Island dwellers attend Swap Meet
 

An old friend and I headed off on the redeye (6:45) boat yesterday to attend the swap meet at the state fair grounds in Monroe. We don't get out much so we made sure to have some fun. Ran into some old car buddies as we all do at these things. In the past week I had made two sales to 'Barners and was anxious to spend some paypal $. Didn't take too long, but I think Tubman would approve. Actually I'm not sure the mallory dual point is the one I need, but it fits into the timing cover. Without looking at my stash of covers, it seems this distributor needs the one with the lower bearing. I have a couple of each. It came with this cover included for 35 bucks. An hour later I see a couple of merc 4 bolt manifolds, but this one caught my eye. I know nothing of GM carburetors, but I'm thinking this is the one Denny likes to turn backwards so the linkage works out. That was 200 bucks as pictured. I ain't sayin' what I paid for the Buddy L truck, as I'm no collector, but just always wanted an old toy truck with original paint for a shelf in my cozy little 'machine shop' (lounge). Appreciate comments about if I bought useable parts in case I want to do a minor 'hop up' on the 276 stroker we all built together in the winter of 2023-2024. Thanks, Gary

Re: Island dwellers attend Swap Meet
 

The aluminum 4 bolt Canadian Merc is the gold standard. Look for them. Newc

Re: Island dwellers attend Swap Meet
 

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/attac...6&d=1747622059

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/attac...7&d=1747622082

Re: Island dwellers attend Swap Meet
 

The timing cover looks like it's aluminum, but the manifold? If so... SCORE!!! The alloy timing covers bring good money. Are you sure that distributor is a Mallory?

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Denny, no I'm not sure. Had a busy day so it's still in the back of my suburban.I will bring it in and see if I can make heads or tails of the tag. I will get some pics with the cap off. Is that carb the rochester? And I wish the manifold was aluminum. Woulda been a lot lighter to lug around. :)
.

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Buddy L is cool stuff. Glad you had a nice day on the mainland, now get back to work!

LOL, hows the rear end project going?

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Skip, you had'ta ask...

When all the parts came together for the rear axle I got into a work crunch for my best contractor. Then I got the opportunity to buy my diesel '59 f350 9' express back.....(a week of goofing with that), Then I ran into a guy that knew I liked inboard boats and he offered me a 20' shamrock. I had one with a marinized 302, but sold it when a guy offered me 9500 bucks for it. This one has a mercruiser 470. Engine has issues but I knew about a low hour
85 hp Perkins 4 cyl FWC diesel being pulled for an electric motor refit. So out it came. Buddy with a 30' boom truck pulled it for me.. Hadn't run for 25 years until about 3 hours ago. Had clean oil and antifreeze. I changed out the filters this morning. After a bunch of tinkering and wiring and temporary controls and a wooden stand I finally started it with a blast of wd 40 while cranking. Now it starts and runs very smooth. Shamrock offered that very diesel as an option in the 70s and 80s. I had some difficulty downloading the distrubutor photos so here's some of the boat stuff. Promise I'll go back to the swap meet parts tomorrow. It;s late now, even on the Left Coast.

Re: Island dwellers attend Swap Meet
 

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/attac...1&d=1747633236

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/attac...2&d=1747633257

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/attac...3&d=1747633282

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/attac...4&d=1747633317

Re: Island dwellers attend Swap Meet
 

Thanks Pete! And now that I have gone and hijacked my own thread, the questions remain. Is this a mallory dual point? Funny, one of the reasons I always liked the 8ba distributor is because it only has one set of points to adjust. And is the carb I bought a rochester 2GC? I'm beginning to feel like I just traded in the family's milking cow for a sack of magic beans. :)

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Never a dull moment on Mt Picket! But why is that modern truck pulling the shamrock and not the 59 diesel?

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Ask some of the 'Barners that have made the trip up Pickett's lane why. The modern f350 is a '92, 7.3, 5 spd 4x4. The '59 is 2wd and it's turbo diesel is 210 cu in. I think the '59 would do it if the road was paved, but that loose gravel on the last grade is a killer. Oh, I came up with those distributor pics. There is a number on the breaker plate 24875 and a numeral '8' on the opposite side of the plate, Carb pics next.

Re: Island dwellers attend Swap Meet
 

Hi Gary,
I was in my usual spot Area 606 stalls 73,74,75 at the end of the building (close to the bathrooms!) with no walls across from the newest building. Next year stop by. If I wasn't at the stall I was on a bathroom break! I have a newer (2023) F150, blue-gray instead of the red 2015. My truck is always parked in one of my stalls. I had a new complete, never assembled magnesium Halibrand V8 quick change there for sale but the right shopper never walked by, maybe next year I will sell it at Portland. Had it 1/2 price but nobody seemed interested.

