Model A banger experts?

I have to claim ingnorance with my Model A and making it run right. I bought it as a restored car and it ran GREAT when it got here. Sounded like every stock Model A I ever heard.
I drove it a few times with absolutely no trouble. Then it just sounded different. The jaunty ring of the banger turned a little rougher and more labored (now reminds me of a WWII plane in a death dive).
Immeditately after that it began overheating in as little as 2 miles in normal driving conditions, not sitting in traffic. When it gets hot it loses power and backfires.
My question is what should I check first? I hope I didn't hurt anything, but I don't know what happened from running perfect to rough and hot in less that 20 miles of light driving.

 

You might want to check out this forum, Jim.

http://www.fordbarn.com/aforum/

If the Model A crowd is as sharp as the V8 set you'll receive good answers.

 

Thanks Mike, I asked a couple questions there and NEVER recieved a usable answer. Also the threads are nearly impossible to follow. Guess I'm spoiled from the HAMB, but wasn't very impressed with those guys who seem to "know it all" but cannot share such "valuable" information. They turn sharpening a pencil into splitting an atom and I just get borred with all the "foreplay".
I was hoping for the "Cliffs Notes", not Henry Ford's entire life story. Hope that makes sense.

 

First I would replace the condenser, especially if the car runs better when you advance the spark. Get rid of a heater manifold if there's one on the motor. Check the timing and the distributor for shaft wear and lose internal parts.
Another A site is ahooga.com. Steve

 

Jim, the first thing I would check is the timing.Pull the #1 plug and go to the front of the engine, and you will see a pin bolt, it's a bolt with a long turned down pin made to it. Remove the pinbolt and turn it around and stick it in the hole.Now have someone roll the engine over until you hear the air whisping from #1 and then you will feel the pin drop into a shallow hole, now if you did all of this in rotation, you can remove the cap and check the rotor and points and see if it is in time. to adjust remove the rotor and undo the screw inside rotor shaft move the cam till the points are just starting to break. If this dosen't solve the problem, clean the plugs and adjust the carb. Make sure all the plug wires and ends are good, check the coil wire and the connections on distb and coil. Last check the condencer.I think if you do these things you will solve your problems.These little motors are quite a brute so I wouldn't worry to much.--TV PS make sure the spark lever is all the way up when setting the timing.

 

Jim, I think Ahooga.com is the best forum for As.
The points and condenser are ALWAYS the problem! I believe that Pertronix is the solution. That also means you need to use an alternator to avoid generator spikes. The points affect the timing. The ONLY way to set the timing ACCURATELY is with a timing light. That bit about the bolt in the cam gear is a very ROUGH setting. Check the Snyders catalog to get the kit so you can use a timing light.
Now that I said its always the points, running lean will be rough running and run hot. There are three places the fuel line can be stopped up. The filter in the tank shut off valve, also the firewall filter and then in the carb.
The intake and exhaust valves are another place where you can make a dramatic improvement over Henrys primitive methods. If you replace the non adjustable cam followers (lifters) with SINGLE LOCK adjustable, you can use a degree wheel to set all the valves to open at the same time, insuring an even charge of fuel, smoother running, more power and better gas mileage.
Ask if you want more info.

 

GREAT! I wanted a little reassurance that I didn't tear up my engine. I don't think it's the fuel not getting there because it never stalls or dies- just rough and hot (gets hot REALLY fast- was worried something cracked). Thanks for the tip on the points and timing- I really hope that's what my problem is. Thanks, Jim

 

Yeah. That really sounds like a condencer problem to me. I too would go with the petronix. I tried running my points for about a year, and every 200 miles or so, I would have to tweek the points. Now that I'm running elec. ignition, it's much happier driving!

 

For now I'll just plan a full tune-up with plugs, points, condensor and switch the cap to the type that uses wires instead of those brass connectors. It really ran great less than 30 miles ago and then just took a dive. I never boiled it over, just got pretty warm a couple times.

Might be unrelated but the battery started going dead at the same time. Previously it could sit for a couple weeks and fire up on the first spin, now it needs a jump the first time but charges the battery within 10 minutes of driving. Can it short through the condensor enough to run the battery down?

Thanks again, Jim