The progress on the Model A coupe, stranded on jack stands in my garage, has been a bit slower than I’d hoped for. However, with parts in hand and a little motivation on a weeknight, it’s all going back together. The best part is that despite how far apart it all looks, there’s really only a handful of bolts to deal with before I have a driving car again.
The whole teardown was due to sloppy kingpin bushings, which I replaced by installing refurbished spindles that already had new bushing pressed in and reamed to size. This saved me from having to source the special reamer to properly size the bushing if I pressed a new set into my existing spindles.
The fun part of wrenching on pre-war cars is the way they assemble in a very straightforward and intuitive manner. There are a couple items regarding the assembly processes that are worth discussing. One that’s always front of mind is a reminder to tighten the nut when assembling something, rather than the bolt. This allows a tighter connection, because you are removing the friction of the bolt in the part as you tighten things down.
The front axle went together quickly, and I even got to take it for a drive, but even just around the block it is clear there are a lot of other things to fix. The exhaust will be next, but if you are already exhausted by all this Model A talk, be sure to stick around—there are plenty of other projects in the garage to talk about.
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