The Trials and Tribulations of my Car/Truck/Americana Obsession & My Internet Broadcasting Activities
Category: Sport Coupe
Now here’s an article close to my heart as a Sport Coupe owner, poor is a relative term as I definitely can’t afford a Roadster!
Great article on the use of a Sport Coupe body to build a Hot Rod, read on here
A slightly older but still very relevant article from Mark McCourt at Hemmings on the enduring collectability of the Ford Model A
You can read the article here
Really interesting piece from The Old Motor especially being a Model Sport Coupe Owner albeit a 29 🙂
The article shows a damaged 1930 Sport Coupe pictured at a body shop for what we can assume is estimate and eventual repair.
After painting under the bonnet/hood I took a look at the underside.
I must admit I’ve been putting this task off because it’s not the most pleasant.
I’ve added a few old pictures from a few years back to show the difference!
Looks a bit better now, but will need a few more coats as it’s sucking up the paint.
The front bumper on the Model A had been bent since I got the car so we decided to have a try and straightening the bar and see how it looks.
As you see after a bit of a wood issue the bumper is now pretty straight.
Once we got the wood situation sorted out we got the bumper back in pretty good shape,
There has been a recirculating grinding type noise coming from the Model A on hard left hand locks since we changed the brake back plates.
Simon and I set off on a road test to pinpoint the noise and Simon nailed it!
The noise was coming from the right hand rear wheel.
After removing the wheel and hub/drum assembly we found a couple of issues.
The brake shoe issue was alleviated by grinding the metal edge off the brake shoes
Once this was achieved the drum was placed in the lathe and a small amount of material removed to ensure that the drum and back plate were no longer in contact.
A final road test confirmed that the diagnosis was correct and the treatment had been a success!
Here’s some photos of the work carried out
I’ve been meaning to sort out the perished windows channels on the Model A, so I headed over to John Cochran’s for some expert assistance.
Once we had removed the door trims it was very interesting to find the details from the trim manufacturer from 20 years ago! I may research the detail to see if I can get a bead on who owned the car back then. I’ve tried writing to the owner listed on the title but sadly got no reply.
It was great to drive home with slightly less rattles thanks to John!
Gave the A a bit of a wash and brush up after the indignity of the recovery truck a few weeks back.
Wash and dry, Zymol Wax Prep, Meguiars Wax and Autoglym Fast Glass
After the breakdown on the way to Wheels Day 2017 and some diagnosis the Pertronix module was the culprit (well the symptom anyway :))
This is the second module failure, so it’s back to points which as least can be fixed on the road. I’ve gone for the “modern points” setup by Nu-Rex, “modern” is pretty amusing as the new plate contains the 1957 onward Ford V8 points as opposed to the original 1929 setup.
Before I began I set the timing to TDC via the timing pin as per usual on the Model A I then started to remove the Pertronix system
During removal I found that the lower distributor plate had been deleted, a bit annoying as I’d ordered the upper plate from O’Neills. Luckily John Cochran had a used item I could use (thanks John :))
I’d also ordered the recommended longer pigtail for the lower plate, this is recommended to alleviate the stress on the original which is a little short and often fails due to fatigue. So after desoldering and drilling the old pigtail was removed. Then it was a matter of a little cleaning and soldering to get the new item fitted. As my car has no pop out ignition switch I further modified the plate to securely fix the hot cable to the plate by drilling the dimple which was designed to contact the original pop out switch.
Once all the modifications were completed I installed the plate into the distributor.
The pigtail was connected to the points contact ensuring that the connector was not able to accidentally ground to the distributor housing.
Also checked that the timing advance lever was in the fully retarded setting at this point
Next the upper plate was installed taking care to wrap the pigtail around the cam spring whilst making sure not to pinch the cable.
The upper plate will only install one way into the tabs and groove and should turn freely.
See the next episode for rewiring, points adjustment, timing and hopefully an engine start.
