Bill Cathcart’s business

[Bob Andrews]

I was wondering if anyone knows the status of Bill’s business and inventory? I just wondered if somebody was going to continue the work he did, or if somebody bought out is operation, or if maybe none of that has been decided.

[63t-cab]

Really not sure, but thought I heard the last of His Parts were/are being sold. have not heard about Any One building Sixes as He did.

[PackardV8]

Yes, Bill Cathcart is sorely missed. However, most of what he was doing to the Champion is readily available to anyone who wants to pay for it. We've built a few and are willing to do more upon request.

We're investigating what to do to the lifter bores, as most are worn and .005" oversize lifters are NLA.

The other problem I'd like to solve is all the available pistons use the 1930s tech really thick piston rings. A long stroke engine like the Champion, and especially the 185" version, could benefit from modern low friction thin rings. I've spent many hours trying to get there via ring groove spacers, but seems it's going to take custom pistons.

jack vines

[jclary]

Thanks for starting this discussion, Bob. Even if there are others doing the same kind of work (Jack), surely there's enough room for others. Not that there is enough demand to make rebuilding Studebaker six-cylinder engines a worthwhile enterprise as a specialty...but if someone would like to try, I would welcome and encourage them.

Regardless, if someone were to want to pick up the challenge to give such service in a different region of the county, they could benefit from some of the equipment and tooling that Bill must have accumulated to accomplish his work.


Unless Bill farmed out his machine work, there should be some pretty good precision specialty tooling left sitting unused since he closed his shop. Jack Vines, since he makes his living rebuilding engines, is certainly qualified to comment on what kinds of tooling would be required to perform quality engine overhaul and rebuild service. Unless I have some kind of misconception of the scope of Bill's operation, I am thinking he had the tooling available to resurface heads, blocks, grind valves, valve seats, restore crankshafts, and other instruments for precision work required for the job. Even if his tooling was ancient, I have seen very detailed work done with well-maintained vintage machine tools.