'31 Model A pickup---Daily Driver?

The mechanical brakes will work as good as early Ford hydraulics if set up right. For a daily I think you'd want Bendix hydraulics from an F1-F100.
For go a Snyder head is the ticket, 5.9 cr, never give any problem. A down draght is good but will also need a fuel pump, a header would be good too. Maybe a dissy upgrade and you're done. If you really want to get into it, a Bill Stipe cam is the hot ticket.

 

I had a 29 roadster, stock, was a blast to drive, but keeping up with traffic at 55 was taxing the poor little thing, and acceleration isn't as fast as the rest of traffic. Braking is fine even with the mechanical brakes, the issue isn't the going to be the truck or the brakes or you, it's going to be the other drivers, you just can't stop that thing as fast as you want to when someone zips around you and then slams on the brakes in front of you. I did this in Long island and did commute with it (not as a daily but often) on a 30 minute ride. I'd do it again! but it's a thinking mans drive if you know what I mean....

 

I drove a stock 31 sedan almost daily for a year or so a few years back. Wasn't too bad really.... Once you resign yourself to the fact you aren't going anywhere in a hurry.. it's kinda nice to just cruise along.
For a 15 mile daily drive.. no reason not to. Biggest thing is getting wipers that work reasonably well if you are in an area of rain.

 

As a long time harley rider, I know what you mean about a thinking mans drive....have to plan everything before you do it and be ready for anything the other drivers may do.

I am lucky enough to live outside the major traffic areas of town, surface streets are easy to navigate to keep me off of the freeways, though the only time I need to use the freeway to get to work is when i jump on for 1 1/2 miles to avoid construction.

 

where in washington are you heading? Puget sound area is nice. {but I'm partial}

 

I'm thinking about doing the same, in my area with people i know the stock A parts are more plentiful and cheaper than SBC stuff!!

 

im going home to spokane....well Fairchild AFB....but its only 15min from where I lived for 22 years.

 

i'll be lucky enought to have the "Antique Auto Ranch" right in town...they spe******e in Model T stuff....but have a lot of contacts for the model A stuff to.

 

I drive my 29 coupe around that is all original except for a v8 trans and it has rebuilt brakes. I can cruise in traffic no problem, it stops just fine if you know how do drive an antique car and it is a real thrill everytime. I drive it as much as I can and in three years have only got on the brakes and locked them up once. Just saying, it can be done and my motor purrs at 50-55 mph with no overdrive and 4:11 gears.

 

It's pretty easy to find parts all the way to a full running model A ch***is if you know enough "Dirty Hot Rodders"

 

Unfortunetly I don't know very many people back in WA any more. I've been gone for almost 10 years and have lost contact with all but about 4 people and my parents.

 

I had a 1930 Model A pickup that I drove as a daily driver for about 10 years. The engine was not stock. Bored .155 with NASCAR chev pistons, home built 7075 rods, 1 13\16 intake valves, 3/4 Windfield cam 7-1 head, downdraft flathead ford 6 carb.

It had very good mechancial brakes as does my Sports coupe. The brakes are good you just have to replace all the worn out parts or rebuild them. This truck would do over 75

 

wow, sounds like you had quite a built engine there.

 

I have a 1930 Model A pickup I have been driving as a daily driver for about a year and a half, use it for everything in all weather. I drove it last winter in the snow at -17, needs a heater in this part of the country. I enjoy driving it but live in a town of 11,000 and don't have a lot of traffic problems, they will only run 50-55 mph comfortably.

 

I drove a stock 30 tudor every day, in nice weather, to work and running chores for over 10 years . the only update was a 6 volt alt. I bought from snyders. If I could do it over I would have went with a T-5 trans and better brakes. it was super dependable and easy to repair.

