30.
@@JeffKopis Equally good to bring up, how consumer choice has grown. It's really something to be considered when economic comparisons are being made, to be sure, among a great many other factors, to say the least. Coming from a gaming background, where generally only two to four options really can survive in the market, it's much more like "how it was" than other options today. That's a rare case, to be sure, in the modern market. Most everything else has a glut of options, to say the least.
simplicity out of necessity. They COULD have made it more advanced to make it practical but then it wouldn't be cheap enough for everyone to own
Or as reliable
Back in that day, a hammer and a forge and a file is about all the tools that were around. No machine shops.
Great video. I never knew there were so many quirks to the model T. Absoulutely astonishing when you consider the modern OHC and DOHC designs as well and modern fuel injection systems, PCV systems, etc...
It's a good little car/truck, and you can have it in any color you like so long as it's black.
Not entirely true. From 1909 thru 13 and 26 & 27, several colors were available. Henry chose to make all cars black because it dried fastest, allowing faster production.
This is my new favorite channel. Thanks man! 😊😊
Wow, Love the simplicity of it! It's design was ingenious, especially for it's time. It's torque surprised me haha. I bet some modern upgrades could really awaken these old timers into something to rival modern cars
There were MANY upgrades available even back when Ts were new. There is a cut down 1922 Model T in The Penrose Museum at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs. The owner/builder drove it 250 miles to the race before his win. Besides lightening the car considerably, one of his modifications was a Rajo cylinder head. Those have overhead valves, and improved intake and exhaust ports.
They are available from companies such as H&H Flatheads in Gardena, CA. But the Herman Bros mostly specialize in V8 Ford flatheads, and the later 4 cyl model B engine ca. 1928-40. But H&H can and does rebuild and improve ANY vintage engine.
@@chuckasbury8991 true they just had few buyers as they were a high priced part for a very basic car. mostly just professional racers.
8:10 I thought the crankcase/ block was cast iron. That sounds different than vanadium steel. Ford knew about age hardening and aged his castings in Michigan fields for a time and then machined them. The carbon that came out of solution had done its distorting before the machining and Ford’s cylinders stayed round and the crankcase’s line bore stayed straight for a long service life!
We now know that iron blocks can be stress relieved at the factory with heat treatment and/or low frequency vibration. This simulates the heating, cooling, and vibrating cycles of a "seasoned" (used) block. And of course, CGI (compacted graphite iron) blocks are used on higher quality engines now.
I used to hate these computer voice-over tools, but your content was just so engaging! You offered real insights and I enjoyed every minute of this video!
This is one of the best videos I 've seen here. I've never seen an in-depth comparison of the Model T engine and it's modern contemporary.
Thank you bob. New video in 30 mins uploaded!
@@repairman22 Your welcome repairman and thanks for the heads up.
In the 1980's as a young man you would see them boast in magazines about new technology like turbo's and double overhead cams, to name two. Then I found a book from 1920 and every thing they boasted about already existed. That's the power of false advertising.
To be fair to those reviewers Double Overhead cams in the 1920s-1930s were only in cars like Buggati and Dusanberg cars so expensive it was unlikely anyone other than the richest of the rich drove them. Turbos did not really catch on until the 1970s. So cheap turbos and Double Overhead cams would be a new thing.
@@mistx7115 Fair enough. I was just saying the technology existed not that it was in production. At that stage the steam car was king. The mass production of the model T killed steam.
@@raymondglad5593 I was more pointing out that they were more high-end features than mass production-ready. Also while nowhere as successful as the model T, the first mass-produced car in my Book belongs to the Oldsmobile curved dash. Also while the Model T may have convinced many to get a car it was cars like the Austin 7 and Chevy's 4 that made them stay by 1927 the last year of the Model T it was looking quite outdated, In raw numbers, the model T was a huge deal. However, I would argue due to its role in defining the layout of cars the Austin 7 does deserve a special mention after all how many people even ones who can drive a stick can drive a Model T.
I like this old cars and motorbikes! I am repairing my motors myself-does'nt matter,that they are 90 years old
You say it's a flathead with valves in the block that prevent cracking, and piston to valve contact like it was a design feature. The only reasons it was a flathead is because it was cheaper, and easier to manufacture.
Thats exactly what the video says... that it is low efficiency.
You know what I love about old engines, is their simplicity, lot of space unde the hood, the ability to fix them by yourself, and of course low cost maintenance. Yes they might be underpowered, and fuel hungry, but they last for million miles.
6:52 NOT pound per foot (pounds divided by feet), but poundfoot (pounds times feet).
