Motor rebuild

[Grapejuice]

Originally Posted by gweilbaker

MMMMmmm, remember the hot tudor from Sweden or somewhere over there that could run circles around most traffic? It had the aluminum spoke wheels.

GW

Didn't that one have a Cosworth motor?

[Richard in Anaheim CA]

That car is coming close to not being called a Model A
anymore.

I run babbit with counterbalanced crank and full pressure. The engine broke at 42,000 miles. The top of a piston broke off. The babbit didn't even need a shim removed.

I generally drive 60/62 mph all day long in overdrive at 1900 rpm.

Jim Brierely: Was that the 10 FWY or the 15 FWY you were driving at 156 mph?

Richard
Anaheim CA

[Dave in Boise]

I think that one had an offenhouser engine, etc.. It was a race car disguised as a Model A.. Ran like stink though.. Look up "Worlds Fastest Model A" on youtube

[gweilbaker]

Yeah, that's the bad girl, thanks Vince.

Dave, are you sure it didn't have one of them "miracle motors" in there?
From what I read on the old barn they were the mostest, bestest, and most reliable mills. Would not that serve 1928Pickuppain well?

GW

[1931 flamingo]

AWESOME! Thank's for sharing Vince. Love your posts and website.
Paul in CT

[1928Pickuppain]

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Hay thanks guys foor all the info and no wise ass statements . I want too keep the same moter I have becouse I have matching vin numbers it just some thing about keeping the motor and frame together like theve been for 83 years. See I have no doubt that model a motors can be strong but I dont realy beleve that there any one out there that can rebuild them like henry made them. My motor now must have an incredible amount of miles on it but i realy dont know how many. It was a daily driver its entire life only was ever parked for 6 years when I bought it. The story goes the origonal owner bought it in 28 and drove it as his only car untill 02. His mail man had been asking to by it form him for about 15 years. One day the old man came out asked him if he wanted it and signed it over to him for $1. The old man died that night into the next moring. the mail man turned around as he was in his 60s and out fit it will mail bins in the back and used it as a mail truck for two years. untill he went blind I bought it off of him. He told me in all that time when the old man owned it and when he owned it the motor was never rebuilt. and I pulled the oil pan to put new gaskits on it and it realy did look never tamperd with. So theres no doubt the model A motor was built strong but can they be rebuilt equaly as strong i feel i dont beleve and thats why i feel thers needs for mods make it strong like way back when.
probley sounds crazy lol.

[Ian Crawford]

Jordan is 100% correct.

[Ian Crawford]

Originally Posted by jordan

you just have to drive your car the way it wants to be driven. It doesn't matter if the motor was built to go 65 mph all day, if they body and chassis cant hold up to it, forget it. You have to get to know your car. Each one drives differently. If your car drives nicely at 65 mph, then go for it.

100%

[J and M Machine]

IMG_5687.JPG

IMG_4654.jpgQuote: See I have no doubt that model a motors can be strong but I dont realy beleve that there any one out there that can rebuild them like henry made them.

You're right as we build them better now with hardened valve seats and balancing them and using better materials than Henry ever thought of.
www.jandm-machine.com

[Joe K]

One of the "defects" I have considered in modern rebuilding is that a "ground crank" may be fine for use with pressurized lubrication (i.e. the crank journals are literally "buoyed" upon a pressure film of oil) and surface roughness becomes inconsequential to the life of the assembly. But modern ground cranks don't work nearly so well on a boundary lubrication situation like Ford's steel on babbitt.

Ford "superfinished" the crankshafts to achieve an original surface roughness almost unachievable at commercial crank grinders today. The "break in" of engines on the test stand (extant picture) was almost more for the "rest" of the motor. Things which Ford couldn't control in manufacturing, things like cylinder walls/ring match.




The 26K original mile AA truck chassis comes to mind. Engine was "loose" but very drive-able - not quite into the "whuppa-whuppa" stage. I drove it before the body was removed and I took the rolling powered chassis home. But that engine had probably NEVER been opened for a shim adjustment.

One person whose knowledge of these things I respect considered that the 75K was about the life of ANY motor without a filter/air cleaner - so Ford MAY have had that in mind. But the question may be was the crankshaft/lower end sized to the life of the unfiltered cylinders above it, or the other way around?

As to life - expect to change out shims perhaps three times in a 75K life of the motor. My truck (avatar) was on its 2nd motor (painted red) and that thoroughly worn out. (probably an Allstate Motor Replacement) The odometer read 43K miles (i.e. 143K miles)

I hope my rebuilder Knight Automotive can enter in and comment here. He's retired now but stops in occasionally for exactly that.

Six Million Dollar Man comes to mind: We can rebuild him. We have the technology. We can make him better, than he was. Better, stronger, faster.

The red paint will help...


Joe K