When I first imported the Model A over three years ago I promised my Aunt Noreen a ride in the car and finally today I delivered on the promise 🙂
Model A Ford
A Good Ten Footer!
Had quite a good picture of the A taken on the way into the recent Berkshire Motor Show
Ford Flathead V8 History – Racing in Retrospect, Mid State Antique Stock Car Club
Really Good series of articles on the various aspects of Henry’s wonderful Flathead V8 on  the Racing in Retrospect website from the Mid State Antique Stock Car Club.
Read on here
Crossing the Channel – Replacing 1929 Model A Ford Window Channels
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!
Shiny, Shiney
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
Traditional Hot Rod How-To: Making the Right Chassis Mods for our Racing Roadster Project Model A – Hot Rod Deluxe – Scotty Lachenauer
Building a Four-Banger Model A Motor for Street and Race – Hot Rod Deluxe – Scotty Lachenauer
This is what I’d love to do for my Model A at sometime in the future (if I win the lottery 🙂
Scotty Lachenauer is following the build of a hopped up roadster for TROG
This episode covers the build of a four banger for the project, the article is here
Back to the Future (well kinda :)) Part 1
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.
Looks like she’s dead Jim…
A day after the trauma of the breakdown on the way to Wheels Day, the investigation began!
Still refusing to start and having no spark I decided to swap in a known good coil, lo and behold the car started and I was able to reverse out of the garage having to push in the day before.
After letting the car idle for about 10 mins it decided to cut out and refused to restart.
Knowing that the Pertronix is very sensitive to correct voltage I decided to charge the battery, however the car still failed to start and still had little or no spark.
So the decision to go back to points is confirmed and the parts are on order from O’Neills
What’s the point(s)!
After a few days preparation, a good road test and Simon’s assistance with clutch adjustment we were ready for our annual trip to Wheels Day in Aldershot, well we thought we were…
Things started to feel a little strange on the M4, but we put that down to a GAV adjustment as after a tweak things improved. However the car cut out and restarted after we came off the motorway, we managed to get around another couple of miles and then broke down with a bang and no restart this time. We had fuel but no spark, the Pertronix electronic ignition module had failed, this is the second such failure in the three years that I’ve had the car.
A very wise man named John Cochran did suggest that I stick to points a couple of years ago, I took the “if it ain’t broke” approach, well now it’s broke and I’ll be reverting to points!
Luckily my friend John Barron was travelling with me to the show, and his personal AA cover ensured we got home safely and very efficiently (thanks again John!)
Hats off to the the two AA staff that helped us today, customer service at its finest. Suffice to say I joined when I got home!
