Help me! I'm a newbie with engine trouble.

[Guest imported_brian j]

Hi. Brian here. I'm a newbie to Model A's. I just recently bought a 1930 fordor model A that was an older restoration,still servicable as a "driver". I've driven it about 10 times for a few miles each time. It ran and started well. It would leak a 6 inch spot of oil every time i parked it after a drive. I'm assuming a rear main leak at this point. I kept it topped off with oil,so i never had a problem.Untill today. Driving speeds were kept to 35 MPH. All of a sudden it backfired once,and died. I couln't get it to fire. Plenty of gas. Opened up the distributor,and cranked it over. The distributor wasn't rotating. Towed it home,and pulled the valve/tappet cover off. Cranked it over. Not only was the distributor not turning, but the tappets were not moving. I'm hoping someone tells me that it's not too serious like a cam gear keyway letting loose or something. But i'm a little apprehensive that it might be something worse. There was plenty of oil that had circulated in the tappet area,and it had plenty of oil in the engine so i'm assuming the camshaft didn't seize up. Please help me on the possibilities before i get dug in to this job. Thanks much.

[Aanderson44]

Probably the timing gear on the Camshaft has "gone south" on you. Model A uses a gear on the front of the crankshaft, and a larger one on the camshaft for timing. If the cam isn't turning over when you crank the engine (valves not moving and distributor not turning), that is just about the only thing that can be going on.

Model A's, when produced, used a bakelite-impregnated woven fabric timing gear on the camshaft, for silent running, which did deteriorate over time. As you say this is an older restoration, chances are the cam gear was replaced with either a bakelite or aluminum cam gear. The aluminum gears (I had one in a '29 Tudor I restored about 40 years ago) are a bit noisy, but they did have some longevity. The other replacement gear back then (and I think they were around for some years) was a simple solid bakelite gear, which wasn't as good a unit as advertised--the one I installed was pretty prone to chipped teeth, so hence the aluminum gear.

It's not a major task to change cam gears. Of course, the hood and radiator need to come off, so that you have access to the front of the engine (you have to prop up the engine so that you can remove the front engine mount to remove the timing gear cover). This is where you will need to consult a service manual, for guidance as to how to line up the timing gears to get the correct timing.

Good luck! (seriously, it's not major surgery)

Art