'31 Model A Ford

[Bern_Davis]

I have just had my Model A restored. The car starts immediately and runs very smoothly once it has warmed up. However, I found on its initial trip out on the road that it ran well on flat roads, but had very little power on hills. It feels as though the spark is retarded, although the spark advance is in the down position. It does not back fire or stall. It just lacks power. Any guidance you can provide will be greatly appreciated.

[Aanderson44]

Have you checked the timing? Sounds like it might be off just a bit.

Art

[Charles2]

You may also wish to "fiddle" with the mixture control. You may be running a bit on the lean side. Try opening the control valve 1/2 turn and see whether that helps.

[Guest De Soto Frank]

What happens if you move the spark lever to the other end of its travel ?

[A by the sea]

Well you said you just had the car restored.

Call the guy and find out what he did wrong. You paid the guy to restore it than it should be properly restored depending on what you paid for.

A properly done to factory Model A will run 55 MPH all day long and stop confidently in a straight line, though many other may tell you different.

You might want to wander over to fordbarn.com or ahooga.com as they are the active Model A boards. There is a lot more info needed to solve your problem and you might be better off locating a Model A guy local to you.

[caf]

When I purchased my A it ran the same way. I checked the timing and found that it had been adjusted with the lever in the advance position. I retarded the lever and reset the timing and it made all the difference in the world.