The Nuanced Design Of A 1929 Ford Model A Engine 

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

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.

This split valve guide actually allows the valve to "float" a little to enable it to seal on the valve seat. I actually have one of those tools somewhere and my Uncles rebuilt many of those old engines back in the day. This float allowed the seats to be slightly misaligned and for the tooling of the day it definitely sped up building of the engine valve train

The first shop I worked at had wood plank floors and opened in 1917. There were several old machines in the back area of the machine shop. The equipment was there for babit bearing pours, piston knurling, ring groove cutters, and I specifically remember a pair of spring pliers that didn't have the ratchet mechanism. The foreman used to use them to see how long he and the rest of us could hold springs in tension. The manuals were one of the more interesting items that were there, plenty of times people doing restorations on stuff from the 20s and 30s would come by just to take pictures of or scan specific portions of the manuals. There was a seat at a small counter that we used to call "the library", there was no way we were going to allow a manual or document to leave the shop. If you wanted to do some research and were a known customer, by all means have at it. That shop is still there and still putting out good work to this day as far as I know. One last thing, flat head engines were still common up until the 80s in industrial equipment. Continental, Massey, etc

Hi Jim! I think Milt’s sold in the early 60s, Gould had it as a NAPA store in 1970. I just sold all my grandfathers model A tools last summer he had all the tools to rebabit those engines.

You and the new guy going into grandpa's old toolbox got me right in the feels.

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

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)

I am 69 years old and have seen lots of different engine design features in that time. This is the first early ford engine I have seen, and your description of these differences and how you will overcome them is what makes the JAMSI channel a true stand out. I cannot wait for the next work on this engine. Enjot SEMA, careful not to spend too much.....

I used to work at a small engine repair shop in SC (Battery Electric Co) in the late 2000s that also did some carburator and machining work. The machinist (Lewis) was in his late 70s and he poured babbitt bearings, ground crankshafts, and stitched cracks in cast iron blocks (in addition to the more standard stuff). We had a pretty steady stream of model-A & model-T blocks and cranks in the shop from all up and down the east coast. Pretty cool.

my father has been an automotive machinist for 45+ yrs he used to do babbit bearings. definitely a lost art

I'll continue to watch and learn about this engine. I have a 1929 model A coupe I've been restoring for the last 15 years. Maybe I'll have it done by it's 100th anniversary.. 😁

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

I did auto restoration for several shops, including 1 shop where I was the Model A chassis and driveline specialist. I think there used to be a company if my mind serves me right that used to make insert bearings for the mains and probably for the rods too. We didn't do too many engines in house, but sometimes we would have problems with a vender built piece, so I would be called on to make it right. We had a lot of problems with valve sealing for the same reasons you found. Since I was also the shop machinist I made a pilot that located off of the valve guide bore and locked tightly from the bottom with a bolt. The cutter spun on the pilot. This setup was sturdy enough to hand cut pockets for seat inserts. As for the flared ends on the valves, machining grooves or drilling holes to fit a retainer took at best several seconds. Henry Ford found that if you induction heated the end of the valve and forged the end in a punch press it took less than 2 seconds. The retainers were also hot forged by punch press..

this why you need a small manual lathe, turn some custom bushings to get this type of work done

It’s hard to find good cleaning guys like that anymore. 👍

My dad owned an engine shop in Tampa Florida. Even in the 70's there were few that did the Babbitt bearings. I worked for him as a teen and we did a few. He would do the bearings then had a long grinder that he mounted just like a crankshaft so all the bearings were straight, true and the same dimensions.it was amazing the crud that the old oil from decades before could build up.

a bit of a heads up from what I can see there's still a lot of life in the babbitt in that block and the rods. If there where still more then 2 or 3 shims in the mains and connecting rods they still are in usable range. the way to adjust a babbitt crank is to remove shims as needed to tighten the crank and rods to fit for proper running so if they still had a stack of shims it's still fine

Your videos are getting better everytime we all enjoy them.

