1928 FORD MODEL A SEDAN- belly pan.

I take it you are not planning on using glass in the windows as your handle will stop it fitting? I got round this by making an idler mechanisim so the outer handle goes down to the bottom, across underneath the glass and back up to the inner handle.

UBER thread bump again!

Can you update all the 2009 and 2010 pictures because none of them work any more and it's mega hard to try to make sense of the work you've done without them!

Reckon she'll be done for 2011 RRG?

MEGA thread revival!!

don't get too excited cos ive not really done owt on it though

ile go back and sort the pics when i get time, don't worry, they're all still there, i just had a bit of a PB tidyup so some need bits of code added for the sub-albums.

reason for update? i picked up a few bits at the swapmeet on sunday.
a pair of these-


which turn my single skin biscuit tin of a bodyshell into, err, a double skinned biscuit tin, lol!
they go here, and would have originally held the rear window winders and glass. my windows will probably just be fixed to save weight.


i also got these-


which are door top caps/pull handles. they go here, cap off the top of the door, hold the inner scraper, and provide a little handle to shut the door.


mine need a little trimming to clear the dash, but otherwise they bolt straight on. i want to run as little interior as possible really, but i think these are really necessary because they hold the seal, and are very visible from outside the car when the car is this low-


i still need to pick up the same bits for the rear 1/4 windows, and some pillar trim yet.

in other news, me and a mate who I'm building another Y-block powered A for have been going through engine and head casting codes to sort out a motor for him, so i took the opportunity to check mine out properly too. mine was sold to me as a 272, as thats what the block is coded as, but as it had been rebuilt recently i had a suspicion it may have been bored, as the 292 rebuild kit is loads cheaper as it shares pistons with the later motors (289 i think).

so i checked the head codes, which turned out to be for a '61-'64 292ci motor- but the block is from a '55-'57 272ci. so it had definately been played with. the only real way to know was to take a head off.

so thats what i did. working my way through, it turns out the dizzy is the best one to have, a '63-'64 with the hinged breaker plate, and both vac and centrifugal advance. it also uses the same cap, rotor and points as 289-302 v8s so is easier on parts this side of the water.

so, already rather pleased with that little upgrade, i whip off a rocker cover and check the rocker arm casting numbers, which indicate they're the high ratio 1.54:1 items, with self-locking adjusters, which are the one year only 1957 ones. its all getting rather interesting by this point, especially when i notice the head gaskets are more or less brand new fel-pro ones.
i don't think ive ever removed a head + valve gear so quick in my life, and i then got straight in there with the micrometer. would it be 3.75" bore(292) or 3.3" bore(272)?




YEEEEAAAH!

not how fresh it all is in there too, deffo rebuilt very recently.
so, ive gained probably 50-60hp in an hour, beat that for tuning

plus i was given the number of someone with a tri-power manifold for a Y-block for sale locally the other day.
i suppose id best go all out and get some tubular pushrods and maybe a cam too next!!

I was only checking this the other day Dez but didn't ask about it as I figured the Vauxhall was taking up all your spare time. Glad to see some more updates!

Nice motor! Just the right amount out of the roof! Looking forward to seeing it 'finished'.

well, it has steering. thats all finished, after a lot of messing about to get it how I wanted it. I can sit in it making 'vroom vroom' noises and turning the steering wheel and the wheels move. not that I do of course

ive blown about £600 on parts for it as part of a big speedway order me and a mate did(i really should start a build thread on his car too)- some of that was for steering/suspension parts, a few engine dressup/tuning parts, some repro OE mirrors in stainless, and a load of other stuff.

tbh though, id have to go back and read through the thread myself to see what else has been done, its been so long!!

well, here you go. some pics of the now completed steering setup.

first, i need to rewind a loooong way. like at least a year. back to those steering arms i bought at the essex swap- the year before last!!


well, they were all well and good, aoart from they didnt have enough drop. but when i heated them up to bend em, they did this-


which means they're cast not forged. not running those on my car, thanks very much!!

so, as previously mentioned, as part of a speedway order we did for a mates car I'm building, i got some of these ones. definatley forged, and defiantely enough drop!
www.speedwaymotors.com/1937-48-Ford-Steering-Arms-3-3-4-Inch-Drop,25541.html


all fitted up, and with the trackrod on, ive now got tons of clearance to the spring. hurrah!






then as well as that, i bought the cheap solid-chunk-of-steel upper steering arm for cowl steer setups too- i was going to make my own, but this is a cheat as its all already the correct dimensions, i just need to make it all curvy and smooth to match my drop-arm, so its half the work done for me.


then, i made up a draglink (as you can see in the pics above) which uses a cut down and modifed ford f100 draglink for the ends, as i prefer the look of the funny early ford link ends like these to using track rod ends. ithey have a ball on a peg that mounts to the steering arm, then inside theres two contact pads with a big spring and a screw in end cap to preload them. I'm sure youll agree they look pretty funky. originally its all one non-adjsutable peice, but ive chopped it in half and threaded the centre section so it can run inside the drag link ive made.

then, on the steering box drop arm id made, i had to cut the taper for the track rod end (well the ball on a peg thing mentioned avove, that bolts into a standard ford 7deg trackrod end tapered hole). to do that you need one of these-


a taper reamer. it ws bought to do all the front end setup on my mates car, but i thought id best test it for him first
and it cuts like a hot knife through butter, only took seconds to ream the hole out in the drill press!
so i can now bolt on the other f100 draglink end to my steering box drop-arm-


to give me a finshed and working steering setup!!!


proper progress at last

ive now decided to change the front end setup again though- ive got a genuine unsplit model A front wishbone in going to split and fit, and a different (genuine rather than repro) front spring. so a bit more work for me there......

well, hopefully ile get it finished off one day !

the front end is largely complete now, i just need to do the planned changes to the front sus, and get some shocks on there, and that ends about done apart from 'detail' stuff.

i really need to crack on with the rear sus now. i got a laod of bits in my speedway order, so i think I'm only short of some new rear hub seals now and then i can get it all together

the reamer was from the states, and they're horrendously expensive. all TREs ive encountered so far have been 7deg. taper of differeing diameters- all ford, vw, land rover, sherpa, rover, chevy, etc.

i really cant lend the reamer out, but if you send me stuff that needs doing, i can ream it for you for a small charge.