Hot Rods The (mis) Adventures of a Compulsive Tinkerer

I found a Mallory DoubleLife distributor for a Buick on Craigslist the other day and immediately sent a message to him. I didn’t hear back. This morning I checked, no response. So I sent another message but this time I cut and pasted the web address instead of trusting the link. I didn’t get an immediate response so I headed out to the shop. Just as I was starting to get dirty, he called. He was about an hour away but he was available so I dropped everything and hopped in the family truckster for a little road trip. The wife was in the middle baking some sour dough bread and she didn’t have a window to come along so I set out solo.
He was a real nice guy whose hot rod dream was curtailed by his Mom getting serious cancer and he being her caregiver. We talked about family responsibilities. He’s doing it right.
He sold his 401 nailhead, and had his Boling Bros front end parts sold. The car is a beautiful stock ‘30 Model A roadster. (If only I was 10 years younger). The distributor was nice and priced right. I didn’t haggle, I gave him what he wanted and headed home. Here it is. Well worth the money and travel.

 

Very sorry about your mother. God bless your family. Hopefully there'll be somebody there for us when it's our turn.
Good luck with everything.
Hot rods forever...

 

The plan is to use it in the 425 Buick in my ‘33 pickup. As it is, with the stock distributor, I really should make a recess so I have full timing adjustment, it’s pretty close. The Mallory is much smaller (and cooler).
The ‘33s have the bulging firewall like the ‘34s do, I removed the firewall, trimmed it and reinstalled it farther back. Instead of sticking out 2+ inches, it’s now almost flush but still looks stock. When I mounted the Buick, I installed the radiator with a mechanical fan and positioned the engine accordingly. I wish that I had just tacked the firewall in so I could have moved it back another 1/2 inch for better distributor clearance. Oh well. There may be enough wiggle room in everything to get more clearance without massaging the firewall. If not, no big deal, I have hammers.
Pardon the green valve covers. I have the factory aluminum ones all polished up and safely put away.
The black line under the windshield opening is a cut line. I’m going to drop the windshield down close to the cowl. I never liked that flat area under the windshield on these trucks. I’m gonna fix that.

 

Bob, once again you spring something on us that’s out of the norm. I would never have considered dropping the windshield like that, will you be doing a mild chop to keep the w/s stock height or doing a full on chop?

 

I’m not experienced with the DoubleLife Mallory distributors, is it supposed to have two external condensers? I see two screws and a pass through on one side with no condenser. Is there a thread on how to wire these things?

 

When I got it, it was chopped 3 3/8” on one side and 3 1/4” on the other. (The wife noticed it!) It was apart and stuffed in a corner of a warehouse when I went to buy it. They had welded and brazed a 1” strip of metal over the joint on the inside. (?) By the time I had trimmed it down to clean metal it was a 4 1/4” chop. Dropping the windshield a bit should allow me to drop the seat a little and still see as well as cleaning up the cowl a bit. I plan on using the ‘60 T-Bird seats I have if the backs aren’t too thick. I’m going for an early to mid sixties style.

 

The Double-Life uses a single condenser and that Voltmaster coil that you have. The Rev-Pol models, which used the same distributor housing, had two condensers and required a Rev-Pol coil which had two primary windings with separate terminals for each set of points. Yours hooks up as you would expect; neg side of coil to the distributor, both sets of points and the condenser connected together.

 

Thanks! I noticed right away that it has a four lobe cam. That made me wonder. It’s really nice inside. The story is it was used for a very short time in a boat engine, was replaced with a magneto and sat in a cabinet since 1968. It came with the 401 boat engine that the guy bought for his hot rod project.

 

I'm in. I was aware of about half your projects previously. Nice to see them all in one place. I understand jumping from one to another to keep the flame lit. I sold off most of my stuff to focus on one to keep life simple, but then I spend time hunting for others...

I'm in SoCal these days, send me a PM if you want a hand or someone to drink beer with.

Devin

 

Thanks. Which one survived the culling? And how did you end up in SoCal?

 

Nice, that thing is untouched inside. I ran one in a SBC for many street miles in the 70's, I recall that new points closed up a bit as the rubbing blocks wore into the cam and after that the dwell stayed stable for a very long time. Access to a distributor machine makes exact set up so much easier: you set the dwell on one set of points and then adjust the second set to fire exactly 45 distributor degrees after the first set. (just slip some clean folded paper into one set while you adjust the other).

 

I figured that there would at least be some salvageable parts in it. Imagine my surprise when I opened it and it looked like new. I’m going to have to ask around to see if anyone nearby has a distributor machine. I always wanted to buy one but I never found one available when I had the money.

 

Bob, sad to hear about your Mom's passing. Take the time to heal your mind and then give those projects h*ll!

