Leave it,... looks good. Do you smile when you drive it?.... if the answer is yes,... yeah, leave it and drive the rubber right off the wheels.
Well I fired my A banger for the first time yesterday. It has not run since 1966, 43 years ago. Good and bad. Sounds real strong, fires right up, idles nice and smooth, no knocks, and has good compression in all cylinders. Bad, I took both my radiators down to the radiator shop and they said they are shot bummer. They quoted me 435$ to recore 1. I think I am going to shop around a little first before I go that route.-Weeks
5wbomber, I wouldn't have the nuts to, but hack that 3 in out of that top and go man go! Just what is that cab? AA? I don't remember the 28-9 having that big of a header above the windshield.
AA and regular A cabs are the same...Jordans is just missing the HUGE visor that goes over the header.
Jeez, I didn't realize the visor was THAT big. In that case, Put a visor on that thing (and chop it hehe.)
Thanks Bill, I have to wait until monday because the restorer I have been being mentored by took a tour to Santa Paula and my other connection went to Hot August Nights in Reno. So I am SOL for letting it run any real time. My original 1930 radiator holds water well enough to let the motor run for a bit. The radiator shop was nice enough to tell me they would drop the price to 400$ lol but charged me 30$ for the hot tanking. Its all good I will get it sorted out. I really appreciate the suggestions on finding a radiator. Did you ever find any B caps?-Weeks
Ok, I started my engine swap. Do you guys recommend I pull it with trans attatched, or leave the trans in the car and pull just the engine? If I leave the trans in, how hard is it to go back in and get things lined up ( input shaft ). How have you guys done your swap?
Just did my first swap on a stocker 2 weeks ago and we just pulled the engine by itself. When we put the new engine in it slipped right in very easily and we bolted it right up to the trans. Took a little effort to get the motor mount bolts started back in. Just a little up and down on the jack placed under the torque tube after the trans was bolted back onto the bellhousing. This was all done under the supervision/direction of a professional restorer lol.-Weeks
Thanks Weeks!! I really don't feel like taking all that other crap off!! Your Banger looks sweet by the way!! What body is goin' on that chassis?? What carb is that you're runnin'?
PW, I did mine without pulling the trans. I took the floor board out and the inspection plate off the trans so that I could see how my alignment with the trans shaft was as I lowered in the motor. I was sweatin it because I was by myself and doing this for the first time on my own. All worked out. Gaters -
Take 2 or 3 long 3/8" bolts, maybe 2 or 3" long and cut the heads off. Screw those into the bellhousing mounting bolt holes in the flywheel housing. These will help with the alignment. I always use a small hydraulic jack under the trans.
I have a very solid early March 18,19 of 1930 coupe body painted andalucite blue. I am running a stromberg 97 that has been worked over a little. No choke and the idle screw has been welded to the carb instead of the original carb idler screw attached to the choke arm mechanism. Works really nicely and I can idle it down real low to get that stock model A sound out of it. It also picks up real nicely when reved. Real test will be when I get it on the road, soon enough. You sure do have a lot of yellow engines . Mine is painted the new Caterpillar yellow as a joke for the fact its an industrial block and might have been used in that manner before it made it to my car. First 3 digits on the engine are LBI which stands for LONG BEACH INDUSTRIAL, thats where the replacement/diamond blocks originated from around here. I also did it in thanks to a rodder/HAMBer who helps me out.-Weeks
Should be sweet ride Weeks! I'm sure you'll keep us posted. My '66 Suburban was Caterpillar yellow when I got it, horrible mask job to boot!
Thanks for all the input guys! It went pretty smooth! On a disturbing note, the replacement has one head stud that was helicoiled and bent. I tightened it up and straightened it out, I hope I don't have any problems torquing it down. Also, the inside of the block is badly rusted, lots of scaling. I scraped and loosened what I could, and blew it out. I hope I don't have cooling issues with it. Is there an additive to neutralize the rust?? Other than that, the insides are new. I looked through the oil fill hole and saw a brand new shiney crankshaft, it's got a new cam gear, new adjustable tappets, and I'm assuming a new cam. There are crosshatch marks on the cylinder walls, so it does look like a rebuilt motor. I just don't know how long it's been sitting to develop the rust. I'm keeping my fingers crossed! Oh yeah, that's my friend Bobby Z helping out, Don't mess with him when he wears his Porky Pig hat, that's when he means bussiness!! He insists on 40's swing music whenever we work on our Model A's, he says it makes them happy! I tuned my sattelite radio to the 40's station. We did have some fun!!
One of these heads is not like the other! I won't be using either of these heads, I have a Lion Speed Head, but I noticed some differences in these heads. The comustion chambers look different, and there is a coolant port on one where it is abscent on the other ( right head ). There is also a W2 cast into the head on the right, is this the higher compression replacement? Is it a "B" head? Just curious.
Woo Hoo!!! Just looked at the top of the pistons, says .060!! So, I'm 60 over along with the other goodies!! Do I need a different head gasket?? Damn, if I do, that means I gotta wait longer. Man, can't wait to get this thing goin'! If I get all my gaskets tomorrow, I should have it running tomorrow night! Damn, damn!! I forgot to order the gaskets Tues. when I thought about it the first time! I didn't remember 'til Thurs! Friggin' gettin' old man!
the one on the right looks the same as what came on my stock 30 engine without the coolant port. im wondering what the one on the left is?
Bad news in my Banger world!! in May I started my car to move it out of the driveway and it was smoking pretty bad. Smelled like antifreeze..... I got it parked and sort of just ignored it till this week. Decided to fool with it this week, fired it up and again TONS of white smoke. So I decided to pull the head, thinking it was a blown head gasket. This motor has pretty high compression so I figured it was bound to blow sooner or later. I couldnt get the head to budge. Ended up taking the studs out of which 2 were really stuck... still couldn't get the head to budge.... Finally bought some reverse spiral stud removers from Sears and they came out!... brining the head with them.... The Cyclone head seems to have a pretty small hole for the studs so it was just stuck in there. The major unfortunate problem is.... the head gasket is ok.... but the head is cracked... in 2 places! I'm thinking maybe with the studs so tight in there and the aluminum vs cast iron expanding and contracting differently that maybe that caused the cracks? In any case... it stinks! But luckily I have a nice replacement for it....that'll still match the rest of the grungy engine bay
This was my reasoning for going cast iron with my head, different rates of expansion with aluminum. Let us know how the Winfield works out!
ran the Stutz today, farthest it has been driven in 60+ years. Hung out with a red hat. battery broke loose and cooked itself. got towed home by a '46 CJ2. very cool.
look what these crazy kids found in the warehouses of Richmond! must have been dumped there before the war!
Well, got her runnin' last night! Man, does she go!! Here's some video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkqZlMhdwgw&feature=channel_page Gotta click the link since I can't figure out how to put the video directly in the post. I'll figure it out some day!
Since the chassis I am redoing is in need of a steering box I was wondering how may of you guys are still running the stock Model A box and if your happy with it or did you swap it out for something better. I understand I can use the 40 to 48 pickup steering box but not sure how much I will need to modify to make it work. All comments welcome. Thanks Ken
The Jalopy Journal
