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Preparing for Tour

By wpadmin | May 5th, 2012

Spare Parts, Materials & Tools Points (2 sets)                                                                         Socket Set – 3/8” Drive Condensers (2)                                                                       Grease Gun Rotor (1)                                                                                   Torque Wrench Fan Belt (1)                                                                               1/2 to 3/8 Drive Adapter Water Pump (1 rebuilt)                                                       Drag Link Socket Water Pump Packing (2 rings)                                         Valve Spring Compressor Ignition Coil (Tested good)                                               Gasket Scraper (Putty Knife) Spark Plugs (1)                                                                        Pocket Knife Light Bulbs (1 of [...]

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Light Switch Silencer

By wpadmin | April 28th, 2012

Three views showing the shape of the “silencer”. The parts books show that in mid-1930 Ford introduced a small brass bushing, “A-3529 Steering gear lighting switch tube silencer”.  The bushing may have been used earlier (it was certainly needed) and overlooked in the parts lists.  It was formed from .006″ thick brass stock.  Listed as [...]

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Model A Driving Rules

By wpadmin | April 21st, 2012

1) BE SURE YOUR VEHICLE IS SAFE      Steering should have minimum to no play.      Brakes should bottom out before reaching floorboards.      Wheels should lock up under hard braking.      Gasoline leaks – NONE.      Wheels should be tight & tires should pass visual inspection for tread & excessive cracking.      Lights should all function as [...]

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Door Alignment for a Closed Car

By wpadmin | April 14th, 2012

The primary adjustment when shimming the body is at the cowl. Closed cars shift like a parallelogram as illustrated by the red line. Tilting the cowl by changing the shims below it raises or lowers the doors and changes the square of the body. OBJECTIVE Our primary objective here is the final adjustment of the [...]

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Model A Front Wheel Alignment

By wpadmin | April 7th, 2012

The following images and information are taken from the Ford Service Bulletins. Bulletins were sent to the Ford dealerships on a monthly basis.  Each contained eight to sixteen pages of service procedures, component changes, etc.  The original bulletins were 8-1/2″x 11″ pages.  The front page each month usually contained an image suggesting windows displays or [...]

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Safely Hand Cranking A Model “A”

By wpadmin | March 31st, 2012

Always grip the crank with the thumb wrapped below with the fingers. NEVER push the crank down the right side of the rotation! Starting a Model A with the hand crankwas once as common as driving one.  It seems hand cranking has become nearly a lost art over the decades.  Following a few basic rules, [...]

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Driveway Degreaser

By wpadmin | March 24th, 2012

A very effective and economical driveway degreaser is ordinary laundry spot degreaser, such as SPRAY ‘N WASH or SHOUT.  Spray it on the wet oil spot.  After waiting about 30 seconds wash it off with water.  For touch stains, brush the detergent into the spot and then hose it off.

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Model A Fan Airflow

By wpadmin | March 17th, 2012

There has been a lot of discussion about which is the best fan to keep that Model-A temperature the coolest. Is the original 2-blade metal fan, the later 4-blade metal fan, or the aftermarket 6-blade plastic fan the best? For this test a sophisticated instrument was used to measure the air speed in MPH (Miles [...]

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Is A Thermostat Needed?

By wpadmin | March 10th, 2012

That is a question that has been kicked around the garage for some time now.  The early thoughts were that a thermostat was needed to slow the water flow in the radiator.  Extensive tests have shown that changes in the rate of water flow through the radiator results in negligible change in water temperature.  A [...]

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Cleaning Dirty Spark Plugs

By wpadmin | March 3rd, 2012

When the spark plugs are dirty, they demand a really good cleaning.  You can take care of the job yourself by buying a bottle of household ammonia.  Simply soak the plugs and they will emerge cleaner than sand blasted ones.  The ammonia loosens the deposits and floats them away.

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