 

Wow, I missed a post. Had to go back though the thread. Must have skipped over it at work the other night. I’d thought the replies were about the guy you bought the distributor from.
I too and sorry for your loss, Bob.

 

Yeah, strangely enough, the guy I got the distributor from is currently going through what I’ve been doing for the last year and a half. The cycle of life and family responsibilities take precedence over our hot rod activities for a while.

 

It’s funny how some little things just bug me. That windshield/cowl placement and the pudgy grille shell always put me off of these trucks. But when I saw Kieth Weesner’s artwork with a low tangerine colored pickup with a motorcycle in the bed I just had to have one. A friend gave me a really rusty cab that he harvested some patch panels from so I could plan without cutting my truck.
You can see the difference in these two shots. Basically the same windshield frame but it just flows across the cowl and into the door window better on the Model A coupe. I want my truck to look like that. Just my opinion.
I’ll try the ‘32 passenger car grille on mine but the factory grille shell has grown on me some.

 

Will you have knee room in the truck after dropping the dash a corresponding amount? Chop, channel, and dash/windshield drop will make for a cozy cab.

 

Sorry for your loss Bob. Check your PM's from earlier last month.
Your multiple projects remind me of my own collection.

 

The dash won’t drop more than 3/4” depending on which method I choose. If I section the top of the dash it won’t affect the leg room at all. And yeah, it gets pretty tight in there, the thickness of the seat back is critical to me fitting in there. I’m about 5’10-11”so it’ll be close. I had a chopped ‘29 closed cab as a daily driver for years so I’m used to small spaces but I am older and less flexible now, lol.

 

Thanks for the combo thread. Love it. Plus the recap of your whole herd. Outstanding. I've got a tinkerer brother Bob who won't let his daily driver be. Constantly something changing on it.

I'm not much taller than you and sat in a 29 closed cab at Santa Maria and was shocked at how small that cab is. It's tiny. How could you daily that at your height?

Dig the detail on fixing the window sitting up a bit high on the trucks. Never noticed till now, and it is something I'll never look at the same way. I do love the idea of a visor ectomy though, y'know, while you are at it.


Photo credit Bass Kustoms

 

I guess you could just consider it Hot Rod Yoga. That little beater truck was the most fun I've ever had on four wheels. Me and a larger buddy drove it from LA to Top Gun Raceway near Reno for a nostalgia race once. It was a blast.
I don't think the visorectomy will work for me on this truck. The windshield frame is square and awkward at the hinge line making it necessary to transplant a '32-'34 windshield frame top. Besides, I already have the windshield frame cut and chromed. I get ahead of myself sometimes....

 

Not everybody's cup of tea, but I have a 64 Chevelle 2 door wagon without a roof (aka El Camino) that I've hung onto since I was 16. While it's technically within our guidelines here, it's more of a "day 2" car, as it could have been built in 1969 so I don't post about it. I like many cars, most within our prescribed era, so even as someone without a correct car in the garage I still enjoy the builds and camaraderie here.

Family needs brought me to SoCal, my mom is getting up there in years and was not functioning well on her own. Her life is here, taking her away from what she knows would have been a death sentence for her. So last summer I quit my job, packed up my family and moved back into my childhood home.

Enough about me, back to the hot rods!

Devin

 

Funny, that’s how I ended up in NorCal. My Dad got sick and they needed some help. I had just retired and wasn’t sure what I was going to do so….

 

I was distracted by a number of things today so I didn’t get as much done as I had hoped. Mowing and weed spraying among them.
I made patterns for the little patches that I need to close out the Austin floor. I made the pattern and the panel to close out around the brake pedal.


I ground off the powder coat and most of the fins on both halves of the blower outlet but I didn’t weld them together. I still need to dress the inside of each half while I have better access.

I guess a little progress is better than none.

 

Really sorry for your loss...Moms are special! I'm sure her reunion with your Dad made her long life worth it for her.
Glad you have this (and other projects) to bring you back to center!

 

Good on you for taking care of your Mom. It's tough to be uprooted, but you did it for the right reason.

 

Thanks. I was a rebellious teenager who left home the minute I turned 18. I couldn’t repay them for all of the disruption in ten lifetimes. We worked it all out and I was able to be there when they needed me. I’m grateful.

 

Enjoy u bouncing around projects. Do have a question: where is the gas pedal going in the Austin? Picture of patches on floor show no room between steering column & tranny tunnel.

 

Before you work on the inside watch this video it goes to what you want from the corvair as far as power and when it comes in.

Note add ( https://) to the front of this because if I leave it on there it gets linked to this OT project

bangshift.com/general-news/tech-stories/ported-m90-blower-test-how-much-power-is-porting-really-worth-can-the-junkyard-m90-make-650-hp/