Oh, I've got a NOS insulator, no need to make this one. I’ve got the right part number and all, just thought it would be interesting to some of the guys how the original ones break down over the years. Been looking at shows and it's become quite apparent that it's a common occurrence.
I was looking in the parts book and it does list some insulators with inserts, mostly for the earlier engines. I haven't worked on any pre WWII Chevy’s or big iron so I've never seem one with an insert in it and during the five years I worked as a Chevy parts man back in the 50's and 60's I can't remember ever selling one either. Sold lots of the plain Bakelite insulators though.
And just an up date J', Bakelite resin is, phenolic resin. Bakelite is just a generic term for phenolic products. Bakelite was and still is made as laminate using woven fabrics such as cotton, fiberglass, Kevlar and paper. McMaster Carr sells a line of laminates under their own name, i.e., Garolite but it’s the same thing, just a thermoset phenol formaldehyde resin. The most common usage was in cast Bakelite products like phones, old radio and TV cabinets, and is still used today in many electrical items to numerous to mention. Most of these applications have been replaced with modern injection molded plastics. Some of the most collectable Bakelite products from the past were Catalin radios, costume jewelry, combs and brushes and these were cast from the phenol resin but no fillers were used, which gave them a glass like translucent appearance but also rendered them quite brittle. We still see cast Bakelite in the electrical industry and many of our ignition system parts, caps, rotors, coils and again the carburetor insulators. I’d swear I posted this all before, but the cast products usually used fillers such as asbestos and other loose natural fibers, saw dust, carbon black, walnut shells, clay, etc. bound together with the phonic resin to give them strength.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL
