Projects Drdave accidentally buys a Model A. Now what?

Thanks they're all fixed. I have almost the same setup with all T leaves except the top A leaf for width. I didn't think I'll need to reverse the eyes but wasn't sure until all the weight was on it.

I did the same thing to compare.

 

Yeah, I didn't reverse the eyes on the back (I did on the front). I'm glad it landed where I wanted it with just adjusting the number of leaves.....I wasn't looking forward to reversing that rear spring with all the curves. LOL

 

Why are you using a T spring?

 

Glad you are back on it, great car. What did you do about the steering box?

 

Hey Dave! I had read that a T spring in the rear would lower an A. Turned out to be true. Here’s the T main leaf and the A main leaf together.

I haven’t delved into the steering box for now. Just trying to finish what I had already started. Lol

 

If I was going into the steering on a Model A I would talk to Randy Gross about the Ford truck unit he modifies. Check him out on Fordbarn. His number is (714) 292-8660 or (323) 728-5712.

Charlie Stephens

 

Thank you Charlie! I have saved his information and will give him a call.

 

Fiddled with the car a bit this morning before I left for the lake for a weekend of installing windows. Over the course of the last week or so, got a few minutes here and there to extend the threads on the radiator support rods, cut a smidge off the ends, and clean and paint them. Mounted them this morning and the result was I was able to move the top of the radiator back enough to get the hood gaps acceptable. The distance from the front of the firewall band and the back edge of the grille shell is the same now as it was with the A shell at the top and within an 1/8” at the bottom. I’ll call that close enough. Setting it all together, the grille shell seems at a good height so the hood is still straight/level.







I guess the next up is to sort out the dropped headlight bar and decide where to drill the conduit holes in the shell, then it’s ready for paint and assembly.

 

You really are on a roll! Looks great!

 

I’m sure those tolerances would have been good enough for Henry.

 

Looks great!

 

Well Hello Dr. Dave,
Was thinking about you this morning as I want to lower my A. I’ve been away from here couple years, but so glad to see some familiar names! So we moved to the NJ Shore 2.5 years ago. We always wanted to be on the water so here we are. I bought right before Covid. Thank goodness as now you can’t move here for under a lotta $.
Anyway, your car is looking great!I will be updating my old post soon I hope. I’m doing a T5 conversion that I will document. Got all parts from Eddie, MODELA5. Happy Holidays!


Yea, this came along and kinda stopped the Model A fund!
thats me and daughter on my Grady 208. Wife took that pic from our front porch.

Across from my home.

Got my new Stromberg 81’s. Look amazing and run great…Reds 1 into 2 header, and hi rise manifold.


Smitty’s glass packs out the side…2. Sounds great!

Glad your still here! Cheers…Phil

 

Man, the A looks great, but on the water with a boat? That’s awesome!!! Congrats!!!

Will be watching for your T5….that’s something I have contemplated. Does your set up keep the torque tube or will you be swapping it to open drive?

 

Torque tube is going. The kit is a complete bolt in. This guy even machined an adapter that slides over the T5 spline and converts it to the stock disc. Wasn’t cheap. But it supposedly works. I’ll let you know.
It’s not that I even wanna go faster. It’s just that I wanna be able to downshift.

 

I hear ya. I’m no swiftly on a standard trans by any stretch, so the tricks of the A trans in my hands just stands to irritate the people hung up behind me even more. Lol

 

Are you feeding those carbs right from the gravity feed of the stock A fuel tank or from a fuel pump? It looks like they are plumbed right to the fuel tank outlet. I guess I had in my mind changing to downdraft carbs meant a fuel pump was necessary.

 

Very good question! Electric Facet pump inside. They are a little noisy, but very precise. The one pictured is not mine. Going to get this one. There are many options with this. Regulators don’t really go to a 2psi accurately.
Here is my setup…Cigarette anyone!

 

Thanks Phil! That looks like a pretty clean set up.

 

That is a very nice Model A!

 

Thanks @Kustomkid! I sure appreciate it!

Not much to report. I've been working on it off and on as I get a bit of time here and there. Got the wood grained windshield trim and new hinge hardware on along with the dash.



I really need to work on the dropped headlight bar, but haven't had a big enough chunk of time to tackle it yet. I got this original A headlight bar a while ago that was dropped heaven knows when. It has a bit more curve in the middle than my stock bar, kinda like a '32. Sadly, whoever dropped it shrunk it's length. Maybe it fit the car they had, but it's too short for mine. So, I need to mess around with it and stretch the bends back out so it fits. Also, they got the drop too close to the bottom bolt hole so I can't get the lower bolt in. I'll start my stretching there and widen that enough on both sides so the bolts fit then see where I'm at.

 

Looks like it should pull out and land just right. Now for the fun of over thinking a jig lol

 

Looking good @drdave.

I'll bet they were excited by that headlight bar until they realized the bolt didn't fit! Makes you wonder how many 'hands' it has been through until it has reached someone who'll fix it. Keep up the good work

 

Somebody might be willing to cut the ends of a mid 1930 headlight bar to save on shipping costs so you can correct the dropped bar. Bob

 

Looking at the difference in where the cups are for the headlights, do you think that might be a '28-'29 bar that had the ends dropped and then had the middle curved? Seems like they're farther apart on the bottom bar even though the curve is more pronounced.

You should be able to file the bottom holes at an angle that allow you to insert the bolt before the bolt goes through the fender and fender bracket. That's how mine was done so you could get the bolt in. The large head on the bolt covers up the enlarged, somewhat oblong bolt hole. Most dropped bars get cut apart with a piece added in the middle, I think you can save it.

 

That's a good idea @5280A2....I'll keep that in mind. I thought maybe it was a 28/29 bar but someone would have had to go to a lot of work to have curved what would have been a straight bar. Of course, who knows...I wasn't there.

Thank you for the offer @The37Kid. I think I'll be fine without cutting it apart. My plan is to make a frame/template off the one that came off the car from some scrap I have laying here (learned that trick from the Vern Tardel book lol). That way I'll have something solid to bolt the dropped one to that will be the right dimensions I need to reach. Then, it's a "simple" matter of heating each section of the bends and easing them back out a bit. I'll need to move the center forward a smidge as well to clear the 32 grille bars. Of course, I've never heated and bent steel before, but I bend wire and have to keep it all in plane in 3 dimensions for a living, so we'll see how it goes. LOL

 

One way to confirm it’s a 28-9’or a 30-1 is to look at the face that meets the fender. One has nubs that protrude out and the other is flat.

 

If you take some of the curve out of the center, will that push the ends out to the fender?

 

I made this bar from scratch for my old 29. Speedway sells the H/L cups. What I did with the inner bolt because I didn’t have room (like you don’t) is welded in a pointed stud (I don’t have a pic) that stuck down about 3/4” to locate and hold in the lower fender hole. Then used a bolt in upper hole to secure the bar on each end. Hopefully this makes sense.

 

Which one's which? I was mostly going by the curve in the middle. LOL

I think it sure would, but not sure how to pull that off. The middle is a hollow tube so much as I understand it rather than an actual bar. Not exactly sure how to flatten it without collapsing the hollow middle?

Makes total sense, Jake, thanks for the tip!!!!