Did anyone order a milkshake? 1930 Ford Model A.
- Thread starter RDY4WAR
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That’s way too thick. It’ll end up with too much startup wear. I suggest a 0W-16
Why stop there...
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Haha that’s awesome!!
Too thick.
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These engines were durable and useful. Our community had a rotary saw outfit for cutting firewood to lengths, powered by an engine from a Model T or a Model A (I don't remember which). It was in regular use up until at least 1970.
Cutting firewood was a group activity with 3 - 5 men lifting and swinging the logs and 1 man at the rotary saw (uncle Abel in our case) setting the lengths.
Remember that old trick about using leather as a temporary bearing substitute. I know leather was used but don't know whether that was because it took a while to get (or make) parts, or it was a "no money" issue. Since we're talking about the 1930s, it wouldn't surprise me if it was "no money".
On the issue of parts availability, during WWII people simply couldn't get tires. My father, driving a tractor with decent tires decided to pass a neighbour driving a truck with leaky tires that had been stuffed with straw. The neighbour would have none of it so it became a little race. My dad won and by the end the neighbour's tires were smoking. Ah, for the "good old days".
Fantastic. I love this stuff. That is a giant 4 popper with a long stroke, If it is not knocking I'm sure its good to go for a bit.
Those zenith carbs are pretty simple. The Flathead V8 was only 20 cu in bigger than the four.
I wonder If you rebuild, if you mill a bit off the heads to get the compression over 6:1 and re-mill the valve relief.
you can shim or buy fresh valve springs set at 75lb open and get another 250 rpm of usefull power range
But the stock setup is great. I'm not a ford guy but I was considering an A as a fair weather daily driver.
Grampa did it, why cant we?
Thanks for the post. Love it! - Ken
Those zenith carbs are pretty simple. The Flathead V8 was only 20 cu in bigger than the four.
I wonder If you rebuild, if you mill a bit off the heads to get the compression over 6:1 and re-mill the valve relief.
you can shim or buy fresh valve springs set at 75lb open and get another 250 rpm of usefull power range
But the stock setup is great. I'm not a ford guy but I was considering an A as a fair weather daily driver.
Grampa did it, why cant we?
Thanks for the post. Love it! - Ken
Very cool that you are keeping that old beauty running. There is a fairly new series on YouTube with Jay Leno and Donald Osbourne from the Audrain Auto Museum that covers classic cars. Jay talks about how a chauffer's job was not only to drive, but to be a mechanic and maintain the cars. In the days before oil filters and improved bearings and suspensions, regular chassis lubes were among the maintenance and 500 mile or shorter oil changes were regular tasks. But the cars could actually be worked on by anyone with some mechanical aptitude as opposed to today where most owners look under the hood, scratch their heads, and take it to a dealer.
This is a good episode:
This is a good episode:
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His milkshake brings all the boys to the yard
There's heads that you can buy for <$400 that have smaller chambers to give it 6:1 compression. That would likely be the route I'd go. Better springs, better valve job and valves, port the intake a little, possibly build a better header for it, etc... there's a good bit that can be done to it. It made all of 40 hp in 1930, but I'm sure 55-60 hp wouldn't be out of reach without having to mess with the crank or cam. Just improve the efficiency of it.
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