Free Advice

I almost forgot that on Saturday I stopped by my uncle's and picked up some parts that will help me light that flathead: battery, plug and coil wires (cool fabric/lacquered wires) then stopped by my engine rebuilder/Ford hot rod parts pusher friend to settle my debt for the Model T rear spring and check on a 3-bolt to 2-bolt distributor adapter plate so I can run the '42 crab style distributor.

Well, by the time I was done, I had traded a '34 stock front axle (that I got when I bought Twice Lucky's chassis) for the Model T spring, left my distributor and dropped off four Chandler-Groves/Holley 94 carburetors. My friend's going to have an old-timer with an old shop and working knowledge of ancient Ford technology set up the distributor (and possibly a second, spare distributor - you always need a spare) on his strobe machine (see, ya set up flathead distributors off the engine and they just bolt in place, ready to go - that's why you carry a spare: two or three bolts and you're back on the road) and rebuild the four carbs into two good ones (then I can run a single stock intake and have a spare carb, or have two good ones for a dual intake and just need one more rebuilt if I go that direction (doubtful at this time, considering the hassle of off-set mounting the generator).

Wow, that previous paragraph was just one (check; two) long sentence(s). Grammarians beware!

This brings me to the free advice/cajoling I had to endure from my friend, but he raised several good points that should help me save time and money, and maintain the period authenticity (and simplicity) I'm pursuing on this project:

1. Run a generator. Just convert it to 12 volts and hide the regulator somewhere (probably inside the firewall). What accessories do you need a (horribly expensive "generator-imitating") alternator for? For that matter, all the gauges I'm gonna run should be mechanical, anyway ('36 speedometer, temp, oil pressure; exception, obviously, is ammeter).

2. Why buy a new galvanized Model T tank? (He knows I already have a gennie one that I had blasted/boiled out) And what do you need a sender and fuel gauge for? (He's right: fewer wires, less expense, fewer gauges to clutter up the dash, and how far will I be driving anyway? Plus, I've always wanted to just use the Model T method anyway: the measuring stick).

3. Why not use the Arrow headlights I already have, that use sealed beams, rather than trying to take the time now to convert/set up the '36 Pontiac headlights I have (even though they have parking lights-which can become turn blinkers-in them). And as he was describing this to me, I decided that I can use the time saved on the headlights to cut up the rusty/hacked on Model A headlight bar I have and use it to make the period-style headlight stands that mount on the frame rails. I can always run the Pontiacs later.

In fact, I have to remember that this car's build isn't set in stone, just a period. I can always change/upgrade it later, just like folks did the first time around.

After he'd suggested all of this, I thanked him for the advice/reality check, and he qualified all that he'd just said by saying that I should remember it was only free advice, after all.

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