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  1. Ian Curtis

    Buell Explosion Whistle

    I bought an explosion/explosive whistle on eBay and had a little trouble tracking down the bits to install it on my truck, so I thought I’d make a post here for the next person to find when they google it. I bought a Buell Explosion Whistle on eBay for around $100. I found a spark plug adapter...
  2. Ian Curtis

    Center of Gravity Height

    Does anyone know/have measured the height of the CG of their Model A? Google doesn't seem to know. I found a thread from a couple years ago where some had measured the fore/aft location which agreed pretty well with rules of thumb, but not the height. I did find a Model T thread which had a...
  3. Ian Curtis

    Ahooga Horn w/ Car Off

    My horn sounds fine when the engine is running, but sounds like a dying cow if the engine is off. It's loud, but not definitely not the right sound. Is this normal? I feel like I've heard other Model A horns with the engine off make a much more normal sound. I get 7.2ish volts on the voltmeter...
  4. Ian Curtis

    Combustion Chamber Pitting

    No, the head is cracked between 2 & 3. This was covered in a healthy layer of carbon when I pulled the head so I assume this happened sometime in the distant past. Okay, thanks! Does the pitting you get from detonation look different than this corrosion pitting? Or does it rarely get that far...
  5. Ian Curtis

    Combustion Chamber Pitting

    I pulled the head looking for the source of a large cloud of steam on my '29 pickup. I found a crack in the head, so nice to have some resolution there. But that's not what I'm asking about. While the head was off I noticed lots of pitting in the combustion chamber of #4. There is some pitting...
  6. Ian Curtis

    Bad Case of the White Smoke

    Well, all I can see is the deck, where I did not see anything. What I was theorizing (besides me being blind and not seeing a crack in the deck) is is there a potential crack between the water jacket and where the exhaust manifold mounts? That would be the only thing I could think I wouldn't be...
  7. Ian Curtis

    Bad Case of the White Smoke

    My Pickup got a bad case of the magic white smoke, which I take to mean I have coolant burning somewhere. I have never had the head off, so I figured this would be a good excuse to do that. Got it off, the gasket wasn't obviously blown and I could not see any cracks in the block or the head...
  8. Ian Curtis

    Front End Rebuild Questions

    After a couple of month break, reassembled everything today (new spindle arms, new pitman arm) and took a short drive. Drove over some road surfaces that used to excite the death wobble, and no death wobble!
  9. Ian Curtis

    Front End Rebuild Questions

    Yeah, I was wondering that too. Having experienced the death wobble clearly there is a bunch of play in the front end, but it isn’t obvious to me how a couple tenths in a few pivot points results in so much motion at the wheels! I’m guessing the play at the radius rods ends up being a big player...
  10. Ian Curtis

    Front End Rebuild Questions

    @BrianH, yep looks like there is a cotter pin in that picture, I promise I removed it though before I attempted to remove the nut. @SpringerPete, good call on the wishbone. Looking at the Les Andrews book and reading on the fordbarn sounds like that is probably most of the deathwobble problem...
  11. Ian Curtis

    Front End Rebuild Questions

    After putting up with some low speed front end wobble for several years, I figured it was time to do something about it. There was no detectable side to side motion on the wheels before I pulled everything apart, and the kingpins don't have any detectable wear or grooves. I've pulled apart...
  12. Ian Curtis

    Headlight Switch Woes

    I ended up buying an original switch from Bert's in Colorado. The top half of the new switch mates up just fine with the bottom half of the existing switch, and my headlights work again! Very important when it drizzles 9 out of 12 months of the year. I have also gotten very good at assembling...
  13. Ian Curtis

    Headlight Switch Woes

    Recently, my headlights stop working, so I disassembled the switch. It appears that the rotating bit in the top half of the switch has broken, so it's just floating in the switch casing. As such, there is no pressure holding the copper top half it against the copper in the bottom half, so it...
  14. Ian Curtis

    TZ Bridge - Last car over attempt

    This is great! We've driven our Model A over mile high mountain passes, but you are waaay braver driving yours into NYC traffic. Did that once in a modern car, not for me. Best of luck! Love your blog by the way, stumbled onto it as a new Model A owner in 2014 and learned a lot.
  15. Ian Curtis

    Not showing our cars anymore?

    I just don't get paying money to park in an otherwise free spot. We put 1000+ miles on the A per year (chump change compared to some of you!), and I'm happy to let anyone who asks in a parking lot sit in the seat and press the buttons, look at the engine, etc. We're our own rolling car show...
  16. Ian Curtis

    Top of Window Sponge Rubber Installation on '29 Closed Cab Pickup

    Hey all, My wife noted that the Model A Pickup was a little drafty, so I've recently attempted to correct that. The rubber sponge that goes into the top of the window was missing from both doors, so I bought some. The description does say closed car, I presume it is also supposed to be there...
  17. Ian Curtis

    Cascade Loop Trip Log

    Highlights Take a trip from Western Washington over the Cascades to Eastern Washington. Leave Thursday night from Snohomish (about an hour outside of Seattle), drive up to the North Cascades. Camp overnight, and Friday drive to Lake Chelan State Park. Saturday, drive down to Monitor for the 2017...
  18. Ian Curtis

    Words of wisdom for first "long" trip

    Hey Scott, Go for it and have fun! I always like to think if it hasn't gone wrong in 5 miles, it probably won't go wrong in 500. From personal experience, the only things I've had go wrong on 100+ mile tours are a broken fan belt (can pick one up at NAPA), a blown fuse (always carry a...
  19. Ian Curtis

    The Can-Am Model A Reliability Run;Mt. Baker A-scent

    It was worth staying up until midnight the night before to get my oil pan back on so we could attend the "A"-scent! I'd never seen so many Model As in one place with my own eyes. I thought there were a lot when I got the meet up point before 9, and then another 25 Model As showed up...
  20. Ian Curtis

    Babbitt in the Oil

    Yeah, but if the thrust surface is all messed up, I assume that doesn't bode well for the bearing surface (but like you say you don't know for sure until you look.)
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