My Daily Driver Model A

I've had a few requests for a post on my Model A, so here it is.

I found a 1930 Model A Tudor that a local guy had given up on. He was bored with it and made me a great deal because he wanted to see it turned into something. I set out to build a family hauler that would serve duty as a daily driver but still have all the fun a hot rod should have. The thought of a car with a gas sucking V8 being used everyday wasn’t going to work for me. I’m interested in alternative fuels, so a diesel was a natural choice.

I located a well used bread truck for sale with a Cummins 4BT diesel. After a very noisy 5 hour drive home in it, I got to work pulling the drive train. The Cummins is a tall engine, but surprisingly I was able to fit it under the stock Model A hood.

The chassis is the stock A rails, fully boxed and stepped in the rear. I made my own 2 link rear trailing arms out of some small I-beams and kept the transverse buggy springs front and rear. A 4 inch dropped CE axle and disk brakes all around buttoned up the chassis.

The heart of the drive train is the 4BT engine with a few tweaks to the injection pump. A 5 speed M5R2 transmission and a 9” from a ’59 Ranchero runs 2.72 gears. Surprisingly, those tall gears and the overdrive trans put the Cummins right in its sweet spot for great acceleration and mileage.

I chopped the roof 4 inches and grafted a ’32 Ford gas tank on the rear. The whole car is steel and after some help with the final body work, I painted the car with Custom Shop paint.

I found a stainless bezel from an old farm gas pump that reads “Gas Boy” and I thought with the diesel power it would be ironic to use that for the dash. I filled the dash with a random collection of gauges and my wonderful wife fitted the switches with some rare Motor Agate.

On to the show and tell.

Bringing all the parts home

Top chopping party

Mocked up next to my old pick up

Shop built rear suspension

Gauge surround

4BT Cummins brings neck straining torque and almost 30 MPG

Hey metal, look out!

So, I have lots of other things I should be saving or spending my money on these days but sometimes all that goes out the window when a deal comes along.

I've been on the lookout for a lathe for several years and they are usually too expensive, too worn out, too small, or most commonly, 3 phase power. The power deal is workable, just not something I wanted to deal with.

Craigslist has treated me well, and this was no different. This is a 14 inch swing with about an 8 foot bed Carrol-Jamieson lathe from about the 40's I would guess. So, I got it home, now how the hell to unload it without tipping this top heavy old iron over.

First we need a good anchor point to run the winch line back to the lathe. Winch it on and winch it off, all while pulling the same direction.

Next comes lots of cribbing and a good high lift jack. Once it's off the trailer and on the blocks, begin the task of jacking and lowering it down without squishing yourself. Repeat for the other end until it's setting on the shop floor.

Ta-Da! Push into position, wait until the shop is wired to start making mass quantities of metal shavings.

Give Me Shelter

Making some headway on the shop. The whole process slowed down due to a phenomenon known as April 15th. The mafia..er...IRS gets theirs first.

Anyway, the roof will be finished up today. It will stay a glorified car port for a while longer. The best news is Tamara is just as anxious to get it done as I am. When I move out of the space I share with her, then she gets it all to herself and doesn't have to hear my racket or smell my welding fumes, paint fumes...ect.

We have floor, and lift off!

Lots happening around here lately. The floor is all done and looks amazing. Nearly perfectly flat and oh so smooth. Sweeping will be a breeze.

The framing started today. Those 12 foot walls sure are tall! I'm guessing the framing will be finished up tomorrow and siding will go up until the roof trusses are ready.

We decided a while ago to move our electric meter so it isn't directly in front of the front door to our house. It will be moved the far side of the front of the house. I also obviously need power to the shop so today I made a huge mess of the front yard/driveway preparing to lay conduit tomorrow. Hopefully I'll get that all buried soon and get the driveway usable soon. I only have about 75 more feet to trench, but at least the rest is just across the grass. Then the water line comes in from another direction. Carlos loves all this fresh mud to play in. More updates to follow.

Foundation today, floor tomorrow!

Much progress in the one week.

The guys are going to town on this shop for me. So far we have been relatively lucky weather wise, considering the quantity of rain thats been falling.

All the footings were dug, perimeter formed, and poured last week.

This super trick material flinger truck was brought in to spread all the rock and sand for under the slab, since it is sooo muddy and the bobcat would make a giant mess.

Today they readied everything for the concrete trucks coming tomorrow morning. 22 yards of mud will be here in the morning. I'm excited if you can't tell. More to come

New Shop Coming Soon!

Finally! Yesterday our building permit was approved and completed. The wheels are in motion for my new shop which will break ground next week, weather permitting. I am SO looking forward to having a work space again. I have several repairs on my own cars I've been putting off and I can't wait to get back to doing side work.

The new shop will be a 30 X 40 with nice high ceilings for a future vehicle lift. Construction should take around a month, but is dependent on the early spring weather Humboldt County is known for.

The next few posts on this blog will most likely chronicle the building, but after that, expect to see lots more hot rod related stuff.