How far should I go?

Lona

Lona

Well-known member
I am a new owner of a '31 roadster that had been sitting in a garage for 11 years and not run during that time. The previous owner says she thinks her father rebuilt the car in the early seventies with little mileage after that. He was a model A club member and, by the looks of the car, took good care of it. The frame underneath is rust free and nicely painted throughout. The rust free body and fender bolts and clean welting between the frame and body indicate it was a body off resto in the 70's. It was repainted then and still looks pretty good except for some scratches and dings here and there.

The engine number shows the original was replaced by a '29. Before buying it, I put a Boroscope down the plug holes to examine the cylinders, which show good cross hatching and almost no vertical scoring. A dry compression test showed 60-60-60-63. The oil looked reasonably clear. After hooking up an auxillary gas tank, changing the plugs & points, cleaning the carb and resetting the timing, we fired it up and it ran fine so I bought the car.

I first changed the oil but then thought to put a wire down the dip stick hole to check the bottom of the pan and found some sediment, not gooy sludge but thick sediment. Off came the pan and dipper tray for a complete cleaning and all I found was about 1/4" max of sediment at the bottom of the pan and nothing in the dipper tray. The inside of the block and valve chamber are painted red-orange (is this normal?) and are whistle clean except for a film of sediment on the floor of the valve chamber.

My question is whether I should drop the bearing caps to examine the bearings and reset the clearances, which I would rather not do if not needed. I have the parts to rebuild the oil pump, distributor and carb while it's apart but hesitate to go any further into the engine if I don't have to.

As a newbie A owner and new to the forum, any imput from folks wiser than me would be much appreciated. Also, is there anything else I should do other than a planned removal of the generator and starter in order to paint the engine?
 
While the pan is off, now is the time to check the bearings. But, thats completely up to you. Since the engine was pretty clean and it runs OK with no bottom noise, you may be OK with putting it back together.
If you do check the bearings, I'd recommend starting with the center main as its the one that wears the most. I also prefer using plasti-gauge.
 
Why did you change the points, was there anything wrong with them? The other points had started wearing into the cam so they would go longer between points needing reset.
How is the ignition cam? It should be smooth and lubricated. Is the dist shaft tight?
Get a modern burn out proof condenser and put it in. Check the upper plate, check the condition of the wire that connects the upper and lower plates. If it is a wire less 'upgrade' find an original, replace the wire and put it in.

Read your manual on lubrication. The dist is supposed to be filled up with oil in the oiler. While you are at it do not forget to oil the generator (they may be a front oiler too).

Change the oil and run the car. Do not touch stuff unless you find a problem.

Inspect the fan, be sure any paint on the fan is thin and allows you to see any cracks starting. Notice I did not ask what kind of fan, all fans can break, all fans need regular inspection. I would remove the fan, clear the paint off, inspect and lightly repaint if it looks good.

One of the biggest mistakes you can do is try to rebuild stuff for the sake of rebuilding. An even bigger mistake in many areas is to try and put in reproduction parts. Notice on the boards almost all the modern upgrades break. On the other hand, properly restored original stuff just keeps driving, for decades with no problems.

I like to stop. I will take all the wheels off any cars that are new to me and inspect the brakes. You might surprised what you can find wrong in what you thought were working brakes. My fordor had some part installed backwards and I do not know how they managed to get it back together.

Remember that the Model A was a simple car that was assembled with precision on the factory line. The mechanics need a lot of work to get them returned to factory precision. Yes, it is almost like building a race car restoring the A chassis to factory specs (not to be confused with JS specs).
 
Two other suggestions:
Remove the valve cover. If there was residue in the pan, there may be residue in the bottom of the valve chamber.
I also double check all the lug nuts. I towed a restored Model A pickup with a tow bar once and had the drivers side rear wheel come off and pass me by.
 
I'd leave the bearings alone. They aren't an easy job, especially in the car and especially if you are unfamiliar with the Model A. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

My other advice: take Kevin's advice.
 
