Attempting To Daily a 1930 Ford Model A

[stevieturbo]

"modern carbs" lol

Plastic just took over...easier, cheaper.

Some of the fake cold welding stuff would be an option. Not as hot as brazing, but would still be able to form a decent seal over most of the float.
Or there are probably some light epoxies you might be able to add to seal it all up.

 

[svensktoppen]

Or just put a plastic one in there? With no obvious hole there could be a million tiny micro ones.

It could just be fine now you cleaned it up At least you know what the problem is if it happens again.

 

[stevieturbo]

It's finding a plastic one that fits ? Maybe there are some "modern" replacements ?

 

[Big Pimp]

This is where 3D printers would be fantastic

 

[Apis]

If you haven't seen this already...Scroll down to bit about Brass floats

THE CARBURETOR SHOP / Troubleshooting

 

[stevieturbo]

This is where 3D printers would be fantastic

Not convinced that would be easy. Are there many 3d materials completely impervious to petrol ? How thin and impenetrable can an object be made ?

Float's need to be hollow, they need to be light...they need to have a reasonable degree of flotation to work too. Not just barely float.

 

[althebass]

You might be able to coat the float in fuel tank liner paint which would seal and protect it? POR15 do one.

I actually have a couple of tanks with kits that need doing in work so I could definitely try this although I’d be worried about the weight afterwards.

If you haven't seen this already...Scroll down to bit about Brass floats

THE CARBURETOR SHOP / Troubleshooting

That’s interesting reading, thank you.

Ali

 

[carmad.]

i still think you should single point fuel injection for reliability mate

 

[stevieturbo]

i still think you should single point fuel injection for reliability mate

It could be done fairly discretely.

 

[carmad.]

It could be done fairly discretely.

i know

i really wish i had off done that with my 1933 standard

at the end off the day it could be put back to standard if you where selling ect with no mods to the engine

 

[althebass]

i still think you should single point fuel injection for reliability mate

I think 4 more cylinders and 2 more carbs for reliability perhaps.

Or maybe this?

Ali

 

[Anto84]

I was the mad man in the yellow Westfield beeping and waving at you in donaghadee on Sunday lovely looking car!

 

[Coog]

Also spotted it in Donaghadee on Sunday. Got a couple of snaps but won't post them for the kids were still in it lol. Looked and sounded great.

 

[althebass]

Hi!

The Model A is still chugging away, putting the miles in with no major issues.
It was well serviced by the previous owner but as I don’t know when the gear oil and diff oil were last changed I decided to change them both at the weekend.

They’re due a change every 5,000 miles so she should be happy for a while.

Got her in over the pit:

Both the axle and gearbox both take 250w gear oil which is the equivalent of the old 600w specified.
It really is like treacle this stuff!

The ‘NON-EP’ is really important for this application.
Normal gear oils (ep75w/80) or whatever have ‘extreme pressure’ additives which attack yellow metals such as bronze used in bushings and brass used in shift forks causing premature wear or complete failure.

First up the axle.
It should be fairly obvious where the drain and fill bungs are in the picture and remember the golden rule of opening the fill bung first!

Got that drained and refilled with a big oil syringe.
Capacity 1.5 pints which is about 850ml.
Not much but does the job.

Next the gearbox:

Hopefully you can see the square drain bung towards the centre of the picture with the filler above coming out the side of the gearbox.
Just 1.5 pints again but enough to keep her happy.

Then the steering box.
It takes the same heavy oil and needs to be kept full:

Lovely!
And finally I got around to putting in the new plugs:

That’s it for now!

Ali

 

[althebass]

Hi!

The Model A is still chugging away, putting the miles in with no major issues.

Me and my big f*cking thumbs

Ali

 

[svensktoppen]

Ouch

Plenty other blades left in there though

 

[althebass]

Ouch

Plenty other blades left in there though

Indeed!

I was chatting to one of our customers who used to have a couple of Model As and he has a front and rear spring in his spares pile so that should be that problem sorted.

In the meantime the dynamo has stopped charging and the speedo has stopped working
So it’s a ‘plug in petrol vehicle’ for now.

Ali

 

[AMG]

North Belfast Spring works could likely make you up a spring if you're stuck for getting a replacement.

 

[althebass]

Hi!

