WARNING: Hand Cranking can cause serious injury or death!
Hate to start this with a warning but very important to understand how dangerous it can be to hand crank an engine. Please take this warning seriously.
Hand cranking a Model A can be fairly simple to do if you know how. It was there for more reasons than timing the engine. Keep in mind that if the engine is prone to backfire you might not want to hand crank.
- Make sure the emergency brake is engaged. The Transmission must be in neutral. The ignition should be turned OFF.
- Fully retard the spark by moving the spark advance lever to the top position.
- The throttle should be set to just above a normal idle.
- Set the fuel mixture as normal for starting.
- Place the hand crank in position. It should be facing at about the 9 o’clock position. Hold the hand crank from standing from the driver’s side of the car with an overhand (fingers on top, thumb under) grasp.
- Pull the hand crank towards you quickly. Do not push the crank down or try to keep cranking continuously. It should be a yank from about 9 o’clock to about 1 o’clock. You may need to repeat 2-3 times before starting.
- Turn the ignition on. Do not set the choke closed when starting or you may experience a dangerous kickback.
- Again set the hand crank in position at 9 o’clock. Pull the crank towards you quickly.
