I can't believe I haven't kept up on this blog. I've had so many fun Model A experiences since my last post. I've been driving the cars regularly so there have been a number of maintenance items and I've also enjoyed a few special times with people prompted by the cars.
Where to begin..
Toward a Reliable Daily Driver
I have continued to knock things off of the pick-up punch list. I've cleaned and adjusted the brakes, though the one drum has not been replace. I've replaced or repaired all the steering part from the pitman arm through to the tie rod ends. The distributor body has been adjusted and now the gap between the rotor and the buttons inside the distributor body is more or less consistent. The lights are rewired back to the original style and are functioning as reliably as one can expect using reproduction conduit connectors. The doors have been adjusted and, while they don't fit properly, the make a whole lot less racket and are unlikely to pop open. All in all the basic driving and reliability issues have all been addressed. Now, I feel I could take this car on the road and drive hundreds of miles in complete peace of mind. And, in fact, I have.
Surprised by Joy
Since acquiring the '31 pickup last September and despite how much I've always wanted a Model A pickup, I'd still underestimated the joy of owning one. Being a shade tree mechanic and a do-it-yourself homeowner, I seem to always be needing a pickup. Fortunately, our neighborhood is a close one and I've been free to borrow a pickup from a couple of different friends whenever required. But now I have my own and, man, have I used it!
Heavy Haulin'
Recently, I've be occupying myself in the backyard with some landscaping. That has meant hauling retaining wall blocks from Home Depot. While loading the truck with block the truck has drawn a crowd several times. I can park right in front of the garden section, nearly on the walkway and the employees just nod approvingly and the patrons take pictures with their phones as I load 'er up. People stop and ask questions, share their stories and their approval at the old truck being used as a truck.
Which brings me to how the truck functions as a truck.
At first, the tires I had on the truck were the ones that had been exposed to the elements the last 20 years while it sat at my dad's place. They had good tread, but were badly checked. No, that's not really right. They were deeply cracked and could fall apart at any time. I hauled the first couple of loads of block using these tires. The attached photo shows my first load, way too heavy. The truck was mashed to the limit of both the springs and the tires. There were actually no problems, but I worried about it the whole time so I decided to replace the tires anyway. Changing all five tires and tubes took less than two hours using a tire changing stand. Now the truck has all new rubber, Lucas 4-ply blackwalls, the cheapest tire I could find. Since changing the tires I've hauled six more loads of block at over 600 lb. per load. In fact, if the Home Depot is right about each block weighing 28 lbs. instead of the 20 lb. I estimated, then the loads were just over 900 lb. (33*28= 928) At first I had the tires under-inflated and 35 lbs or so. But after some consultation on the Fordbarn forum I raised the pressure to 50 lbs and the truck seems to handle the load safely and easily.
Another factor in hauling heavy loads was the rear leaf spring. Over the past couple of months I've been trying to level out the vehicle. It always sat left-side-low. I found in the process of inspecting the rear spring that it wasn't a standard 10 leaf pickup spring. The spring in my truck has only 8 leaves. Someone has softened the ride by using a car spring. If I continue to use the truck as I have this summer, I'll change that out to the stock spring and gain some more load capacity. I may also look into picking up a second set of wheels so I can mount some 6 ply tires on them and use those when I'm hauling stuff.
Family
I'm not the only one in the family who has fallen in love with our newest Model A. Dad and I talk more often on the phone, now that both of us have pickups we're working on. My wife now regularly requests that we go for rides and run errands in it. Just last night we went shopping in it and on the way home she skooched close and exclaimed how nice it was to be out together in this vehicle. My grandson likes it too, though he has no idea the car is special. He just likes riding around in a car with no seat belts and in which he can stand, poke his hand through the windshield, shift the gears, and hang his head out the window.
In June my dad came down for a visit. I bought some parts for the Model A's so we could tinker with them while he was here. We tuned and put new tires on the truck, and we put a Snyder 5.5 high compression head on the coupe. The head swap went very smoothly. We lapped the valves while we were at it and buttoned it up in just a couple of hours.