 

Well, i guess it never hurts to update my posts......It's been about a month with my "A" pickup and I have loved it. I have had a few issues, the cast/potmental hub for my non-original 4 blade fan broke on me, the water pump started leaking at the same time. This was all caused by the PO over tightening the fan belt with the NON-adjustable alternator braket. I cut out a new braket with the plasma and all is good now. The only other issues have been keeping the brakes adjusted, a carb the needs a rebuild and a couple bad grounds that were causing weak power to my lights and horn.
Of course this is all in arizona where it is always sunny and hardly ever rains, we'll see how my story changes once i get moved up to washington in about 5-6 weeks.

 

Another month down, so its time for another update.

Its been about 2000 miles now since I gave up modern cars to daily drive this '31 pickup....in the heat of an arizona summer even. I must say that it hasn't been near as bad I i had thought it would be from comments I got before buying the truck. Yes, i live in the slow lane now, i have to been more maintenance minded, and the freeway is a thing of the past.
Up till this past monday, the only issue I have had was a leaking water pump (replaced with a new "sealed bearing" pump) and a few oil leaks here and there. Well, this past monday I went to head to the store but the old truck just didn't want to start right. Took a couple minutes worth of cranking, but it finally fired off and we headed down the road. When I came out of the store, there was a little puddle of gas from the carb, which isn;t anything new...when its hot the fuel expanding will push a little past the fuel shutoff down thru the needle/seat in the carb. Everything seemed ok but the truck was a little hard to start again but it made it home with no other issues. Well tuesday morning rolls around and I go out, flip the fuel shut off and instantly have gas coming out of everywhere....you name a piece on that carb, and there was gas leaking out of it, and fast.
So I cleaned up the mess, tore the carb off and stripped it down, turns out the top and base are so badly warped the carb has 2 gaskets to seal it up, and would need a 3th to stop a slow weap that had been there since i got the truck, you could actually fit about a 32nd of an inch between then at the worst spot. This leak had been a very minor issue, but the real problem turned out to be a seam on the float that had somehow disolved (crazy additives in new gas maybe?), the float was completly full of fuel, letting the car over fill and run out of everywhere.

Minor issue, i know....but you can't just run to napa and get a float for an 80 year old carb. So here I sit waiting on the UPS truck to pull up and drop off a package that'll get me back on down the road. The carb warping was taken care of with a big C clamp and putting the carb on my gas grill at about 300-350 degrees for 30 min and then letting it cool, it does look much better now, may be able to go back to one gasket, we'll see.

So in the mean time, here are a few more bad pictures of my driveway decoration.

 

I love it......B..E..A..U..tiful.

 

i believe its macs ford auto parts, they sell a new gear for the stock banjo, its the highest gear ive seen for them so far, its around 3.17, cant remember. but they "say" it'll get you up to 70mph with the stock transmission, but this gear is like 700 something bucks, never used it but you can look into it

 

Well thank you, if you look at some of the earlyer pictures....i did have to do a little clean-up of the paint. Its amazinf what a good detail and a couple coats of wax will do for an old sun fadded paint job.

 

The truck will do 60 fairly easily, i do have something close to 3.54 gears in there now....the stock banger on the other hand isn't to happy to turn those kind of speeds....get pretty hot at anything above 50-55....45 is nice and easy on it and 55 for a short burst is not bad at all. I don't have any parts gathered for a flathead swap yet....or maybe just a warmed up banger, so I need to be nice to the stocker while its all I have.

 

I really love it, how are the mechanicals compared to hydrolics? A guy i know just converted his prewar style roadster to mechanicals and says he likes them, not as much hydralic 'squish', more of a direct action

 

They take a lot of maintenance and adjustment, i've had to mess with mine every couple weeks....but I also drive the truck daily, around 1000 miles a month. They can be very unpredictable, I've had mine lock up the fronts on an easy stop, then roll right through a stop sign with the peddle on the floor 3min later. I blame that on the steel drums and cheap linings. Once its time to tear them down again, im going to iron drums, "green" linings and a set of flathead teds brake floaters.

An early set of FORD hydro brakes is just as bad if not adjusted properly, they are a little more user friendly once adjusted, and they really cut down on the clutter under the car with all the mechanical linkage that needed on the really early brakes. If down the road I convert, it will be to the f1/f100 bendix style self energizing brakes, for the front atleast, run the early ford hydro's on the rear.