Yes, it could be used as a tractor, but the transmission would break within a few weeks if you tried to
Great video thanks! Backyard neighbour had one. The sound was terrific
It would have been a nice inclusion to add power to weight ratio to your comparison screen @ 7:00 Great video. Thanks!
yes, true! thank you.
Toyota Corolla has 21.5lbs per hp. Ford Model T has 60lbs per hp. Toyota Corolla makes 77.2hp per liter. Ford Model T makes 6.9hp per liter. Now the highest end Corolla GR has a 1.6L three cylinder motor with 300hp and 273lb ft of torque. That would make it 10.8lbs per hp (it weighs 3250lbs) and 187.5hp per liter.
Modern engines are way more reliable than they used to be.
The difference is just that nowadays the engines are way to complicated and can’t be repaired as easily. But nearly all engines can put down 200.000km without major failure and only regular maintenance.
@@GrillerRohde yes they are more complex
@@GrillerRohde nope won't last any over 150k people reporting their car shutting at 150k km the end of their journey comes
The ford t was a mecanical masterpiece. It is just what you need nothing more !
Well done. I will watch this one more than once for sure. Thank you for the overview. I want own and drive a T already. This video is great for familiarization.
Enjoyable despite some factual errors.
Really cool animations, did you make the models used? Do you have the files publicly available by chance for 3d printing?
It’s from an Spanish channel called repman22
@@JinskuKripta do you know how these two channels relate to each other?
@@tupaguska8270 i guess they're not related
A engine that spends most its life at around idle (1800rpm) is undoubtedly be more reliable that a engine that revs to 7000rpm (less friction/less heat/less wear)
In theory yeah, in practice though its limited to 1800rpm because more than that and it would tear itself apart. 1800 stresses it as much or more than 7000rpm stresses those other engines. It has no counterweights on the crankshaft, and no oil pressure.
The reason none exist is because people push the limits.
Termosyphone cooling is my favourite part of the Model T engine. That was kinda unique because the others took the lesson and introduced water pumps into subsequent designs. Oil pump and fuel pump took longer to implement, ignition system was for the long time almost as primitive as Model T's. Side-valve engine is making a comeback, so still relevant. Model T is a very odd vehicle in so many ways that we could point out that it was Austin 7 which actually showed the right direction where cars will be heading in the future.
_"side-valve engine is making a comeback"_ Which manufactures are moving back to side valve designs? First I've heard of this.
@@ferrumignis Not for automotive applications, for small engines.
Since there was a lot of gravity fed design, did it struggle going up steep hills?
Of course. Cylinder 1 was prompt to starve and gasoline also was a problem uphill with low level. Thanks for watching.
You had to back up steep hills.
13 to 21 miles per gallon for a Model T. But not very fast.
Thats true, any way, there were no roads to go fast!
That's the thing with older engines, a bit less efficient, but less parts (and easily replaceable parts), as well as simpler fuel and coolant setups mean an engine that is kind of more reliable, but only if you properly maintain it (like properly topping up the radiator). Modern engines have better seals and more efficient fuel pumps and coolant, and can last longer with no issues if a driver doesn't pay attention to anything. Kind of a downside to modern engines being so forgiving is some drivers can get away with no common sense engine checks and maintenance long enough to get into the habit of thinking that's the normal way to treat a car, that they'll ruin a modern engine in a couple of years, while the more hands on and regular maintenance of older engines kept drivers on their toes and made basic mechanical knowledge almost mandatory for someone who wanted to drive.
Solid video, very informative 👍
I thought Ford still uses the same engine.
Only until the 19980's!
Dirty!
Alcohol typically has a high octane rating of about 100 to 110, so saying that the model T's low compression ratio allowed alcohol to be used is WRONG.
but the manual advancing was the solution, thats why.
@@repairman22 : My point is that alcohol engines have no need for less than 10:1 compression ratio, reguardless of timing.
@@repairman22 ALL CARS HAD MANUAL ADVANCE CONTROLS UNTIL THE MID 30'S. Do home homework
@@johnrebus1641 so. We are comparing a t with a 30' or with a modern car?
@@johndavidwolf4239 You don't *need* high compression to burn high octane fuel, but high octane fuel *allows* you to have high compression without knocking
Wow, it's suprising how well made they were!
Excellent presentation. Really intriguing. Thank you. Most appreciated.
"No" to robo-voice.