Thanks for your helpful replies. After writing my post, I measured the end play on the rod bearings without taking anything apart. No 1=.016, 2=.005, 3=.006 and 4=.014 with the pistons all in the down position. This is between the rod babbit and the crank. Is this an acceptable rod end play? There didn't seem to be any vertical play in the rods even after having the pan off for a week and letting the oil drain out of the bearings but I guess that would be difficult to determine if a film of oil remained on the bearing journals. There were no engine knocks or noises when we first ran the engine. Changed the points because old ones were badly pitted and owner had an extra new set. I will be rebuilding the entire distributor and oil pump including a new cam gear and shafts. The fan was inspected carefully for cracks before painting and appears ok but from other comments, I'll probably replace it just to be safe
 
700rpm said:
I'd leave the bearings alone. They aren't an easy job, especially in the car and especially if you are unfamiliar with the Model A. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

My other advice: take Kevin's advice.
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Very good advice. If you never have adjusted bearings you might make them worse than they are. It really takes experience to do it right. It would be better to try one that needs it.
 
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700rpm said:
I'd leave the bearings alone. They aren't an easy job, especially in the car and especially if you are unfamiliar with the Model A. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

My other advice: take Kevin's advice.
Click to expand...

I agree in leaving the bearings alone if there is no indication of a problem but the job of checking them is real easy and can be done with the engine in the car.
 
Great advice from everybody! I'll just add that you should get a copy of the original Ford owners manual, a copy of the Ford Model-A service Bulletins and a copy of the Model-A Judging Standards would not hurt either. There are a fair amount of helpful books out there on the Model-A.
But, I think the ones I mentioned are the best.;)

Bob-A:D
 
I'd say leave well enough alone and drive the heck out of it. Your bore scope information leads me to believe there is not that much mileage since a build. The rod side clearance should be of no concern.
 
Mike V. Florida said:
I agree in leaving the bearings alone if there is no indication of a problem but the job of checking them is real easy and can be done with the engine in the car.
Click to expand...

I was referring to the mains, and I've never found that job easy with the engine in the car! :p
 
Kevin in post #3 pointed out that the old points will have already been worn in the rubbing block. If your car starts to run rough in a few hundred miles it probably will be that you will have to re-adjust your new points to open the gap back up.
 
Thanks for all who replied with help and suggestions. Reading through the huge amount of posts on this site, it is clear there are many fine folks who are generous in helping others. I am a '31 Chrysler owner and simply amazed at the info and available parts out there for model a's that are not possible for us Chrysler owners. This '31 A roadster is for my wife. We are both in our 70's and anxious for the coming spring events and parades. Thanks again to you all.
 
Lona said:
Thanks for all who replied with help and suggestions. Reading through the huge amount of posts on this site, it is clear there are many fine folks who are generous in helping others. I am a '31 Chrysler owner and simply amazed at the info and available parts out there for model a's that are not possible for us Chrysler owners. This '31 A roadster is for my wife. We are both in our 70's and anxious for the coming spring events and parades. Thanks again to you all.
Click to expand...
My wife has a 1930 Chrysler 77 coupe. It is in xlnt cond. we don't drive it much because I have found it hard to find parts for it if something should break. what model and body style is your 1931 Chrysler?
 
Welcome to the Barn!!!!! Lot's of good advice and help on this Site .

Post some pic's of your Roadster sounds like a nice find

John Cochran
 
Hey! Welcome to the Barn, clearly you are thoughtful and experienced in your troubleshooting skills. A great tool for your toolbox would be Les Andrews Model A Ford Mechanics handbook. It does a great job of detailing disassembly and repair. I found mine for 29.00, but I see them listed all over the price map, up to a couple of hundred dollars. Google and eBay searches will help you find one reasonable.
 
The red-orange may be paint left over by Sears-Roebuck who painted their rebuilt engines in that color. This one sounds like it was rebuilt by the former owner though. My Sears-Roebuck engine had 70K (we think) miles on it as was drivable - but the crank-pins were egg shaped.

Or it may be "Glyptol" which is an electrical insulating varnish used to rebuild electric motors and transformers - but has a ready use on the inside of splash oiled machinery. It's oil resistant (like Superman actually) and provides a nice clean interior surface for splash oiled machinery. A lot of Model A gearboxes and pumpkins are painted inside with Glyptol.

Or it may simply be primer paint.

You sound like you bought well in your purchase. Many here envy you. (I can tell from the posts)

Drive safely and frequently.

Joe K
 
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