first drive of a model a

insomniacshotrods

insomniacshotrods

Senior Member
My wife and I took the 29 tudor sedan out last night for the first time. Had the windows all rolled down,windshield pushed out,gears grinding,lots of practice stopping. Its kinda scary driving. Has some play in steering,brakes i hope can be improved upon with adjustment. 1 low beam light out but still was able to see better than on high beam. High beams seem to point lower than low beam on road is this normal? Had trouble getting it into second gear alot,but i think its just me. Hard for me to get the double clutch thing down. Been driving standards for years,really miss those synchros on the A. Loved every white knuckle minute of it. Im only going to drive it at night till i can get the shifting down better,kinda embarrassing and noisey. ****** is growly in first but maybe they all sound that way,never been in one moving. Any way it was cool to drive something 84 years old and see how far we have come and what we take for granted in our modern cars. Back to youtube to get some shifting lessons.
 
Welcome to the A world, you'll have fun. Find a school parking lot , Mall or football field parking lot and you and wife just stop and go, stop and go running thru the gears for about 1 hr may surprise you. have fun model A tony Lafayette, LA
 
glad to hear i'm not the only one,took my 28 coupe out last weekend first time for me in a stock model a,loved it,a bit nerve racking but all ended well,can't wait for the next drive.i have great respect for the car owners back in the day.
 
Wow! Very cool! I also drove a Model A for the first time about a week ago, even though I've owned 3! Up shifting is easy. It's the down shifting that got me. Once I'm satisfied with the mechanics of the car I'll take it to a parking lot as suggested and practice shifting, up and down.
Great times!!! Enjoy your cars!
 
I'm a new Model A driver also. I almost have a month (about 4 hrs driving time) under my belt. I have been told and find it helps while clutching to hesitate before shifting into the next gear and to shift slow. I wait to a point of slowing down some. My wife and I are having the times of our lives. We have received some great advice to join a local club and we did. You should consider this if you haven't already done so. It's a great source of knowledge and insight.
 
Just push the clutch, slider' out of low into neutral & just WAAAAAIT a bit, & she'll go into second as smooth as BUTTER! Double clutching does NO, I repeat, NO good on upshifts!!! It is TOTALLY necessary on downshifts! In Minerva, I could downshift from high to second at 30 to 35 MPH, without a sound. Takes a lot of practice! You HAVE to adapt yourself to the transmission design. DANGER! Master down shifting before going into steep mountains!!! Bill W.
 
Hmmm trying to figure out what i was doing wrong while trying to go to second. Is it possible to go to far over to the right ? Like say im going into fifth on my s10? By the time i was done fumbling around my rpms and speed had fallen so much i just put it back in first and tried again. Ill try the way Bill and rs suggested,didnt know double clutching didnt do any good on upshifts thanks so much for the info.
 
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Maybe high beam & dim wires have been swapped? Or the bulbs are in upside down, i did that once & the light pattern on the wall didn't seem right.
 
I double clutch on upshifts. It's easier than trying to time the exact point in time when you move from first to second and second to third. The amount of time you pause between shifts (when you don't double clutch) depends on how thick the gear oil is. I've done the shifting both ways, but find that double clutching is easier to make a smooth shift.

When you double clutch on downshifting, you'll find that you need to rev the motor more than you think. It is quite a change from third to second.
 
I agree that up shifting should be done slowly and I'll add that this is no Toyota. You do not need to rev it. Shift as per the owners manual. If you wind it out before shifting, it takes a long time for that 63 lb flywheel to slow down to a point where you can upshift. You'll soon find the sweet spots and the double clutch becomes second nature. We all went through this--for me it was 52 yrs ago.
 
I usually double clutch on upshifts also. One tip that I could give to those new to a Model A, is to ensure your transmission has the correct heavy oil. It makes the gears slow down between shifts, enabling easier matching of gear speeds.
 
First to second, about 10 mph; second to high, about 16 mph. Don't wind it up. I double-clutch up and down.
 
Gents - new to my 1930 Model A Roadster and also new to the off frame restoration that I am doing. One quick question on the gear lube, is it the same 600W lube that is used in the rear axle? Dennis
 
Stl Tkn said:
Gents - new to my 1930 Model A Roadster and also new to the off frame restoration that I am doing. One quick question on the gear lube, is it the same 600W lube that is used in the rear axle? Dennis
Click to expand...

Yes, the steering gear box, ******, and read end all use the same 600W.

I bought a 5 gallon can of Mobil 636 from my local bulk oil dealer.
 
I also know that you do not have to double clutch on upshifts, but as others have said it gives you a natural pause while shifting, otherwise you are guessing....just very easy to do. I do not shift into 3rd until at least 20 mph, and that is certainly not winding up the revs......learning to downshift is much trickier, as you need to rev the engine just the right amount, and usually more than you realize as the gear spacing between 2nd and 3rd is quite a bit. Only way to learn it is to practice it...I always downshift when coming to a corner at an intersection, so that is good practice.
 
After much practice double clutching, you can get to the point where you can tell from the engine rpm when to shift. I can go from 3rd to 2nd without double clutching and no grinding. 2nd to first requires double clutching. I live where it is hilly and one intersection is on a hill with a Stop sign at the top. As all have said, practice. On your headlights use a welding helment to look at the filaments of the bulbs to see if the center or the upper filament is on. Center filament is high beam, upper filament is low beam. Good luck and enjoy driving your Model A.
 
Just put a little kid in your car & listen to his "MOTOR SOUNDS" as he "DOWNSHIFTS"! Then drive your car & make your motor duplicate his SOUNDS!! Bill W.
 
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