The best thing about the model T was that unionized workers in that age could afford to buy one. It was a terrible car, but, as someone else pointed out, better than a horse. My grandmother's father owned one and drove it around Florence, Colorado. They had to fix flat tires regularly, and as someone has said, back up steep hills because of the gravity feed fuel system. If the engine backfired while you were cranking it, it would snap your arm, a common injury in that time. Yes, it was well engineered for its day, but a model T cannot handle modern traffic. It does not have enough power or good enough brakes to drive on a freeway. It pollutes like crazy. In a crash this car would come apart, and with no seatbelts you would lose your teeth or worse on the steering wheel. I would not want a family member driving one. These belong in museums. I've been driving and fixing cars for nearly 50 years and here's what I know: The cars of today are the best in history. Comfortable, reliable, powerful, energy efficient, and safe. Virtually zero maintenance for 150000 miles and many many times safer than a model T or even a car from the 70's. And the electric cars that are arriving now are better yet, wayyyy better. Soon self driving cars will take disabled and older folks safely and conveniently where they need to go. I have several family members who cannot drive so this will be a new time of freedom for them. The model T made car ownership possible for the masses, a wonderful freedom. But let's not get too nostalgic. My next car will run on sunlight and drive itself when I'm too busy or bored to do it. It will be safe, quiet, fast and efficient. I'm looking forward to the future.
Thank you for this. Someone I know firmly believes all old cars were better. Which I really didn’t agree with. No car of any era is perfect but I do believe modern cars tend to be better in many ways.
All of what you say is true. HOWEVER, owning a new/late model car is becoming increasingly expensive as compared to income, both in acquisition and cost to maintain/repair. And while a Model T (or even an original A) are not up to modern traffic standards, many mid 30's and 40's cars, just about everything from the 50's, and anything from the 60's and later are. While newer cars are safer overall, you can be injured or die in one just as you can anything older. Personally I don't dwell on such things and enjoy my older cars as much as my newer ones. Do I want to pay $30 to $80 grand (and all the other attendant costs) for something new to drive? Absolutely not!
Nonsense if the government doesn't like you they will just shut off your autonomous car if you can afford one 😂
Model T was excellent for its time. New cars are less reliable than they have been at any time in the past 40 years. 80s econoboxes got 50 mpgs. On average, new electric cars, despite being easier for manufacturers to make be reliable than ICE cars (having just a motor and a battery) are much, much less reliable than new ICE cars according to owner surveys of the past few years.
A 1990s Japanese engine with coil on plug ignition and variable valve timing with cable throttle is still pretty modern technology today.
I recently saw a video about a restored Model T. The owner noted that he had to make sure that his fuel tank was full or nearly full to go up a "reasonable" hill since if the hill was too steep then the engine easily be above the level of the gas in the tank! My father (born 1920) remembered how the normal convection flow radiators would easily over heat the engine! Hence how nice it was to have a water pump that would cause water to be exchanged in the engine constantly....
Love how it's basically the idea that you can't break what isn't there
OTOH the things that aren't there (e.g. oil and water pumps) make it break more often.
That’s an awesome video Definitely gave me clear understanding how simple they are and how much better that makes them
look upt how to drive one and it think you realize the T is a cheap piece of crap
It doesn't make them better at all. That was the technology and materials available for the price at that time. They broke down much more often than today's cars and had much poorer fuel economy. But they made cars accessible to the average person due to their low price. That was their big plus. Breakdowns were an accepted part of life.
Back then it was not only cutting edge capability for a mass-produced car, it WAS the very first truly mass-produced car.
@@davet.5493 you'r just salty
Tremendous video . . . . I really loved it. The only (constructive) comment that I might suggest is that, in reality, the magneto coils were stationary (not rotating as in the video) . . . . the flywheel mounted magnets rotated past the stationary coils. If I am wrong about this observation please let me know. Great job!!
honestly it's impressive at the number of changes the average car engine has gone through from the introduction of the model t to the current range of engines on the road.
I've given up the idea of listing _all_ the things wrong with this video, but in summary: No, the Model-T engine isn't a marvel. It was made simple and to underperform so that it'd be cheap. That's all. Simply driving up or down a hill for an extended period would kill it, and it'd never survive in town or freeway traffic. It's too easy to make them overheat, they mix water with gas and oil, the commutator is unreliable, the carb floods easily, the combustion chamber fouls, all the seals leak and so do the valves...there's a million reasons they're not nearly as reliable as modern engines. Or as efficient. Or as powerful. They're inferior is pretty much every possible way. I'm assuming the only reason someone would make the argument that they are is because people are still driving them, but most of those are modified and are only running because the people who own them have learned how to keep them running and are willing to put up with them.
But all those reasons are said in the video! did you watch the video?
@Josh M - "It was made simple and to underperform so that it'd be cheap. That's all." Exactly. Henry Ford was smart enough to realise that were too many factories making super-luxury cars to try and sell to too few customers who could afford them - and the HUGE gap in the market was for a car that was 1) cheap enough that you could sell it by the hundred thousand; 2) simple enough that you didn't need to be a highly trained chauffeur to drive it; and 3) basic enough that it could be (as Ford said) "repaired by the village blacksmith". Exactly the same philosophy was behind the Austin 7 in England in 1923, and the Citroen 2CV in 1948.
