[{"_1":2,"_212":-5,"_213":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_130":131},"root",{"_5":6,"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":12,"_110":111,"_112":113,"_114":115,"_116":117,"_13":118,"_119":120},"cart",["P",6],"isLoggedIn",["P",8],"footer",["P",10],"header",{"_13":14,"_28":29},"shop",{"_15":16,"_17":18,"_19":20,"_21":22,"_25":26},"id","gid://shopify/Shop/59249131576","name","Stampede City Model A Ford Club","description","","primaryDomain",{"_23":24},"url","https://everydaymodela.myshopify.com","brand",{"_27":-5},"logo","menu",{"_15":30,"_31":32},"gid://shopify/Menu/190087069752","items",[33,44,50,56,62,68,74,80,86,92,98,104],{"_15":34,"_35":-5,"_36":37,"_38":39,"_40":41,"_23":42,"_31":43},"gid://shopify/MenuItem/437589803064","resourceId","tags",[],"title","Activities","type","HTTP","https://everydaymodela.myshopify.com/active",[],{"_15":45,"_35":-5,"_36":46,"_38":47,"_40":41,"_23":48,"_31":49},"gid://shopify/MenuItem/437589835832",[],"Newsletter","https://everydaymodela.myshopify.com/script",[],{"_15":51,"_35":-5,"_36":52,"_38":53,"_40":41,"_23":54,"_31":55},"gid://shopify/MenuItem/885673001016",[],"Member's Cars","https://everydaymodela.myshopify.com/members_cars",[],{"_15":57,"_35":-5,"_36":58,"_38":59,"_40":41,"_23":60,"_31":61},"gid://shopify/MenuItem/437589901368",[],"Classifieds","https://everydaymodela.myshopify.com/ads",[],{"_15":63,"_35":-5,"_36":64,"_38":65,"_40":41,"_23":66,"_31":67},"gid://shopify/MenuItem/886586179640",[],"Speedometer","https://everydaymodela.myshopify.com/speedometer",[],{"_15":69,"_35":-5,"_36":70,"_38":71,"_40":41,"_23":72,"_31":73},"gid://shopify/MenuItem/885673033784",[],"Library","https://everydaymodela.myshopify.com/library",[],{"_15":75,"_35":-5,"_36":76,"_38":77,"_40":41,"_23":78,"_31":79},"gid://shopify/MenuItem/885673066552",[],"Articles","https://everydaymodela.myshopify.com/blogs",[],{"_15":81,"_35":-5,"_36":82,"_38":83,"_40":41,"_23":84,"_31":85},"gid://shopify/MenuItem/885673132088",[],"Club Tours","https://everydaymodela.myshopify.com/blogs/tours",[],{"_15":87,"_35":-5,"_36":88,"_38":89,"_40":41,"_23":90,"_31":91},"gid://shopify/MenuItem/885673164856",[],"Links","https://everydaymodela.myshopify.com/links",[],{"_15":93,"_35":-5,"_36":94,"_38":95,"_40":41,"_23":96,"_31":97},"gid://shopify/MenuItem/885673230392",[],"Policies","https://everydaymodela.myshopify.com/policies",[],{"_15":99,"_35":-5,"_36":100,"_38":101,"_40":41,"_23":102,"_31":103},"gid://shopify/MenuItem/885673099320",[],"Contact","https://everydaymodela.myshopify.com/contact",[],{"_15":105,"_35":-5,"_36":106,"_38":107,"_40":41,"_23":108,"_31":109},"gid://shopify/MenuItem/904161820728",[],"Search","https://everydaymodela.myshopify.com/search",[],"canonicalOrigin","https://scmafc.ca","gaMeasurementId","G-5VSNYGM1JW","gaRespectCustomerPrivacy",false,"publicStoreDomain","everydaymodela.myshopify.com",["P",118],"consent",{"_121":122,"_123":124,"_125":115,"_126":127,"_128":129},"checkoutDomain","checkout.scmafc.ca","storefrontAccessToken","6a55a04c27d80e55b535d0072bb9c139","withPrivacyBanner","country","US","language","EN","routes/blogs.$blogHandle._index",{"_132":133},"blog",{"_38":134,"_135":136,"_137":138,"_139":140},"Build Logs","handle","build-logs","seo",{"_38":-5,"_19":-5},"articles",{"_141":142,"_203":204},"nodes",[143,164,177,190],{"_144":145,"_147":148,"_135":149,"_15":150,"_151":152,"_160":161,"_38":162,"_132":163},"author",{"_17":146},"scmafc_webmaster scmafc.webmaster@gmail.com","contentHtml","