Keith Rucker from Vintage Machinery has a great video on pouring babbit bearings

Looking forward to seeing you guys work more on this engine. I'm currently in the process of semi-restoring a 31 Model A for my neighbor. Had a local blowhard trying to convince my neighbor that he just needs to slap a new set of bearings in and she'll be good to go. I spent the next 30 minutes trying to explain what babbitt bearings were and that you don't just order them from a catlog

Babbitt is interesting stuff, it's not as common today in car or truck engines. Though there are still some Machined that use it for high load bearings or the need for precision tolerance. That aside, for a lot of babbitt bearings, if they're not loose or have chunks missing, deep gouging, embedded contamination (shards of metal, dirt, corrosion, etc) it's often best to leave it alone. But if you are resizing, the heat it with a torch to melt it off/out. Fit your cores and measure for oil holes. Fit your mould walls, soot up anything you don't want it to stick to, pour the bearing. Check the work after the first pour cools. Check it, place to paper or gasket material shims to give room for the crank dimensions, ad the second pour mould then your core, pour again. Check for adhesion, bore to size, drill oil holes if needed, carve channels for the oil, chamfer the edges smooth, deburr remaining edges. Make a sacrifice to the pagan gods. Hope you don't have to do it again because it's not correct.

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

It's good to see someone taking so much pride in their work. Doing it as it should be not just doing it as everyone else has because "that's how we've always done it". Keep up the good work!

Really cool to see how different the designs were in the old days to accommodate their tooling, capability, and assembly and such. Have fun at sema! Some of the other guys on youtube put an indycar engine in a pickup truck to show off there. Would love to see that myself.

Well done and very interesting. I've owned my 1931 Model A for 55 years; had the engine rebuilt at a machine shop in Escalon California in 1979 and installed it in 1992 - have 23000 miles on it and it runs like new - stock as a rock. Can't wait to see what else you do to that old block. Killer machine shop tag on the side!

It’s an old 4 cyl Briggs and Stratton. I’ve set up a few ford flatheads. The adjustable lifters make it easier. The old style are a pain if your not set up to grind to fit. Replace the worn guides. It’s worth it.

In our shop we also had a knurled for the skirts of pistons to reduce clearance in a worn bore and worn skirt. Thanks for the memories!!

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

In my machine shop days (early 70’s) I went a few times out to a customer site with, from what I remember, a Kwik way piece of equipment which bolted to the top of a flat head block. These were old WWll search lights and they needed new valve seats. Because they had a few valve jobs before, I would have to cut a pocket with the Kwik way and install new Stelite seats. Then grind them with the white stones from Goodson. I actually might still have the kit?

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

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!

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.

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.

I inherited 3 model A's from my grandpa and a whole box of tools like that. I'm looking at my valve spring compressor now and they definitely look similar but different than yours. U.S. patent # 2,119,128

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.

Love the cleaning guy his full of knowledge

I noticed that Eckler's makes a conversion kit to modern one piece valve guides and modern valves. Maybe installing that kit means machining valve seats will be easier, too. Also, I noticed that they sell things to convert to insert bearings, but it says certain machining procedures are needed. I'm not sure if those are procedures you are equipped to do.

Keith Rucker makes pouring bearings not to bad, so long as you have the proper shaft

Looking forward to more info on this block! I have a '28 block, a lathe, a mill and an urge to give it a go. 😄

Thank you JAMSI for sharing this great automotive technology of Henry Ford. Greetings from Borneo Island! Your "cleaning guy" need more screen time to share his automotive story back in the day😁😁😁

This is way more interesting than watching someone tweak an engine computer or do another dang LS swap. A combined engineering and history lesson. 👍

An old timer once told me (in 1972ish) that when he was a kid in the 30’s that they would replace the Babbitt bearings with a leather belt section. It would last a weekend for partying purposes before it would knock a bit. Then they’d do it again for the next weekend! I don’t know if he told me the truth but he sure could spin a great story.

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

I put a lot of miles on a Model A in the early 2000's. Used it as a daily driver. Never had to get into the engine. Excellent little car.

