Mark Hayward Is My Hero » candy

Setting the Timing on the Model A Ford

mark — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 07:06:36 +0000

I spent some time in the garage today trying to set the timing on my family’s 1930 Model A Ford. I think it can be done with just one person, but I’m going to have to get some help. As a part of the process you have to put the crank into the front (it’s a very old car) and crank the engine over while pushing on a pin to find a specific point in the engine cycle. Once you find that spot you can adjust the timing accordingly. The problem that I ran into tonight is that I think the pegs on my crank are worn so that I really needed two hands to keep the crank in place, but I still needed a hand to push on the timing pin. I’m going to see if I can get a friend to come over tomorrow to help me out.

Here are some tips on setting the timing on a Model A Ford for any other novices like me. These are all tips based on the instructions for setting the Ignition Timing (pg 2-18) in Les Andrews’ book The Model A Ford Mechanics Handbook Volume 1, by Les Andrews :

In Step #1, the breaker point gap is the space between the end of the little silver arm (the breaker point arm), and the tiny adjustable screw, under the black plastic disk (the rotor). It was a bad moment for me when I didn’t even know what the book was talking about in the first step.
In Step #2, a really good tool for bending the rotor tab up or down without marring it is a big crescent wrench.
In Step #5, when it says to “fully retard the spark lever on the steering column” that means push it all the way up.
In Step #7, when you have reversed the timing pin and are feeling for the small recess in the cam gear, keep in mind that it is very small, it takes two full rotations with the crank to get back to the same point on the cam gear, and the small recess will be there when the rotor is pointing roughly toward the front of the car. For me this operation took a good deal of time and a LOT of patience. I hope it is easier for you. While you can only turn the crank in one direction, if you go past the notch just a little bit you can grab hold of a fan blade to go back a bit.
In Step #14, when I tightened the cam locking screw, I had to turn the cam a little farther counter-clockwise than I wanted it to end up in order to account for the movement of the tightening screw.
Don’t forget to screw the timing pin back in, and remove the crank before you try to start the car.

In the end I ended up being able to set the timing by myself, it just took longer than it would’ve if I had had someone helping me, or if I had known what I was doing.

In other news, Harper just got promoted to Pro status in WeeWar, so we have been playing a game on a huge new battlefield with crazy new tanks and other features. I love WeeWar.

Also, I still have a massive pile o’ chocolate from ChocolateFest. Yay!

ChocolateFest Day 4

mark — Tue, 29 May 2007 05:01:19 +0000

Today went well, but I’m glad it’s over. I’m TIRED.

Everyone should spend an afternoon swapping stories with a couple of cowboys in a barn. I can’t recommend it highly enough. I had a long break in between sets today, and I had already planned on spending it sitting on my butt backstage. It turned out that Bob Hamm: 7 time World and National Champion had some time to kill too, and he is a great story teller. I heard about shooting marbles, sticking up kids for their candy at Boy Scout Camp, shootin’ BB guns, and all kinds of other awesome childhood things today. This guy is a real character, and man can he spin a gun. Yesterday I spent some time hanging out with the lumberjacks, and I REALLY want to throw an axe now. I didn’t think they would want me throwing their axes, and besides, the target was right next to the petting zoo, and that would only lead to disaster.

I did finally manage to get my hands on an reasonably massive amount of chocolate today, so I felt good about that.

After the fair was finished I even got to hang out with some top and yo-yo pals. It was a good ending to the event.

ChocolateFest Day 3

mark — Mon, 28 May 2007 04:01:22 +0000

Today I had four shows, and they were only 30 minutes apart. It was exhausting. At least it was a nice sunny day though, so there were lots of people around to watch.

Today’s high points:
- On the way in I saw a car with the liscense plate “BON JOV1″ Awesome.
- Buying my SECOND 36 bar case of Limited Edition 100 Grand candy bars. Today I got the peanut case since I already had the one with the coconut bars in it.
- Eating two ears of delicious sweet corn while watching cowboys do rope and gun tricks.

