I'm askin' Santa for a good December Banger Meet

The T after market water pumps bolt on an A. Old racing secret- don't tell anyone!

 

Time for me to come clean and announce that the Manx has found a new home. Not sure what is next for me, but it will have room to haul my wife and two kids. I am currently reloading the till and trying to shake pneumonia and a ruptured disc. Hopefully I will be banging again in the new year.

Will Kimble

 

New start of the supercharged banger in my 1928 Ford coupster.
Its sound nice and runs well, im going to give it some more gas and cranc upp the blower later for some more boos to it =)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQ4nZsddCmY

 

I have a question for anyone with expirience cutting on a Super Winfield Head... A buddy wanted to get some more oomph out of his standard S/W head and another "friend" suggested that he would be safe taking .100 off since nothing had been taken off of it prior. He did. Long story short, it don't fit no more. My question is, do you think it's safe and is there enough meat in one of these to relieve them enough to make it useable? (Sorry, no specs on the block, the pop-up or the lift, only that the head was virgin b4 the trim.) Or does my friend now have a very expensive, albeit cool, door stop? Any thoughts or opinions would be greatly appreciated, thanks. Luke

 

When you say "it don't fit no more" what doesn't fit?
Do you mean the pistons hit the head?
Do the valves hit too?
What would have to be relieved to make it work?

.

 

yeah, because all the winfield heads i have seen dont have piston relief cuts on them. thicker gasket might help too.

 

Does anyone have a link on how to properly adjust my Model A brakes? While taking apart my brakes for cleaning on my new project, i was a little unsure on how to adjust them. I searched the HAMB and couldnt find what i needed. Any help is appreciated. Thanks guys.

 

Some original cast iron Winfield heads had a piston relief cast in them. I have a cast iron "Crows Foot" that apparently has been milled .200. This was determined by comparing the thickness of the stud bosses of the Winfield to a "stock" head . The Winfield heads were designed to be used with stock height studs. I mention this to qualify my measurements. Any way I ran this head with no piston relief on an engine with pistons .025 over deck height. It does have clearance for large valves. My repop Al.Winfield has been milled .080 and has had no change to valve area and it fits. Did your friend have a head gasket on the block when he tried the head on the block? The Best head gasket I have on my engine compresses to .060 according to Best. Another point is that I have 1 3/4" intake valves in the engine with the Al. repop head and they clear.

 

A critical point is to have the brake rods adjusted to the same length with the cross shaft in a vertical position. Then fit the other ends to the levers. Front lever should angle forward 15 to 20 degrees. There are small spacers or "pills" for adjusting any wear Shoes must be centered to the axle bearings, you can make or buy a centering tool for this. There are a lot of methods of adjusting.

 

bill,
fyi--have measured my used "best" gasket and it did compress to about .061 or .062.
andy

 

Simple banger question...

If you want to run wire wheels on hydraulic brakes, you have to use the spacer rings, right? What if you want to put steel wheels ('47 Ford) on the mechanical brakes - do you have to do anything unusual? Anything weird with hubcaps or ???

Thanks,
Will Kimble
www.kimblemandolins.com

 

I think the axles are too long and will dent the hubcaps. You need to trim the axles , use a thinner castle nut and possibly redrill the hole for the pin. Or just run without caps.

 

early drums have raised areas around the face of the drum that support the wire wheels.
you can machine them off or machine a spacer the same height. this will keep you from bending the center of your wheel in when you tighten the lug nuts.

 

Will
I am doing the same thing, It seems to me that the rims don't contact the drums enough, as the drums are stepped towards the centre. I thought about a spacer, but the wheel studs get very short. I thought about machining off the step but then the drum would be centered by the studs only. I even thought about a spacer and machining a step in the nuts so they get more thread. I have read some just bolt them on then run them keeping an eye on the nuts.
Good luck
Brendan

 

just my 2 cents....i would not bolt them on without support in the middle of the wheel. it's an accident waiting to happen. you could change drums but I don't know what would be involved there. probably different spindle lengths. take the extra time and make them fit right. you'll be glad you did!

 

i was asked the other day, "why are you spending the time to put in a flathead v8 when you SAY you really like the banger?"

well here's the answer:

hotrods are driven right? i think so. dad always told me that they're more fun on the road than they are in the shop. so am i weird that i don't want my hotrod to sit for the months that it will probably take to get the banger back in good shape? so is it TOO much work to put another motor in for a short time? what would make a person do such a thing?

it's the iron! it's the smell of blow-by! it's the sound of the starter! it's the sound of the first piston to comes to life! it's the roar of the exhaust! it's having the ability to get in, crank it up, and take a ride through the hills or open road! it's all the smells of the open air! it's the wind in your hair! it's the sound of the exhaust! it's the time spent just looking at the car in the front yard! it's about the smile that comes over the one behind the wheel! it's about being able keep the iron on the road! the rawness of an old hotrod on the road. that's why. the work and time it takes to make the engine swap is secondary to all that! it's about keeping the iron on the road!