I have one of those valve spring compressors. I had no idea what it was. That's awesome to finally know what I have and what it turned out to be.

That's just the way they went together...as you grind and cut the valve and seat, the dimensions are going to change for tappet clearance. No adjustable lifter. I build A and B engines...one on the stand now. AER has modern guides, that press in, and valves with straight stems and two piece keepers. Then all your seat grinding problems go away. Install new adjustable tappets. Contact me for a discussion

There is a guide that you take the guide out and put it in the parent bore of the guide !!!! I have some for flat head engine's!!! Came with my soix seat grinder 😊👍👍👍👍

send the Pistons to Line2Line coatings and have the skirts built up with thete abradable coating. that'll fix your clearance wear issues. pouring babbit bearings is easy. however, iirc, there's a company that makes insert bearings fpr those engine's, I'm fuzzy on the details but guys hace been converting those blocks forever

Keith Rucker of vintage machinery demonstrates regularly how Babbitt is poured and what that material it is

Looking forward to the Model A rebuild, and the work on the Jag too! Hey, I've got that K-D spring compressor tool so I'm in good company. Used it on my flathead International Green Diamond engine. Also, the old, old family heirloom toolbox is a nice touch.

Thanks for posting this video. I've never seen an engine that old torn down and found it very interesting to see and understand the differences from then to now.

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.

Valve stems were designed that way for a couple reasons. One is because the stems ride directly against the cam with the guide so far away that there was the risk of bending valve stems from deflection. With a wider tip it spreads the load and helps reduce deflection. I think Briggs took note of this phenomenon and is probably why you will see tappets that sit in a guide bore with the valve stem tip in many of their flathead engines.

I'm very excited to see the work done on this engine. Older engines have always fascinated me, especially flatheads. I'm also hoping to see y'all work on a 7.3L Powerstroke if one ever comes in.

Find “secrets of speed” or “scalded dog” racing the guy to talk to is Charles Yapp. There’s a whole following of horse power guys with those 201cc bangers. The Babbitt can be replaced with insert bearings

My grandpa said he machined temporary bronze guide that he could pop in and cut the seats then pop back out to install the split guides afterwards, may he rest in peace, but i asked the very same question about runout when i was 16, good lord that seems like yesterday but I'm 36 now lol

Love your videos Man! You seem like a great guy. Totally appreciate your work ethic and focus on quality! Your attention to detail and clear explanation of your project and what you plan to do and the follow through is always impressive! Haven't watched all your vids yet but I'm working on it. Keep up the great work brother. I'll be watching for the next one.

Funny how I did a tune up at work the other day on a model A and now you guys are machining an engine for one. I'm the resident Ford fanatic at the shop I work at and between my boss and coworker, I'm the only one that knows how to operate a model A... "Hey, show us how this thing works!" Guess I was just the guy for the job because I've owned a '29 myself. The customers issue ended up being in the distributor. Several years ago he had it serviced. Someone put a whole new swashplate (I think that's what you'd call it) in it and didn't lube the lobe and sweeper for the points and so the point gap closed up on it.

A grand video. Love seeing the old stuff. I would think machining a sleeve would be the quickest/easiest way to go.

Always enjoy the content, fascinating how far we have come with the internal combustion engine!

Awesome! Amazing what these guys did with the tooling available. Look at those castings for the water jackets. Eh, water can get through there were good! 😂 Keep up the good work! Excited to see the rest of this series as well as finishing up the Jag.

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.

Absolutely loved seeing this engine block! Everything is similar to today's engines but the differences are fascinating! Thank you!!!

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.

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!

I’m looking forward to seeing the rest of this machine work!

Looking forward to seeing the solution you come up with!

Best video yet. Love the technical side, but the local history side is so interesting

I grew up working on these, cool to see one on RU-vid.

Thank you for showing this, just found your channel, thumbs up, and I've subscribed!

Excellent work, Jim!

Awesome video thanks for sharing!

