Automotive American – Classic Vintage & Modern
Tag: Simon Hunsdon
As I’m 6’4″ tall and have a dropped foot, (no ankle pivot at all), driving the Model A can be a bit of a challenge.
We came up with this modification a while back and event though it’s a bit basic in it’s construction it has made driving the A a lot easier.
It consists of a block of wood and a door hinge, which has the dual functionality of a lever and a footrest.
With Simon’s help I spent the day fitting the Mike’s Affordable Oil Filter Kit on the Model A.
When we removed the tappet cover we found a random pipe attached to the oil gallery routing oil it appears down to the timing gears.
The pipe was situated exactly where we needed to fit the oil filter feed pipe, after some interaction with Mr Cochran we decided to bite the bullet and remove it.
The feed pipe for the kit was put in its place, hopefully this was the right move, also posted on the Ford Barn for some feedback which was quite varied.
Time will tell I guess?
We also took the opportunity to sort out the exhaust manifold blow and the loose down pipe.
Things like not using the copper gaskets and gland rings were at the root of the manifold issue.
For the loose down pipe we fitted a new clamp and a sleeve to improve the joint between manifold and pipe.
Whilst things were in progress we also spruced the engine and inlet manifold with some paint.
After researching oil filters, I’m no longer using FRAM.
Had a few days off work and with Simon’s help caught up with a number of tasks on the A :
New Rear Spring
Tube Rear Shock Absorbers
Repair Offside Rear Wheel Arch
Repair Seat Back Brackets
Fix Slight Steering/Front Shock Absorber Issue
In fact we did every I’d planned and in two days!
Special thanks to John Cochran as we couldn’t have done the job without the use of his spring spreader 🙂
Now the A is at Simon’s we began by removing the front axle to facilitate the replacement of :
Those of you that have seen previous posts will know that the front king pins have been somewhat modified in a bad way to say the least! Once we got the spindles off it was even worse than we thought. The king pin bushes had been shimmed to take up excess wear in the spindles. So Simon’s Dad fabricated some custom king pin bushes from scratch as the ones in the kit just dropped through the king pin locating holes! Simon fitted the bushes and modified to allow greasing of the bushes moving forward
The two galleries give a small idea of the amount of work involved.
Whilst we were about it we decided to make things look nice by cleaning and painting as many components as possible 🙂
The A is off to my friend Simon’s for his help in getting the “big stuff” done. Simon and his Dad have the room, facilities and expertise to help get the car over the line for some summer driving.
My friend John kindly helped with the trailering of the A up to Simon’s workshop.
