What have I been missing?

1929blindback

1929blindback

Junior Member
Although I'm new to the model A crowd, I'm not new to being an automotive enthusiast. My 1929 finally came in today and from all of the reading I got it to start and tuned it with ease. I have to tell you that these things are not fond of being flooded (not by me but the driver; he obviously has not be on the fordbarn website :D). Once I got it to run and got it leaned out to where it seemed to like I let it run for about 20 minutes and it didn't miss a beat. We found that the headlights didn't work but the tail lights did. After some light inspection I found that there were no bulbs. Who knew that there needed to be bulbs for the lights to work?:confused: The motor seems to be very sound for its condition but my father and I are still going to rebuild and put in new pistons, inserts, water pump, and everything else that appears to needing some TLC.

The oil appears to be dark and in need of a change. Do you fellas recommend the non-detergent oil for an A engine with some miles or try to get it converted to detergent? I've put on a new maze filter since the old one was looking clogged and very haggered.

All in all I'm extremely happy and have become a Model A follower at the age of 27. My son really seems to like it too. Looking forward to taking him on our maiden voyage Saturday for some ice cream.
 
Congratulations on getting your car.

These cars are a little pecular but very simple and that is what I like about them. Thru the years I have driven many enjoyable miles in Model A Fords.

The most important thing is to enjoy your Model A and have fun going with your son for Ice cream.

How about some pictures?

Chris
 
There's crazy lighting in the garage but will take some tomorrow and post up for sure tomorrow. I will definitely be enjoying this car for years to come.
 
Regarding your question about oil; I would suggest, if you don't know what type of oil has been used, to drop the oil pan, remove dip tray, clean up throughly; you could go one step furthur and remove side cover and flush it clean; when done you can install Detergent Oil, somthing like 20-50 Castrol GTX, or a good 30 weight Detergent.

Ron
 
If you are going to rebuild the engine any modern oil will work and work well. If you are going to just run the engine as is for a while I would follow the advice of Ron and again any modern oil will work fine.
 
Welcome to the Model A family. You can get the benefit of years of Model A experience here on the board. You should investigate a local chapter. There you will find many people ready and willing to answer questions and help you with your new car. As for your son loving the car, my grandsons can't wait to go for a ride, one even rode to Texas with me a couple of years ago.
 
Thanks John. I'm actually going to be meeting up with our local chapter here in OKC. It's going to be a fun experience to see the differences between years and models.

On a side note, I wanted to hand crank it for novelty purposes last night. After turning it a couple of times through the compression stroke it wouldn't start. Then I had a stroke of genius!! Turn the key on!!! haha. Once I did it fired up right away. How cool are these cars?

Thank you everyone for your warm welcoming and I will have pics up soon. Looking forward to tearing into the interior and getting it back to its glory.
 
The interior is still original. It is good enough to drive around I would say. The springs are still very good and the seats are definitely comfortable. The fabric is shot though and is need of being replaced. Time will tell if the springs need some care also but won't be able to see until I start digging into it.

I'm going to go with all new flooring front and back. The previous owner did replace the front wood where the pedals are on the driver side but I'm looking to have everything uniform and want to make sure that I don't have to do it twice once I'm finished with the interior. I will load the pics that I have to photobucket and post them up.
 
While not really recommended hand cranking is possible. It is best to keep your thumb on the same side of the crank as your fingers, just in case the engine kicks back. The Model A has a lower leg on the choke arm on the carburetor. This was to allow a wire to be run to the front of the car through the radiator so you could choke the car while attempting to hand crank it. Of course as you have found it always works best when the key is one, also make sure the spark is retarded.
 
My dad was there and told me the exact same thing that you did about the thumb. I made sure to keep them tucked in tight. Don't want to be known as 9 fingers. The car was already warm so it didn't need to be choked. I doubt that I'll ever have to crank it in a real life scenario but I just was curious to see how it worked. I've learned so much in one day of having it than I have before reading through all of these post. That says a lot since I've already learned so much.
 
On the hand cranking , my starter broke a bolt off that holds the spring that kick backs the enguagement and would only Humm ,so out comes the crank (spark retarted,thumb not around the crank)easy start, one revolution .Model A's are great fun Car.
 
John LaVoy said:
While not really recommended hand cranking is possible. It is best to keep your thumb on the same side of the crank as your fingers, just in case the engine kicks back. The Model A has a lower leg on the choke arm on the carburetor. This was to allow a wire to be run to the front of the car through the radiator so you could choke the car while attempting to hand crank it. Of course as you have found it always works best when the key is one, also make sure the spark is retarded.
Click to expand...


And out of gear!

Pluck
 
I know that theyre babbit. I was saying that when it is time to rebuild I am going to have the rotating assembly machined for inserts.

Thanks for the tips and I will definitely check into all of that stuff.
 
Also be sure to crank it on an upward motion only. That way if it backfires and kicks back, it wont break your arm. It will just pull the crank out of your hand.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top