I know I have seen a few tach drive Truck dist. on EBAY that are not the tbird variety. As others have said I am not sure if they were for the MEL engine or not as it's been awhile. They are much clunkier looking than a bird dist. You'll be paying north of 500 of the bird dizzy, just to get a tach. As I remember the tach gauge only reads up to 4000 in that gauge panel? Keep checking EBAY. You should also check on www.slick60s.com. I bet you could put something together there, lots of old ford truck knowledge there.

       A  L  A  N   F  R  A  K  E  S   ~  Tulsa, OK    

Check this out. Just popped up today! Chuck

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Holley-Distributor-Dual-Points-with-Tach-drive-model-1935-S-Ford-Y-block-/300981453610?pt=Vintage_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item4613e4832a&vxp=mtr

Y's guys rule!
Looking for McCullouch VS57 brackets and parts. Also looking for 28 Chrysler series 72 parts. And early Hemi parts.

MoonShadow, 292 w/McCulloch, 28 Chrysler Roadster, 354 Hemi)
Manchester, New Hampshire

Whoa, wonder where you would find tune up parts for that Bad Boy...

"The Master Cylinder"

Enjoying life at the beach in SOCAL

I think I'd consider using an aftermarket electric tach unit installed in the original housing and face. Many of the T'bird guys do that instead of using the oe mechanical drive tachs, to get a centrifugal advance mechanism.

Frank/Rebop

Bristol, In ( by Elkhart) 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Holley-Distributor-Dual-Points-with-Tach-drive-model-1935-S-Ford-Y-block-/300981453610?pt=Vintage_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item4613e4832a&vxp=mtr#ht_600wt_1043

I think pertronix makes a conversion for this, good luck

Gary Ryan San Antonio.TX.

Thanks for the ebay tip! I was wanting to use the OE tach in the HD instrument panel from an appearance standpoint, that's why I started looking for a mechanical distr. We'll just see how this shakes out.

While the Y powered Thunderbirds had tach drive distributors, some of the 272/292 Y-Block equipped HD trucks also had them. I thought I could go down to the shed and put my hands on one for a picture, but I’ve apparently given them all away as they seem to be a popular item for the truck restoration guys. If I come across another, I’ll post a picture as the tach drive distributors I do come across for the trucks are completely different in design from the Thunderbird distributors. As has been brought up, try to avoid the vacuum only (Load-O-Matic) distributors that came in the 1955 & 1956 Thunderbirds as there are a bunch of those on the open market.

.

As Chuck mentions, Mallory offers a tach drive distributor in the Unilite line for the Y. Here’s a picture of one sitting in an engine awaiting its turn for dyno testing.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

What would be the diff between the HD truck and the T-bird pieces? thanks,

Just saw this on e-bay, not sure if it fills the bill tho...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1963-FORD-TRUCK-292-331-TACHOMETER-CABLE-DRIVE-DISTRIBUTOR-1965-1966-64-RAT-ROD-/121188522361?pt=Vintage_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item1c37661979&vxp=mtr

"The Master Cylinder"

Enjoying life at the beach in SOCAL

The part no. for the 1957 Thunderbird Tach Drive distributor is FEJ-12127.

Good luck!


South Australia