QuestionI need to find someone in wisconsin to work on my model a pick-up. My dad left it to me and it only has about 20,000 miles on it. I was drivng it, going about 35 m.p.h. when it died like it ran out of gas. I had gas,but once it died it would not start again. I'm not a mechinic so I need to find one. Do you know of anyone around here? Appreciate any advice. Thanks, Dan Bolinger
AnswerHow exciting. You are going to have fun with that little car. Here is what you do:
Call the MARC office and join the MARC national club, and ask them to send you a copy of the Les Andrews Model A mechanic handbook. It is about $35 and is a great book. Their number is 734 427 9050. I will send you some things I have written that will help you. I will try to attach them to this answer.
Also, go to blurb.com and in the bookstore, search for jackbahm. That will take you to the books I have written. My latest is all there for you to read. You don't have to buy anything, I set up the review of the whole book.
There are 4 local MARC clubs in Wis. Call the one closest to you. 715 568 1040, Cumberland;
920 799 4415, Hortonville; 715 356 3930, Woodruff; 920 478 2579 Waterloo. If you are near one of these, join it and they will help you. For starters, loosen the gas cap and listen for a hiss. Sometimes the cap vent gets plugged up and stops the flow of gas to the carb. Beyond that, go through my troubleshooting steps.
Good luck, and let me know how you make out or if I can be of more help. Look like I can't attach a file, so I will paste two of them here.
jack
I got the Model A, now what do I do????
Many people get all excited and buy an A, and when the excitement is all over, they wonder what exactly did they buy, and what to do with it.
I hope the following will help:
Depending upon the condition, this could be a quick check, or the start of a long process. Many cars are restored cosmetically and the mechanicals are neglected. You can take care of the cosmetics; I will help you with the mechanicals.
The engine is the engine, and its condition is obvious. It either runs or it doesn’t. I won’t go into that. I assume you bought an A that will run.
First, you have to make sure it is safe. It has to stop in a decent fashion, and the steering must be sound. Don’t drive it over 10 mph if the tires are not good. If in doubt, ask someone who knows tires.
Brakes:
(For general information, the Model A is designed to be a rear skid system. Modern cars are designed to be front skid. The rear brakes hold first; then the front brakes contribute to the deceleration.)
Check for slop in the rear brake lever bushing. This is the arm that the rod pulls on when you depress the brake pedal. It is located on the rear brake backing plate. Try to shake it and move it laterally. If it is loose, then you have a very big job ahead of you. You need to install new bushings. Not a difficult job, but a lot of hard work. At the same time you are into the rear brake, replace the emergency brake lever bushing. It is not lubed by design, and is probably worn out. Fixing the bushing problem may be all you have to do to the rear brakes. If it stops after this, leave them alone. If it still does not stop well, then do the complete brake job. Lining, tracks, cam, and rollers, and turned drums.
Front brakes: Clean things up and make sure everything moves as it should and returns under the force of the shoe springs. If the brake lever is not positioned with a slight tilt forward, then add a “pill” to the wedge to get the lever in the tilted position. That may be all you need to do.
Adjustment: This is a tough job and you better get someone who knows how to adjust them to do it for you.
Steering: Reach down under the rear of the left front fender and grab the pitman arm and pull it toward you and push it away from you. If it moves at all, you will have to put new bushings in for the sector shaft. It is a big job getting the steering gear out of the car. You will need help to do this, to put in the new bushings and to adjust the gear. Find a club member who knows this area of the “A” and can help you.
Check the pinch-bolt that holds the pitman arm on the sector shaft. There can be no looseness in this joint.
On steering gear slop, find a club member to help you make the adjustments. This is a little complicated, but the service bulletins tell you exactly what to do. There are four adjustments to make. One has to be done with the gear out of the car. Big job. The other three, you can get to, but you can also break the upper race if you are not careful. It is best to get someone who knows this area.
Tie rod and drag link: Take a close look at the ends of the tie rod and drag link. They must be firmly connected to the balls.
Lie under the car and look at all of the wires to make sure none are rubbing on anything that might damage the insulation. Make sure the insulation is in good shape and not worn off. Look very closely at the battery cable from the negative post to the starter post. It routes near the clutch and brake pedal mechanisms. Have someone push on both pedals to make sure they don’t hit the battery cable. No movable member can touch the battery cable. If you have a problem in this area, you can burn you car and house up. There must be good, consistent clearance. That cable is hot and it can carry a lot of current, and it should not touch anything that moves.
