Can you run an A wide open?

Thanks guys! Pretty much as I figured, and I sure enjoy the input. I hadn't thought about the ease of block replacement 'in the old days' as opposed to preservation now. That really makes a lot of sense regarding the disparage of treatment 'then' vs. 'now'.

I have wanted to push my speedometer a little more than 45, but I have a bit of vibration on deacceleration. I have come to understand this is somewhat normal, but still makes me a little nervous. I might push it a tad more and see what happens.

It is a little difficult coming from cars of the 60's. I've had my 69 camaro over 130 (way faster than my angel can fly). I realize I can't have nearly those expectations from model A's and just seek to find where that line lays!

I just wanted to jump in and say thanks, but please keep the input coming as long as it stays interesting.
 
I have been testing my babbitt job for 25 years, started out for the world meet in 86 with fresh babbitt, left with 40 miles on it from the night before, got on the turnpike at Harrisburg, kept it to a little over the minimum speed, thought I was slowing down too much in the mountains before Ohio, but then started passing Toyotas, hondas etc., decided I wasn't doing so bad. Stopped for the night in Ohio, when I shut it off it rocked on compression, changed the oil, the next day I found my terminal velocity--67 mph. Kept it to 55-60 the rest of the way to Wisconsin ---except through Chicago, there I soon found that it was safer to drive faster than the merging traffic.

I got my Blue ribbon, but did not enter fine point judging.

On the way back to NJ I tried to break it, I traveled most of the way at 65, averaged 23 mpg, changed 1 condenser, no other problems.

In the late 90s I lost the babbitt in a rod ---very suddenly, at 65 mph, I slipped a replacement in from the bottom, but it was something like 14 grams heavier, I lost 5 mph top speed, gained some more vibration.

Now I have slowed down some, I don't pass as many cars on the highway, keep to 55-60 on the parkway.

My car is stock except for a B cam, a diode in the cutout, and halogen headlight bulbs.
 
back in the day you could get junkyard a engine that ran good for 10 bux also....much easier to replace when it blew
 
Old 182, there's quite a difference between deliberately trashing a Model A with speed shifting, etc. and driving a sound Model A in a smooth manner at speeds which it was designed to be driven. Even Louis Gump above might be able to grasp the thought.

I for one don't care to risk my life getting rear-ended and possibly killed by the modern day driver. Nor do I care to yield to the modern day driver and spend my drive on the shoulder of the road allowing my tires to pick up all the roofing nails, wood screws, bits of glass, etc. that always seem to wind up there.

Just my opinion.

Larry B.
 
Larry Brumfield said:
Henry Ford wrote about the Model A:

"The new Ford will ride comfortably at fifty and sixty miles an hour. It has actually done sixty-five miles an hour in road tests." Henry Ford
---------------------------------

With all other things in good working order as original, all it would take is a supply of NOS original camshafts and the speeds above would easily come back to life.

Larry B.
Click to expand...


For how long ?

I'm not out to knock Ford's engineering... but... until the Pennsylvania Turnpike was opened in 1940, there were no long-distance high-speed roads... I don't think many Ford buyers had the wherewithal to test Old Henry's claim...

There may have been some exceptions out in the flat Mid-West, and Southwest.

I have no doubt that an A in good factory spec can achieve 60-65 MPH; I'm still skeptical as to how long it will do so on a continuous basis...

Were there any Ford High-speed endurance runs along the lines of those by Cannonball Baker or Ab Jenkins ?

And what was considered to be the accepted mileage-life of an automobile engine in 1930 ?

I'm for erring on the side of caution; 50 mph is probably a safe maximum cruising speed for the average Model A....
 
Ken/SC said:
I have always told people, its not how fast a Model A will go, its how fast it will stop!
Click to expand...


An extremely valid point... especially if driving in rainy weather...

I drove home from work after a heavy rain the other day and was alarmed at the loss of braking efficiency due to wet linings... :eek:

I was running late for a meeting this morning, and had my '28 maxxed-out... foot to the wood for most of my trip (25 miles)... almost saw "60" on the speedo... ;)
 
From what i've gathered from this thread it seems perfectly fine to run a properly running 'A' wide open. The fact things will wear faster is a given, this goes for any machine.

how long does the typical A engine last before a rebuild? I think the one here has just under 60K on it.
 
Special Coupe Frank,

Do you read or do you just call words?

I said, "With all other things in good working order as original ..."

Now what do you think that means???

Naturally, the condition or working order of the engine or anything else would only be known by the man who owns the car ... IF he cares to make that determination. Otherwise, he'd be an idiot to drive the car at higher speeds.

For how long you say....

About 40,000 miles on an engine, more or less, was a long way in the 1930's with rougher roads full of dust and the oil of the day. But not today .... even for a Model A. I have customers reporting as much as 60,000 miles of trouble free operation AND STILL GOING STRONG with nary a loose bearing running high compression heads!! ...

But like I said, it's just my opinion. You drive your car any way you want to.

Larry B.
 
I hear ya, Larry. Sometimes kids do dumb stuff. I had the good fortune to be able to store the car in a barn until I grew up a little and was able to do a proper (albeit amateur) restoration on the old gal. She now gets the respect she deserves (God knows, she paid her dues!).
 
I run my coupe pretty much wide open almost everywhere I go. I put It on the floor when I leave stop lights and don't let off when speeding up. I also run in the fast lane on the interstate everywhere I go. Yes I have a 26% o.d but I'm not going to say how fast my average speed is. Let's just say the engine is doing well over 45 with the od factored in and I don't put it in o.d. Until 55-60. The engine is all stock, babbit bearings and has 30000 miles on it. The engine won't last as long at high rpm but it is safer to run faster with traffic. I don't know about the rest of you but I would rather buy a new engine than have to do an @ss load of body work to fix a smashed up rear end from getting run over.
 