What's your problem!
@Josh M Freeways didn't exist back then. For the time it was a quite reliable car. What would you compare it to, a modern car? Those were nowhere close to existing back then
2022 Engine = SHIT old engine = 👍
Why are nowadays engines shit?
@@GrillerRohde full of computer controls and fault codes electronics unreliable breakdowns DPF adblue no more turbos SC less power harder to fix electronics cheap materials gaskets are easily blown many parts damage is common if your redline it even acidentally expensive repairs awful sounding... old engines were better and new won't last
yeah 2022 engine is bullshit full of shit for treehuggers
@@recycleman975 yeah right
@@recycleman975 yeah
This was a really made and informative video!
That robo voice sounds like a real Man! It had me fooled their for a minute haha
Blanke American and Ford propaganda, Germany invented the engine.
Nice one. keep them coming 🙏🙏👍👍👍
I've long thought that anyone who calls himself (or herself) a car guy ought to drive one of these at least once. The Gilmore Motor Museum, in Hickory Corners Michigan, has classes in driving T's. I took it last year, got to drive four different ones, it was a blast and I recommend it highly.
Can you tell me which software did you use to get these models and animations?
Excellent video. Great job making and (AI?) explaining more about the model T, especially the engine, than any other video I have seen in my life.
Those flatheads sounded so good too, especially under load 👍
thank you soo much very direct link n works for me love the way you expressed the installation .
on the note of the engine firing backwards, in later revisions they had a keyway so if it did go backwards the crank would slip off to prevent you from breaking your arm
“What happened to reliability”? I doubt Henry Ford believed that any of his Engines would last 200K miles (The Modern Standard of Manufacturers)
The most reliable recent car is the Toyota Landcruiser, which has one out of every 6 of them make it to 200k miles. Second place car i forget what it was but it has like 4% of them having over 200k
Damn, it looks more reliable than some 3-cylinder shitboxes we have nowadays.
So basically a four cylinder Briggs and Stratton... turning at half the top speed. Ingenious. Later! OL J R :)
Makes less power than my single cylinder 200cc B&S though
8:10 My dad had two Ts in his youth! He got stuck on the railroad tracks a few times. His two younger sisters helped him get off with the youngest taking the wheel and the other sister and he got behind to push! Once it was a spur near Jacksonville about to get the scheduled freight train to pass!
This was an interesting video. My grandad learnt to drive in a Model T when he was 11 years old. He had to stand while driving in order to reach both the pedals and the steering wheel at the same time. Eventually the engine wore out and the Ford was buried behind their neighbor's barn.
Where's that barn?
What’s the name of the music track in the background? Can you please help me with this information? Great video! Thank you for comparing the old with new! I’m pretty happy with the reliability we have today . Of course not from for but from Mercedes Benz. I’m using only their cars. Cheers!
It's so simple it's really easy to see how pretty much anyone with a few tools would be able to handle fixing it whenever it broke
Of course I stay till the end,this content is wonderful
Your content is amazing & ur efforts & hard work clearly shows in each n every video but "on video text" is very disturbing while watching. Plz in future make it as a water mark. Thanks from Bharat.
Amazing, thank you for sharing 👌👌👌👌
Very nice video. I learned alot and i loves that.
The simplicity of the Model T is also by necessity: Since there were no dealers yet and repair shops were essentially blacksmith barns, much of the repairs and maintenance were done by the owner by necessity, so it made sense to make the whole system as simple as possible. It's pretty disappointing that the MPG for internal combustion engines has only increased by about 20 something points in over 100 years. However, the engines of today are _literally_ 99.9% cleaner running than even engines from the 1960s. Now THAT *IS* impressive. Still, after more than 100 years you'd think gas engines would easily be getting 100mpg or better, *as we were repeatedly promised over the decades (remember gas turbines?)*
My uncle always said the oil industry was in cahoots with the car industry.
MPG is not really a good way to compare internal combustion engine efficiency cause it includes the vehicle and the way we drive and use them. My car weights 2000 kg, T-for 600 kg. I drive at +100 km/h most of the time, T-Ford did tops 40 km/h.
There is more efficiency in the modern engine but it comes at increased cost. Cost vs benefit controls that part of the equation. And some of the requirements for emissions have reduced it's efficiency.
You can get 2L diesels especially in Euro cars that easily get 55mpg without being hybrids and still making good power.
This is the stuff I want to watch and read. He has put it in perspective by comparing it to something modern to which I might relate.