[GinRicky]

Hello all, thanks for the responses. Of course just yesterday I dumped all the camera stuff from my phone onto my work PC, but I do have two pictures here at home from when I had just begun working on it:


Aaaaand I almost lost everything I typed because I was logged out before hitting submit. If the pics don't appear I'll put them in afterward.

As far as the condenser, that came complete with the new "modern" style distributor. Although it does run quite a bit better than it did on the original with all its shaft slop and ancient condenser, it is still doing the strange dying thing after a brief drive with the new distributor. There is only one thing left in the system that I did not address (other than internal engine) which is the junction box on the firewall. I had gotten sneaky and crumbled away some extra insulation on the various wires and laid gobs of liquid tape on them. Not great I know so I did take care of that this afternoon and ran a new wire from the switch out, eliminating the rest of the harness. Still runs the same, unfortunately.


However, one of the techs at the shop has what he calls his "Satan" box, which feeds separate ignition direct to the distributor cap and it ran beautifully again. The coil I'm using is a 12v that I obtained using a part number said to be a compatible modern equivalent for the Model A. Since I am now strongly leaning toward an ignition issue, I intend to swap the coil out of our old flathead 12v Allis Chalmers forklift as a test. Doing the spark to ground test the spark does look weak. Why it would run well at times and not others I don't understand yet but it could be that I have an incorrect or faulty coil.


I do have better pictures though, will get those here hopefully tomorrow. Other than that on the car, the wheel bearings seem satisfactory, I adjusted the brake rods and managed to restore more brake function than I could have hoped for; it stops itself downhill without too much effort. And the driver door glass was broken long ago, all the inside handles are broken, electric wiper motor isn't functioning though I haven't pursued that, no blade anyhow but the arm is still in the car. I found what remains of the original window curtain for the rear glass fallen off and under the
back seat.

The roof material is completely gone, just chicken wire and the round dome lamp remain. No lights work, although there is power to the switch that, surprisingly, still operates the horn! It gets a little stuck trying to make noise but a few trips of the switch and it starts working as intended, probably needs a servicing as one might expect after ~70 years.

Clutch operates normally, though it is all the way at the top of its travel. Original battery tray is still completely intact under the floorboard. The park brake lever seems to have been removed, which I don't quite understand. The linkage underneath to the rear wheels is all still there.

And I'll admit in the interest of full disclosure that I have temporarily rigged the front motor mount, utilizing what was left of the squashed bushings and a couple pieces of strategically positioned *cough pieces of cardboard. Hey, they used bailing wire and nails to keep it going originally. Yes, and the car came from South Dakota. An old farm vehicle that apparently saw the family through the Great Depression. The irony of getting it running again at exactly this time in history is not lost upon me.


Oh and Ernie, the original coil wire....literally fell off the coil the moment I touched it. It was beyond toast. The coil itself was covered in encrustation and various filth but I thought I could just make out some writing. The original "Ford" badge was still in place, black paint and all. Not surprisingly, the coil tested nil and the wire, well, it went out with the trash! Kept the coil though cause it's neat lookin.

I will also look into the fuel cap, eagle, though when it quit on me today it did not appear to have any spark. One of the things which did cross my mind was some kind of vapor lock, which, of course having no fuel pump would rather narrow that one down to fuel tank venting. I understand the Tillotson carbs don't have a filter screen as the Zeniths do? That may be incorrect but if the direction I'm headed in doesn't resolve it, going into the carb would seem to be the next likely culprit. I think I'm down to coil or armored cable, as well as ensuring proper tank venting. I know you're not supposed to screw the cable too far into the distributor so I didn't do that; yet another thing I might not have considered without the wonders of the internet. I did run it in a bit further today with no change. May need to also check for voltage at the points. Solid suggestions from you all. Start simple.

Oh, I also read elsewhere here not to overly tighten the distributor set screw, why is that? I can't conjure up any specific reason as to why not.