Last edited:
MrTube said:
given, this goes for any machine.

how long does the typical A engine last before a rebuild? I think the one here has just under 60K on it.
Click to expand...


My S/W had 72K miles on it when I got it. I took the last shims out of the one loose rod to tighten it up and drove another 6000 miles before I pulled it to rebuild it. The crank pin was no longer round so the bad rod wore more quickly. The engine was the original matching numbered, std pistons, std bearings, Ford script valves, all Ford parts engine with a Police head.
 
I don't worry about the churn coming apart wide open as much as the two blade fan coming apart and going through something. Having said that...

" I Drive As If I Had A Raw Egg Between My Foot And The Accelerator Pedal. "

Nothing kills an engine more than rpm changes. Slow and steady. Baby her. Double clutch and wait for things in the transmixer to slow down or catch up. A blip on the throttle for up sifts and smooth as silk engagements .

My self imposed limit on speed is 45 mph. Fast enough. I did go to 53 mph once just for poops and grins.

Can you run an A wide open? Sure right up to when it comes apart.


skip.
 
Last edited:
It's interesting how diverse we all are regarding this subject! We have folks in our club who run their As at 65 on the highways and have no problems (as many who've posted here). We also have a few who prefer about 35 (which can easily get you killed these days), and then there are those of us who who prefer something in between. I guess I just like the back roads over highways and if I need to get somewhere fast, I don't take the old bugger. BTW, Larry, I get out of tailgaters' way even in my modern car - I don't know about your neighborhood, but the aggresive drivers here in NY are not affraid to die proving they're better than you.
 
I really get a kick out of the drivers at red lights who creep up on the light to make it change faster. LOL. Our town has timers, but not magnetic in road pick-ups.

skip.
 
Last edited:
"I really get a kick out of the drivers at red lights who creep up on the light to make it change faster. LOL."

Depends on if your over the inductor in the road or not. If your not over the inductor the light may never change. I have a feeling most people don't realize what changes the light and just think creeping forward does? I always make sure to stop my car right over the inductor or at least with the engine over it.


I personally only creep if I had to come to a long hard stop and know I heated the rotors up something awful. Or in my old chevy pickup i'd keep it rolling some so I didn't wear the clutch as much taking off. Whether or not it matters i'm not sure but had I 190K on the clutch before putting a new one in. :)
 
My Father-in-Law was pulled over by he Highway Patrol for driving too slow, 40 MPH. (55 mph zone). The trooper told him that the patrol had received three (3) complaints about his low speed. This was on a 4 lane highway with a turning lane in the middle. This is also a heavy traffic stretch of roadway this time of the year. My father-in-law said, O.K., I'll drive faster. The Trooper then let him go........

My Father-in-law is 92 years old and the speed limit is 55 MPH.

I guess he thought he was back in that Model A he always talk about.
 
As for "driving too slow", if your machine can't keep-up with traffic, you need to find a slower road.

My '28 coupe might make 58 -60 mph by the speedometer ( which I suspect is about 5 MPH "fast" at that speed), on level road, as long as there's no head-wind.

The "average speed" on the Interstates / divided highways around here ( NE Penna) is 75-85 MPH, regardless of the 55 MPH posted limit.

It would be suicidal to take my Model A out on a congested road where my top speed is 20 - 30 MPH below the average flow of traffic, even if it is achieveing the legal, posted limit.

I don't even like to take my "modern" '41 De Soto out on the Interstate... it's too punishing to the vehicle to try and keep-up with traffic.

I have several choices of "milk-route" to get me where I'm going.

There was a tragic accident on MD I-70 in Howard County the other year, where a father and daughter were killed when their Model A pick-up was rear-ended by another motorist... when my Mother told me about it, my first words were " what the h__ was someone doing driving a Model A on I-70 ???!!!".

I used to try to drive that stretch of highway in my Grandad's '54 Chevy pick-up 3/4 ton, 4.57 rear) when I was in high-school... that was crazy 30 years ago...

Congested Interstates are no place for the Model A, in my opinion; I don't care how high your CR is, what carb, OD or what have you... modern traffic conditions push you too close to or past the safe operating limits of the machine. Limited tires, brakes, suspension... plus every other driver around you who is distracted by cel-phone, stereo, GPS, etc. Just not a good idea.

Now, if you've got miles and miles of deserted highway, that might be another story; that doesn't exist in my neck of the woods.
 
If the traffic on your inter-states are usually 20-30 MPH over posted you should charge the overseers with malfeasance and demand they bring traffic under control. Why do we pay taxes?
 
Here in NJ you'll see 55-65 in right lane, 75+ in center lane and 85+ in left lane on most major highways such as the garden state parkway and 287.

Honestly I don't mind the speeds people drive, what I do mind is they feel its necessary and safe to drive 1 car length away from the person in front of them doing these speeds. I've constantly seen 5+ car accidents because everyone was following 5 or 10 feet from the car in front of them going 75+ and the front person had to stop fast.

The even more amazing thing is people will drive past an accident like this, and then resume doing the same exact thing!!!!

I'll admit, i'm 29 and have a lot to learn in life. But I had enough near death accidents on ATV's long before I was old enough to drive a car to realize how fast things happen when your doing in excess of 65mph. Things happen literally in a blank of an eye.

I think modern cars make people feel to safe when they really are not. People need to realize just how fast 1 mile a minute truly is.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top