Quote:
Originally Posted by Hitchhiker
You forgot one variable....the person in control of the advance lever....I've said it before and I will say it again. A correctly set up centrifugal advance is far superior to a manually advanced unit when you take into account the variable of the driver.
|
Very true!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by tbirdtbird
OK, you naysayers are correct and I am wrong, I spent all night removing all that stuff from the car. You are correct, an engine with less vibration will not make any difference to the babbitt at all. Turning 2200 @ 70 is of no help, lets just wind it up to 2500 rpm or more and totally fall off the torque curve, you are right. Yep, lets put in a 3.27 and be ready for the mountains. why not a 2.81, I have contacted Snyders to have that special set cut just for me.
In fact, I not only removed all the stuff I mentioned, but I went back in time even more and installed a pile of Model T stuff, it is even older and thus must be even better on today's busy interstates. Man it was all I could do to get that magneto flywheel on that A, but I did it !!!
In fact, why drive it at all? Just trailer it and you'll never have to worry about any of this; that is my next move. Actually why have the car at all?
I have been in 2 clubs and both have had a couple killed and the car destroyed by trucks coming up behind them and smashing them because they were slower than surrounding traffic, but why would anyone care about that?
As I said at the outset, if you don't like it don't do it...which means if you don't like it, don't do it. Run your car however you want. Use rubber band drive; put in a Briggs and Stratton, how about a make&break; what about cucumber drive?
I think some folks on the forum have forgotten to take their medication.
|
Well we could debate this out for months and probably never have a consensus. My only aim is to make sure the "innocent bystanders" do not misunderstand the information we give and mistake it as being 'gospel'. Folks feeling the need to convert to hydraulic brakes over mechanicals is a great example of how misinformation becomes alleged facts.
I do want to make a few comments regarding your last comments;
Living in the mountains of eastern Tennessee, I know what a 3.27 gear is capable of from repeated first-hand experience. I recently had a couple cars from my shop on the Blue Ridge Parkway tour with 3.27 ratios and their owners reported they pulled the hills remarkably. Therefore we need to be cautious not to lead folks into thinking the 3.27 ratio cannot satisfactorily perform in the mountains.
As for the Model-T flywheel, they actually share the same bolt pattern on the flange so it really should have been an easy installation.
Your comments regarding why own a Model-A are thought provoking. Thank you for that. In my view, there are all kinds of reasons to own a Model-A but since you mentioned you belonging to two clubs (that experienced fatalities), one could assume you are speaking of MARC or MAFCA sanctioned clubs. If this is indeed true, do not these modifications you speak of go directly against the core value of the club's mission statement?
My personal position is if someone finds themselves pushing a vehicle past it's designed mechanical limits while in an unsafe or compromising condition, then the entire scenario really needs to be reconsidered. Just this past week, there was a Model T tour out in Utah where there was a fatality of a tour participant. Several on that tour stated they were driving on roads that placed them and their vehicles in jeopardizing situations. Many T owners were apparently trying to drive as fast as they could to avoid being hit by modern cars, ...and many found themselves driving precarious speeds on shoulders of the road in an effort to be safer. One vehicle on the tour drifted off the edge of the road into sand and the driver overcorrected. The result was the spoke wheel collapsed and the vehicle rolled ejecting the passengers. One passenger succumbed to her injuries.
The bottom line is I agree with you how there are all kinds of modern modifications that can be done to a Model-A (effectively turning it into a street rod) that will likely make it somewhat safer at interstate-type speeds. The issue is these speed you mention are much greater than what the Model-A was originally designed for and/or expected to be driven in its' day. Making your car drive faster does not necessarily make it safer in my view. So my question is what is wrong with using a trailer to safely transport your Model-A to a geographical area where it can be operated in a safe manner as it was originally intended?
.