I bought one of the l941 11a distributors and rebuilt it, with the 12V coil adapter. Supposed to have a better advance curve and points. It's got a lot stronger spark now, and is running much better. I have a hose set up with a Y to run, but it's pretty messy, so I just did a quick dry start video. Don't worry, there's a fire extinguisher in that old Model A behind me. As always, comments and opinions are welcome.
I haven't done much with this lately other than start it periodically to combat any condensation issues. I have a Y hooked up to a water hose to run through the block, got some rubber plugs with about 3/8" holes drilled through them in the inlets so I don't have to run the water full blast. It's flowing backwards against the pumps, but it works ok. Then my ancient fuel pump diaphragm split. I took it apart, and rather than buy a new one, which anybody with some sense would do, I decided to repair it myself. Had to drill the riveted top of the pushrod (the one hooked to the diaphragm, not the one in the block) to get it all apart. That made it too short to rivet again. I thought about drilling and tapping a hole in the top of it and using a screw and washer set-up, but that would be a small screw, so I just made a new one out of bronze with a threaded top part and a new diaphragm out of leather soaked in oil. I think I'll go ahead and order a replacement diaphragm assembly for when my rig lets loose, but it's back up and running, for now. I'm working on a similar jack-leg radiator for it. I'll update as needed. Don't hold your breath, though. Pictures: ^ This is the original rod. ^ This is the replacement ^ The whole set up. I made sure the faces of those two washers that pinch the diaphragm were flat so they would seal. ^ Finished product
Well, this thing has been sitting for awhile, time for a status update. I found a cheap radiator, designed for a 9n tractor/flathead v8 conversion. Slapped together a pretty miscellaneous collection of pipes and hoses to plumb it so I could run the rings in properly. In the meantime, I found a pair of stock 1937 aluminum heads for pretty cheap. My cast iron ones are a mismatched pair, the numbers and combustion chamber shapes didn't match each other, so I decided to try to run the aluminum ones. They were pretty warped (weren't represented as flat, so I wasn't upset) so I flattened them the old-fashioned way: That's a leftover piece of a Suzuki Samurai windshield I cut up for my Shade Tree project, backed with contact cemented on sheet cork gasket material and clamped to my antique table saw (cork side down). It's my new model airplane building board, but I re-purposed it here. The yellow circles are 40 grit adhesive discs, the rectangles are 120 tacked on with spray adhesive. It would have been better to have some 80 grit in between, but I didn't have any on hand, and a little extra effort with the 120 was easier than running to town. Anyway, they flattened out nicely, at least by the steel ruler/light bulb/eyeball method, so I threw them on the old motor (re-used the copper head gaskets, no fussing please) and tried firing her up. She hadn't run since the previous start up videos, old Shade Tree has been kind of monopolizing my spare time, so I had to remove the distributor and sand the points a little bit, but I got her going. No leaks, no bubbles in the radiator neck, everything seems cool with the heads, but it will only run with almost full choke. I took the carb off and apart, sprayed everything out. I didn't fool with the little J tubes (emulsion?) but I'm confident everything else is clean. I've checked for leaks around the intake manifold gasket, carb to intake junction, and vacuum lines. I can't figure it out. I'm hoping some of you can help. It runs really well choked, but I can't figure why it's so lean. Here's a video: Edit: The engine is already warm in the video. Thank you in advance for any advice.
Greetings Rwrj!...if the only things different frame when it ran well are you had fuel pump issues and the points needed sanded I would bet that crap has gotten into the carburetor SOMEPLACE!!...maybe the needle and seat?....I'm a stromberg guy but didn't those FORD/HOLLEY carbs. have a tiny screen where the fuel line fastens into the carburetor?....also have you changed the fuel your using?...if you went from 100% gasoline to ethanol blend that will make her run lean. I had to drill out the Jets in all of my carbureted machines....
King, Thank you. That's a Stromberg 81. I took it all apart and cleaned everything up real nice, still needs at least half choke to run. I don't really know how it was running before, because I never ran it long enough to warm up and come off of the choke, since I didn't have a radiator on it. I had already taken the distributor off and filed the points, but still suspected an ignition issue. Took the little two part caps apart, somebody had installed the wires with some kind of gasket sealant, so cleaning all of that out is the next project. I'll update when I get that done.
Ebay. Real nice guy somewhere out west. CA? Price seemed reasonable to me at the time, but I don't remember how much I paid for them.
The Jalopy Journal