 

Update time again:

Its been a few months since my last update and actually a few months since I've been able to get on the internet. I am now fully moved up to eastern washington state, out off of I-90 near tyler/cheney about 10min from Sprague Wa (for those of you that have been out here in WA) so I am literally in the middle of no-where and couldn't be happier.

The A is sitting in the shop up on jackstands for the winter. I pulled my '63 dodge pickup out of moth balls for a winter rig as we're supposed to get snow any day now......ha, leave me alone, it has a heater and much better wipers then the A. As for the winter plans for the A, there will be some major changes coming that I never planned to do but parts just kept falling in my lap.

I was offered a complete '39 front axle with wishbone, brakes, spindles and hubs for $25, a recently rebuilt '46 1/2 ton pickup banjo rear that a guy was pulling to swap in a 9in rear....I got the banjo for the cost of gas to go get it, and finally a 40,000 mile running 425 nailhead out of a '65 Riv GS with numbers matching 4x2 intake and carbs with an st400 trans with st300 converter already installed all for the price of around $600.

So as it sits I have all the big parts to turn this little truck into a "Real hotrod", which was never the original intention of this truck, but I hate to let all of this good fortune go to waste and I can't afford to start another project along with the "A".

This is my truck and I'll do what I want with it in the end, but lets hear some opinions from some of the other out there in the internet world, What would you do if you came into a pile of parts like this?
Pictures to come later today, i can't find my camera after we unpacked all the boxes here.

 

go with a flathead buicks belong in buicks and flatheads look so much better. you will have an easier time installing the flathead and will most likely avoid cutting up the truck as much as possible with a flathead. and you are right it is yours and you should do what you ant just my 02.

 

I don't currently have a flathead....its the original 4 banger or the nailhead.....very limited funds after the move, and I sold off all of my flathead parts collection along with all of my '39 style transmissions. The last flathead I build had over $7500 in it, and still wasn't up to the power/torque this nailhead has from the factory for a lot smaller investment.

Ok, lets hear some more opinions please, I want everything I can get. I do have a home for the nailhead if it doesn't go into the truck, I still have a '55 century 4dr hardtop (no post) sitting WAY at the bottom of my priorities list, so the engine wouldn't go to waste.

 

If I did have a very good running flathead, it would be going in the truck...that isn't even a question there. I do love the old flatheads alot, and I still have a couple neat old speed parts I didn't sell stashed away incase one comes around. Checking out the local craigslist, the lowest price "known running" flathead starts at $1000, its out of a '53 ford car and includes the original OD transmission. Sound like it could be fun, but I don't want to spend that much for an original unknown mileage engine that I've never heard run and an engine family that is prone to cracking and all the other flathead specific issues.

 

Ha, well disreguard the 425 nailhead, the guy called me as I was making the 1 1/2hr drive to his place to tell me he had a better offer and sold the engine without giving me a 2nd chance....I guess making a word of mouth deal doesn't mean anything any more.

 

even tho not traditional a local guy has a 31 pick up just like yours looks bone stock...opened the hood and was a 2.3 ford pinto motor in it with a automatic/ open drive shaft and the banjo open drive shaft conversion. juice brakes all the way around. thing is awesome!!!!! it runs and keeps up with any traffic aswell as on the freeway. i couldnt believe this truck was running 80mph till we got at the same show and saw the motor. very very good idea i thought. now i have plans on doing mine like that.

 

hi; just a note of caution... im sure of the functionality of your choice of transportation, but realize what happens if someone comes in contact with you out on the highway in your proud model a pickup.... do you have highway safety crash test reports?.. ive talked to gentlemen who have been n collision ,like girl driving a miata was on cell phone ,not watching where she was going, came out of her drive, and ran into the bck of guys tudor sedan... he was walking with a cain , and said his wife was crippled for life...they dont hold up to modern crashes. period.never did... just google model a ford car wrecks.....be careful, be safe , watch, look out for that other guy...... k