Jump to content

My First Ford - 1930 Model A Tudor


Recommended Posts

Replaced the main wire loom yesterday. Today, added connector terminals for the horn & tail / brake lights to mate with what's on the new harness. Pretty simple. Much more simple than the Studebaker, especially since this harness is split into several smaller / simpler sections. There's only 13 endpoints on the harness, not counting the center "starting point" that is inside the switch housing at the bottom of the steering column. 13 endpoints: each headlight has 3 (so 2 headlight connectors = 6 of the 13 points), horn is 2 more, generator output is 1, brake light switch is 2, and brake/tail light is the other 2. That's it. The headlight connector insert that clocks the 3 terminals in each connector is marked with "R" "G" "Y" for red, green, yellow, so you know which wire goes in which point in the connector.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

Hasn't been much going on with this one. Brought it to the local cruise night a couple of times over the past year, and that's about it. Today, got to a show. This is to benefit my daughter's high school automotive program, so there's a personal connection for me. The trophies were from March 2020 - that show wasn't able to happen by only a week or two, and last year's was obviously cancelled.

20220319_01.jpg

20220319_02.jpg

20220319_03.jpg

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 9 months later...

Speedometer was squealing above 35mph, so pulled the dash, pulled the speedometer, and partially disassembled (hammered out a plug). Added a little light oil and reassembled. Meanwhile, the radiator was leaking. Pulled the radiator and took it to the shop about a week before Christmas. Their main guy was out for that week and the week following, and when he got back, they were backed up. Got the radiator back on Friday the 13th. They found 3 leaks and re-brazed the left side mounting bracket/strap to the core and repainted it. All for $60! I thought that was pretty good.

 

Got the radiator back in on Friday. On Saturday, installed the lower coolant return tube, and added 1/2 gallon of coolant (all I had on hand). Good thing - the tube was leaking. Really, it was the who-knows-how-old hose that was leaking. It just didn't seal back up. Found a usable preformed tube at the local store that I cut two short straight sections from to join each end of the lower tube to the radiator and engine. Got that installed this morning and added 1/2 gallon of coolant to check for leak again - all good. Added the other 2 1/2 gallons (3 gallons total) that the system requires and drove it around the block a couple of times.

 

Didn't get up to 35mph to check the speedometer, but no squealing for what I was able to drive today.

 

One other thing since that last entry - fuel gauge was leaking. I tightened it, and that stopped the leak, but the gauge rotated in the housing, so now it's tilted off to the side and doesn't really work. I need to drive a couple more gallons out of the tank to open it up and reset it to vertical. For whatever reason, when I bought the parts for this when I first had the car, I got a couple extra (cork) seals for the fuel gauge. So, I have parts to work with.

 

 

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Not a whole lot to do. Fuel gauge got twisted when I tightened the outer ring to stop a slow fuel weep, so I need to take that back apart and reset it. With radiator back from repair, the cap is leaking. Need to put a new seal in there, or maybe revert to the stock cap. This thermometer cap doesn't have real lugs to thread into the radiator neck. It's got bolted-on pieces of bar stock, which over who knows how long may have gotten bent or worn to where the seal just isn't there anymore. But it could just be a gasket.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

Somewhere in the past couple months I did the two things mentioned above - made a new gasket for the radiator cap, and removed / reinstalled the fuel gauge to get it lined up again. Also added back the short length of hose (7/16" id) that was on the bottom of the radiator overflow. I didn't expect that hose to come back from the radiator shop, and it didn't. So that stops coolant from weeping out under the hood.

 

Made up a couple of brackets to hold the LED brake light in place. The suction cups that it comes with are a clever idea, but having to stick them back on the glass every time I drive it just wasn't happening. There are convenient trim screws right there. They're countersunk, and I did dimple the brackets at the screw locations. Just some .025" aluminum that I had in the scrap box.

20230513_01.jpg.2ac190597e2df388a538c3665c5f17a1.jpg20230513_02.jpg.6fb3ec78af8c94309247ac46829ebcce.jpg20230513_03.jpg.1e8b6a468aebecc4b764cf60e3afe301.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...