Today’s low points:
- Having to talk over the sound of the speed boat races on the nearby lake.
- After all the work to correct it, the sound quality on the “Diamonds” stage was STILL terrible

If all goes well, tomorrow after the fair I will get to hang out with a couple of top-spinner/yo-yo friends. Then on Tuesday Vader and I will go off to Madison for a day to try to get some stuff ready for the move to Pittsburgh.

ChocolateFest Day 2

mark — Sun, 27 May 2007 05:12:45 +0000

Today at ChocolateFest it rained. That was really the major aspect of my day. One of my shows got cancelled as a result, but mostly it just meant there were fewer people around. People were literally running from the park when the rain started. Not a good sign when you are trying to gather a crowd for a show.

In other news, I ate a whole bunch more chocolate today, so that was good.

ChocolateFest Day 1

mark — Sat, 26 May 2007 04:43:46 +0000

I’m in Burlington WI today, and for the next three days performing at ChocolateFest. I met a guy from ChocolateFest at one of my gigs last year, and I actually tried really hard to get them to hire me… mostly because I had heard that there were mountains of free chocolate just lying around, waiting to be eaten. So far that has not proven to be the case. Admittedly, it’s only been one day, and while there was free chocolate for the performers, it did not come from a mountain as I was promised.

My first two shows had some mic trouble, but that was nothing when compared to the carousel trouble. It was brutal. Right across the walkway from the stage I was on was an incredibly loud carousel. They were playing the shrillest music I’ve ever heard, and it was as if they were piping it directly into my head. There were times when I could hear the carousel better than I could hear myself. Not ideal. After my show they turned it down bit, so maybe tomorrow will be better.

The White Rabbit Candy Project

mark — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 00:32:28 +0000

Lenore and I went to the international grocery with our pal David Morrison. It was really fun. David is very much a food guy, so we stopped at the grocery on the way back from one of Dave’s many secret restaurant gems. This time it was a Vietnamese place called Sizzling Wok Hai, and it was delicious.

Even though it happens every time, I am always surprised by how much food there is in the world that I can’t recognize. Of course that’s the real fun of going to an international grocery. My favorite sections are the drink section and the candy section. This time I bought a bottle of Green Plum (soda I think, but I haven’t opened it yet), and a bag of White Rabbit candy.

Not only does it have an awesome package and a great name, but the candy is really good too. The only problem is that it is hard as a rock. One of the down sides of the international markets is that you don’t always know how long something has been there. By the packaging and the wrappers I am pretty sure that White Rabbit is supposed to be a soft, taffy-like chewable candy. The stuff I have is so hard that you have to suck on it for a little bit just to get it to the point where it is flexible. It is worth the trouble, but it would be far more pleasant if you didn’t have to work so hard.

It occurred to me that it might just be a moisture problem, so I made an impromptu humidor for the candy.

It’s just a large covered pot with water in the bottom, and a bowl for the candy to sit in so it doesn’t have direct contact with the water while it is sucking up the moisture from the air and becoming more delectable.

Here’s the progress:

Day 1: there might be a slight difference, but it might just be my imagination.

Day 2: it seems like it takes slightly less work to eat, but my jaw is still getting tired from the effort. Could still just be my imagination.

Day 3: I’m not sure the humidor is having any effect at all… but it’s hard to tell. I’m going to have to start skipping days or I’ll run out of candy.

Day 5: The piece I had today was downright brittle. Could subjecting the candy to a humid environment actually be making it drier? I’m going away for the weekend, maybe I’ll try steam when I get back if there is still no progress in the right direction.

Day 8: OH MY GOD! DISASTER HAS STRUCK THE WHITE RABBIT CANDY PROJECT! The piece I ate today had a hard, brittle center surrounded by a slushy, slimy outer layer of reconstituted candy goo. How could it have gone so horribly wrong?!? The experiment has been aborted due to the tragic circumstances. I removed the remaining candy, and dismantled the humidor so that future generations wouldn’t go down this foolhardy path again. Alas, I guess it really is true that “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.”

Don’t get me wrong though… I’m still gonna eat the candy.