My first post here & just wanted to Say Hi!

[LeonardS]

Welcome and good luck with your project!

[Ivan in southeast va.]

Whenever you see a group of model A's, an original looking "rusty" patina gets all the attention.

[mercman from oz]

Conaway2's 1929 Ford Model A Sport Coupe Project

[Conaway2]

Originally Posted by Terry, NJ

If I may be so bold as to offer some suggestions; Take the body off the frame and put it on a dolly so you have better access to the frame and drive line. Frame off restorations are always better in the long run. And this will give you access to the serial number of which you should be making several rubbings and keeping with your other documentation, The serial# number is located under the cowl on the drivers side. That will get you started down the right road. Save all you bolts etc separately ! Very few bolts on any car are interchangeable, not just Mod. A s) Don' Tap out henry's threads either ! Henry used tight thread fits for a reason. Remove all trim from the body, store it in a quiet place in the garage. Ditto for the radiator. That will get you started! Good luck!

Terry

X2 On Removing the body and putting it on a dolly ! I did that with my ‘31 roadster 30+ years ago and have done that with my newest project. I had 3 friends help me lift the body off the frame. The dolly has casters, so it’s easy to move it around. It makes all the difference in access to the chassis for repair work. Good luck - Jim

[BTERRY29]

Welcome. Enjoy the ride 👍

[Mlacombe]

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)

Looks great

[Ayers1]

Welcome to the Barn! I enjoy projects like yours because you can see a difference on a regular basis. Terry,NJ has a lot of good advice! please keep posting updates!

[Robbie Horn]

Not a whole lot to update but I picked up another 31 chassis yesterday. Drove nearly 800 miles round trip. That's 2 chassis I've bought within the last 2 weeks. All some people want is the bodied & titles. At least both of the chassis I got were not real nice cars. I'm stopping right here on that sore subject. It was a sedan chassis, engine turns but don't run, has decent front fenders & a real nice factory radiator & a good hood. Tried to post a pic but can't figure out how to do it. It's asking for the url & I don't know what that is. I had to find a new hose for my harbor freight sand blaster because mine dry rotted & cracked up. Also picked up four 100lb bags of blasting sand. Still waiting on a gallon of self etching primer that will be delivered tomorrow before I can do anymore sandblasting. I have the visor sandblasted, the part that goes over the wood header & under the visor above the windshield. Don't want to do too much because we are fixing to get some cold wet weather & I don't want anything to start back to rusting after I blast it. I have it all inside my shop but bare metal will rust pretty quickly & I don't want to chance it.I've been looking at different wood kits & the wood in my car. All my wood doesn't need replacing. I need a new windshield header & 2 top bows, bottom part of rear window & bottoms of both quarter windows. My Dad raised me to be my own plumber,electrician,mechanic, welder & carpenter. Computers weren't around then so I'm kinda computer illiterate. He told me when I was a little kid & he had to work on stuff to pay attention & learn how or I had better get a good paying job when I grew up to pay to have everything broken fixed. I'm pretty sure I can make everything except for the windshield header. If I had a old one or at least a half of one I could do it. Mine was completely gone except for a few rotten pieces that are not big enough to use for a pattern. I've been looking at poplar wood to make replacement wood parts out of. I know I can buy the header separate. I have some white pine 2x4's & I might try to whiddle one out. No big loss if I can't do it. Weather forecast rain everyday next week & getting down to 18 degrees which is too cold for me to work, plus I have to sandblast outside. My shop isn't insulated so I won't be making much progress next week. I'll be cruising around on the internet looking for parts that I know I'm going to need such as spring shackles, king pins, wheel cylinders, master cylinder, shock rebuild parts, all the different weltings, floor pans, & bunch of other stuff. During the cold weather I will also be on here reading & learning.

[Busmoss]

I am new here and have found the folks here are very helpful! Uploading photos have gotten almost instant answers to my previous "what the heck is this" line of questioning. You have found a great resource in this forum.
Very nice to see your project develop. Exciting! Best of luck.

[ETAModel]

Welcome to the addiction...you have a job on your hands, but a good friend has built 4 from the ground up, so I know it can be done.

I see we are practically neighbors...just a few hours away.
Good luck and look forward to seeing more pics.

