The Nuanced Design Of A 1929 Ford Model A Engine

Have you ever seen an engine like this?

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[JAMSIONLINE]

If you see me at SEMA this week, stop me and say hello! Maybe I'll give you a free sticker... :)

[hartle]

My father was in Brazil as a young man from 1924 to 1936 and had a Ford garage.
When he returned to Germany, he brought with him various tools for repairing Ford engines, the use of which he explained to me many years later in our new workshop here in Germany.
The split valve guides were necessary because of the mushroomed valve stem. This large lower diameter of the valve stem was necessary to dampen valve noise and protect the camshaft along with an oil cushion between the camshaft and valve stem. The valves could not be adjusted by means of set screws but were "adjusted" tighter by grinding on the seat or larger by grinding on the stem The valve spacing was kept quite large from the factory or after a repair since an adjustment could only be accomplished with great effort.
For mounting the valve guides there was a special tool with which one could tap the guides in to place.
This comment comes from Germany and please excuse my, most likely awkward english.

[paulcheshire]

Ford ran split guides from in the T, A and B fours, the V-8 and V-12s. The tulip on the valve stem saved money and having a machinist and the equipment to do the keeper grooves. No costly valve spring retainer cap either. Ford was frugal but it also helped him to keep the sale price low and still make a profit.
Model A transmission crates were cut to be a direct drop in for floor boards after they were unpacked, other wood scraps were made into KingsFORD Charcoal at the Rouge plant

[stuffandjunkandthings]

There are a lot of theories, but I'm of the belief that the valves were made like that to cut down on complex machining procedures. With a modern type valve arrangement, the valves have to be pretty darn close to spec for the retainers to slide in at all, whereas with the bell ended valves, it could be pretty well wrong, and still work as intended. Likely made the assembly process more efficient too (looser tolerances = less parts rejected for quality issues/ less waste)

I have seen the wrong vales, way out of spec "small" ends, bent valves, and even one engine come in with eight different length valve springs- all with the customers saying that they "ran good, just using a bit more oil". It never ceased to amaze me the condition that the valvetrain, pistons, etc could be in, and the old flathead still runs about as good as it ever did.
The biggest issue we ever had was tearing then down and finding cracks everywhere (of course the model a engines were over 70yrs old when I was working on them, so I'm sure that had something to do with the conditions I saw)

[glennbarker]

I tell you what, that cleaning guy is coming along pretty well.... But seriously, great video. Nice work.

[krakhedd]

That's really awesome that you get to use your grandfather's old valve spring compressor on an engine of similar vintage 🤘

[jtcp]

I have to say that I've been binging your videos and although I'm a software engineer I want to work in a machine shop to do this kind of quality work. nice job!
if I lived anywhere near you I would not take my engine anywhere else.

[chucksgarage]

I really appreciate the fact that y’all are willing to work on everything that comes through the door. I have a much newer classic than this one (65 T-bird) and I’ve been flat out turned down by 2 transmission shops and supposedly the best upholstery shop in town. They have plenty of work and they don’t want to fool with my old car!

[j.robertsergertson]

I wish all machinist, mechanics took as much pride in their work as you do ! That "it's good enough" attitude is why Everything is crap and falls apart so fast! Your intellectual curiosity about the engine is refreshing I wish more young people had it! Keep up the good work 👍
Ps.that second patent date 7-10-23 was the day my Dad was born.

[Dan-gjhz]

Between the Jamsi and I DO CARS uploads, I am a happy man. Great video once again.

[flyfliker]

I own a 31 Ford. Watching and learning. Thanks.

[thomasdietrich]

Thanks to your videos I've finally found my calling. Unfortunately I retired after 44 years as a truck fleet mechanic. Really enjoy. Keep em comming.

[jayss]

Never worked on a Mode A engine but worked on a my granddad’s Ford 8n quite a bit which has a lot of the same peculiar things going on. I see there are 1 piece valve guide kits out there.

Another consideration just popped in mind. You aren’t worried so much I would thing about how much play is in the guide, but how close can you match the existing lifter/tappet. On every other type of engine you have pushrods or followers that allow some take up of tolerance whereas here the tappet is right on the valve.

I would think a template lifter sized for your machine plus the appropriate guides would true this up nicely.

[mcy]

As always, impressive standards and quality. Reminds me of a talk I attended of a NASA engineer. He said there’s artistry in the work of the best engineers. I would revise to “best engineers and machinists”. Thanks for the great content!

[simentalg]

Love the cleaning guy his full of knowledge

[gregoryschmitz]

I love it and realized I had one of those valve seat tools in my old tools stuff (mostly from my Dads we salvaged). I went right to it and got it out and now I know what it was for and at least used on Jeeps and maybe others in the 46 to 64 period before he died in a boat wreck.

[thesoviet]

I grew up working on these, cool to see one on YouTube.

[michaelreynolds]

I had one of those valve spring compressing tools that we found in our barn/garage when we moved into our house in 1973, I kind of knew what it was for but never what application.

[kaden]

check out kieth Rucker vintage machinery kieth does alot of babbitt pours and does a good job explaining them

[zdog]

There is something beautiful about the engineering of this engine. I'm about your age so for me the easy seems like how it's setup today with the valves in the head, but I forget the casting and technology of the time. It's a pretty elegant solution to their limitations.