Sorry about the lack of updates recently but with the racing season starting we’ve been flat out in work and I’ve had a couple of track days in the m3 to keep me busy.

The Model A is driving well. I was able to put a new brush in the dynamo so it’s charging again.

North Belfast Spring works could likely make you up a spring if you're stuck for getting a replacement.

Thanks for that. I managed to get a second hand spring to keep me going for the princely some of a bottle of wine!
He’ll likely not see this but thanks Les!

Changing the front spring is fairly handy, firstly the front valance thing needs to come off:

Next, jack up the front and take the wheels off to disconnect the shock links.

The shocks are an optional extra on this car!
I must put some oil in them as at the minute they’re down sweet f-a in terms of damping.

A wee bit of greased wood between the spring eye and the axle:

Undo the shackle pins and drop the axle down on the jack.

The spring is held to the chassis with 2 big ‘U’ bolts in the middle.

There she blows!

The replacement spring had a few less leaves and is quite worn but I bucked it in anyway.

No hassles putting it back together, except having to space the nuts on the ‘U’ bolts due to the less leaves.

That was her living to fight another day and it’s been driving fine on the new spring.

That was a few weeks ago now.
The other day I gave her a bit of a wash.
I start by using ACF-50 and paper to wipe the dirt off.

Then I lash a load of ACF-50 into the doors and window channels.

Down the body seams

And more anywhere I can get it really!

Then I wipe off the excess and spread the oil out over the whole car.

Including the roof.

The ACF-50 dries to a waxy sort of finish and the water beads off.

That’s a quick update of more or less where we’re up to now, except this week the speedo has decided to stop working so more on that soon!

Ali

 

[AMG]

View attachment 324446

The replacement spring had a few less leaves and is quite worn but I bucked it in anyway.

North Belfast will definitely fix the old one for you, it only need the top leaf?

 

[althebass]

North Belfast will definitely fix the old one for you, it only need the top leaf?

Thanks!
I only really need the main leaf but I haven’t decided whether to go for a reverse eye.
That would be about a 3” drop at the front so I’d probably need to take the fenders off.

Ali

 

[althebass]

Ye olde puncture!

It happened a few weeks ago when I was picking the kids up from school.
I had a wheel brace with me but not a jack of course

I got rescued and got a jack gathered up and went back to put the spare on.
You can’t really drive at all on a flat in this, the tyre is straight off the rim and if it’s a rear wheel it’ll spin in the tyre and wind up the inner tube until it jams and gives you some drive.
Ask me how I know!

Anyway, as it’s a tubed tyre I can just stick a new tube in.
Pretty much the same procedure as a bicycle but with bigger levers.
I took the tyre right off to make sure there wasn’t anything else inside it but you could put a tube in with one side of the tyre off the rim.

An old modern tyre makes a good stand.

While the spare wheel was off the back of the car I gave it a clean and some ACF-50.

Then it’s a case of levering the tyre off
I did it from the back of the wheel so I wasn’t so worried about scraping the paint.

Then it’s easiest to use 3 levers, 1 that never moves then 2 leapfrogging each other around the wheel.

Once it’s half off you can pull the tube out and lever it the whole way off.

At least it was an old looking nail for an old car!

Michelin don’t make a tube in the size I needed so it’s a Custom Classic.

Refitting is pretty much the reverse.
Put one side of the tyre on, tuck the slightly inflated tube in then finish putting the tyre on carefully!

I did get a wee fright when I pumped it up and it immediately started hissing out the puncture hole but I guess it was just air escaping from around the tube as it’s all good now!

I mentioned the speedo the last time, I need a few part to fix that so I’ll keep you posted about that.

 

[Michael M]

Do you get many people come over to you to talk about the car?
I keep seeing this on the way to work, love it

 

[Dave..]

Al who owns North Coast auctions bought this.

 

[althebass]

Do you get many people come over to you to talk about the car?
I keep seeing this on the way to work, love it

I do but I don’t mind spending 5/10 minutes chatting with people and showing them the car.
What are you driving and I’ll keep an eye out?

Al who owns North Coast auctions bought this.
View attachment 325374

Fantastic!
That’s an earlier Model A from 27/28.
The cowl is the biggest difference, on the one above there’s the long detail line that sweeps down the cowl from the screen.
On the later ones like mine that isn’t there but there’s a horizontal line going across to meet the bonnet. It’s black on mine.