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inkaAG · 01-02-2020, 01:24 PM

Greetings!

I recently have been asked to resurrect a Model A for a customer.

It is an all original 1930 one family owned Tudor. The car was last driven in 1979 and has been in dry storage it's entire life.

The owner does not want any cosmetic restoration work, just make it mechanically sound enough for him to use in his town. Obviously everything on the car will need to be gone through but miraculously and a testament to how well built these things are, most things still work.

So this brings me to my first question. I have done a series of diagnostic tests on the motor including compression and leak down. These were done after oil replacement and soaking the cylinders in oil. Compression came back as follows : 1- 60 psi, 2- 65 psi, 3- 59 psi, 4-60 psi. From the limited reading I have done these seem to be great values for an A that has 86K on it. Cylinder bores look great but there is a ledge at the top. Here is my question though... leak-downs came in 50-55% (cold, can't test hot) and it is getting past the rings (hear it in the crank case). Not very good but curious what to expect on a model A engine, what this means for it and does anyone else drive one with these kind of values.

Normally I would just tell the customer we should just rebuild it but due to the light duty the car is going to see going forward I want to give him the option to resurrect if the community things it is worth trying.

Thanks for the help and I look forward to asking you guys more questions.

Andy

01-02-2020, 01:24 PM	#1
inkaAG Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2020 Posts: 7	Greetings and a Question Greetings! I recently have been asked to resurrect a Model A for a customer. It is an all original 1930 one family owned Tudor. The car was last driven in 1979 and has been in dry storage it's entire life. The owner does not want any cosmetic restoration work, just make it mechanically sound enough for him to use in his town. Obviously everything on the car will need to be gone through but miraculously and a testament to how well built these things are, most things still work. So this brings me to my first question. I have done a series of diagnostic tests on the motor including compression and leak down. These were done after oil replacement and soaking the cylinders in oil. Compression came back as follows : 1- 60 psi, 2- 65 psi, 3- 59 psi, 4-60 psi. From the limited reading I have done these seem to be great values for an A that has 86K on it. Cylinder bores look great but there is a ledge at the top. Here is my question though... leak-downs came in 50-55% (cold, can't test hot) and it is getting past the rings (hear it in the crank case). Not very good but curious what to expect on a model A engine, what this means for it and does anyone else drive one with these kind of values. Normally I would just tell the customer we should just rebuild it but due to the light duty the car is going to see going forward I want to give him the option to resurrect if the community things it is worth trying. Thanks for the help and I look forward to asking you guys more questions. Andy Last edited by inkaAG; 01-02-2020 at 01:39 PM.