Nice score on the engine ! I worked on A Model T engine a number of years ago and was mystified by the poured Babbitt bearings. Perhaps back in the day poured and ground bearings were easy to do with the right tools, but without the tools, that sort of stuff is impossible to do. It's certainly a nice supprise to find out the engine was rebuilt with zero hours on it.
you can buy tools now, but by the time you buy all the tools and babbitt material, you will spend about what it cost to have someone do it for you. If you are building a bunch of engines, it might make sense. I may try it one day but thats a project for another day ;-)
I helped my Dad pour a babbitt bearing for the Hudson 8; he had done a Lend Lease Chev some years before, so he had the tin-lead material for the job; he just used a blow lamp solder iron and coated the area with fresh material, then set the big end up in a clay mold with a small bean tin container in the centre. Both these engines lasted a while, but the Chev lost oil pressure on a very steep pull, the Hudson got stuck in a muddy situation, and the bearing let go again.
Love hearing the the old "backyard babbitt" stories! Amazing how many people kept their cars on the road with these repairs but any forum or model A group today will tell you "that will never work...".
I would say that the crack originated from a thrown rod, probably at a slow revs. My experience with a thrown rod, a 1920s Rugby engine driving a machine to wash sapphire containing dirt/gravel/ore. I was all of 16 years old at this time. On the Gemfields, Central Highlands, Queensland, Australia, all manner of unregistered vehicles were driven about the diggings, my Buick being no exception. I used it to cart water and firewood to most of the older people in the town, I got 10 bob (10 shillings) ($1) for a drum of water and a pound for a load of fire wood ($2). We sawed the wood at the puddling plant, which was driven by a 40-year-old Rugby car engine. One day, we were sawing wood when the engine began to knock. Dad sent me home to get some oil, but that was not what was required. I arrived back to find a very discouraged Dad and a huge hole in the side of the engine with a connecting rod sticking out of it. This meant we also had no means of puddling the sapphire wash either. I took him home for a cup of tea. Later, I went back to look at the engine. I reasoned that if a single-cylinder engine drove it before, why do we need a four-cylinder one now? Maybe it would run OK on two cylinders, so I removed the sump and patched the hole with a piece of galvanized tin. Drilling holes in the cast with a hand drill. It was a Continental Red Seal motor; these people made reliable airplane engines in their day. Continental was stamped on the ‘Big-end’ bolt with a continuous underline from the C, weakening the bolt right where it broke. Number four-cylinder being damaged beyond economic repair. Running the firing order over in my mind, I removed the number one piston, thinking it would run evenly, but I hadn’t thought about the crankshaft balance and having pistons two and three traveling up and down together. I started it up, wow it acted like a kangaroo caught in a dingo trap. It nearly tore itself out of the ground. So, replacing number one and removing number three. This balanced the crankshaft, with one piston traveling up while the other traveled down. It ran OK but sounded like a Southern Cross diesel with a cold. We ran it like that for a long time without any trouble. Ted from down under.
Yes its possible a broken rod caused it, but the puzzling thing is why they didnt fix it while preparing the block for the rebuild. Very strange. Thats a great story! You might also enjoy the 2 cylinder model A engine Granpa Dan is currently building on his channel: www.youtube.com/@grandpadansfixit2080
BGack in 1950(!) my Dad and some of his pals had a small (former sail ) boat powered with a Rugby car engine (Durant in the USA) .It wasn't marinized and the exhaust manifold would glow red hot . They would go miles off shore fishing most weekends with a mix of fuel and water sloshing around in the bilge. The boat was named Glory .Anyway the boat sat unused in the reeds for a very long time and when Dad revisited the country in 2006 he went and had a look at the area and there tied up to a jetty was Glory, which had been renamed Glory B. She would be at least 140 years old by now.
