Projects Drdave accidentally buys a Model A. Now what?

Oh man!! Now I gotta get serious after a spring!


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Ya got a month!

Haha, no sweat if you don’t find one that fast.

 

Lol


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Lol!! Not much at the moment. Hoping in the next week or so I can get the rear spring back out to add a leaf back into it to raise the tail just a smidge. I’ve gotten the A leaf plan on putting in (the 5th from the top of the A pack) reshaped to match the shape of the T spring, but I don’t have it rounded and tapered yet. Got a few things to sort out on my Chevy before heading out to Salina, but then it’s time to work on the A a bit more.


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Well, I’m back at it. Got a little time this week to work in the shop, so I’ve gotten the rear spring back out to add in another leaf. The one I’m adding is the 6th leaf up from the bottom from the A spring. I’ve reshaped it to go with the shape of the T spring, cleaned it up, tapered the ends and got a little paint on the edges. So, that puts my total pack at 10 leaves....bottom 5 are T and the top 5 are A. Tomorrow night I should have it all back together.



Interior kit arrived yesterday. Looks good from what I unpacked. I pulled it all out to make sure all the pieces were there but didn’t open all the individual bundles. I’m happy with what I’ve seen so far....soon we’ll see how it fits.

 

Cool man. I got my T spring pack apart the other day and should have it cleaned up this week. I’ve only got 5 T leafs at the moment. I’m going to toss on an A leaf on top and see where it lands

 

That’s what I had too. I don’t know how many leaves a T rear spring is supposed to have, but the one I got only had 5. Putting the A leaves on top hasn’t seemed to have caused any problems of any sort...and I don’t know why it would. Just using what I got to get to where I wanna be. Lol


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My buddies got a hydraulic press now so I don’t have to muscle it out re curving them. Hopefully it won’t take to many trial runs before finding the sweet spot.

I know your adding to primarily lift the car some but I’m curious if you think it will stiffen things up some?

 

It's pretty quick work with a hydraulic press. That's what I've been using.

So far as the ride, I'd have to guess it will stiffen up a bit. This is my first buggy sprung car, so I have no reference point. I didn't have a pile of miles on it stock either, so it's hard to tell how much difference it rides from stock. I't seems a bit bouncier maybe. I guess it will just be what it is and I'll get used to how it rides and not know any better. LOL

 

I feel like in a light car it’s probably pretty easy to go from leaf doesn’t move at all to leaf moves way to much lol.

I think “properly” done one of these things compresses the suspension like 1.25 inches in regular life. Just kinda arm chair building and thinking.

 

You're probably right. Riding it around as it was, I had a "bang" in the rear end on good bumps. Turns out to have been the center bolt on the leaf pack I had left long in case I wanted to go back and add a leaf. The end of the bolt was maybe 2 inches or a smidge more from the axle, so I guess that would equate to "leaf moves too much" as you said. We'll see if I'm closer to the ball park now.....of course, this time the bolt will also be cut to length. LOL

 

....who’s coming over quick to help wrangle this heavy, greasy thing back up into the car? Beuller? Bueller? Bueller? Lol

 

I always take mine apart and put the main on then add the rest of the leafs. Though I’m not positive I’ve got jack stands tall enough to do that with out pulling the rear. Guess we’ll find out!

 

What I’ve been doing is having the car up high enough on jack stands that I can set the spring on top of the axle (just sitting, not in the shackles) and then jack the axle to lift the spring up into the cross member. The trick to all of this for me is trying to get the head of the spring bolt lined up into the hole in the crossmember. Naturally, the hole is covered by the body so it’s hard for me to tell if I’m really “home”. I thought to myself, there should be an access hole with a plug in the floor over the crossmember so you can see if the bolt head is in the hole like it should be...and if it’s not, how far and which direction is it off. I decided it was such a good idea, I went ahead and did it. Lol.





