Speedometer Restoration

 While I am planning on doing most of the restoration myself, there are a few items that I have decided that those with the specialized skill and tools are going to do instead.  Those include pouring and line drilling the crankshaft Babbitt, the cylinder and valve machine shop work, and the speedometer restoration.

Early Model Ts came equipped with a speedometer/odometer as standard equipment.  Eventually these became optional items during Ford's never ending quest to reduce the car's purchase price.  The 1911 Model T came equipped with a Stewart Model 26 speedometer; a completely mechanical device consisting of a long, flexible cable that connects the gearbox assembly attached to the right front wheel spindle.  Its little gear engages a bigger gear on the wheel, which turns the shaft that snakes its way up to the speedometer head attached to the firewall.  The following two pictures show the installation before it was removed from the car:

Stewart 26 Speedometer Installed on the firewall

Speedometer gearbox and cable installation

The Ford service manual does not have any maintenance information include for working on the speedometer. The Model T Ford Club of America publishes a series of booklets for working on various areas of the car, including one on restoring the speedometer.  It was on my Christmas list and I read it quickly thereafter.  It was then that I realized that it was going to be like working on a fine watch, and I figured that doing it myself would result in a shiny, but useless piece of brass attached to my firewall.

Fortunately the author of the booklet, Rust Furstnow, also restores these speedometers.  I soon contacted him and before long the speedometer assembly made its way to Arizona and back.  Wow, does Russ do nice work!  There were some parts that needed replacing, and the speedometer cable was from a Model T a couple of years newer.  He said that this was not surprising, as the 1911 cables tended to break.  The cable was too long resulting in it hanging rather close to the road, so he shortened it to the correct length.  I suspect that the cable broke fairly early on, as the pictures of the car with the original owner appear to show this too long of cable installed.  

Here are some pictures of the speedometer head and gearbox after I received them back.  They, along with the restored cable, are tucked away until they will be installed when the car is put back together.

Restored speedometer head

Restored speedometer gearbox