Cool glad it was rebuilt and sounds like it runs great 👍. I am about in the same situation I bought a 30 A 2 door the previous owner passed away in 2014 and it sat until last year. The motor was locked up it and he never put oil in it. So when I took it apart i found out he had it rebuilt and never got to start it. I am missing alot of parts to the car in general but im just about at the stage for a test run. Been slowly buying parts here and there. I look forward to seeing more videos from you 👍
…Super Inspiring Model ‘A’ Ford Video ! … I REALLY Enjoyed watching this… thanks for posting …. I be gonna fire up a similar story 1929 engine I picked up about 35 years ago soon… it’s the 4th quarter … what am I waiting for ?!? Good job, sir ✔️ RD in Michigan
That's a pretty nifty block fix. As for the oversized pistons, I imagine you could have it sleeved if you really wanted to keep the block for whatever reason. Though realistically, the thing will probably outlive you if the rebuild was done right. It's fun looking at those old things and seeing just how simple they were. Pretty big contrast to the bikes I work on. 15 ponds of s**t in a 5 pound bag, magnesium blocks and aluminum bolts. Oh how I love aluminum bolts...🙄
Yeah these old model A engines are a lot of fun. Definitely much more simple than modern stuff. However I do wish these things had modern style shell bearings instead of babbitt- would make them super-simple to rebuild. But atleast no aluminum bolts ;-)
@@bigfastcustoms It can be done but I doubt very much if the cost ,which will include a custom crankshaft would be worth while .Here on YT a pair of old boys in Cal. have built a few Model A engines and set world records on the dry lakes with them. One has a girdle which has five main bearings.
Needed a few small things but overall we are in good shape! After playing with some of these motors, I give Respect to anyone who can take a nearly 100 year old engine that was basically written off and get it running again!
Nice score on the engine ! I worked on A Model T engine a number of years ago and was mystified by the poured Babbitt bearings. Perhaps back in the day poured and ground bearings were easy to do with the right tools, but without the tools, that sort of stuff is impossible to do. It's certainly a nice supprise to find out the engine was rebuilt with zero hours on it.
you can buy tools now, but by the time you buy all the tools and babbitt material, you will spend about what it cost to have someone do it for you. If you are building a bunch of engines, it might make sense. I may try it one day but thats a project for another day ;-)
I helped my Dad pour a babbitt bearing for the Hudson 8; he had done a Lend Lease Chev some years before, so he had the tin-lead material for the job; he just used a blow lamp solder iron and coated the area with fresh material, then set the big end up in a clay mold with a small bean tin container in the centre. Both these engines lasted a while, but the Chev lost oil pressure on a very steep pull, the Hudson got stuck in a muddy situation, and the bearing let go again.
Love hearing the the old "backyard babbitt" stories! Amazing how many people kept their cars on the road with these repairs but any forum or model A group today will tell you "that will never work...".
I love flathead motors! We need more channels that restore them. Show things like how to do the babbit bearings and carbs ect....
Been really enjoying these little A bangers! A lot of fun to play with for sure.
I would say that the crack originated from a thrown rod, probably at a slow revs. My experience with a thrown rod, a 1920s Rugby engine driving a machine to wash sapphire containing dirt/gravel/ore. I was all of 16 years old at this time. On the Gemfields, Central Highlands, Queensland, Australia, all manner of unregistered vehicles were driven about the diggings, my Buick being no exception. I used it to cart water and firewood to most of the older people in the town, I got 10 bob (10 shillings) ($1) for a drum of water and a pound for a load of fire wood ($2).
We sawed the wood at the puddling plant, which was driven by a 40-year-old Rugby car engine. One day, we were sawing wood when the engine began to knock. Dad sent me home to get some oil, but that was not what was required. I arrived back to find a very discouraged Dad and a huge hole in the side of the engine with a connecting rod sticking out of it. This meant we also had no means of puddling the sapphire wash either. I took him home for a cup of tea.
Later, I went back to look at the engine. I reasoned that if a single-cylinder engine drove it before, why do we need a four-cylinder one now? Maybe it would run OK on two cylinders, so I removed the sump and patched the hole with a piece of galvanized tin. Drilling holes in the cast with a hand drill. It was a Continental Red Seal motor; these people made reliable airplane engines in their day. Continental was stamped on the ‘Big-end’ bolt with a continuous underline from the C, weakening the bolt right where it broke. Number four-cylinder being damaged beyond economic repair. Running the firing order over in my mind, I removed the number one piston, thinking it would run evenly, but I hadn’t thought about the crankshaft balance and having pistons two and three traveling up and down together. I started it up, wow it acted like a kangaroo caught in a dingo trap. It nearly tore itself out of the ground. So, replacing number one and removing number three. This balanced the crankshaft, with one piston traveling up while the other traveled down. It ran OK but sounded like a Southern Cross diesel with a cold. We ran it like that for a long time without any trouble. Ted from down under.
