1931 Ford Model A
Added 11/14/07
Now that the '31 looks "mean" it was time to do another performance enhancement. I really want to be able to burn rubber but all I can get out of her is a wimpy "chirp" when I blast off. I jacked up one rear tire and turned it while counting revolutions of the drive shaft and determined that I have 2.80 rear end gears. That's just fine for highway cruising and maximizing gas mileage (16mpg on the Shreveport trip), but absolutely horrible for off-the-line tire burning performance. I did a little shopping around and found a Mustang nut (remember I have '69 Mustang running gear) that specialized in rebuilt Mustang 3rd members (the pumpkin in the middle of the axle). I spoke to my buddies at the House of Hotrods and they told me that 3.55 gears would be great all around gears for burning rubber and cruising around. They were amused that I wanted to be able to smoke my tires off because they said all of their customers my age were generally interested in overdrive transmissions and such to maximize their mileage. Anyways, I didn't spring for the expensive posi-traction pumpkin, I just bought the regular gears. I'm going to be king of the one wheeled burnouts now! Check out the installation photos. I'll report back soon with a driving report on the new gears.
I'm putting it all back together in this shot. There is a plate at the end
of each axle with four bolts in it. All you do is remove the four nuts
from this plate and then reinstall the brake drum backwards back on the wheel
lugs by just barely putting on the wheel lug nuts. After banging a couple
of dozen times using the brake drum as a slide hammer, the axle slides right
out. Do this with both axles and now you can remove the 10 nuts that
attach the 3rd member to the axle.
This is the 3rd member I removed from the car with the 2.80 gears. I plan
on putting it and some of the other junk I've been collecting
on EBAY to recoup some funds for future hotrod modifications.
This is the "new" rebuilt 3rd member with the 3.55 gears. It's kind of orangy in color, maybe that's why people call this a "pumpkin"