Thread: Gotta Model A in the shop

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This car belongs to a local businessman. He's great at what he does, but mechanics are not his thing (by his own admission). He bought the car a few years ago and it had a few problems. I offered to work them out for him and we have been slowly ironing out the issues.

I hadn't heard from him for a while and figured everything was OK with the car. We ran into each other in a store the other day and he told me the car wasn't running. He had tried to start it and ran the battery down, so he put it on charge. The battery wouldn't charge and he replaced it. Trouble is, he forgot that model A's have a positive ground and reversed the polarity. I thought maybe he had blown the Pertronix ignition and possibly the special 6 volt alternator as well. We talked it over and I told him to drop it off so I could check it out. We decided that if all that stuff needed replacing, we might as well just convert it to a 12 volt negative ground. The 12 volt stuff is just easier to find locally.

Well, turns out that we had much deeper problems than a few electrical issues. The first thing I found was that the distributor wasn't even turning. The shaft had seized in the distributor body and the lower distributor shaft had twisted off down in the engine. I also found the cam drive gear had lost most of several teeth. The gears are fiber and are known to have chipping issues.





When I pulled the timing cover, I found that the cam thrust plunger had seized in the cover, welded itself to the cover and then broke off the head of the plunger. The oil hole for the plunger was plugged, which no doubt caused this carnage. Judging by the wear in the timing cover where the cam had been riding, it looks like this has been broken for quite awhile. Luckily the cam doesn't seem to have been hurt too bad.



I've had the large drain cover on the oil pan off before and didn't find any chunks of metal, so I'm thinking the pan may have been removed and cleaned sometime in the past. There's no way a piece of metal as big as the plunger head could have gone through the oil pump.

Oh well, parts are on order and, hopefully, I should have it running sometime next week.

Good looking car. Glad the damage wasn't any worse. I'm sure you'll have it ticking along in no time!

It's a decent driver quality car. It has fiberglass fenders and appears to have been assembled from mixed parts. I'm not sure how much of it is original to the body. It sure would be a great start on a mild hot rod. I've brought the subject up, but he wants to keep it stock and I get that.

I hope I don't find anything else wrong. If something deeper has been damaged, the engine will probably have to come out.

That does look like a nice Model A from here! Stinks to hear of the issues but I guess it's bound to happen someday huh?

Well, I finally got all the parts I needed and have been working on the Model A for about a day and a half.

Working on antiques can be a real pain. Just about every repair or adjustment requires a special tool or procedure to do. Then you have to order everything and wait for it to be delivered, but when it gets here you have to custom fit or rework most of it. Reminds me of reworking "bolt on" kits when you're building a street rod!

The oil pump drive housing was too long and had to be shortened in the lathe so that it could be assembled.

I had to make some alignment pins to keep the oil pan holes lined up with the bolt holes in the timing cover since the camshaft plunger was trying to push the cover forward. It might have gone easier if I had pulled the radiator, but I try not to take any thing apart that I don't absolutely have to , since it seems that every time I take something apart, I find something else that needs to be done! If it's working OK, I try to leave it alone.

I also had to make a couple of short gaskets for the front of the oil pan. I didn't want to buy a whole pan gasket set just to cut about 2" off the front.

Then the new distributor wouldn't drop into the block. Seems the collar on the bottom was too big. I had to disassemble the distributor and turn the collar down to fit.

Oh, the new pulley that I bought for the 12 volt alternator wouldn't line up with the other pulleys using the brackets that came off the 6 volt alternator. The pulley had to go in the lathe for a little work. Of course the special nut that holds it on had to worked on too, after modifying the pulley.

The engine assembly is done. Most of what I have left is wiring and changing 6 volt bulbs over to 12 volt parts. I do have to make a new battery hold down for the 12 volt battery. Sorry guys, I didn't think to take a single picture.

After about 12 hrs on it today, I decided to call it a day and get fresh start in the morning.

I should have it running tomorrow if I don't run into any more issues.

That's the same thing that happens to me! I get so involved in the actual work that I just never think to snap a pic or two between.

And you did us plenty o'pics at the start, so it isn't all bad! ROFL.. 8-)

That is exactly why so few cars stay on the road. The maintenance cost becomes extensive.
Imagine a shop without your experience and resources trying to do the same job. Most shops would refuse the job, not even try.

Firebird, there used to be lots of older guys that were very knowledgeable about these old cars, but they are slowly dying off.

There was an old Model A guy that lived across the the street from me when I built my new house. I tried hard to be friends with him, but he literally hated me when he found out that I was a hot rodder. He made no bones about it, either.

A lot of these fellows were like that and as a consequence, the knowledge they had is dying with them. The cars they cherished so much are disappearing too, simply because almost no one knows how to fix them. Many will eventually wind up as the hot rods they so despised or in the crusher.

Well, I got her running, but I tried real hard to shoot myself in the foot!

After getting the new 12 volt battery, coil and resistor installed I tried to fire it up, but no go. Wouldn't hit at all. Not even try. I had loads of blue white fire and verified that it was getting to the plug.

I reset the timing and it all looked good. Setting timing on a Model A is a long drawn out process that requires a special wrench to turn the cam that opens the points. I scratched my head for a while until it finally dawned on me that I had bought a "new and improved" timing wrench that was supposed to make setting the timing easier. It does actually, but it also will just as easily set the timing 180* out if you use it wrong. Guess what I did?

After setting the timing where it actually needed to be, the engine quite literally fired up without making a complete revolution. I was very impressed with the difference the 12 volt conversion made. With the 6 volt system, everything had to be just right or it was a pain to start. I wouldn't be afraid to try a hand start now. Before, you could have worn yourself out on the crank. Now it starts almost immediately.

Here's a video link of the engine running:

https://youtu.be/8Ff_4Vw6Lx8

I pulled the carb and checked it since the float was sticking when it was dropped off. The Model A carbs are surprisingly complex considering when they were made. They have several jets, air bleeds and emulsification tubes. I made sure they were all clean and the float was working.

I also made a new floor board. The owner misplaced the old one when he was messing with the battery. The battery is under the driver side floor.



I found out on the test drive that the leather gasket on the radiator cap was gone and the car was puking water out the top of the radiator. Luckily, I think I have an extra. I've had to replace it once already and usually buy spares for cheap consumable stuff. It takes too long to wait on little junk like that.

I've also got to track down a couple of non halogen 12 volt sealed beams. This car had a sealed beam conversion done some time ago, but finding regular sealed beams has been a strike out so far. I'm worried that the original headlight switch will be overloaded with the higher current draw of halogens.

I really like seeing the old originals that are restored and not hot rodded or modernized. I don't have a lot of interest in owning one though. I'm getting a short fuse about how much time it takes to keep older cars running, and mine aren't even that old.

Wow, that thing runs like a sewing machine, nice work !

Originally Posted by 53 Chevy5

I don't have a lot of interest in owning one though.

I don't either. If this car was mine, it would get a modern upgrade. You are correct that proper maintenance takes a lot of time. Antiques are great for someone with a lot of free time and I can't fault anyone that wants one, but you're still stuck with a time and money eating car that feels strained at 50 MPH. That's just not what I personally want. I wrench this one just to help the guy out.

Thanks for the compliment on the tune. It could stand to have the valves ground, but the owner doesn't want to right now.