Love the content, I'm not really a car guy or even a machinery person, but I find this stuff really interesting to watch for some reason 🤣 it's probably because I know almost nothing about the topic, but it's just interesting to learn new stuff everytime you upload.

I certainly enjoy the video. Looking forward to watching future videos.

As somebody else mentioned, the Ford 9N tractor, introduced in 1939, used the mushroom head valves and split guides. Sometime in the production run (I forget when) of the 9N, 2N and 8N variants they switched over to one piece guides and split keepers. It’s standard during overhaul to go to the one piece guides and split keepers. Finding an engine with mushroom valves is unusual. Before anyone gets the idea that there is any parts interchangeability between the Model A and the tractor (common misperception) there isn’t. The four cylinder engine used in the tractor is half of a flathead Ford V8. At every tractor show somebody comes up to me and pronounces that the engine must be an upgraded Model A. Wrong. The only thing shared is a single electrical part, the cutoff.

I appreciate the beer belly you're cultivating too compliment your dad's belly.

Wish these guys were out my way. The skill and sincerity makes a difference.

Hats off to MILTS, they used a quality tag to mark their work, the good old days.. not a writable sticker that lasts 2 years...

I am an "old" restorer of Model A's, have never heard of Milts, but the go to parts (new and used originals) is Bert's Model A in Colorado. I believe, they are still in business, I bought a used Model B motor from them for my latest restoration, it is similar to the Model A block but with bigger mains and rods journals and partially pressurized oil system which most restorers these days convert to full main/rod/cam pressurization. All the original rod/main bearings were poured babbit bearings, not commonly done today, so most new rebuilds get converted to modern shell bearings. There is a new block being made by Terry Burtz that has 5 mains and full oil pressure system, he also has a new 5-main crank available as well as rods and lightened flywheels for long-type clutches.

Kieth Rucker has great videos on the Babbitt bearing process

I saw the beginning of this video on TikTok. I'm so glad I found this video.

Saw your Facebook short, had to see this beauty on the long version! New Subscriber, amazing work!

I Really enjoyed the video, especially seeing grandpas old tools!

Did quite a few flatheads back in the day. Learned how to pour and fit babbitt bearings to the crankshaft .I think I still have the tooling

With babit you usually pour the babit around the part with dams then machine an oil grove. You use the soot from an acetylene torch on the shaft to keep it from sticking. no line boring.

That's amazing. My yt recommendations came up with an original video of building model A engines last night and I thought that it would be good to have a closer look at one. Now this video is released

I bet whoever owns that shop is a happy guy. Great explanation.

naw , 9n ford tractor , split guides too . they have updates to later solids . sure makes a valve job intersting , but done a few , by hand . some inframe . usually the valves have wide or called "tulip" style for retainer

These old machines are an important part of our history. Those engines made America!

My '41 Ford 9N tractor has those style of valve guides. It has clips that hold the split guides into the block. I'm pretty sure that they offer one piece guides for replacements.

Very nice video. Thank you.

Great video. I learned quite a bit on old flat heads.

Love all your videos. Would like to see some "complete" rebuilds from pulling the engine to putting it back together with all the machine work and parts, especially with the machine work on the block and heads to get them back into specs after years of use. Information on the taper and accuracy of the cylinders from the centerline of the crank to the balance of the assembly. One of my first jobs was at Sundance Automotive in Albuquerque NM. Sadly at the time, I was not up to par with what they needed and they did not consider helping me get better but they worked like you do to get it right.

Really excited about this one.

I worked in a auto parts / machine shop about 55 years ago, at that time there was a replacement bearing set for the model A, maybe they are still available.

I'm amazed someone doesn't make main & rod bearing inserts for that eng. after almost 100 yrs.

This is really good stuff wish your shop was here in UK. You do nice work and take care .

My strategy here would be to machine a little brass or bronze bushing on a lathe that would fit the valve guide hole fairly tightly and then use that to guide the regular valve pilot for the seat cutter. However, that's coming from an engineer and we all know that us engineers aren't held in high regard by machinists.

Great video! Create an insert on the lathe to use as a guide for your seat cutter.