Keep cleaning, get some evaporust to dip the shifter top. Blasting a complete assembly will get junk into everything. Better to disassemble, do each part and clean thoroughly before assembly. What adapter?
I walnut shelled the outside of the case before removing the top, I just wanted to knock some of the greasy crud off so it wouldn’t fall into the case. Evaporust is a good idea for the shift tower. I can’t run a later trans behind the banger without an adapter, there’s nowhere to mount the pedals or E-brake on this trans and I don’t think the bolt pattern is actually the same. This is the adapter I was looking at: https://www.clingsaftermarket.com/addtocart.asp?prod=3000
Walnut is okay, it won't tear stuff up but is so light it only polishes grease! Look through Vern Tardel's book. I don't have a copy, but I doubt he suggests a 600 dollar adapter. Focus on your plan. Get this one nice for that running flathead you have tucked away. It may not fix your current issue with the banger, but it will get you closer to the original dream drivetrain, provide a bunch more hands-on, and you have already changed it from a 20 dollar 'junk' trans into a decent gears rebuilder with a stuck (soon to be freed) shifter. You can clean it up and sell it to someone who is building another rod if it helps get your current trans problem solved.
It’s also not clear to me if I can use the Model A bearing retainer on this transmission. Further research required when I have more time. For now I need to get this transmission buttoned up and full of oil so it doesn’t rust.
Looks like a good score on that transmission! Those taillights are awesome! super unique! Keep up the good work, when you can
i like em... if you can, paint the inner edge of the guards white it will almost double the lit up surface area... as a trial use smooth plastic tape... rock on !
That's a great idea. I was thinking about having these chromed but I'm not sure how much to expect that to cost. Painting the housings silver and lining the guards white would probably look pretty good. As an aside, every time I stop at the local flea markets I keep an eye out for car parts, looking for inspiration. I found a cool license plate guard that I think is late 40s Chevrolet? Something to tinker with for the tail of the car. It doesn't match the curve of the panel-below-decklid but with some modifications I think it would look cool there between these tail lights.
Wow....for a guy that didn't know shit about the car you wanted so badly, you have come a helluva long way! I need to get by there and see ya and take a look at your progress! I've about got all my non car stuff done for awhile so I'm going to get back on my project. Might call on you to come help me get some welding and grinding done on the Frankenstein Sedan Delivery. Good job man!! Keep it up!!
Thanks! Give me a shout any time at all man, I'm happy to come lend a hand. As for coming out my way, there's nothing to see right now... the engine's still apart. My buddy has been busy and hasn't shipped my manifolds yet! I'll probably need help figuring out how to make fuel lines and all that once I get the new manifolds as I won't be able to scrape by with catalog parts on this one.
I noticed on my Google Photos this past week was the 1 year anniversary of firing up that flathead. Now look at you, you are spending all your money that your new girlfriend will let you on your Model A! Watch out! You will be buying diamond rings and baby clothes if you aren't careful! HAHAHA!
Lol, not a big risk of that. I should take a minute to get the V8 running again, it hasn't fired in several months. I got distracted with the A in the middle of replacing the water pumps. Need to clear some space to work on it... someone please come get this 1935 seat, I really don't want to throw it away. Had it listed for free for months and nobody will come get it. I will probably take the time today to try and repair the stock manifold so I can at least run the A until buddy gets around to shipping the new setup.
Ended up doing none of that, instead I decided to clean up my shit show of a garage, which has now ballooned into what will be a multi day project. I did get some evaporust which the shift tower has been soaking in since noon yesterday. As of 10 pm it was still stuck.
It's going to be stuck... until it isn't. No rush, it isn't holding the car up from driving. If you have a plastic or brass mallet, just knock it a few times to jar loose the gunk and let the liquid into the crevasses. Old school ultrasonic! The plate guard is cool, but would place your car in the late 50s to early 60s frame, to my eyes. Next time you go to the swap meet, try to drag the seat along with a sign that says TRADE 1935 Ford seat for hot rod parts. Even out in the parking lot, it should catch some eyes and maybe spark conversation.
Since my buddy is distracted with fires and evacuations I figured I might as well go ahead and reassemble the stock intake/exhaust so I can get my engine put back together. These two bolts that hold the manifolds together broke off during disassembly and are very firmly seized. How important are these? Surely they aren't doing anything that the big bolts aren't doing? I can't get them out and I have tried everything I know including prayer - can I just ignore them? I was invited to a Model A club get together tomorrow, it sounds like it will be fun. The fellow who invited me is converting a Model A generator to 12 volts in exchange for some parts I have that he needs.
There were a lot of bitchin rides up there and being a smaller event I got to talk to a lot of guys. Two very HAMB friendly cars I saw up there: This coupe has a Miller OHV conversion and was VERY nicely put together. Hands-down my favorite ride up there. Here's a really handsome Tudor with a V8. This car retained the stock A rear end and mechanical brakes. Not Model A, but still very HAMB friendly... I took some more pictures but it would make for a very long post. I had a good day, though! On the way out I heard bells so I wandered toward them and happened to cross paths with this beast.
Cool! Were you down in the stockyards? Nothing like rubbing elbows and looking at other rides to fire up your motivation.