Part 7 by Michael Callander (age 21)

After many more hours of restoration, a discerning eye can tell that progress has been made.

Unfortunately, to the untrained eye, it will not be until all of the parts are painted that the restoration will look visibly different.

The past 6 months have seen a shift in focus from the doors to the box and rear cab panel. I had taken a closer look at the doors to see what lay underneath including stripping all of the bondo off on one side. The reason I did this was that I did not actually know what was underneath the primer and feared it might be heavily covered in bondo from when the truck was first purchased (the seams welded shut indicate this may have been an unsuccessful hot-rod candidate at one point).

I found patch panels that were lap-welded, with much of the original sheet metal missing. It would be very difficult to restore the proper contour of the door with the patches, and even if I had left the bondo on it would have been difficult to make it look convincing. I looked at another pair of doors donated by Paul Chudek. These were in much better condition but needed some patching at the bottom where the water collected over the years. I finally decided to replace the doors with new ones.

A new roadster door costs $600 US brand new. My solution to this was to apply for the last time for the Model A Youth Restoration Award. I could have applied sooner, but I thought I had all the sheet metal I needed, and I still had some certificates left for LeBaron Bonney when I needed the upholstery. As soon as I decided I needed to buy a set of new doors I thought of a bunch of other things I needed including the wood for the cab and a dash panel. I checked the deadline for the grant, and it was in 3 days. Never have I been so determined to get through paperwork so quickly. Thankfully, the award coordinator, Bob Moore, was flexible, and I got it all done in time.

I could not work on the rest of the cab before I got the new doors, so I decided to remove the box and do as much body work on it as I could while I waited. The front panel and tailgate are usually the most warped pieces on a truck because of the cargo shifting around from front to back. My truck was no different.

Years of throwing things in the back had forced the front panel forward and I had to shrink it. I was able to straighten out the top rail and the bottom fold to get my dimensions right without using any heat. I then did a heat-shrink on 13 different spots, fixing one rectangle at a time. Murray Walkemeyer showed me a few years ago how to do a heat-shrink, but I had never tried it by myself on a panel this big. I definitely made some mistakes, such as hammer too hard or heating up too much, but I learned that I could fix my mistakes. The panel actually turned out remarkably well - straight and smooth. I like heat-shrinking because it reminds me of blacksmithing – you get to hit things and play with fire.

There was one small hole that needed to be filled in this front panel. It looked to me like it was from the warped front panel rubbing on the back of the cab, and it actually rubbed a hole right through it. Before creating a patch to weld in I tried filling it with weld using Mike Hill's mig welder. I kept burning through the surrounding metal and it didn't stick, so I went to plan B. I cut a patch from an old filing cabinet door and welded it onto the front of the panel because the front is not easily visible when the vehicle is assembled. It will be easy to put a small amount of bondo on the front and sand it to the contour of the panel.

Working on the sides of the box was really easy. There was a slight bow, but it looked to me like it wouldn't be visible with the naked eye, so I left it. There was only one spot that needed to be heat-shrunk and the rest of it was just hammer and dolly. This took only a few hours. By the end of this year I have finished half of the box: the driver's side and the front.

I did some work heat-shrinking the rear panel of the cab in order to put the box back on for display purposes. This is the vehicle that will be on display at Heritage Park until the end of April for their restoration display. Looking at the gap between the cab and the box, I can now see that I did a very good job straightening the panels, going from the panels rubbing on each other to being equally separated.