Spring is in, shackles are on, spring is clamped to the crossmember. One thing with adding an additional leaf is that now the clamping brackets won’t tighten down enough to put in the cotter pins. I guess the tighter radius of the T spring in the middle doesn’t let them seat all the way down now. The nuts are fully on (there are threads past the end of the nuts), just not down far enough to get to the cotter pin hole. Longer clamp u bolts would solve that problem I guess. Guess for now I’m just going to have to keep an eye on the nuts to make sure they aren’t backing off over time.

 

Could have drilled a second hole, is there enough room for a jam nut?

 

Not enough room for a jam nut, but drilling another hole is a possibility if I have room to get the drill up there

 

Great to see your back Doc!
Let’s see a pic to see any stance difference! Slow moving for me, however, Randy Gross just called me Monday to tell me my new steering column was on it’s way from CA!
Excited to see how the converted f100 box steers...

 

Doc next time use chalk & mark the hole on the frame where you can see it & the spring.

 

Here ya go @Fiftee3....



I doubt it looks like much change....by the tape I’m up 3/4 of an inch. Lotta work for 3/4. Haha. Oh well.

Bob, actually, the chalk mark from the first time I did it was still there, but this time I didn’t feel a “clunk” when I was certain the bolt head hit in the hole like I did last time. I figured better safe than sorry and went ahead and drilled the hole so I could know for sure.


Just finished putting it all back together and getting it on the ground. One of the shock links fell off while I was waggling mess around, so since I had the links from the front that I had already cleaned, painted and rebuilt but didn’t use when I swapped to the shorty dog bone links, I went ahead and changed out both rear ones.

Next up, back on the road for some miles. Now that the interior kit is here, maybe in the not too distant future I’ll get a chance to redo the seats. I’m going to hold off doing the rest of the interior though until I have time to pull the car apart and paint it. Cuz, you know, you can’t put the side panels on until you put the headliner in, which is best done when the top insert is off, which I could stand to do anyhow since it leaks. ...and if I’m taking the top insert off, I may as well fix the peeling paint around it. I hate to put the door panels on without rebuilding the glass runs since the door panels are nailed on. Well, gosh...as long as the glass is all out, it’s a shame not to fix the peeling paint around them....and if I’m going to be painting the top and around the windows, there’s realllllly not thaaaaat much left of the body to paint, so.....

....I don’t have a problem, I can quit any time.... lol

 

Annnnd the "A" joins the Merc and other project car with the creeping perfection sickness you have. LOL.
Glad I didn't read this yesterday, I'd have offered to come be dumb muscle and help you put it together, instead of going and retrieving the rear end I needed.

 

I’m surprised that you got that much lift from one more leaf! Car looks great though

 

Thanks Tim. I was kinda hoping for 1-1.5 inches, but it is what it is. Funny, the passenger side is right where I’d like it, but the drivers side is a little lower. Guess something, somewhere is aged/settled/flattened so that the sides aren’t even. Or, maybe they were never even when they were new. Dunno. Lol

Bob, Bob, Bob....creeping perfection sickness? Me? Nah, you got me mixed up with some other guy. I prefer to think of it as project efficiency...”as long as I’m there, I may as well...” haha!!


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That’s called a bachelor lean

The spring is settled more on one side than the other. If it really bugs you take it all apart and trace the curve on the ground and use your press to make them the same on both sides.

Or, you know. Just park it so you see the “perfect” side. Lol

 

It's looking good, Dave!

I put one of his in my '29, I loved it!

 

Yeah, you have to guard against mission creep. The A looks good.

 

Looking good!
If it was mine, I would take the trunk off and fold the luggage rack to the up position!

 

Well, I was going to take the trunk off until I discovered it’s actually a hard to find piece from the 30’s that is pretty pricey in that good of condition. It’s all one unit, the box doesn’t come off and leave a fold up rack. The box itself opens all the way out and make a larger open trunk. Turns out it’s handy anyhow...if I have to stop someplace on my way home from work it’s a safe place to lock up my laptop bag. Haha


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On that note this should link to the tool box that fits between the frame horns I had told you about

https://www.macsautoparts.com/ford_model_a/model-a-ford-tool-box-1930-1931-powder-coated-black.html