The Ford Barn - View Single Post

German guy · 06-17-2024, 10:27 AM

I bought a 1930 Tudor (three door) 9 months ago and have been working to get it reliable. It drove well on the test drives and subsequent drives with the exception of shifting very hard...no shifts without a lot of grinding even double clutching and on flat roads...until a manifold gasket started to leak and I put it away for the winter. I did replace the bendix (US made original style) once after suspecting that was a starting problem in Spring only to find that it was inadequate grounding of the battery. At the 7 month point I drove it in a two day rally that took it through 300 km of steep hills and hairpin curves....quite an eye opener regarding how much work it is to drive/steer in those conditions and a real test of how much of a challenge to use the brakes early and often as well as getting enough RPM to keep enough steam to make it up the next hill without grinding a pound of gears to downshift to 2nd. Serious second thoughts about whether this is the classic car for me. At a fuel stop on the way home the car would not start and started giving that characteristic electric drill sound telltale of a starter/bendix problem. An ADAC (German AAA) push start got me home and into my barn/workshop only to find the flywheel side bolt of the bendix missing. I do not have a lift and dropping the transmission while the car is up on jacks did not appeal to me. I am getting a bit stiff in my old age. I had it towed to a reputable classic car mechanic who dropped the transmission only to find not one missing bolt...but THREE lodged in the transmission. The mechanic was quite surprised that nothing catastrophic had happened while driving. I am the fourth owner and the previous owner had it for less than a year and did zero work on the car so that means that the other two bolts dropped and were replaced while in the hands of the one who restored it after 47 years in a barn. He sold it off so that his wife would not be stuck with it while he died of cancer, so he is not around to ask. It seems that the traditional bendix is a serious problem for this car and I am not up for taking it to a specialist when the bendix self-destructs every few months. Now I am looking at an alternative. Meeting with the mechanic in a couple of days to discuss an alternative starter system. Any suggestions? I like the car as original as possible but will not be showing it. It needs to be reliable to make it worth owning as a sunny weekend tourer for 100 or so km. Is this perhaps a time to shift to 12V and a modern stater, alternator, coil, etc? Seems the12v switch should be manageable for about $1200-$1500.

06-17-2024, 10:27 AM	#1
German guy Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2023 Location: German/French border Posts: 104	Is the bendix a nigtmare? I bought a 1930 Tudor (three door) 9 months ago and have been working to get it reliable. It drove well on the test drives and subsequent drives with the exception of shifting very hard...no shifts without a lot of grinding even double clutching and on flat roads...until a manifold gasket started to leak and I put it away for the winter. I did replace the bendix (US made original style) once after suspecting that was a starting problem in Spring only to find that it was inadequate grounding of the battery. At the 7 month point I drove it in a two day rally that took it through 300 km of steep hills and hairpin curves....quite an eye opener regarding how much work it is to drive/steer in those conditions and a real test of how much of a challenge to use the brakes early and often as well as getting enough RPM to keep enough steam to make it up the next hill without grinding a pound of gears to downshift to 2nd. Serious second thoughts about whether this is the classic car for me. At a fuel stop on the way home the car would not start and started giving that characteristic electric drill sound telltale of a starter/bendix problem. An ADAC (German AAA) push start got me home and into my barn/workshop only to find the flywheel side bolt of the bendix missing. I do not have a lift and dropping the transmission while the car is up on jacks did not appeal to me. I am getting a bit stiff in my old age. I had it towed to a reputable classic car mechanic who dropped the transmission only to find not one missing bolt...but THREE lodged in the transmission. The mechanic was quite surprised that nothing catastrophic had happened while driving. I am the fourth owner and the previous owner had it for less than a year and did zero work on the car so that means that the other two bolts dropped and were replaced while in the hands of the one who restored it after 47 years in a barn. He sold it off so that his wife would not be stuck with it while he died of cancer, so he is not around to ask. It seems that the traditional bendix is a serious problem for this car and I am not up for taking it to a specialist when the bendix self-destructs every few months. Now I am looking at an alternative. Meeting with the mechanic in a couple of days to discuss an alternative starter system. Any suggestions? I like the car as original as possible but will not be showing it. It needs to be reliable to make it worth owning as a sunny weekend tourer for 100 or so km. Is this perhaps a time to shift to 12V and a modern stater, alternator, coil, etc? Seems the12v switch should be manageable for about $1200-$1500.