The Ford Barn - View Single Post - Oregon to Georgia in a 1930 Standard Tudor

Slotblog · 10-27-2014, 08:46 PM

Tom,

Need to give you some feedback on your kind suggestion. Since I had not heard back from "Wm J" this morning, I tried the grease trick and it simply didn't work. I think I know why: the packing in the car had crumbled into bits when I finally removed it.

I had PM'd "Wm J", who offered a seal to me earlier in this thread, through Ford Barn but he must not have seen it, as by about 10 AM I had not heard from him so we could connect. I called Ted Duke, a MAFCA member who had messaged me here to say he would keep his roster at hand for a month(!) and provided his cell number so I could contact him for local member info wherever I might be broken down. Ted found a number of MAFCA members in Bend and gave me four names and phone numbers. The first one was Bill Barlow and as luck would have it, he was "Wm J"!

My A ended up in a bank parking lot and it was great that Bill's home was just two miles away. We GPS'd over to his address and knew immediately we were in the right place when we spotted the double stacked pallet of Model A engine blocks next to a storage shed at the end of his driveway. The garage holding his Model A collection has a further 23 blocks lined up along a wall.

Turns out Bill was a MAFCA Technical Director in 2002-03 and is a machinist who re-babbits Model A (and T, I think) rods and main caps. He had 160 sets of Model A rods on the shelf awaiting orders! I saw examples of his work and it is pure jewelry.

Bill had several new packages of water pump packings as well as a small drawer of loose new packings. He gave me two new packages and refused to let me pay him or replace them, as he said he now uses the modern seal pumps on his six Models As so he didn't use the lead packings any more.

As an aside, Bill and his lovely bride Annie (IIRC) drove one of their As from Bend, OR, to Nova Scotia and back a few years ago, without a chase car! He said the only problem they experienced was with the distributor and he had a spare unit to plug in.

Took me about 30 mins to get the new packings seated in the gland nut and to get the nut started on the threads and away went went towards Burns, OR. The water pump was leaking when we arrived at our hotel about an hour ago, but about 3/4 of a turn of the gland nut and she sealed up again. Of course, I'll be keeping an eye on it the rest of the trip.

Onward to Ontario, OR, tomorrow...

PS: If you need a set of rebabbited rods or a rebabitted main cap, do yourself a favor and give Bill a call at 541-389-2694. The man knows his stuff and can help you get your A engine down the road to a full rebuild. And a nicer Model A guy you will never meet!

10-27-2014, 08:46 PM	#40
Slotblog Senior Member Join Date: May 2014 Location: Norcross, GA Posts: 242	Re: Oregon to Georgia in a 1930 Standard Tudor Tom, Need to give you some feedback on your kind suggestion. Since I had not heard back from "Wm J" this morning, I tried the grease trick and it simply didn't work. I think I know why: the packing in the car had crumbled into bits when I finally removed it. I had PM'd "Wm J", who offered a seal to me earlier in this thread, through Ford Barn but he must not have seen it, as by about 10 AM I had not heard from him so we could connect. I called Ted Duke, a MAFCA member who had messaged me here to say he would keep his roster at hand for a month(!) and provided his cell number so I could contact him for local member info wherever I might be broken down. Ted found a number of MAFCA members in Bend and gave me four names and phone numbers. The first one was Bill Barlow and as luck would have it, he was "Wm J"! My A ended up in a bank parking lot and it was great that Bill's home was just two miles away. We GPS'd over to his address and knew immediately we were in the right place when we spotted the double stacked pallet of Model A engine blocks next to a storage shed at the end of his driveway. The garage holding his Model A collection has a further 23 blocks lined up along a wall. Turns out Bill was a MAFCA Technical Director in 2002-03 and is a machinist who re-babbits Model A (and T, I think) rods and main caps. He had 160 sets of Model A rods on the shelf awaiting orders! I saw examples of his work and it is pure jewelry. Bill had several new packages of water pump packings as well as a small drawer of loose new packings. He gave me two new packages and refused to let me pay him or replace them, as he said he now uses the modern seal pumps on his six Models As so he didn't use the lead packings any more. As an aside, Bill and his lovely bride Annie (IIRC) drove one of their As from Bend, OR, to Nova Scotia and back a few years ago, without a chase car! He said the only problem they experienced was with the distributor and he had a spare unit to plug in. Took me about 30 mins to get the new packings seated in the gland nut and to get the nut started on the threads and away went went towards Burns, OR. The water pump was leaking when we arrived at our hotel about an hour ago, but about 3/4 of a turn of the gland nut and she sealed up again. Of course, I'll be keeping an eye on it the rest of the trip. Onward to Ontario, OR, tomorrow... PS: If you need a set of rebabbited rods or a rebabitted main cap, do yourself a favor and give Bill a call at 541-389-2694. The man knows his stuff and can help you get your A engine down the road to a full rebuild. And a nicer Model A guy you will never meet! Last edited by Slotblog; 10-27-2014 at 10:06 PM.