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I really like the vintage toy truck.

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Dang, I will plan to look for you next year. I do recall seeing the quick change and wondering if that;s what it was. It was set up high on a display right? Sorry I have never been good at recognizing faces. I was the short guy wearing a dirty old waxed canvas rain coat and a tin hard hat, as I don't have sense enough to come in outa the rain....

Re: Island dwellers attend Swap Meet
 

Mike, it was good to see you at Portland this year. Hope you did well and I sold a lot of stuff. Already signed up for next year.

Re: Island dwellers attend Swap Meet
 

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/attac...6&d=1747664441

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/attac...7&d=1747664465

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Re: Island dwellers attend Swap Meet
 

Tom, I did REALLY well. Best ever at Portland. I will have Ron Love's 2 stalls as well as my own next year. Looking forward to it!
Mike

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Carb photos. Maybe someone knows something about it. Also, since I have never had or seen a mallory dual point, is that what my distributor is? It looks so much like the ford one, is it maybe a stock carb with some kind of dual point kit in it, much like people install a petronix today?

Re: Island dwellers attend Swap Meet
 

That looks like the carb you want all right. It's a Chevrolet carb with the fuel inlet of the side which matches the Ford fuel line. (The other GM carbs usually have the fuel inlet on the front.) I haven't seen a Ford Load-A-Matic distributor for a while, but I'll bet that's one with a Mallory dual point conversion. The first piece of "Speed Equipment" I ever bought was one of those. I was a junior in high school in 1959.:rolleyes:

It's too bad it's missing the brass tag; getting the right rebuild kit is kinda hard to figure out without it. You'll notice that there is a mismatch between the carb base and the manifold that causes a vacuum leak. If you decide to use the carb, I'll send you a block-off plate I had made esecially for that purpose.

Re: Island dwellers attend Swap Meet
 

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/attac...3&d=1747711285

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/attac...4&d=1747711298

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Re: Island dwellers attend Swap Meet
 

The manifold is down at the shop. I will look for the mismatch in the morning. Does it have to do with the hollow passages in the carb's base? Also on the distributor, I was under the impression that the stock 8ba distributor didn;t work with the GM carb. The vac advance can appears to be ford style so really it just has one more set of points, but maybe not compatable with the GM carb? Confusing.

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Right on the hollow passages in the carb base, and most likely right on the distributor. I guess whoever had it thought "Dual Points=Mallory".

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And whoever bought it thought the same.... Oh well, it has a great cap, and the vacuum can looks brand new! :) About two stalls down a guy was offering me a really good deal on the Brooklyn Bridge. Lucky thing I didn't go for it as the very next day I heard it sustained considerable damage in an incident with some kinda boat. Dodged a bullet on that one. Sheesh.

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I saw your new perkins motor video, sweet lil' runner

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That 300.00 gamble worked out better than the gamble at the swap meet! Pretty stoked on that. 60 lb at idle, 70 at 1500 rpm. I'll get a video of the '59 pulling that boat somewhere flat (to Kansas)!

Re: Island dwellers attend Swap Meet
 

Kansas isn't flat. The whole state is tilted downhill by 2500'.
Just thought you'd like to know before you make the trip.

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I'm guessing higher at the end facing the Rockies and lower at the end facing the mighty Mississip? I think it's do-able. That little 6at genset cummins screams along at 3600 rpms. We have a 2500' mountain on Orcas with an auto road to the summit and I have done that in the '59 a couple times. I did leave the 6500 lb boat and trailer combo at home, as the trailer brakes look like they disolved from the salt water a few years back.

Re: Island dwellers attend Swap Meet
 

There are some pancake flat area's of Kansas, but not where I'm at. Here's some lousy pics, but it looks to me like the north end of the black hills here. Me and the 52 jeep think its just fine. Note the limestone fence posts. Lincoln county, "post rock capitol of the world" they say!

Re: Island dwellers attend Swap Meet
 

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/attac...3&d=1747802705

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/attac...4&d=1747802705

Re: Island dwellers attend Swap Meet
 

Pete! your fingers must be sore from the car thread! Thank you, now get some rest, tomorrow's another day!

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Gary, I love Shamrocks, GR8 boats even on Lake Erie. Would look nice being towed to launch by one of your very cool Jail Bars .

