New Member---'28 Model A Mods----help!

Hello all,

Thanks for all the info on the Model A. Things have been going well. Im just waiting for some new tires to arrive.

A local ad came up in my area for wheels. I figure ill ask the experts if they are still willing to help. Will these work for an early 1928? Apart from the color they look decent


Cheers!



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Carefully compare the wheels that are for sale with the ones on your car. If I remember correctly, the ones on the car are correct for the drums. Early in 1928 there was a change in the drums and wheels and the later wheels will not work on the early drums. The original wheels can be sand blasted, any bent spokes straightened and then they can be powder coated.

Glad to hear things are going well. What wiring changes have you made?
 
You have a very early 28 car there ,with the single rear brake system .that requires the early type AR wheel

Katy has it right there is very little stud protruding thru the wheel in your picture that is because it is the early brake drum and that is a later wheel which is not correct for that drum
Often the 28-29's have a mixture of 21" wheels fitted which is dangerous,
The best way to verify what wheels and brake drums you have is to post pictures of the 4 brake drums and the hub area of the 5 wheels
Don't waste your money buying more wheels till you can distinguish between the 2 types of 21" Model A wheels

This is all explained in the Model A Ford Service bulletins book, available from the vendors. Lot's of info in there and worth buying
 
Mr. Karr is the expert on matters relating to early '28's. Believe what he said in Post # 22 above. The wheel you have pictured in Post # 35 is a late 1928 through 1929 wheel, and will NOT fit your early '28 hubs properly. I cannot tell from the picture of the wheels that are "for sale" whether they are early or later wheels.

The center hub of the early '28 wheels have a hub flange that measures 1 3/16 inches. The center hub of the later '28 through '29 wheels have a hub flange that measure
1 3/8 inches. (See RG & JS page 22-1.) Once you see the two styles side by side, you will be able to recognize the difference. I'm sorry that I cannot post photos. Can someone please take pictures of an early wheel and a later wheel, with a close up of the front side of the center hub flange, and post them here?

In another matter, you have the correct oil dipstick for the early '28, which is different from all the later A's. You need to insert BOTH ends of the loop into the dipstick hole. Your engine photo shows one side of the loop not inserted. Both ends in the hole will reduce the amount of oil thrown out, and will stop the dipstick at the proper depth to give an accurate oil level reading.

W. Michael
 
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Thanks for all the awesome help with this car.

Is there anywhere that reproduces the AR style wheels? Or is the second hand market the only way to find them?

I have some other 21" wheels up in a barn that are in rough shape. Im pretty sure they came on the car when it arrived.

Ill bring them down to compare with the ones i currently have on the car.


As for electrical side, i've just been tracing wiring to get an idea what was all done and repairing where needed.

Cheers!







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I found the old wheels and put them on the car.
I can clearly see the difference now between the two different types of 21" model A wheels.

It looks like i have 1 decent AR wheel so ill be on the look out for a few more.
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Stevie649 said:
I found the old wheels and put them on the car.
I can clearly see the difference now between the two different types of 21" model A wheels.

It looks like i have 1 decent AR wheel so ill be on the look out for a few more.
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Click to expand...

Look at the shape of the center hub where the long spokes attach and see the difference in profiles. That's the quickest way to ID an early 28 wheel from a later one. The early wheel looks similar to a "T" wheel in that area. I have pictures showing the differences on my home computer and will try to remember to post them when I get home this evening.
 
Here's a set of photos that will hopefully make ID'ing a 21" wheel easier. The orange wheel is Model T, the bare metal wheel is an early 28 and the red oxide primer wheel is late 28 and 29. The quickest way to ID an early 28 wheel is to look at the shape of the area on the center hub where the long spokes attach.

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Thanks for that @dlshady

Next up for me is figuring out how a 1930ish steering wheel is mounted to a 7 tooth steering box
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Someone may correct me but I'm pretty sure that 7 tooth boxes were used on into early 1930 production but they weren't very common at all, so I'd venture to guess that's what you've got. Either that, or some resourceful farmer has grafted the lower half of a 7 tooth shaft to the upper half of a 2 tooth shaft.

Take a photo of the quadrant areas around the spark and throttle levers and post it up. I suspect they look like standard the 30/31 style.
 
I have a 9/11/'28 Fordor. Some early alternators had an external regulator, so it may be correct. Have changed things so my A is 12V negative ground with a Powerhouse generator. If you send me questions, will try to answer them. I did most of the restoration myself except for engine rebuild, painting and machine work on items I did not have the tools. My email is jrelliott42@gmail.com
 
In regards to the steering wheel, that's obviously a splined steering shaft so it's anyone's guess as to how they managed to get a steering wheel with a tapered hole to fit onto that, unless someone did some creative file work or just outright forced it on. It would be interesting to pull the wheel and see exactly how they accomplished that feat.
 
Found some misc. parts today for the Model A. Can anyone identify what this little box is? Unsure if it was even for the Model A...Thanks!
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I would suspect that it's an on-off switch with a rheostat to control the speed of a heater fan motor. Aftermarket.
 
Thanks Katy,
I figured it would be something like that. I am probably going to make it into a guitar pedal. Its a perfect size for that

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