Mountain Fade Out

[marc hildebrant]

Group,

I headed out today for Ward, Colorado. Ward is at 10,000 ft and I left at Longmont which is at 5000 ft. I was wondering how the car would do at a good altitude.

Original motor with no mods.

The trip was up left hand canyon from route 36 around boulder.

As I was climbing , the car was O.K. but I could sense that the power was dropping slowly. Just before Ward, around 9300 ft, I lost a whole bunch of power. Now, I also had around 1/8 tank of gas.

Do you think that I lost the power due to height or should I have had a full tank of gas ?

By the way, engine braking worked great on the way down....

Marc

[1931 flamingo]

Possibly a combination of altitude and fuel flow, 1/8 tank not much especially if steep incline. Stayed in longmont in '78 when on a temp assignment at IBM plant, then moved to boulder, lots of nights up in nederland and then a long drunk drive down the canyon road, didn't see mork or mindy but same road, great time.
Paul in CT

[marc hildebrant]

1931 flamingo,

Nederland is another fun location. Its up 119 from Boulder and has a nice ski park there. Check out the "Frozen Dead Guy's Festival".

Ward is a "unique" place. Old Mining town.

I think that the sudden loss of power was due to the fuel too low and the steep angle of the road. Next time, I'll fill it up before the mountain trip.

Marc

[Ron in Quincy]

Marc,

For each 1000 ft. there is a loss of power; ask any airplane pilot as they have to consider elevation when flying to a new destination. Effects take off in perticular.

You might consider installing a high compression head if you are driving these altitudes; a little more power would no doubt be noticable.

Ron

[Ray in La Mesa]

We took the '28 roadster pickup up Pikes Peak after the High Country tour about 6 years ago. The power loss was noticable while going over the 9,000'-11,000' passes while at the meet but when climbing up to the 14,100' Pikes Peak elevation the power seemed to be only about 50%, very noticble!

[billwill]

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Originally Posted by Ray in La Mesa

We took the '28 roadster pickup up Pikes Peak after the High Country tour about 6 years ago. The power loss was noticable while going over the 9,000'-11,000' passes while at the meet but when climbing up to the 14,100' Pikes Peak elevation the power seemed to be only about 50%, very noticble!

your stories are better than reading about stuffup radiators and why MY model runing hot.

[glenn in camino]

My Deluxe Delivery would barely run at the top of Pike's Peak. It has a B engine, a Thomas 7-1 head and a webber carburetor.

[charlesea]

Glenn, In searching for Webber info. I found your question. I also have a B engine with a Brumfield head in a 29 Fodor. My problem seems to be that it loads up on gas when I first start it up for the day. After that it will start immediately for the remainder of the day. Is there anything you know that would cause it to flood & spit the gas out?
Thanks
Charles Andrews

[Bruce of MN]

I remember riding to the top of Pikes Peak with my Dad in his (now mine) '31 Coupe. I was 5 or 6, so I wasn't aware of loss of power, though.

[BRENT in 10-uh-C]

Originally Posted by charlesea

Glenn, In searching for Webber info. I found your question. I also have a B engine with a Brumfield head in a 29 Fodor. My problem seems to be that it loads up on gas when I first start it up for the day. After that it will start immediately for the remainder of the day. Is there anything you know that would cause it to flood & spit the gas out?
Thanks
Charles Andrews

Ummm, the Weber carburetor???


Seriously, the Model-A intake manifold has a heat sink area that uses the heat off of the exh. manifold to help vaporize the fuel. This is especially helpful during initial start-up to keep the manifold from "icing". Do you suppose this is what your issue is being caused by??

[charlesea]

Brent, I have the intake made for the Webber. Also live in Alabama. It has a lot of miles on the Webber & I was wondering if it might need rebuilding. If so do you know who works on them?

[BRENT in 10-uh-C]

Originally Posted by charlesea

Brent, I have the intake made for the Webber. Also live in Alabama. It has a lot of miles on the Webber & I was wondering if it might need rebuilding. If so do you know who works on them?

Many import shops do. What most Model-A Weber conversions are, is 'Model 32/36'. You may find you can buy a factory rebuilt (--or new) one cheaper though.

[Christoph]

Find tons of pics of german Rudolf Heckerodt
doing more than 10000 miles in south america
in his "A" and travelling in high altitude...

http://www.a-modell.de/17000km.htm#
(english available)

I had some mails with him and he told me that
he found his "A" having less probs with altitude
and bad roads than modern cars.

[David Martin]

Internal combustion engines need to have the G/A mixture leaned out as you increase your altitude. Not too many car owners are aware of this. To pilots, this is a constantly monitored item. Fortunately Model A's and Model T's have this adjustment in their "cockpits".

[James Rogers]

Originally Posted by charlesea

Glenn, In searching for Webber info. I found your question. I also have a B engine with a Brumfield head in a 29 Fodor. My problem seems to be that it loads up on gas when I first start it up for the day. After that it will start immediately for the remainder of the day. Is there anything you know that would cause it to flood & spit the gas out?
Thanks
Charles Andrews

Are you running a fuel pump?