Projects Jumping in the deep end

What's your blood type?
My neighbor needs a liver.

 

I adjusted the brakes today and took the car out again. I aired up the tires this time and the shady one held air the whole way, it was a much smoother ride.

I took it on a much longer circuit around my neighborhood - probably 30 minutes on the road overall, including some pretty steep grades. A couple times it suddenly became fuel starved and died - I suspected this might happen so I brought my 1/2" wrench with me. Each time the fuel line had worked its way in too deep again and I had to loosen the fitting, back it out, and tighten it back down. I think I'm gonna pull it off the car and trim it down a little.

I had it up to about 30. It keeps jumping out of second gear - I might be riding the clutch unconsciously. It's tricky to get it back in gear when that happens, once or twice I had to stop and start over.

Without a foot rest, the throttle pedal is very touchy and it's easy to get the car into a feedback loop where it starts bucking. To escape this I just set the hand throttle and move my foot away from the pedal. I should get floors in this thing pronto.

What else... nuts keep working themselves loose from the bottom of the car even with crush washers, that's no fun. Loctite?

Ultimately if I had a working generator I would feel relatively confident taking it out of the neighborhood to go get donuts or something.

I didn't know they did that, thanks! I'll keep an eye out while I'm waiting for the right moment. Money's a little too tight to drop $500 on a whim right now, especially with the car still needing lots of other stuff.

e: It's low again now. Do they make a trickle charger for tires?

 

You need to double clutch it to get it back in gear sometimes. Non synchronized I believe... Old transmission may need a gear or something, shift fork? Maybe someone that knows will chime in...

 

Off topic: yesterday I rescued a kitten from a customer's car, so now I have another cat.



On-topic-ish: the previous owner of the coupe was in nearby Hudson Oaks, so he stopped by to check out the progress. Here's his ride.



Completely on-topic: today I shortened the fuel line to prevent it from wedging itself into the carburetor anymore. I used my antique Dremel to clean up the end and nicely beveled everything because I had that attachment and why not.

I figured I'd better actually tighten everything down. I had only kind of halfway done it before. I realized in the process of doing this that the carriage bolts for the front body blocks are not going to work due to the modifications made to the subframe, so I need to pick up some hex heads of the same size tomorrow.

The body blocks in the rear are driving me crazy. The whole subframe in this car is a bodge job. It's square and solid so I can work around it, but none of the stock parts fit quite like they're supposed to. Everything I thought was gonna be easy has been a pain in the ass and everything I thought was gonna be a pain in the ass has been easy by comparison.

The rear body blocks are the simplest (geometrically) in the entire car. I hadn't done them yet, because it required me to drill holes in the rear subframe which weren't there. Those rails are welded in on top of the stubs of the old rails, beefier and better but also not exactly stock geometry. Their only function in the race car was to keep the rear half of the car associated with the front half of the car. The body was secured to the frame elsewhere.

Anyway, I got the holes drilled now - I fucked up a little on the passenger side but it'll be OK - but I'm going to need slightly longer bolts and also a little creative spacering to make up the gap between the block and the replaced rails. That means another trip to the hardware store tomorrow.

Not to be sent inside early, I decided I'd better get around to changing the fluids in the transmission and diff. I know, I know, I should have done this earlier and failing to do so voided the warranty.



Fortunately, the syrupy 600w oil in the diff looks good - no signs of water intrusion or metal flakes, and it was quite full. I'm gonna wait til tomorrow to do the transmission. I underestimated how long it takes 600w oil to flow and the mosquitos are eating me alive while I hold the bottle.

 

Was the former owner impressed with your progress?

 

His impression was that the whole drivetrain was junk (which he didn't keep a secret when selling me the car). He's quite impressed that it runs and drives. He invited me to bring it to the car meet he was attending, which will be in Weatherford next time it happens, but I don't know if I trust it outside of my neighborhood yet, certainly not with these front tires. My main concern is that without a generator, the battery will die and strand the car, so I think once I get the body fully secured the next thing I want to focus on is the electrical.

I understand the Model A generator can be easily converted to 12 volts, but I think this generator is dead. I've been window shopping 12 volt generators from 40s/50s cars, but I haven't settled on one yet since I don't really know what I need.

I realize there are modern options, but they are ugly. If I was running hood sides, I'd probably go with one of those powergens but I'm not. The generator is an eye-catching component on the driver side of the engine so it needs to look right.

