Power Valve in Holley

[Jim Marshall]

Re: Power Valve in Holley

I will look harder and get back to you next week. I am curious, too. I am waiting for parts now, new water pump, new circulation pump and some miscellaneous things and I have prepped and painted about everything in the boat.

By the way, I picked up a set of stainless steel manifold bolts from Summit. I have a new Mallory breakerless Marine distributor and am wondering about the coil. I really wonder if there is such a thing as a boat coil or if it is just smoke and mirrors.

Every bolt has been out of this engine and drive by now. It reminds me of a complete restoration of a Model A Ford I did at age sixteen. Every bolt out.

Jim

 

[Tig]

Re: Power Valve in Holley

Not sure about the coil. All coils are sealed so moisture and spark should not be an issue. When I did my 302, I dropped in a mid 80s Ford electronic ignition, then wired my Super Coil in with an external ballast. But break downs in a boat are more of a drag than an old pickup, so I'd get the proper coil for your ignition. Probably a good question to send to the tech folks at Mallory.

 

[Jim Marshall]

Re: Power Valve in Holley

The only time I had an engine failure on my boat was in Nanaimo, Canada. There was nothing open except an auto parts store and I put in an Echlin auto coil which lasted far longer than the one that came with it. Maybe I will put in a better Mallory one and carry the Echlin as a spare.

I know I am going to have to do some research on the breakerless Mallory Marine distributor since it has three wires instead of one.

I take that back about being my only breakdown. We had a Trojan 25 fiberglass cabin cruiser years ago that had a Chrysler 318 inboard. It was a nice boat owned with two other couples called the "Partner Ship."

I was with my wife and our three month old daughter, Sarah on a two week cruise in the San Juan Islands, in Washington. We stopped over in Oak Harbor, and rented a slip to stay overnight. The next morning I went to start the engine and the starter just hummed, not engaging. I took it off and found the small gear had split in two. I had never seen anything like that.

I hitchhiked into town that day and ordered a new drive, specifying the engine rotation, hitchhiked back to the boat and we waited for two days. Of course it came in the wrong rotation but I didn't want to wait another two days so I borrowed the guy's shop, replaced the new gear in the old drive, bevelling the other side of each gear tooth with a file. The parts guy looked at me and said, "I didn't know you could do that." He didn't offer to discount the wrong part, however or give me a ride back.

Later, we ordered a complete new starter that we carried as a spare. By the way, we never had to replace the modified one. I guess there is nothing so permanent as a temporary fix.

Jim

 

[Tig]

Re: Power Valve in Holley

In a breakerless ignition I'd expect the coil to last indefinitely. Heat is the enemy. I haven't had one go bad in 30 years.
Back in the day, the typical coil failure occurred when the engine was stopped, the ignition was left on and the points just happened to be closed. This put 12V DC on the coil until it overheated and fried. Usually you could smell the burnt coil.
You probably did the right thing by swapping the gear rather than use an automotive starter. Marine starters are supposed to be sealed so that bilge fumes are not exposed to a spark from the starter brushes.