Open driveline on Model A

James Rogers said:
I have seen this many times before. Someone asks a question about a mod that many are interested in and another poster tries to direct him/her to the hot rod board like they are in the wrong place. I wonder why this is when not a soul even mentioned the hot rod board when this string came up, http://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16638 .

Kind of a one sided way of looking at things. I don't know why some are singled out to be berated and pushed toward the hot rod board and some are ignored when they are doing something that is obviously hot rod related.

Comments?
Click to expand...

I'm working on a Model A based traditional hot rod. (I'm not molesting a restorable car- look at my avatar picture.) I generally ignore this board 'cause I have been made to feel not welcome. The Early V8 group is somewhat more forgiving and many would respond to putting an open driveline in an A. (By the way, is that an A rear end you want to modify? If so, you might want to consider going to a rear with at straddle mounted pinion.)
 
It will be installed with the new Burtz engine but kept relatively stock, high compression head and downdraft carb or fuel injection. I plan on using an original rear end and will come up with a way to support it and maintain the position.
 
Yes, callcoy, John L. and 1931flamingo, and others, - thanks for the explanations. I can now see the reason that many are wanting to yank the torque tube and change over to auto. transmissions. I agree that this is a great way to allow folks with medical limitations to continue enjoying their A's. The reason wasn't mentioned in the opening message.

It's also good to see that folks are making the necessary structural cahnges to insure the safety and original stability of the critical rear-end set-up.

And, "...original Model A wishbones were a little weak" (?). I don't recall a rash of rear wishbone failures in the literature or on this site. Do they fail under "normal" driving conditions or when abused in some way? What's the "failure mode"?

I learn something every day in the Barn.

Thanks, Gents.

Earle
 
Earle: re: "weak wishbones". If splitting and mounting to frame and putting MUCH more HP to the drive train is what I was referring to. Sounds like john is just trying to "refine" "orig" A with an automatic.
Paul in CT
 
James Rogers said:
I have seen this many times before. Someone asks a question about a mod that many are interested in and another poster tries to direct him/her to the hot rod board like they are in the wrong place.
...
Comments?
Click to expand...

Giving fellow barners the benefit of the doubt, I ascribe it not to some sort of "orginal A snobbery" but to a genuine spirit of helpfulness.

Let's face it, there's a higher likelihood that your post will be seen by someone who has made this type of change on the "rod" side of things than here. That's because a lot of rodders make changes like this when switching over to a different motor, transmission and rear end--so possibly the majority of the members of those boards have something relevant to say. On this particular forum, I'd guess that this type of modification has been done by a very small percentage of members.

That's not to say that these types of questions can't/shouldn't be asked here, just that you're more likely to get useful information from the forums where more folks have first-hand knowledge.

But that's just my rose-colored-glasses view. ;)
 
denis4x4 – “Note the master cylinder location using the stock cross piece.”

I really like that idea of moving the master cylinder to the other side, even though my Model A and Model T will stay with stock brakes. That modification has to make it a lot simpler installation.
 
Earle said:
...And, "...original Model A wishbones were a little weak" (?). I don't recall a rash of rear wishbone failures in the literature or on this site. Do they fail under "normal" driving conditions or when abused in some way? What's the "failure mode"?...Earle
Click to expand...

1931 flamingo said:
Earle: re: "weak wishbones". If splitting and mounting to frame and putting MUCH more HP to the drive train is what I was referring to. Sounds like john is just trying to "refine" "orig" A with an automatic.
Paul in CT
Click to expand...

The OE wishbones are completely adequate in conjunction with the OE torque tube. If the torque tube is removed, however, the wishbones are called upon to do much more work than they were designed for, even with a stock engine.

Joe
 
John, Dick Sparks is building a slant window with open driveline and posted a number of photos on the old Fordbarn. He had a design issue with his four-bar setup which was identified by Marco and others, and later posted that he had figured out a better design. He might have a lot of info for you.

He's registered on the new FB as Dick Sparks, but has posted only some ads so far as I can tell. You should be able to PM him.

Joe
 
JoeWay: That's what I was trying to say about removing the torque tube, then the wishbones aren't up to the job at hand. Thanks for completing my thought.
Paul in CT
 
I have an open drive line on my 28 Model A Speedster. She has a hopped up A motor, F150 O/D ****** coupled to an open driveline. The drive line adaptor to the Banjo is adaptor from Speedway Motors. To accomodate the transmission in this case the center crossmember was completely removed and a new adaptation was put in 6 inches further back - actually a piece of 14 ga. C purlin welded to the upper lip of the frame rail. A piece of 2 x 2 angle iron was used to creat a lower center crossmember - making a "V" under the ******. A new radias rod jiont was built into this new crossmember to take the place of the one on the original torque tube. Angle iron 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 inch was welded to the radias rods to strengthen them.

So far she has performed beautifuly. I have run in three F.A.S.T. Hillclimbs. She runs in the middle of the flathead pack but no wins YET.

Maybe someday I will get around to taking pictures and learning how to post them. Ken
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top