Lern me Model A's

Looseness in a Model A can have a lot to do with tire pressure. Most folks forget and run them at 30-35psi like a modern car. Those skinny tires like 55-60 psi a lot better and the car will track much nicer.

Could also be wear in all the bushings. Lots of little things will stack up to be a big thing.

You can buy an over/underdrive gearbox for them that might help. There were different ratios available so if it has numerically low gears with a heavy body, it will be a slug up hills.

Glad you had fun.

In reply to ShawnG :

Good word on the tires. They had plenty of tread, but they were old and flat spotted from sitting for a long time. No idea what the pressures were. 
 

I was giving it some leeway... I'm assuming some improvements from tires, bushings, etc. I was just trying to figure out if a Model A can shoot in a straight line reasonably well when set up properly, or if they are all generally pretty sketchy. 

There's a lot of really poor condition "restored" Model As and Model Ts out there.

Parts for these cars are dirt cheap as far as classic car parts go but the owners are usually old and really cheap. They think because you could buy a running T for $50.00, 50 years ago, they should still be that cheap.

A lot of parts which shouldn't be in service still are because the owner thinks "oh, I'll only drive it a little / not that hard / around the block" so they let stuff slide, then forget about it, then the wheel folds under on a tour because the kingpin  has been shot for a long time.

The good news is, everything is available and any known issues all have very reliable fixes being produced for them. You really can't own another car from the era that will be easier to take care of.

In reply to ShawnG :

That's really helpful. Thank you, Shawn

ShawnG said:

In reply to spitfirebill :

Where's the abrasive on a business card?

Dohhh.  I Never thought the matchbook had to do with the striker cleaning the points.  I thought it was just the cover to set the points. 
I feel sooooo stupid.  
 

Edit:  so I guess throw a couple of books of matches in your tool pouch.  

Shawn's giving all the right advice.  I'll add and amplify with these:

• I've also seen incorrect tire pressure cause shimmies and shakes.  Sometimes a change of 5 lbs will mess everything up.
• Steering boxes can have a lot of wear on most cars.  A properly rebuilt one makes a big difference.
• A lot of these cars end up with steering stabilizers or other things that treat symptoms instead of curing the problem.   If a stabilizer is on there, something isn't right.
• Bent wheels are very common as are wobbly, flat spotted tires.  A lot of these cars have very old, hard, wonky tires.  Sounds like the one you drove needs tires.  Jack up each corner and spin the wheels to see how bent they are.  Put the best two on the front.
• Alignments are often way off.   My 1928 Model A, which was a nearly perfect restoration when I bought it, had 3" of toe in and darted all over the road.  I got the car cheap ($9K) because the owner was told that's how Model A's are and he was afraid to drive faster than about 20.  I even told him I could fix it and he could enjoy the car, but he wanted it gone. Caster matters a lot and a bent axle is fairly comment.  Axles can be bent back for the correct caster.
• Small hills shouldn't be a problem.  It's very common for the points to be gapped wrong, the base timing to be set wrong, or the timing rods to be set wrong.  I've also seen steering columns clocked slightly wrong, which caused the timing lever to not give full advance.  It's also common for the carb linkage to be wrong and only get 1/3-1/2 WOT.  
• Regarding the timing lever, you don't really need to adjust it on the fly.  Retard it to start, go to full advance, and drive.  If you want a really slow idle (sort of bragging rights for Model A guys--they even have contests at shows), retard it at idle.   Otherwise, full advance and forget it.
• Regarding double-clutching and rev matching, if the trans is fresh, you shouldn't have to do either going up as long as you give it a little time.  You do need to double-clutch going down, but if you're rev matching, the trans is getting tired.  Most transmissions are pretty tired, but pretty easy to fix.

Like I think I said earlier, try to drive at least five cars before you buy.  Four of them will probably be like the one you just drove, but maybe one will be right and you'll know what to look for (or buy that one).

Almost forgot. If it has the wrong oil in the transmission, it will be an absolute bear to shift. The gears are heavy and have a hard time slowing down enough to get into the next gear.

Some folks will put 90wt gear oil in the transmission, this is way too light and will leak out as well. The correct oil is 600wt and you can get it from any of the Model A parts suppliers.

600wt helps to slow the gears down for smoother shifts.

I love that these old cars are finally being respected for what they are.  When I was coming up (‘80s), a decent Model A had almost zero chance of escaping the street rod treatment.  It was even worse in the ‘50s through the ‘70s.  I love archaic cars and think a cross country trip in one should be on just about any gear heads bucket list.  I prefer WW2 era Jeeps though.  They really aren’t much more advanced than a model A.

Really good info here. You guys are awesome. Thanks!

Speaking of slow idling contest, I once had a 304 V8 in a 74 rust bucket Jeep with points ignition and a Motorcraft carburetor that was set up fairly well.  Once fully warm, I was able to turn that carb all the way down to 200 rpm at which point it would start to throw oil out of the rear main seal.  I never could understand why it did that.

Just stumbled across this:

https://tampa.craigslist.org/hil/cto/d/tampa-1929-ford-model/7145129471.html

In reply to SVreX (Forum Supporter) :

There is a 1931 Ford 5 window coupe ( more leg room than the 3 window ) with a rumble seat for sale in Los Vegas for $6666 on barn finds. Looks to be a solid value.