Rich, N&J Gaskets in Brisbane were a great help for my banger gasket wise, they do all sorts and had Banger head gaskets on the shelf, they were very prompt, can chase up numbers if you have trouble finding them.
I am on to version "E" idea for my diff to go into my A, had recently picked up a 8" diff housing for my Mustang, the axle tubes are being cut off to go onto a 9" pumpkin to make it a 9" diff for the 66. Instead of scrapping the 8" pumpkin, I'm having another tube welded to each side, use F100 axles, big bearings and 11" brakes to keep it all F100 brakes. Love the mini 9" diff look of the 8" without the weight or gear drag of a 9"
Picked up the head the other day after hot tank and machining, no idea on compression now but being a .125 over engine it should be at least 5.0 to 1 (was already machined 60 under so another 40 again taken off) I really wanted a aftermarket cast iron performance head that "looks" like a performance head, there are a few new cast iron heads coming out so might change at a later date. Will eventually be getting a non HAMB friendly little supercharger so the low compression won't be a issue.
This A head is actually a diamond, a after 32 manufactured by ford as for over the counter replacement. If you can believe the casting date it was manufactured in 1948??? Anyway are supposed to be high nickel steel and stronger, still has the massive low compression chamber.
Starting to assemble my engine, it was machined months ago but was low on cash for the conrods, bearings, cam followers, and other bits (that was $750 Australian) Time to put it together.
Pistons and new insert conrods are together, that's about it currently. Have the piston rings to check to bore. Will now put it all up on my engine stand for remainder of work. Used double lock followers/lifters as snyders were out of single locks, could not be bothered reordering from elsewhere.
It's more of a touring style engine, mild performance cam, insert bearings on mains and conrods, Pistons are Egge Chev piston ring style, valves are standard intake but stainless for exhaust and still using the split valve guides, it's .125 over and that's it. Have a single 97 stromberg carb, standard cast iron exhaust manifold that goes to a Model A driveshaft as a exhaust. A boring engine but should be able to push a light RPU along ok
Have read lots about the split guides, most warn to keep away from them. I have no issue at all and was able to fully seat with using pliers to rotate. Was easy. Just need to check valve sealing.
Another parts pickup A 28 tank, roadster sub rails, 31 grill shell, a few model A springs, lower firewall sub rails. The roadster sub rail sides looked great, one was bad at the rear but that's past where they need to be cut off to suit a RPU Also now have a good early 28 5 cam bearing block, so now have two spare 5 bearing cams
Rich nice score do you have enough for that dummy engine you wanted for setting up your chassis keep at you soon corner the market
Engine all together now The distributor is from a early Ford Prefect, I recently picked up a second one and put all the good parts into one, it will do for a test fire. Just need to sort out the intake manifold and rebuild the waterpump. Then test run time Have the waterpump casing out with other parts to be media blasted.
Everything was going great, had to modify a few bolts to make them the correct length but other than that was quite easy. Then had this problem fitting the starter,,,, The Bosch starter does not clear I don't know if the USA starter is smaller but the Aussie Bosch starter is too big in the body. Will be visiting a local Mopar place to see if the mini starters fits
why the 904 ? you are a determine young man with talent . interested in how the trans works ........ thanks .. steve
Easy Steve, it's the cheapest auto kit available, not that there is much choice. Do like it actually more than the Chevy auto kit in that it shortens up the whole assy. The Slant 6 auto actually looks likes it's made for a model A engine Also hoping i can mount the wishbone yoke under it. No skill required, it's all just bolt together really
Rich that is looking great the auto looks like it fits great wish I could help with a starter but your the pioneer here with that stuff once you get it sorted everyone will want to know the details
Excuse the iPad pictures, today went for a 80 kilometre trip to pick up a mini 9 tooth starter, bolted it on in a minute and rigged up a battery to turn it over,,,,,,,,nothing happened but starter noise, no grating at least. After brainstorming talking to a few people, more google searching and talking some more finally worked out the issue. I have the wrong converter The 904 converter I have has a small balance weight on it, it's externally balanced and the slant 6 is neutral balanced and had more ring gear teeth. The guy I purchased the 904 from had a few V8 904 gearboxes as well. Well we grabbed the wrong converter. I thought Fords were bad enough with variation of parts, there are 3 different ring gear counts and two different starter gears just for the Torqueflite 904. It will be a few weeks before I can make a trip to pick up the other converter. Engine test has to wait.
The Jalopy Journal