Check the engine oil level, and the transmission lube level. The transmission should be full to the filler plug hole on the right side of the car. If it is not, fill it with 600 weight gear lube.
Check the king pins for slop. If everything seems tight, and you can still move the wheel spindle relative to the king pin or axle, then you need to put in new king pin bushings. This is not a big job, but a lot of work and you will need to borrow a bushing reamer.
With a torque wrench, check each head bolt torque. They should be close to 55 ft. lbs. Tighten them up if they are low. Be very careful of the two front ones. If you can measure 45 ft. lbs on them, stop there. It is very easy to break the goose neck ears.
Pop off the distributor cap and remove the rotor. Grab the cam and see if it moves from side to side. If it does, you will have to replace the two bushings. A cam that wobbles is not good.
Fan connection to the water pump. Grab the fan and try to move it fore and aft. Watch the joint where it attaches to the water pump shaft. There should be no slop in this joint. If there is looseness, it will pound itself until something breaks and either hurts someone, of goes through the radiator or hood. It is a tapered joint, and heavily loaded. It must be tight.
Now take a close look at each fan blade where it meets the hub. Look for small cracks. If you find any, you must replace the fan and don’t ever run the engine with a cracked fan blade. Big safety issue.
Try to turn the fan with just a little pressure to see if the crank pulley is tight. The fan and the crank pulley should not turn under light rotation pressure.
Finally, try to run the car at a sustained 40 to 45 mph. If it will do this for 7 to 10 minutes without spitting out coolant or overheating, your cooling system is probably OK.
If the car won’t do this, then you are faced with having to only drive it slow, or get it fixed with a lot of work and possible expense. New radiator, repaired radiator, new head gasket, milled head, etc.
But you have the car, now fix it up to have fun with it.
Good luck. Jack Bahm Jan 2010
Model “A” Tip Troubling Shooting the “A”. 1-2010
When I walk up to a Model A that won’t run, here are the first things I do to try to get it fixed:
We always try to figure out if it is spark or fuel.
I start with the spark, and use a simple test light. (I assume that the plugs are not fouled.)
Honk the horn; if it works, then you know that the fuse is OK and power is probably getting far into the system.
With the key off, check to see if you have power to the two coil posts. Both should be HOT.
If they are not, getting power to both sides of the coil should be easy to track down and fix. Look at the wiring diagram and do a little tracing.
Eye ball the point gap to make sure the points have not closed up too much.
Turn the key on and rotate the engine until the points are closed. Now check the two posts on the coil. The driver’s side should be hot and the passenger side, the red wire, should not be hot.
If the red wire is still hot when you turn the key on with the points closed, the points may not be closing, they may be dirty or worn out, or the ignition switch may not be closing the connection, (this is a hard one to find, but don’t assume the switch is good. Cars have been towed home because of a bad ignition switch that no one could find.).
If all of the above is OK, then the ignition system is probably OK.
If it still will not start, make sure that the point arm is not touching the cam. If it is touching, then the points must be changed, and make sure the arm on the new points does not touch the cam. If that was not the problem, then it is time to check the little wire under top distributor plate. It may have become grounded, (this is a common failure). This does mean that you will have to remove the cam, and later retime the system, unless you can manage to put the cam back very close to where it was when you removed it. I have seen this done. The timing will not be perfect, but probably close enough to get you home. If the wire is shorted to ground, tape it or replace it.
A quick review of the ignition system may help figuring out what is wrong:
The current goes from the battery to the left side of the coil, through the coil to the right side, up to the ignition switch, down to the distributor lower plate area, (but does not touch the lower plate), to the small wire under the upper plate, to the moveable point arm. All of this is isolated, and not grounded. When the points close, the circuit is completed to ground and the coil is charged. When the points open, the coil fires the high voltage charge to the center of the distributor cap, and on to the plug.
On the fuel side:
Loosen the gas cap and listen for a hiss. Sometimes the gas cap vent plugs up. I don’t know how, but it does happen. Leave it loose while you work on the car.
Try to start the engine with full choke. Feel the bottom of the carb. throat near the choke blade. If it is wet with fuel, then the carb. is getting fuel.
There is always the chance that the float is stuck in the “up” position preventing fuel from getting into to the bowl. Give a gentle tap to the bowl area to free it up.
The usual suspects are:
Dirt in the tank, out of gas, the gas cap, plugged filter, plugged sediment bowl, and the outside chance that you have some bad fuel.
Jack Bahm Oakleaf Region
