I’ve had an itch to build a hot rod for a number of years now. A few months ago I picked up a fairly complete, but disassembled 28/29 Model A pickup that is in overall good shape. I have been lurking in the shadows here for a while but figured it was time to create a thread to document my progress and gather advice. This will be my first stab at a traditional hot rod build. I consider myself handy and tackle my automotive jobs myself but have never built anything from the “ground up”. I am constantly changing my mind but my current plan is to see if I can get the four banger going and run that for a while if all checks out. Might add on a few mild speed parts if so. It does turn over so I have that going for me. The pickup will be fender-less with ‘35 wires and bias ply tires. Big and little possibly? Tossing around a juice brake conversion as I have acquired some backing plates and drums over the past few months. I need to get a wood kit to assemble the cab and find a better bed as mine is pretty darn crusty. Other than that I’m trying to keep things fairly simple to start so I don’t get overwhelmed right off the bat. My goal is to have the pickup on the road by next year in some form or fashion. I’ll take any good advice or input that anyone may have. Biggest first question is should I try and get the motor running as it sits or pull the head and pan off first to inspect/clean? I’ve received mixed opinions on that thus far. Thanks for reading!
Pull the head,and have a look at the cylinders,valves.Replace the head with one of the aftermarket high compression heads.Later add a touring cam,intake/carb.Have the fly wheel lightened.
If it were me, I'd try to fire the motor. It's already mounted and looks like it wouldn't take much to try to run it. If it fires, that will give you a ton of motivation to get the truck together.
A couple of things: you can use a 12v battery and jumper cables to turn the engine over. Talk to Steve at Bert’s Model A in Denver (800321-1931) about individual wood pieces and consider doing your own top profile with white oak. Mine has a 6-1/2” stretch so it was easier to do a bobbed flatbed. Most of all, have fun!
Thanks for the advice on the motor and wood kit! I must say I am very tempted to try and fire the motor as it is because of it being all there and spinning free Nice truck you have there Denis!
you won't hurt anything trying to start it first. just take the plugs out and put some tranny fluid, marvel or light oil in each cylinder and rotate the engine to lube the cylinders before trying to get it running
Slow progress on the pickup thus far but it’s time to start making some headway. I blasted and powder coated the ‘35 wires and pulled the trigger on some new Firestone’s. Went with 600-16 up front and 750-16 in the rear. Now I can roll the chassis around without dealing with a flat and can dial in on the ride height. Reverse eye front and rear spring are ordered. Once I get those I can mock up the 32-36 front axle I have and get that bolted in. I also messed around with the motor a bit. Had two stuck valves that I was able to free up with some marvel. I rigged up some quick wiring and am able to get the motor to turn over on its own but I have no spark at my points. I checked my voltage and I have 6 volts at the points but no spark. Any suggestions?
Thanks for the kind words! I just ordered a handful of ignition bits to hopefully solve my no spark problem. I’m leaning towards it being the condenser but ordered a new coil, points and lower plate as well just in case. Really want to hear the motor run before I pull it to clean it up
Alright I need some guidance from the Model A gurus. I wired up some temporary wiring to try and get the banger to fire before I pull it out. I have the motor turning over on its own (when I press the “button” on the back of the starter solenoid) but I have no spark at the points. New ignition switch, ignition cable, condenser, coil and coil wire, points, point block and lower plate. The wiring was a mess from the start so I started fresh. I’m assuming I wired something wrong. Any help would be greatly appreciated. The pictures are hard to follow as I used black wire but here is a rundown - -Positive ground from battery to back of transmission -Negative wire from battery to terminal on starter solenoid (PO installed this) -Wire from starter solenoid (same post as negative battery cable) to passenger side of terminal box -Wire from drivers side of terminal box to negative post on coil -Wire from positive coil post to ignition switch -Armored ignition cable from distributor to ignition switch
Looks like you don't have power going to your ignition switch? seems to be wired so the coil is hot all the time and the ignition switch is making the contact from coil to distributor. The way I see it your ignition switch wiring goes to the coil and the distributor. So the coil isn't getting power from the switch, but straight battery power. The switch should get power, and send it to the coil. Right now you don't need the junction box. Run a wire from the battery terminal on the starter to the ignition switch. Then from the other terminal on ignition switch to the + on the coil. Then from the - on the coil to the distributor.
If your wiring is correct, make sure you’re not grounding out at the wired connection for the points on the bottom side of the upper plate. I recently rebuilt my distributor and had this problem with the new parts. A quick check, there should be no continuity between the the points and the upper plate when the points are open. Hope this helps. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Thanks for the responses! I appreciate the help and will give it another go. This is my first time messing around with one of these motors so I am constantly learning
Changed and simplified my wiring based off of badshifters advice this morning. I now have 6 volts at my points but still no spark. Something must be shorting/grounding out. Going to keep digging around to see what I can come up with.
Partial success was achieved today. Got the motor to fire for a few seconds (with the help of some starting fluid). Blew a bunch of debris out of the exhaust which was nice. I never cleaned the carb so I’m going to give that a quick cleaning tomorrow and give it one more go. I didn’t hear anything that was overly concerning during the short period it was running. Thank you to everyone that took the time to give me suggestions thus far.
Love your Model A truck and everything you are doing to her! Looking forward to updates, best to you man!
Thanks everybody! Hearing the motor fire definitely gave me some more motivation. Believe it or not I think my no spark issue was caused by my NEW lower distributor plate and attached wire. The wire that connects the lower distributor plate to the upper was a bit long and it appeared it was grounding out on the inside of the distributor wall when the upper plate was turned. I ended up using the old lower plate and soldered on a shorter wire for the time being and it seems to be working and not hitting the inside wall of the distributor.
Not sure if you know but the timing is adjustable with the lever on the steering wheel. It may help you keep it running next time you start it.
Slacking on posting...Since my last post I have stripped down the chassis to a bare frame, blasted, primed and now in the process of getting some black paint on it. I had some other bits blasted at the same time as the frame. Goal is to work on getting it back to a roller. Need to finish paint, assemble the ‘35 front axle with square back spindles and backing plates I have next. Then I need to look into swapping the A banjo rear to juice brakes. I’ve researched a handful of methods (rotate/clock the backing plate, flip it upside down). Anyone have any success with one method over another?
Lookin' good JB!! There's a warm place in my heart for Bangers. I went another way on my '31 pickup. 283 powerglide Pontiac 10 bolt but yours is gonna be the stuff dreams are made of -- keep plugging
looks like you have an eye for style, i can tell. id go with the rotate method for the rear backing plates. really not that involved. theres a book that has all the info. ill take pictures from the book for you when i get a chance.