[Terry, NJ]

Robbie, I forgot to welcome you! Any way Your Dad was right about that, but some things have changed since then. Frinstance. I and several others like to clean up the chassis and paint it with POR 15, Me, I like "Chassis Saver" from Magnet Paints in New york. Same stuff just a cheaper. Don't buy a gallon when all you need is a quart, Once opened, it doesn't keep well. And Don't get it on your hands! It takes weeks to wear off like the stain from real walnuts husks! Other wise, Great stuff! Doesn't require much de-rusting, just clean all the loose stuff off and paint. It does want a topcoat though. Another pretty good one is Benj. Moore's "Rustscat"! No primers, Just clean all the loose rust off and paint.
Another Thing, Ford stamped his numbers into the chassis ( Right under where the driver puts his feet) Not the body! When Buying a chassis, Get the Title with the serial # that goes with that chassis. Some states don't care about Titles and numbers, but some states get really sticky about them (NJ, PA, Ill. are just some) Some day, you may have to sell that toy and you'll want that to be able to sell it anywhere. So take rubbings of the number. It takes about five minutes, just lay a piece of paper over the numbers and with a pencil laid sideways, rub until the numbers appear. It won't be perfect, but then neither are Henry's number stampings Good Luck!

[Terry, NJ]

Just a few words about the wood inside a Ford A. Headers, I have a Town Sedan which are full of wood. I made some of the wood, but I bought most of it. One thing that I bought was the header. It's made of 5 pieces of wood (Ash) and is a little complicated for your first time. I'm a former Mechanical Model Maker for a large Corp. and I declined it. Why? Too many Radii and angles and the header controls the position of other pieces. I broke down and bought one. Like you, My header was gone, rotted away! Couldn't even use it for a pattern. Never mind the angles and Radii, I couldn't even get the Length, width, and the height right! Give yourself a treat and buy this one. I bought the Sills, Top wood, Header and some other pieces for slightly under $2000. from Classic Wood in No. Carolina, about 8 years ago. The way Ash trees are dieing around Pa. from the Emerald Ash Borer. Prices are only going up from here.
Terry

[Robbie Horn]

model a 11.jpg

Model a 13.jpg

Model a 8.jpg

model a 16.jpgFinally figured out how to upload photos again I think. we will see when I hit the submit button.lol I got the body taken apart pretty much. Removed all the wood except the door jambs which are still in good shape so I'm going to leave them there. Got started sandblasting today since we had some good weather. I had to burn or lose a vacation day from work today so I made good use of it. The gallon of self etching primer came in so I can prime it. Got all the rusted floor & rumble pans removed. I.m going to sand blast as much of it has I can before I remove the body from the frame. I'm going to sandblast the underside of the body also. Then metal prep it & prime it. After that I'm going to put it on one of my chassis I picked up & start making the rust repairs. One of the chassis is a runner & I'm going to use it to get it running & driving. I will eventually take the original chassis all apart & sandblast it & rebuild the original engine & drivetrain.

[Robbie Horn]

Here is my runner chassis & the tires & wheels I picked up. The chassis came from a 31 Coupe nearly identical to mine. The wheels are from a 35 & are 16's but I'm not building it to be judged for correctness. I'm just trying to get it going at this time. I have a 30 Model A street rod but I want to build/restore a original car with the factory 4 cylinder.

[Robbie Horn]

Well shoot. Keep getting a "upload of file failed" so I apologize for the above post without pics. It's getting late so I'm going to bed & will try to post some more pics tomorrow.

[Robbie Horn]

Ok. I think once again I figured out my pic uploading problem. My pics file size was over the threshold size for this site. I resized them & am trying again. Here is my temporary donor runner chassis. Then my factory rusted out gas tank & the 2 replacement tanks I traded for. Then the 35 wheels & new tires.

[Robbie Horn]

Here is the other chassis I bought. It doesn't run but the engine turns over. Both chassis I bought have been changed over to hydraulic brakes. When I redo the original chassis I'm going to rebuild the mechanical brakes. I'm starting to accumulate quite a few Model A parts. I'm going to need them in order to get this car put back to it's original condition eventually.

[Robbie Horn]

Now that I can post pics I'm gonna back up a bit. This car was just too far gone to clean up & make a ol rusty driver out of. I was afraid that since all the body wood was rotted out & all the rusted out places that if I did get it running & drive it it could damage the body if I hit a pothole.lol

[Robbie Horn]

Also I wanted to touch base about the body, engine & frame VIN numbers. My car came with a good clear Texas title as a 31 Model A coupe. I know the tittle matches the number stamped on the engine. I haven't got the body off to check the frame numbers yet. I did find a number on the body right in front of the front seat but it does not match the VIN. Supposedly Ford put a number on the bodies that was not related to the VIN during assembly fro the factory. The previous owner had transferred it into his name so all I had to do was transfer it to my name. I'm having a body tag made with the VIN & am attaching it to the drivers door jamb. This is the legal way to go in Texas. In the end when I'm completely done with this car, if the frame number matches I should have a all numbers matching car.

[Robbie Horn]

Made some progress this weekend. Got the body sandblasted & primed inside & out.