The last item that was accomplished during this period was the final stage of the wheel well installation – welding it in. I had a co-worker, Ed Moore weld it in and he did a great job. This means that the spare tire can now go in once that stage comes.

As mentioned above, this vehicle will be featured in Heritage Park's restoration exhibit from January 29th to April 28 . During this time no work will be done on the vehicle. It will be a teaching tool to show the public the type of work that is involved in restoring antique automobiles, as well as knowledge of the Model A and our hobby. This works well because I don't normally find time to work on my Model A during school anyway. This brings to conclusion the end of an exciting 6 months of restoration.

$\"\"$

","the-biggest-christmas-present","gid://shopify/Article/569028640824","image",{"_15":153,"_154":-5,"_23":155,"_156":157,"_158":159},"gid://shopify/ArticleImage/116562264120","altText","https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0592/4913/1576/articles/Callander1.png?v=1775448299","width",1438,"height",1082,"publishedAt","2026-04-06T04:01:33Z","The Biggest Christmas Present",{"_135":136},{"_144":165,"_147":166,"_135":167,"_15":168,"_151":169,"_160":174,"_38":175,"_132":176},{"_17":146},"

Jim's technical tip by Jim Cannon

Torque is actually a measure of the twisting force on something, like a nut or a bolt. When you tighten a nut, you are actually stretching the bolt or stud that the nut is turning on. It is the stretch of the bolt or stud that provides the strong “clamping force” that holds everything together tightly. Think of the bolt or stud as a very powerful spring. You stretch it out when you tighten the nut and the stud or bolt “spring” keeps pulling it together. If a stud or a bolt is weak, due to age or corrosion, it will often break under the intense stress you are applying when you torque the nut.

Although Ford did not publish torque values “back in the day”,there are many values published today for nuts and bolts on a Model A. I recommend you follow them as a guide and use a torque wrench. Today's modern torque wrench “clicks” when you get to the desired torque. When it clicks, stop tightening. If you are going to insert a cotter pin into the nut after it is tight, keep turning the nut beyond the point where the wrench clicks, just until the cotter pin will slide in.

All published torque values, unless it clearly states otherwise, are for tightening a nut or bolt with clean, dry threads. This means the rust has been cleaned off of the bolt or stud threads (I use a wire brush) and they have been wiped dry. No oil or grease or anti-seize compounds should be applied to the threads that the nut will be turning on. (If you'd like to, a small drop of oil can be applied to the face of the head or other surface that a nut is tightening against, such as the boss on the top of a head, where the stud goes through the head.)

If you lubricate the threads on a stud or bolt, it will be too easy to turn the nut as you torque it. So when you stop at your target torque (say 55ft-lbs for a head nut) you will have stretched the bolt or stud more than 2 times as far as you would with the same torque with dry threads. This will be like over-torqueing the nut and can result in the stud or bolt breaking, the stud pulling out of the block, or the head or block cracking, due to too much stress on it. That will ruin your day! So clean the threads before you start, keep the threads dry, use a torque wrench, and stop pulling the instant the torque wrench clicks. You'll be glad you did.

","torqueing-nuts-and-bolts-on-your-model-a","gid://shopify/Article/569029754936",{"_15":170,"_154":-5,"_23":171,"_156":172,"_158":173},"gid://shopify/ArticleImage/116564525112","https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0592/4913/1576/articles/cartoon-about-torquing-nuts-and-bolts-in-a-vintage-ford-model-a.png?v=1775497169",1248,832,"2026-04-06T17:36:46Z","Torqueing Nuts and Bolts on Your Model A",{"_135":136},{"_144":178,"_147":179,"_135":180,"_15":181,"_151":182,"_160":187,"_38":188,"_132":189},{"_17":146},"

by Dan Adams

On May 12th (Mothers Day!) a restart of the membership workshop series commenced with disassembly of the Tupper Club Project Car's rear end segment. We had a delayed start this day to allow members to participate in more important matters….Mothers Day!! For breakfast in bed and brunches associated with the celebration we started in the early afternoon.

