Model A Body and doors to be finished soon

Gongora's Auto Body is working non stop to finish up my car body. David says it should be ready by the weekend but I think more like next week sometime. I love the color contrast...this thing is going to look saweet!

Transmission rebuild

After opening and inspecting the Model A transmission, I decided to replace everything but the main drive shaft and reverse idler gear. You can see in these photos that the main cluster gears were in bad shape with a lot of scarring and chipped teeth. The bearings were also worn and loose and needed to be replaced.

Confession: The Follies of Youth

OK, I'll admit it now after 40 years. When I was first driving my Model A to high school in 1973-74; I used to have a lot of fun manually backfiring my motor. This used to cause people to 'duck and cover' and my buddies and I would get a good laugh.

What I would do is manually advance the spark and then turn off the key when the engine reached high rpm. The unburnt fuel would then build up until I turned the ignition switch back on. The spark would then ignite all the unspent fuel (gathered in the cylinders and manifold) and cause a HUGE explosion. It sounded amazingly like a gunshot...Dirty Harry style!

One time in particular, (Spring 1974) several friends had joined me for a cruise around town and as we passed a CHP safety checkpoint, I decided it would be the perfect time to show everyone just how loud my 'Chitty' could 'Bang'! The officers standing around didn't think it was so amusing though!...When they heard the bang they all grabbed their pistols and dove for cover. (They never knew what hit them as we sputtered down the road with the exhaust going 'potato, potato) Meanwhile, we were laughing so hard I could hardly see the road through my tears of joy!

And now for the reason of bringing this up so many years later: In the accompanying photo you'll see how my exhaust manifold has a crack that only showed up after sandblasting. (It was hidden from view by the intake manifold) I could never quite locate that exhaust leak!

This could also be the reason two of the three exhaust valve seats were cracked and needed repair... Now my tears aren't tears of joy!

Oh, the follies of youth!

BD&G Sandblasting...Quick turn around!

Well the guys at BD&G Sand Blasting were good at their word...they told me they'd have the body bead blasted by the following day, and they were good at their word. I got a call at 7:30 the next morning saying it was ready for pick up! It's now at Gongora's Auto Body.

Some body rot was found after sand blasting (see photos) but should not be a problem.



Now to decide on the color combo I want to have. There are 5 standard Ford color
schemes for 1931:
Upper body/Lower body/Stripe & Wheels
Thorne Brown/Thorne Brown/Straw
Lombard Blue/Black/Hesian Blue
Chicle Drab/Copra Drab/Straw or Tacoma Cream
Kewanee Green/Elkpointe Green/Apple Green
Black/Black/Apple Green.

I've been leaning toward Chicle Drab/Copra Drab but we also like Kewanee Green with Straw wheels. Chicle/Copra seems to have had many different variations over the years with shades from greenish to brownish to grayish. The greenish is our favorite and I don't like the gray but the brown is Ok.

Input anyone?

Block repaired very quickly

So I took my block to H & H Antique Ford in La Canada per advise from Art Moore four days before Christmas and they had it done two days after Christmas...Wow... Monika and I made the drive out the same day we planned on leaving for Tennessee. I do have to wait for them to send me a cam shaft that was out being ground but otherwise I'm very happy with their turn around service. I spoke with Max Jr. this morning and the camshaft is on it's way. Here's a picture of the head repair. (I just installed the head bolts) Now it's ready for the Model A Proctologist...Stephen Salazar!

Body is off to the sand blasters

It's been about one month since I got the fenders back from Gongora's Auto Body & Paint now it's time to get the body going. I'm taking it (25 pcs actually) to BD&G Sandblasting to get them ready for the body shop. They asked me what kind of schedule I'm on and I said I've got a March 17th deadline...they told me they'll have everything ready to pick up tomorrow...Wow! So I'll post again tomorrow, if that comes to fruition. Here's a shot of all the body, parts and brackets. :)

Block's in worse shape than I thought

Ok, so Carquest of Upland has my block for 5 weeks giving me every excuse under the sun as to why they haven't done anything to it yet. Then last week Jody promises me to have it done by Friday and that he'll call me with an update. The call never comes so I call yesterday morning (Monday) and he says that there's an issue with one of the exhaust port, it's got a crack. REALLY, and he couldn't call me and tell me...I have to call him? He's never called me with an update!

Anyway, I'm ranting...

So I pick up the block and check it out. (see photo with arrows) It definitely has another crack that only showed up after he machines the valve seat. He tells me that they (Carquest machine shop) don't do crack repairs and he doesn't know anyone (used to but not any more) who does...REALLY? So I ask him if I can take it and try to repair it myself. He says that repairs are usually done by drilling and tapping and then screwing in a plug that can be machined flat when the deck (top) of the block is machined. He tells me he'll give me some leads on who to purchase a repair kit from...he doesn't!

So now I will get some advise from friends in my Model A club (Art and Steven) as to what can and should be done now.

I probably wouldn't worry too much under normal circumstances except that I want to install a high compression head and Model B cam shaft which will place extra stress on the engine and potentially cause a failure....ARGH!

I've gotta fix it, no other way around it!

PS: You'll note that there are two other cracks in the block deck that are referred to by the arrows in the photo...these I knew about and was told by Art and Steven that they need no repair as they are minor...only going from water jacket to water jacket. Makes sense to me.