Not sure what this is or what it is for. It was attached to the water pump. I inherited the 66 from my late father so asking him is out of the question. I was hoping someone might know!

 

I dunno. My guess is vacuum pump. It sort of looks like a pressure/vacuum line coming out of it. I can't figure out what would need pressure, but there's been plenty of cams that would cause bad vacuum issues, so you'd put a pump on to compensate/replace that from the engine. Or maybe it's specifically added for a cruise control that's since removed, exceptin' this.

And being a vintage part, it would need a battery post sized cable to run on 12V, so that explains that part. The screw terminals are to turn it on, and it's grounded to the engine through the bracket. The resistor is possibly unrelated, or essential to be added to the ignition if you use the pump?

Anyway, that's my guess. Y'all be sure to tell me I'm wrong.

 

I vote for the cruise control component. Is that a vacuum hose coming off the end, or a cable of some type? No other wiring going inside the car? Any evidence of a cruise servo ever being on the engine?

 

Have you tried hooking it up to power and seeing what it does? If you hook it up and it makes a sound similar to an electronic fuel pump, check that hose that's attached to it for suction. That will make it easier to pinpoint what it is as it will then be a vacuum source. Wow, that is weird. I have never seen anything like that before!

 

As a side note, I did a bunch of GIS for various things I thought it might be... giant contactor/starter solenoid, ignition box... then the what-appears-to-be a vacuum hose got me thinking pump.

There are a few vacuum pumps for cars out there that are box shaped like this. Nothing exactly like this, but definitely not what you'd think were pumps... but there they were.

I say don't be skeert, and take it apart. I would, because I'm kurious kat.

 

neat old part ....mallory coil ..

 

Awesome! Now what is it for? And is it something I need?

 

AH. But... OH, I see. Look below for what's going on in the PDF. Google is nifty stuff.

It's a coil, as said, but a different shaped one than the cylinder type you normally find:
http://image.made-in-china.com/2f0j0...Lucas-Type.jpg

You DON'T need it unless it was hooked up. And if you want it, well.. here's the instructions.
http://prestoliteperformance.com/med...8675_28720.pdf

What I saw was a vaccum line was in fact a cut off output that would go to the center of the distributor cap. OR you could use the post, but I believe that's been capped off/not connected in this case. The loop in the back is indeed for the fuel line, and the resistor is required. Otherwise, it's 'just a coil.'

Fantastic stuff. Love old cars.

 

i take it the car does`nt run at the moment .. your dad obviously was a hot rodder in his day with the addition of the high performance mallory coil .. if he did the mods he may well have added a dual point distributor as well .. you said the car was a GT ..do you know if it is a K code ? ..if so you have a very special car .. and you can fix it either as your dad had it with period correct modifications or put it all back stock ..i bet it has a big old tack hanging off the steering wheel or screwed somewhere on the dash .. is it a 4 speed car ?

 

It is indeed a "K" code GT, 4 speed with under dash mounted gages. The Mallory was mounted, but not hooked up. However the 66 was in an accident (someone pulled out in front of him) and was in the process of being rebuilt at my fathers time of death. I would like to have it back to the way he had it, but I'm just a little lost on how to install this coil. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

the coil will have a positive and a negative terminal on top where the two side by side screws are .. you may still be able to see them .. the negative terminal will attach to the small wire coming from the distributor .. the positive wire may be hooked up direct or thru what looks like a resistor block that your dad was using ..it looks like the main coil wire that goes to the middle post on the distributor cap has been cut .. a new end must be put on it so it will snap onto the cap ...