Babbit Doctor?

J

jeepguy1948

Well-known member
I live in the Seattle area in Western Washington state. I’m looking for an individual to do Babbitt work for me locally but can’t locate anyone within driving distance (I REALLY don’t want to have to ship a whole engine block just for bearings). I’m hoping that someone on here will know of an individual in my area to do the work.
 
Ford-N-More at Antique Auto Ranch in Spokane did some babbitt bearings for me years ago. Try 509-535-7196.
 
ALJ said:
Ford-N-More at Antique Auto Ranch in Spokane did some babbitt bearings for me years ago. Try 509-535-7196.
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I was out at the Antique Auto Ranch last summer. He told me that he was open the first Tuesday afternoon of the month, but he did let me poke around a bit since I was from out of state. Pretty impressive collection of Model A mechanical parts, not much sheet metal. Nice guy.
 
If anybody will know it would be John Hash. He frequents this site. I'm in Tacoma and last I knew babbitt guys are not around anymore. There was talk about a fellow north of King County 2-3 years ago. Good luck.
 
old31 said:
Sounds to me like a great excuse for a Burtz!:)
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For me I like the idea of keeping an almost 100 year old engine running, but I also like the idea of the Burtz engine. I relish the challenges of keeping that old engine running, but I marvel at the improvements in the Burtz engine. I’m very conflicted :)
 
I would use an original B motor if I had one but I think that I would buy a Burtz before spending much $$ trying to salvage an old B.
 
I had looked a 4 B blocks before I found a usable one. Most of the B blocks came out of 1.5 ton BB trucks and run so hard most of them overheated and cracked the blocks.
The decks are thin anyway.
About the time I was going to build the B block the Burtz blocks came along
so now I have a "B"urtz block engine.
 
There is an auto parts store in Wenatchee that did have someone doing Babbitt for them. Doing it yourself there is a learning curve and assortment of tooling needed.
 
I had my babbit done by a guy in Seattle in the late 80's but I'm sure that person is long gone. It's still holding up fine.
 
Many of the Ford babbit pourers in the Northwest have retired or passed on and, based on the comments here, it isn't clear if any even remain. I have to wonder where all of that equipment and tooling went - probably rusting away somewhere or sent to the scrapper. I have heard of a couple cases where it went on to another person who had planned to take up the craft but never acted on it. The long learning curve cited in post #10 may be a deterrent to many folks nowadays.
 
I have asked John Hash (We are members of the same club) he knows of nobody remaining in our area that is interested in pursuing the Babbitt trade.
 
I have heard a guy north of the border but I would have to ask around in my club. Not sure I trust my memory so I will get back to you.

Mike
 
Just got ahold of a guy in my club. Nobody up there is doing it anymore. There is a guy on Vancouver Is. that does shells and I can get his info if you want it.

Mike
 
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