The electrical part scares me because there's not really one specific right way to do it. It pretty much just either works or it catches on fire. So that will be fun to figure out. The charging circuit kind of boggles my brain.

 

Haha! I remember how the ignition circuit on the flathead made your brain explode. I'll come give you a hand with the wiring. Let me know when you are ready. I need to come make sure you aren't getting into tuners you young whippersnapper! I know Travis wants you to put a fart can on that banger!

 

Lol... pay no mind to that 2JZ, I'm just holding it for a friend!

I'll give you a shout soon for sure man, I think I'm gonna order these tires then start collecting parts for the electrical system. I'm not exactly sure what all I need yet... research time.

 

Good news - got the body bolted down nice and tight. Installed the speedometer gear housing - thanks @Aaron D.! - and got some more miscellaneous stuff done.

Bad news - the transmission was full of water. Like the engine, everything looks clean, so I'm not going to overthink it just yet. I'll just hose it out, fill with 600w and go.

 

It's amazing how water gets into transmissions and engines. I have an old 9N Ford (it has a banger!) and when I bought it I changed all the fluids. Last year the lift quit working. I put a pan under the transmission (hydraulics are integrated into the trans sorta) and specs call for 5 gals of fluid. I had put 5 in it when I changed it the first time. I drained 5 gals of water and 5 gals of fluid. Refilled and lift worked just fine.

 

There's a little story with the cat's name. It's not super interesting, but it's kind of an amusing coincidence. I have a 20 year old black cat that was found as a tiny kitten in a customer's Nissan in a Walmart parking lot. They named her Nissie and it stuck, so it only seemed fitting, as this little black cat was found in a customer's Toyota at Walmart, to name her Yota. Otherwise I probably would have named her Henry.

That wiring diagram is real helpful. Does the PowerGen have a built in voltage regulator?

I'm getting ready to take the car out again. The body is fully fastened to the chassis, and I changed the engine oil and it looked great - no sparklies, chunks or water.

Side note: I am really starting to appreciate the need for hubcaps. It seems goofy to put my set of V8 caps on the car but the cotter pins on the axle nuts keep ripping holes in my jeans as I pass.

 

Ventured further…




Running great, but definitely jumping out of second gear. Still not sure if it's me doing something wrong or a problem with the transmission. It only seems to happen when I let off the throttle, so maybe I should just keep my foot in it.

I am confident that once I get a generator hooked up the car will not strand me - that was another half hour drive, plus pulling over to chat with a neighbor about his Cadillac, and it didn't skip a beat.

Bumps are a lot less frightening when the body is bolted down.

Currently negotiating for a late '31 grille shell with the painted inserts... I like that one better.

The hood I got with the car has been shaved in the front, probably to fit a deuce shell, so I will have to source another hood.

 

Quick search shows
http://www.santaanitaas.org/wp-cont...,and the two slider gears (A-7101 and A-7100).
and
https://www.vintagefordforum.com/forum/model-a/37068-tranny-jumping-out-of-gear

It has been a common complaint for many older manual transmissions, and usually involves digging into the guts. I'd say live with it until you have all other issues resolved, and have priced a rebuild on yours compared to a replacement. You have to remove the engine or the rear axle to get it out.
Since one mentions contaminated fluid and you said it had water, it 'might' go away with time and the correct fluid. Don't count on it.
Pro tip, improvise a funnel to fit into the fill holes on the trans and the rear. Fit a hose on the lube bottle and let gravity work by having the bottle above the funnel. Squeezing the stuff into the hole while laying on your back is frustrating and the cheap pumps the store sells will add to the frustration, if it works at all.

If you have a bunch of aluminum foil laying around, you can clump it around the cotter pin and block the sharp stuff.

R monty deserves a ride after the help. Don't break it until he's had a chance!
Mr. Ukrop, Is the output from the gen less than the 20 amp fuse (x2) in the circuit?

 

Here is what I know about early Ford gear box's with the shift handle in the lid (Tractor included). If the handle itself is exposed to constant Rain you get water in the gear box period. Reason being there is No seal on the handle below the ball cap that screws onto the cast lid.
Keep up the good work kid.

 

when i add thick oil i set up the jug to hold itself in the right posision, then i set the nozzle in the filler hole, poke a hole in what was the bottom, it lets air in the jug and the oil flows, have lunch and go check it...