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I've been thinking I should create a dual point dunce cap for country bumpkins to wear at swap meets. Oh well, I'm over that now and back to my woodshop work for pesky customers (You want it when???) and there's the skidsteer I had to dissasemble to get to the wheel bearings that grenaded in the bilge, the ready to assemble 9" rear axle, (did I mention I slowly heated the first wheelbearing to about 150 degrees and wanted to see if it would drop onto the cold axle without a press as my mechanic friend recomended? Well it was so hot I accidently dropped it and it seated right down good. Without the retainer plate on first..) Back to the cuttoff wheel on a new timken. Then re-order. And it's lawn mowing season. In my spare time I continue to mess with this silly boat and the perkins diesel that followed the boat home a week later. Sheesh, and all four of my kids with the 5 grandkids will be here for the 3 day weekend. Here's a video...

https://youtu.be/e8fhmBvcLCg

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Gary, you are just about having more "fun" than the law allows! :eek:

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There should be a weekly TV show, "adventures of MT Pickett". Sorta like the Waltons.

Gary, why is there a model A wheel mounted on a sawhorse?

Re: Island dwellers attend Swap Meet
 

A note regarding the 9-inch.... I'd be careful about the assembly of the axle bearing and retainer ring. I'd be using a press, and I'd be watching for a proper press fit (observing the press gage). My reason.... that's the only thing holding the axle in. If that joint fails, the wheel/tire/axle will exit the vehicle while you are cruising down the highway. I've seen it twice... Once it happened to me, and my vehicle slid to a stop riding on the backing plate. The left rear wheel/tire/axle went across the highway and over an embankment. The other time, it was a customer car, a 41 Ford passenger car. The fender prevented the wheel/tire/axle from exiting, and it tore up the tire and fender.
I wouldn't be heating the bearing, or the retainer ring.
(Of course, if this failure occurs with the original brake system, the brakes fail too, since the brake drum also exited.) (This could be a vote for disc brakes, as disc brakes will prevent the wheel/tire/axel from exiting.)

Re: Island dwellers attend Swap Meet
 

Bob, I carefully cut that bearing back off with a cutoff wheel, and after that I made a driver from some heavy wall pipe. I turned a collar at the bearing end that pressed into the pipe and fit the inner race perfectly. At the pounding end I turned a trailer ball with a nice step at it's equator so I had a firm place to strike the 3 lb hammer. The ball had a flat spot about 5/8" diameter or so. I then placed a 4" diameter iron wheel from a floor jack on the concrete slab so not to mess with wheel studs and to achieve better backup. The bearing drove about 1/8" with each blow. Same with the keeper ring. I have confidence that it was a solid fit, but have to agree it's a strange way to secure something so important. I once lost both driver side dual wheels off my 92 F350 with about 2 tons on the bed. Wheels went across median and into oncoming traffic both lanes about 50 mph and it was dark. Nobody hurt, one bumper and grill on a gal's car was all. I will never forget the anxiety that night in the median as I sat waiting for the state trooper to arrive. We can continue this on my axle thread later today.

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Remember that thread about steel channel used in car frames to support a large historic wood carving? I was asked to preserve this figurehead from a clipper ship built in Quincy Mass in 1874. The Model A wheel is for rotating the rotisserie I fabbed up for the restoration...Oh, and I followed one 'barners advice and used two 10' rails of 1/8" wall 2x4 steel tube. Now I gotta find the pics on the rotisserie...

Re: Island dwellers attend Swap Meet
 

There ya go, Gary. You've been there, done that. I'm glad you switched the bearing installation to the method you have described. Side note that I did not mention... When it happened to me, there was a car behind me.... containing an off-duty highway patrol officer. He witnessed the whole event... and complimented me for controlling the 'slow-down', as he said he expected me to go out of control, and possibly roll.

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Funny thing Bob, when the state patrolman arrived and soothed my nerves that the pair of duals caused no injuries, he complimented me on my load securing skills. I had five or six 2" ratchet straps holding the load of timbers to my flatbed. My brake drum exploded after the wheels left and the flange left a deep groove in the pavement that remains after nearly eight years. Hiway 20 in Burlington Wa.

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Here's a couple pics of 'the Lady' on the rotisserie. I have treated the piece, which was carved from a single white pine log, with a combination of borate products to inhibit further rot, marine epoxy, polyurethane adhesives such as 3m's 5200 and sikaflex and all manner of steel pipe, perforated to carry these products where needed. The steel pipe remained in place, giving added structural reinforcement. The last phase will be a display stand of welded steel mostly encased in wood, such that she will once again be upright as on the ship 'America' which went aground here in the San Juan Islands in 1914.
https://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=Awr9...9_TMrJJB86kbU-