"it doesn't matter how bad of a day it's been, if i'm in a funk, hey, if i can hop in that banger and cruise for a while?...just drive?...i'm gone. for a few hours or whatever. and when i get back it's all good. i'm cured. it's like medicine." Rusty Stevens

amen!

 

Has anyone used a Rutherford two piece sump and if so how did it fit ? Are you using stock wishbones

 

There is a Model A repair book by Les Andrews that includes a detailed adjustment procedure which accounts for setting up the front to back proportions by using a stepped block to hold the pedal at defined points. I have heard there is a similar but better method published by one of the club magazines but have not been able to find a online copy of it. You might try checking the smaller local club sites in their tech sections for procedures and Fordbarn.com is always a good resource for original equipment questions. I just went through it on mine after royally screwing it up the first time before I was better informed. There is a bit more too it then eyeballing a few adjustments as I learned.

Good Luck,
Bob

 

A lot of braking power is lost because usually the "arrowhead" shaped wedges are really worn down. So, as you're pushing down on the brake, the shoes are barely moving outward because the rollers have worn down the wedge.

As part of your brake repair and adjustment, I would recommend removing your old wedges and welding them up and filing them down. There are forged original ones and cast replacement ones. Guess what? Welding doesn't stick to the cast, so don't do it.

 

One method, get your magnifying glass out

 

I ran solid steels on the Fordor for two years. I had a simple 4mm spacer laser cut. Studs did seem a bit short, but despite constant checking (and constant abuse...) they didn't loosen.

The spindles and half shafts are longer. Early caps ('42) don't fit - I have a new pair somewhere with fresh dents in the middle...

 

Will
Go to www.mtcarpriducts.com/fordwirewheelsup.html for wheel/drum spacers and info on what is needed and what years it is needed on.

 

Been pretty quiet on the Banger thread this last week. Well since Mooneyes out here pretty much got rained out I decided a couple of days before due to forecasts to set up to put my body onto my frame finally. I got in touch with a Bako HAMBer bud and some other buddies and we made a good time of it. It rained early in the morning like 3am, then pretty much off and on the later part of the afternoon here in Bako.

I also acquired a Model B heavy axle recently and have not decided yet whether I want to put it on my car or not instead of the stock Model A axle. Anyone think this would be a good addition onto my car as I am building along the lines of a 40's GOW-JOB? I am not doing anything to the body anytime soon either if anyones wondering.-Weeks

 

Its really starting to finaly come together. Need to get that steering arm and race me in my T before you start thinking about swaping your axle, lol.

 

Excellent. Thanks guys for the brake info. Now, maybe, I can get this thing to stop properly!

 

This will show my ignorance; you just like the look of the 32 heavy or will the 32 axle lower the front a bit?

Oh, nice coupe BTW!

 

I have used a 32 axle on 3 cars and have heard that it drops the front end from 1.5" to 2". Well, I measured the drop on my 29 and it was 1.75". The various amount might be because of springs sagging or other components wearing. I also had the front spring eyes reversed (spring re-arched) which gives another 1" and I have removed some leaves. I lower them until the tire rubs when you back up and turn out of a driveway or off the slab in front of my garage. When it gets to that point I replace a leaf or 2. Hows that for some technical suspension information?

 

Weeks,
I like it, It's looking good. Man that body is nice.

I would run the '32 axle with the reversed eye main leaf in front and reverse the eye in the rear too. Like Bill says, if you want to lower it more, you can always remove springs. You may first want to do that in the rear to soften the ride before you reverse the main spring. You are running juice brakes so you don't have to worry about the brake actuators.

 

Yes read what Bill wrote below, this is verbatim about what I have been told by the restorer I help. He said eh about 1.5 to 2 inch drop. The axle is not on the car yet. I just purchased it and its in the mail.-Weeks

Thank you Bill once again awesome info and I help it goes to use for others out there wondering. Some great technical info on suspension definately.

Now with your experience and wisdom of age, would it have looked like something a Russeta Timing Assocation fella would have run on his coupe?-Weeks

The body is without any real flaws besides previous owners body work 40+ years ago. There are a few small dings mainly in the roof from me dropping stuff off the upper shelfs in the shop . Its all good though. I am leaving it dirty for awhile also, that is until the "dust blows out" from sitting for 40+ years in a shed next to the oil patch here. I am doing no mods to the body whatsoever beyond assembly of period correct parts.

I have a speedway spring I bought about a year ago that they claimed was a stock replacement, only problem was its about 2 inchs lower then stock. I may pull leafs out in the future to lower it and reduce weight .

You guys are of great help to me and I appreciate ya Dan and Bill.-Weeks

 

Ive been workin on this the last year or so. I think im gunna paint it but i dont know what color yet.