 

Tried out third gear today. What a rush. I thought this car was gonna be boring as hell before I did anything to it, but I'm surprised by how exciting it is to drive.

That excitement ended suddenly when the vice grips holding the positive lead to the battery fell off and I had to pull over and jog half a block to go get them. I'm gonna take that as a sign that it's time to get serious about electrical.

 

Took it out again, ran into a guy with a 59 Chevy panel truck he uses for his lawn care service. Really bitchin truck, he was enthused with the A.

I suddenly felt a thunk and then a thunkathunkathunkathunka so I limped it back home and found that all 5 lug nuts on the left driver side had let go and the wheel was literally just riding on the studs, with the three remaining lug nuts rolling around in the wheel hub. That was a really ridiculously close call - just moments earlier I was bombing around curves. I'm pretty baffled... I had them cranked down pretty good...

Further inspection revealed a missing lug nut on the passenger side rear and a few loose lugs on the front wheels too. My hope is that the old lug nuts were just wore slap out, but the wheel studs aren't exactly pretty... I ordered a set of new lug nuts and will be replacing the lug nuts on all four corners, and closely monitoring them on future drives.

 

Inspect those studs good. Could be galded and stressed. Replace them if you can. Don't know if they are splined like modern ones though. And new lugnuts.

 

Replacing the studs is a machine shop kind of task. Need a big ass press and possibly a lathe. I'm gonna clean them up as best I can and cross my fingers. I'm hoping the wheel isn't ruined, the one that let go was one of my best (out of six).

 

A cheap HF 10 or 20 ton press can be had on FB marketplace cheap sometimes. Even at a buck fifty new, at your age, I know you'd get your money's worth before it wore out. And they take up very little real estate. But I get it.

 

I want one, and plan to get one (really useful for all kinds of stuff), but I was reading on fordbarn that a 20 ton press isn't really sufficient. If a deal comes up on one I will definitely take a crack at it myself, the studs are cheap enough.

 

Looking at this photo made a dim light come on in my memory closet. Something about second gen (juicebrake)wire wheels on model A hubs not seating correctly together. I can't remember the specifics but do a little home work as well as looking things over real well to be sure your capturing the wheel in good clamp and seat form. You may have actually had the lug nuts as tight as you could get them but not actually holding things together as designed.

 

Addition from memory; The inside flange must be seated against the O.D. of the brake drums as well as the center hole over the shoulder of the drum and firmly against the center of the drum. That kind of sounds right to me. Good luck.

 

Not sure if these are needed on the Model A hubs, but it could be:

https://www.speedwaymotors.com/Speedway-1928-35-Ford-Wire-Wheel-Center-Support,5846.html

 

Trevor, I had a late model pickup that would pop out of fifth gear when you let off of it hard. For example if you were on the highway and let off the throttle completely when coming into town, it would jump out of gear. If you put even the slightest hand pressure against the shift knob, it would stay in gear. I developed the habit to place my hand on the shifter before letting off gas pedal. Drove it 12 years like that! If I had my choice, I would still have that truck and be putting hand on the shifter.
My dad has an CJ-2 Willys jeep that pops out of third. He stretched a bungie cord across the dash board. Shift into third, grab the bungie and slip it over the shift lever. Held it in place.

 

How is your hood modified? I just purchased an A hood I was going to modify to fit my T. Maybe we can switch hoods if yours will work on mine since I'll probably modify it in some way anyway. I'm headed to Bridgeport next month, we should get together.

 

Been there done that in my old '48 CJ2. Rebuilt with a good condition main shaft and new gears and the problem went away. Cost was reasonable if I remember.

 

It did it yesterday too - once under acceleration and once while just cruising, constant throttle. Seems to happen more the longer I've been on the road but that might just be coincidence. I tried holding it in gear - whatever's kicking it out of gear pushes it out hard, and it grinds if I try to hold it.

@Jrs50 I'd love to hang out if we get a chance. The car should be on the road around then, you should come take it for a spin!

If you bought your A hood for the T, it's probably a 28/29 with a more pronounced curve. My hood is a 30/31. It was modified by shaving probably half an inch of material off the front end to fit up against a deuce shell. I'm happy to trade if you can use it and I can use yours, but I don't think it would line up with the T's cowl curvature. If not, I may end up keeping it just in case the deuce shell bug bites me, but I don't think it will. I doubt it's even worth enough to sell.