Yep! I haven't been there since I was little. It was interesting to see how the place has changed, and how it hasn't. I was very happy to have met George Maddox, who invited me down there after one phone conversation about a gas tank. I had no idea who he was beyond that interaction until today - he is very kindly and humble. As we walked around looking at various cars, he seemed to be on a first name basis with everyone. He has been living and breathing Model As since he was a teenager and has an incredible reserve of off-hand knowledge about early Fords that he is happy to share. A personal sidenote about the stockyards: I noticed a lot of bricks from Thurber, a little town a bit west of me, paving the streets. My great-great grandfather worked in the now-demolished (along with the rest of the town) brick factory there and probably made (or contributed to the making of) many of the bricks I walked on today.
When taking out stuck Phillips screws out some fine valve grinding compound on the tip and it will make the Phillips bite harder and not round out the slots. We used it to take hot sections of jets apart. You will either get the screw out or twist the head off.be sure to shock it as previously advised. Frank
Stock manifolds are back on, head is installed and torqued, timing is set. I also improved the ignition wiring situation. Just waiting on the battery to charge up enough to make sure I have spark and I'll probably fire it tomorrow, no gas...
Couldn't wait, I ran and got some gas. It runs- timing might not be quite right, though... Don't want to piss off the neighbors- this thing is LOUD with no muffler. Will tune it tomorrow.
I love the flames at night!! Wish it was longer!! I didn't realize the Thurber connection to the stockyards. When I lived in West Texas, we would stop at Thurber while traveling to my mom's house. The diner there has a bunch of cool old pictures hanging on the wall. Old miners, old little league teams and citizens in general of the town. @J.Ukrop would definitely dig them! They also have a chicken fried steak there that is really good and really huge!
That clip was cut from a longer video but I didn’t think it was that interesting otherwise as the timing is still not quite right. Here you go! The Smokestack Cafe is really great. I ate there while passing through a while back. I see Thurber bricks in historic structures all over Texas, it was a major operation back in the day.
Had the car backed out and ready to go for a rip, suddenly saw water go everywhere. Not really sure what went wrong, guess the torque spec for the rest of the head bolts is too much for the water neck? Seems to be running good otherwise but now I can't really heat cycle the head gasket.
You need to check to be sure both mating surfaces are FLAT! Also, go easy on the torque. If you notice, those two spindly ears are trying to squeeze the entire width of that gasket, but the clamping force is all at the ears, so something's gotta give. I don't remember the details, but there's an old Model A mechanic's trick to add a thin shim under each ear to prevent that stress. Hope someone can add it here for you. Good luck! Also, get a pipe on that exhaust, even a short one to get the flame away from the carb inlet (that's why a spark arrestor on the carb is so popular).... don't want it to go BOOM!
Noted.. I’ll take it easy on the next water neck. I feel bad for breaking an old part. The exhaust won’t be like this for long, actually it probably won’t run again at all until after it’s changed to the new setup next week. My friend says he will ship it Monday so fingers crossed. I should also have a rebuilt, 12 volt generator within the next couple of weeks. I have reluctantly held off on posting pictures of the new manifold setup here because I want to post a picture of it installed on the car. I think it's gonna look sweet... I haven't seen anything quite like it just yet. But there will be some engineering challenges to overcome. edit: Further research reveals water necks are notorious for breaking for no apparent reason and the trick is just to use RTV, no gasket. Sounds good to me.
George offered me a water neck so I swung by his shop to pick it up. I figured I'd go ahead and bring him the gas tank even though the generator isn't ready, one less thing taking up space in my shed. He fixed me up with a cowl band. I guess tomorrow evening I'll try again.
And we're back. Shut it off the first time to put water in it as my garden hose doesn't reach the garage. After that it ran OK but developed a fuel supply problem right around the corner. It quit on me but I got it going again and managed to limp it back home. Since I'm about to have to tear out everything between the gas tank and the carburetors anyway I'm just gonna let it be. Going RTV only on the water neck worked fine, but now the impeller shaft is dripping hahaha I think it's quite funny that the car still sounds like a sewing machine with the muffler off - just a very pissed off sewing machine.
Since the car is movable for short distances I decided to take advantage of that and back it out in my driveway to cut the bondo out of the cowl. I figured this would be a 30 minute job, but somewhere deep in my heart I knew it would turn into something worse, and that dread kept me from doing it all this time. But tonight I had no more excuses. It was time. Even before I was serious about cars, I knew bondo was a product the devil invented to break the spirits of future bodymen in order to more easily claim their souls. I know it has legitimate uses, but I feel that most bondo users have no business being anywhere near a tub of bondo. One such man is the dickhead that bondo'd this car. There are at least three different types of body filler piled on this cowl. As with the rear quarter, he started by trying to fill a dent - this one, to be fair, is pretty deep - and worked outward, caught in a paradox of smoothing, adding more and more as he went until eventually the body lines were completely buried in the quagmire of putty that I have been attacking for over two hours this evening. Anyway, my air compressor suddenly died while I was working. I found that it tripped the breaker. I flipped it back and threw the switch again, which generated an impressive shower of sparks. I flipped the breaker and tried it again and it fired up that time, only to die again later. So I think I need to fix that before I do anything else on the car or I'm not gonna have air. Is there a chemical agent that will help me here or do I just need to keep going at it mechanically?
The Jalopy Journal