Yes its possible a broken rod caused it, but the puzzling thing is why they didnt fix it while preparing the block for the rebuild. Very strange.
Thats a great story! You might also enjoy the 2 cylinder model A engine Granpa Dan is currently building on his channel: www.youtube.com/@grandpadansfixit2080
BGack in 1950(!) my Dad and some of his pals had a small (former sail ) boat powered with a Rugby car engine (Durant in the USA) .It wasn't marinized and the exhaust manifold would glow red hot . They would go miles off shore fishing most weekends with a mix of fuel and water sloshing around in the bilge. The boat was named Glory .Anyway the boat sat unused in the reeds for a very long time and when Dad revisited the country in 2006 he went and had a look at the area and there tied up to a jetty was Glory, which had been renamed Glory B. She would be at least 140 years old by now.
Long live the Glory B! cool story!
My Dad is 85 years old and just finished pouring and line boring one last month.😎
Nice! If you dont already know how, have him teach you so you can carry on that precious knowledge!
@@bigfastcustoms too late for that.
Cool glad it was rebuilt and sounds like it runs great 👍. I am about in the same situation I bought a 30 A 2 door the previous owner passed away in 2014 and it sat until last year. The motor was locked up it and he never put oil in it. So when I took it apart i found out he had it rebuilt and never got to start it. I am missing alot of parts to the car in general but im just about at the stage for a test run. Been slowly buying parts here and there. I look forward to seeing more videos from you 👍
Thanks! These have been a lot of fun to work on. Good luck on getting yours started up!
…Super Inspiring Model ‘A’ Ford Video ! … I REALLY Enjoyed watching this… thanks for posting …. I be gonna fire up a similar story 1929 engine I picked up about 35 years ago soon… it’s the 4th quarter … what am I waiting for ?!? Good job, sir ✔️
RD in Michigan
Thanks for watching and glad you enjoyed it! Get working on your engine- Its a lot of fun!
Looks and sounds great, well done 👍🏼
Thank You! It was fun to go through it! Thanks for watching!
A good job, well done; I can remember when model A Fords were a common sight on our Central Queensland roads. Ted from down under.
I have been having a lot of fun playing with these old beasts!
Very professional repair on the engine block. I can remember my dad doing that (but I had forgotten the process). The motor sounds good...
Thanks! Im pretty happy how it turned out all around!
I keep hoping to find one that nice
...glyptal, fresh babbitt, got lucky withthat one!
Yeah I definitely lucked out! Score of the year!
Need to see some more videos of your builds! Lets see that dirt racer!
That's a pretty nifty block fix. As for the oversized pistons, I imagine you could have it sleeved if you really wanted to keep the block for whatever reason. Though realistically, the thing will probably outlive you if the rebuild was done right. It's fun looking at those old things and seeing just how simple they were. Pretty big contrast to the bikes I work on. 15 ponds of s**t in a 5 pound bag, magnesium blocks and aluminum bolts. Oh how I love aluminum bolts...🙄
Yeah these old model A engines are a lot of fun. Definitely much more simple than modern stuff. However I do wish these things had modern style shell bearings instead of babbitt- would make them super-simple to rebuild. But atleast no aluminum bolts ;-)
@@bigfastcustoms It can be done but I doubt very much if the cost ,which will include a custom crankshaft would be worth while .Here on YT a pair of old boys in Cal. have built a few Model A engines and set world records on the dry lakes with them. One has a girdle which has five main bearings.
With enough time and Money, anything is possible :-D
well if it was rebuilt like grandpas garbage dose it you got screwed and scammed
Needed a few small things but overall we are in good shape! After playing with some of these motors, I give Respect to anyone who can take a nearly 100 year old engine that was basically written off and get it running again!