The Ford Barn

1930artdeco · 11-01-2018, 09:22 PM

Just out of curiousity when the car didn't want to run I checked the rotor to dist. body clearances. Anyhow here are the numbers I came up with using my point feeler gauge.

#1 tight .035

#2 .067

#3 .035+

#4 .045

Now I have other original bodies to try out and I am going to get a new rotor as the this is has a loose rivet. My question is how do I build up the little metal tabs to bring the gap back into roughly the right figures? Solder?

Mike

Jim/GA · 11-01-2018, 10:09 PM

Solder is too soft and will burn away very quickly.

Bend the brass tab on the rotor up to close the gap. Grind a little bit off of the pins in the body to open up the gap on the closer pins.

Don't sweat the gap too much though.

daveymc29 · 11-01-2018, 10:41 PM

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Best to get all the gaps the same rather than sweat the exact number. I made all of mine right at .030 and car runs fine. Some of the older bodies will become misshapen by laying on their side for years. Might be able to re-form them before filing or grinding the little tips. I would try to tighten them in a vise to make them return to as round as possible. Try heating to 200 degrees in hot water the let them sit in the vise after you have found where to squeeze to make the round. I'd let them sit in the vise for several days with just a tiny bit of over flexing so they can return a bit and still be round. I have had success with some doing that, particularly some plastic ones. Bakelite not so much.

11-01-2018, 09:22 PM	#1
1930artdeco Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: Lynden, Wa Posts: 3,552	rotor to body distance Just out of curiousity when the car didn't want to run I checked the rotor to dist. body clearances. Anyhow here are the numbers I came up with using my point feeler gauge. #1 tight .035 #2 .067 #3 .035+ #4 .045 Now I have other original bodies to try out and I am going to get a new rotor as the this is has a loose rivet. My question is how do I build up the little metal tabs to bring the gap back into roughly the right figures? Solder? Mike __________________ 1930 TownSedan (Briggs) 1957 Country Sedan

11-01-2018, 10:09 PM	#2
Jim/GA Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: Young Harris, GA Posts: 1,821	Re: rotor to body distance Solder is too soft and will burn away very quickly. Bend the brass tab on the rotor up to close the gap. Grind a little bit off of the pins in the body to open up the gap on the closer pins. Don't sweat the gap too much though. __________________ Jim Cannon Former MAFCA Technical Director "Have a Model A day!"

11-01-2018, 10:41 PM	#3
daveymc29 Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Danville, CA Posts: 1,554	Re: rotor to body distance Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements) Best to get all the gaps the same rather than sweat the exact number. I made all of mine right at .030 and car runs fine. Some of the older bodies will become misshapen by laying on their side for years. Might be able to re-form them before filing or grinding the little tips. I would try to tighten them in a vise to make them return to as round as possible. Try heating to 200 degrees in hot water the let them sit in the vise after you have found where to squeeze to make the round. I'd let them sit in the vise for several days with just a tiny bit of over flexing so they can return a bit and still be round. I have had success with some doing that, particularly some plastic ones. Bakelite not so much.