Should have caught fire but didn't

Mitch//pa

Mitch//pa

BANNED
Going over a customers A today I pulled the dash to see why the speedo was inop.. To my suprise the ammeter posts were smoked and very loose (from internally of the meter, not the wire nuts) back of the ammeter was burnt and the wire from the ammeter to the terminal box was completly fried to bare wire.. Remember the wire runs through the gas tank tunnel with the armored cable and speedo cable which all are metal.. This guy was lucky it didn't short out against something... The ammeter still worked ...lol...I'm going to change the igniton switch anyways as it does not have a positive click to either position so as soon as you move it a hair towards the off position the motor shuts off. The armored cable is that crappy thin style one so I'll replace both with the good nurex cable and fake pop out switch.. Curious to see how the lower plate wire is, another A trouble spot..

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A local model A guru helping the owner couldn't get the car started they tuned it up, and put a carb on it.. The guru told him he had bad valves...that's when the owner contacted me
15 minutes in my shop she was purring, the carb was loose to the manifold, points were set to tight, and the timing was late..
The car presents itself well but needs a ton of other mechanical repairs.
Brakes stop good ,,,but has a little play in the service cross shaft, play at all the brake rods, l/r brake Rod has a nice bend in it, front brake actuators are straight up not 15 deg fwd.. Some Brake anti rattlers are MIA
Shocks are there but only has one link attaching the rest are missing,, most likely the shocks could be bad also,..
Front motor mount was cranked all the way down..
Advance / retard Rod bent so we're not getting full throw
Dry rotted tires
And a ton of other ****....

Sadly the owner was diagnosed with ALS (in his 40's)and will not be able to drive the car much longer, so he wants to get it together for his 16 year old son for the future..from what I understand it has been passed down through the family for generations.. I'm not looking forward to giving him this HUGE list I don't think he is expecting it...

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Sounds as though the necessary repairs are already well under way....lots of little stuff on your list and 1-2 big ones (tires!).
 
Good job Mitch, God Bless the fellow with ALS and his family... ALS took my Father, thankfully he had 74 years .
 
The day I brought my 29 roadster home "Bonnie" i had detailed it and was riding in the neighbor hood when the ammeter started glowing got hot and smoke started rolling out of the dash and it started running horrible. I barely made it home got out and cut the main wire with side cutters. it was all caused from the ammeter shorting out. fast forward Just picked up a 29 Coupe and ammeter was getting really hot so I parked it and pulled dash my gauge looked like yours. Moral of story check out our your ammeter often
 
It is a nice looking car, and it's too bad so many cars get the paint before the repairs. They've got the priorities backwards, but it'll soon be right. I've seen a few ammeters with the same problem. When I restored some ammeters for a guy I soldered the studs to the bus bar for a positive connection.

MoPars of the 70's and 80's also had a burned terminal connection problem for the ammeter. At the bulk connector on the steering column I often had to cut the burned ammeter connections and install new ones to the side for the customers. I also packed the connectors with Vaseline and never had a connection problem after that.
 
Wow, look at the corrosion on the connectors and wires. I can imagine the resistance was pretty high.

One of the reasons I like to use dielectric grease and shrink tubing on connectors and install fuses.

Good catch Mitch. The owner would have had an even longer list of repairs if you hadn't caught this.

Thanks for sharing those pictures, I'm going to share them with some Club Members...
 
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That is one big mess. They are lucky that they got some that knows what they are doing. It could have been some one with one year experience 20 times.
 
Sad story but perhaps the owner will really appreciate such a detailed list if he is prepping the car for his son to take it over. Even if they have to prioritize and chunk out the work he will know the car is sound. Hopefully they enjoy it together while he can. The son will learn about what's involved in owning a nicely maintained A even if he does not do the actual work. Eventually, he will at least have something he can actually enjoy that reminds him of his dad vs. a white elephant in the garage.
 
Nice looking Model A. After he spends the money to repair the mechanicals, he'll have a nice solid dependable car.

Good thing he took this car into someone who knows Model a Fords, looks like it was on the verge of 'too late':eek::eek:
 
A much different story, but relates to the idea of the name of this thread, "Should have caught on fire, but didn't."

I was going to work in my '30 tudor on a cold day several years back. I didn't have a manifold heater, so I had stupidly plugged that hole in the firewall with an old red shop rag. Giving it absolutely no thought except that it would plug that hole and keep the heat inside the car a bit better than having it opened there. I guess an end touched on the hot manifold or perhaps the rag has some combustible residue on it, but I have no clue.

Well, about half way to work on the old gravel country road, I began to smell smoke and a very few seconds later I saw fire belching inward from where that shop rag had been stuffed. All this right under the gas tank and fuel line of the car.

I quickly stomped with my right foot as I drove all over the road in trying to stop the car and put out that fire. Man, I was lucky no one was in front of me or behind me, as I looked like a drunk driver, for sure. I was able to quickly pull the remainder of that old rag out from that opening and toss it out the window in a smoldering heap to the gravel road beneath. My heart was pounding and I thought that I was one lucky son of a gun to have not had a major event happen after doing a stupid human trick like that.

I didn't have the metal cover plate for blocking off the manifold heater on that car. That was probably the first thing I checked out before buying my current Model A pickup. :-)

Yup, should have caught on fire, but didn't. ....an' I am one grateful ol' fart for that being the case. :-)
 
I texted briefly with the customer today and sent him the ammeter / wiring picture. He said about 2 years ago the cabin filled up with smoke so they exited the car until it cleared. All seemed well after that so he didn't worry about it and kept using the car and parking it in the garage that's under his house:eek::eek:
 
The whole thing "probably" started because of loose slotted nuts, that secure the posts to the ammeter. They're OFTEN overlooked. A year or so ago, Restorer Magazine had a GREAT article on ammeter re-furbishing.
Bill W.
 
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