'30 Tudor Refresh

W

Will Kimble

Senior Member
Here are a couple pics of my new tudor:

NewTudor.jpg


NewTudor2.jpg


It is a solid old car, but the wiring is a mess. I have been right much a hotrodder in the past, but I intend to keep this car pretty close to stock. Perhaps a few performance-oriented modifications like most "touring" cars have.

In the past I have found it helpful to document progress in a thread, and it also seems to be good motivation for me. I will try to show in this thread what it takes to get this car roadworthy.

Not much has been done yet, except I have replaced all of the (incorrect) fuel line from the gas tank valve all the way to the carburetor. This all went smoothly, except for the stamped sheet metal nut on the sediment bowl - it just won't draw as tight as I would like. I saw a big jamb nut in the Sacramento Vintage Ford catalog for this purpose, and I will try to find one of these at my local hardware store tomorrow. Anybody else have trouble with these?

The car runs, but not well. I drove it up the street and back just to prove that I could. I think the distributor is set too retarded, as it needs more advance while driving with it all the way advanced and I can't get it to start with it all the way retarded. Gonna get out the Les Andrews book to read about that.

But the wiring is the real challenge - starter button and headlight switch in the dash rail, solenoid on the firewall, toggle switch where the foot starter button should be, and no key or functioning ammeter in the dash. Headlights are all wired from the dash rail switch even though the spider is still on the end of the horn rod. I am going to tear it all out and start from scratch, too scary to drive it like this anymore.

That's all for now, I will try to take some more pics as I straighten things out.

Will Kimble
www.kimblemandolins.com
 
Will, looks similar to our Tudor, though the body on yours looks to be in better shape. Please share pictures as you go!
 
Will, make a rewiring job a priority. Brattons has good wiring. Wherever you buy your wiring make sure the ends are soldered. don't forget to add a fuse off of your starter switch. You might also have to replace the cork float with a neoprene float while you have the dash apart. Nice find
 
Before you drive it too much, I would recommend you pull all four drums off and re-pack all the wheel bearings. You never know how much attention it was given over the years and you might find the bearings dry.

I recall a fellow club member a number of years ago bought a Model A in reasonable shape. A number of club members helped go through various things for the new owner, but they failed to look at the wheel bearings.

Sometime later on a Southern California tour we had just descended the Grapevine when the owner's wife was on the CB frantically telling everyone their right front wheel was on fire. When they reached the bottom of the hill smoke was pouring off the right front wheel. When we got the wheel and drum off, after it cooled down enough, we found the inner wheel bearing was welded to the spindle.

I thought we had a show stopper, but there were some really experienced Model A's on the tour. They used a hack saw and a chisle to get the wheel bearing off. Coming up with a hack saw and a chisle on a tour was impressive enough, but one member also had a spare set of used wheel bearings with him. Another member walked back to a gas station and came back with a wad of wheel bearing grease. In about an hour we were all back on the road. I was mighty impressed and have since carried a set of extra front wheel bearings.

Tom Endy
 
very nice car! Like Ron said, make the wiring first thing you do! can't wait to see more pictures!
 
Thanks for the input guys. Helpful advice RonC and Tom Endy, packing the wheel bearings is definitely on my list. I changed the diff oil today and couldn't believe what came out - more like black tar than oil! All fluids will get changed and everything will get greased before I go farther than a couple houses away.

Richard, I hope you are well and I hope to see you around one of these days.

peters180a/170b - this car was in Lexington, KY and was not advertised for sale. The guy I bought it from had owned it since 1968, and it has barely been driven (or maintained) in that time. Previous owner estimated 200 miles since '68. The engine serial # matches the title, so I assume it is the original engine. According to the numbers in the Jim Schild book it is from April of 1930. It has an early dash, so that seems to make sense to me. The title also says 26K miles, I don't know if that is true but the speedo works and I think it is unlikely the car has rolled over based on the general condition of the car, lack of pedal wear, etc. 82 year old car, so who knows?

Will
 
I also wanted to add a little bit about my goals for this car. I have two small kids (Cole is 4 & Mary is 7) and we have a lot of fun driving the old cars - especially when Mom works weekends. I have a very small one-car garage, and the kid toys (bikes, scooters, wagon, etc.) are always going in & out.

Best scenario for me is a paint job & interior that are decent enough that I can live with them and that I won't get upset if the kids (or wife) scratch the paint, spill their milkshake, whatever. But I wanted a straight car with no rust to speak of, something I can make as nice as I want when the kids are a little older.

So cosmetics are secondary, but I want the car to be solid, safe and fun to drive. I got the solid part, next up is safe and later I will concentrate on fun to drive.

Will Kimble
 
Excellent set of goals, Will. May I suggest that you look over the brake shoes and linings carefully when you check the wheel bearings? And check out the brake rods and linkages as well. I found some mighty strange brake rods under our Tudor - including one that had several bends in it....and sloppy clevises and pins. All have been changed with much better braking the result.
 
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Jackleg wiring to be removed, dig the barely visible toggle switch where the foot starter should go:

DashNasty.jpg


Jackleg wiring on the firewall side:

FirewallNasty.jpg


Pile of non-Model A junk after I was done:

Junk.jpg


A clean slate:

CleanedUp.jpg


That was all I had time for today, hopefully the pieces to put it back together will start arriving soon.

Will
 
Will, what is holding the steering column to the gas tank? Looks like the lower bracket piece is missing?
 
Hey RonC, the steering column is attached correctly - just hard to see with all of the wiring and electrical tape. The generator is coming off tomorrow, then I can start slowly piecing things back together.
 
Will, you start getting your boxes of parts that you ordered and it will be like Christmas time. HAVE FUN. Nice to see you have your kids involved. That's how
we did it too. Now he is 33 and him and his wife and 3 year old have a nice 29 coupe.
 
A word of caution if you install a repro terminal box, the terminal heads are sometimes proud of the back of the box and can short in the firewall. I clearance the heads buy filing and insulate with a rigid thin bare PCB.

Nice car, I wouldn't sweat the paint for a while, the family takes a lot time.

GW
 
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