So I found more and more recent threads with happy Hayden customers. And since no one local had the Delco unit in stock, I thought I'd take the old unit down to O'Reilly's, along with my trusty scale. Right off the bat it was apparent that the Murray (Hayden) 2797 was notably smaller in diameter than old Betsy. The weight was a little lower, but my guess was... proportionately so, i.e. the new one weighed about what I would have expected given it's smaller overall size. Granted I didn't have my abacus and slide rule with me, but I felt we were in the ball park.
Then... as I was contemplating all of this... I saw it.......
"MADE IN U........ S.............A!!!!"
Hoodathunkit!
"Lifetime warranty, right?"
"Yep."
"Here's my card."
The
patent number shown in the photo below belongs to
Standard Motor Products. It would be real interesting if that same stamp showed up on the Delco version.
Got her home and calibrated my scale with a dumbbell I borrowed from MEXICOWANDERER. Then took some measurements for my adopted grandfather, here. I estimated the volume of each of these discs (cylinders) to be...
Old - 62.54 ci
New - 53.69 ci
The new one has 85.85% the volume of the old
And the weight?
Old - 60.3 oz
New - 51.3 oz
Percentage.......
85.07 (or 85.1 for you significant digit fanatics)
What does this all mean?
No idea. The new one is definitely less massive, but the densities appear to be similar.
I'm still hopeful I can find the Delco locally for comparison. Otherwise I may order one. However...
Interestingly enough, the Delco unit on Amazon comes with the following disclaimer:
"Note: ACDelco partners with other manufacturers to supply the parts your car was originally built with. This product is in an ACDelco package, however the part may have been manufactured by an independent ACDelco supplier and could have a different color or shape than the product image above."
Also... a guy in the questions and answers section on Amazon verified his Delco was the same diameter as my shiny new Murray/Hayden unit.
Picture time...
And note the last 2, which are screenshots of Delco's parts page when searching for their clutch for a 1986 P30 with a 454. The last photo is the closeup you get from clicking the thumbnail. It's visually identical to the Murray. Internally? That's anyone's guess, but there is evidence to suggest that they are identical in every respect.
First... 2 days worth of "weeping" while lying face down. Both are now sitting upright on the bench as though they were mounted on the water pump.
YOO-ESS-A!!! YOO-ESS-A!!!
Calibration using MEXICOWANDERER's dumbbell