The workshop portion of the club car project had a number of members attending the session at the clubhouse. Members able to attend included; Chris Brancaccio, Paul Chudek, Barry Osborne, Gord Rouse and son James, Glenn Smith, and Murray Walkemeyer (Project Manager).

The project began with removing all service and emergency rods connecting to the brakes. A floor jack was positioned under the rear differential before disconnecting the u-bolts mounting the rear spring to the frame.

Next up was pulling the rear axle drums. At this stage there were a number of variations of brake drum pullers in discussion with variations and types of different pullers that can do the job. And a variety of them there were, some good and some not so good.

Next step was removal of the rear spring from the axle housing perches. A couple variations of spring spreaders were reviewed by the group lead by Murray's technical knowledge of the tools and types. After selecting a spreader, and using it to spread the spring allowing the shackles to be removed and the spring removed from the housings in one piece.

Onto the rear brake backing plates where two groups formed, each successfully removing the rear brake backing plates from the housing. A review and discussion involving cats drums, woven brake linings, steel drum thickness and tolerances was engaged to all member’s benefit. Axle hubs and roller bearings were checked for bearing wear and score.

The rear end assemble was positioned using a floor jack to allow the axle assemble including drive shaft to be maneuvered about. The axle housings and exposed drive shaft were then moved by manual grunt and helpful hands onto a handy home-made holder (created by Murray) that had been previously attached to the engine stand. Manual lift over, the home-made mount on the engine stand allowed the entire tri-assemble to be rotated using the engine stand (without any backs going out!). This provided a platform for easy removal of the axle housings from the banjo differential housing. Next up was removing the torque tube housing the drive shaft. The needle bearing (near speedo gear) was removed from the torque tube and the tube unbolted from the differential including the security lock wire.

The drive shaft pinion nuts and lock rings were removed and inspected. The drive shaft c/w pinion nuts was removed from the differential housing and interlocking differential ring gear using a puller specific to that operation, not allowing pull bolts to have direct contact, potentially damaging or scarring the pinion flange portion of the differential housing. Pinion gear and drive shaft were inspected resulting in some discussion as to whether the drive shaft was an OEM or after market due to the diameter.

Next up was removing the crown gear and pulling out the spider gear assembly, thus allowing axle removal.

After dis-assembly, all items were inspected for wear and gathered for required cleaning to be done at a later date. Since rear end assemblies are not an aspect that owners do daily, there is always something to learn or “remember” when participating in a rear end disassembly workshop including techniques used by various members to accomplish similar goals.

Parts were organized into categories, clubhouse/shop was cleaned, and we even located an original NOS axle that Paul recalled we had in the loft storage. Onto the next stage……..clean, re-assemble, including any new part installs and setting that darn back lash!

An enjoyable day was had by all with some member fellowship!

Photos by Barry Osborne

$\"\"$

","tupper-car-club-project-rear-end-disassembly","gid://shopify/Article/569030017080",{"_15":183,"_154":-5,"_23":184,"_156":185,"_158":186},"gid://shopify/ArticleImage/116564918328","https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0592/4913/1576/articles/RearEnd.png?v=1775500137",1430,1026,"2026-04-06T18:25:38Z","Tupper Car Club Project – Rear End Disassembly",{"_135":136},{"_144":191,"_147":192,"_135":193,"_15":194,"_151":195,"_160":200,"_38":201,"_132":202},{"_17":146},"

When I bought my first Model A (see the December 2023 Script), I convinced myself that I wanted a project. That delusion featured such phrases as”it will be more fun to restore one as I learn about them”, and “I might finish before my six-year old son moves out”. Turns out, the dream didn’t quite match up with reality in the end.

$\"\"$

The car I purchased was a relatively rare 1928, Canadian-made four door phaeton. I genuinely enjoyed working on the car, but in the end, it was just a bit too much work for the time I have in this phase of my life.

$\"\"$

The challenges were, in no particular order:

Having rotten top bows and a long wait time for interior and tops
Being a multi-disc clutch, but having worn out transmission teeth and ring gear (replacement parts not being easy to source (even the disassembly tool isn’t easy to find)

$\"\"$

Having body damage on just about every panel
Having brakes so worn out they’re being held together by nails
and so, so very many other things

At the same time, I’d had a lot of fun working on the car. I’d learned a lot about every system, and it became a father-son bonding activity on a lot of different days. My little guy learned about working on a vintage car, using heavy tools, and using critical safety gear.

We even discovered that the car was numbers matching, with frame and engine numbers matching:

$\"\"$

That said, with life being busy and only a few hours a week to work on the car, I found myself going out to the garage less and less each week. Despite trying to take each task one at a time, the mountain was just a little too tall to climb. On top of which, I attended meeting after meeting and heard about all the fun SMCAFC members were having, and realized I really wanted to be out there driving.

I my heart of hearts, I wanted a drivable car.

With only a double car garage on a little city lot, and having an electric car to charge in the other bay, I didn’t have the luxury of keeping the phaeton if I wanted to pick up a drivable A.

The last thing holding me back was the story of the car. When I’d picked it up the gentleman I bought it from had been trying to find restoration homes for a group of cars. He was a hot-rod guy himself, but had been helping out with an estate disbursement and was carefully auditing people to find folks who wanted to restore the cars instead.

$\"\"$

The phaeton on the day it came home

After I committed to selling the car, I started down the same road of trying to audit people as best I could. I talked to a ton of folks, and finally found someone who said he wanted another project. He’d restored a few cars and talked an educated game, and though he talked me d own in price to next to nothing “because it’ll take a lot to restore this one”. I was losing a bunch of money on the deal, but I figured it had been an education, and I felt good that I was doing the best I could to keep the original owner’s restoration goals alive.

$\"\"$

The phaeton on the day it went to its new home

Unfortunately, it turned out I got fed a good line. A week after I dropped the parts off at the buyer’s house, he had it relisted for more than I’d paid for it. You never can tell with some people, and it definitely left a sour taste in my mouth, but such is life! Hopefully the car ends up with someone who treats it well, but I have to confess, I don’t hold out too much hope (the tow truck driver who dropped it off said he didn’t realize anyone restored these anymore).

That said, when my new car arrived from BC, all my regrets went right out the window. The car has been wonderful, and I’ve already put a ton of miles on it with more to come. Though I hope to restore an old one again sometime in my life, the driver route really was the right one right now, and there’s hopefully time for both later.

$\"\"$

Life is never boring, is it? See you on the road!

Adam

","when-one-door-closes","gid://shopify/Article/569030967352",{"_15":196,"_154":-5,"_23":197,"_156":198,"_158":199},"gid://shopify/ArticleImage/116569997368","https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0592/4913/1576/articles/Model_a_and_Tesla.png?v=1775572591",4032,3024,"2026-04-07T14:29:55Z","When One Door Closes",{"_135":136},"pageInfo",{"_205":206,"_207":206,"_208":209,"_210":211},"hasPreviousPage",true,"hasNextPage","endCursor","eyJsYXN0X2lkIjo1NjkwMzA5NjczNTIsImxhc3RfdmFsdWUiOjU2OTAzMDk2NzM1Miwib2Zmc2V0IjoxMX0=","startCursor","eyJsYXN0X2lkIjo1NjkwMjg2NDA4MjQsImxhc3RfdmFsdWUiOjU2OTAyODY0MDgyNCwib2Zmc2V0Ijo4fQ==","actionData","errors"]

Build Logs

The Biggest Christmas Present

Torqueing Nuts and Bolts on Your Model A

Tupper Car Club Project – Rear End Disassembly

When One Door Closes

Quick links

CHECKOUT OUR E-MAGAZINE The Script