RockAuto Marine Parts

As you get ready to put your boat on the water this spring, do not forget to check out RockAuto’s always expanding marine catalog! We offer a large selection of marine parts from the brands you trust at competitive prices. You will find parts for popular inboard and outboard boats and engines, including Mercruiser, Mercury, Volvo Penta, Evinrude, Yamaha and many more:

• A-1 Cardone Water Pumps
• Autoline Carburetors, Fuel Injectors and Distributors
• Autolite and NGK Spark Plugs
• Carter Fuel Pumps
• Fram Filters
• Marshall Marine Long Blocks
• Standard Motor Products Ignition and Electrical parts
• United Ignition Wire Spark Plug Wire Sets
• Victor Reinz Gaskets
• And more…

Visit our Marine tab to find the parts you need in the same easy-to-navigate format as our auto parts catalog!

Ignition Conversion Kits

RockAuto now offers application-specific ignition conversion kits from Airtex and Standard Motor Products. These kits convert the now old-fashioned point/condenser or primitive electronic ignition systems to the latest solid-state technology. Once fitted, the kits deliver reliable starts and consistent engine timing for optimal performance and gas mileage, as well as eliminate periodic maintenance of mechanical contacts and replacement of failure-prone control boxes. All components fit inside the original distributor cap so there are no wires or fender-mounted boxes to clutter the engine compartment.

You can now quickly install and enjoy a maintenance-free electronic ignition system if you drive a 1967 Chevy El Camino, a 1972 Toyota Corolla, a 1964 Jaguar XKE, a 1959 Chrysler Imperial, a 1965 Ford Mustang or one of the many other vehicles from this era with an ignition conversion kit specifically designed for it. Find ignition conversion kits in the "Ignition" category of the RockAuto catalog.

What Else Can You Do with Wiper Blades?

Last month we ran a contest asking you to send in images of creative non-traditional wiper blade uses to celebrate our unprecedented $4, $3, $2, $1 Wiper Wholesaler Closeout. Here are some of our favorites.

Wipe away those spring showers Right on target with the wiper contest Wiper blades are the cat's meow! Don't get wipe-lash

Forum of the Month

BuiltWithBlood.com is a new website for anyone who has busted a knuckle or two in the pursuit of perfection. There are Mustang sites, Corvette sites, truck sites, classic car sites, motorcycle sites, boating sites etc., but wouldn't it be nice to have a single site where you can look at all of them? A site where people gather who love to do the work themselves? A site where you can actually get information from a guy who knows how to do it and shares that information with others who want to learn how to? We are that place. We don't care what you built, as long as you built it. Show off your hard work, large or small. If you did it yourself, we want to see it.

If you are the administrator or member of a forum and you would like to see your website featured in an upcoming newsletter and receive a discount code to share with your members, contact cynthia@rockauto.com.

Repair Mistakes & Blunders

I always did my own wrenching and, as a young man, it was often experimental.  One of my most memorable experiences is when I wanted to set the timing on my motorcycle (an MV Agusta). As a first step I needed to locate top dead center (TDC), so I removed a spark plug, lifted the rear wheel off the ground, and put it in gear. Then I took a 1/4 inch rod that was a few inches long, placed it in the spark plug hole on top of the cylinder head, and turned the rear wheel by hand, watching the rod to note the highest position and thus the TDC.  Except the rod didn't go up - it went down and disappeared inside the cylinder! 

Not to be deterred, I found a small magnet which I tied to a string and sent into the plug hole to retrieve the rod.  Of course the string broke! After I had similarly lost the largest piece of iron I could fit into the hole to attract the magnet, I was left with no other recourse than to pull off the cylinder head - and everything came out easily thereafter. 

I did mark TDC for future reference!

David in New York

Tell us about your most infamous auto repair blunder or unconventional fix. Use your woe to help others avoid similar mistakes or share off-the-wall solutions that worked (at least for a while!). Please e-mail your story to marketing@rockauto.com. Include your mailing address and if you would like a RockAuto T-Shirt (please let us know your shirt size) or Hat if we publish your story. See the T-Shirts and Hats under Tools & Universal Parts in the catalog. The story will be credited using only your first name and your vague geographic location (state, province, country, continent, etc.) so you can remain semi-anonymous!

Automotive Trivia

Xenon gas (element symbol Xe) is used in Wagner halogen BriteLite and TruView headlamp bulbs. Xenon is also used to hasten initial illumination, alter color, etc., in high-intensity discharge (HID) lamps, arc lamps, lasers and other forms of lighting. What is another commercial use for Xenon gas?

A. a general anesthetic used in hospitals
B. a method to increase the intensity of artificial coloring in bubble gum and similar candies during the manufacturing process
C. a fire suppressant used in race car interiors
D. all of the above

Answer below

Why Does Gus Have a Black Eye?

My daughter asked, “Dad, why does Gus have a black eye?” Gus is the family name for our 1992 Dodge van. The sealed beam glass headlamp bulb on the left side of the van (right side in the photo) must have a tiny crack in it somewhere. That headlamp is turning black because a small amount of water and dirt has leaked inside, causing mold and soot to form.

A glass headlight bulb with a crack and a moldy ecosystem inside must also be burned out, right? Air must have rushed in through the crack and the filament immediately burned up? That is what I once thought, but in fact, this black-eye headlight still works. It just projects less light through the black haze.

For decades, old fashioned glass headlamp bulbs have actually been a halogen bulb hidden inside a housing made to look like an even older tungsten filament incandescent light bulb. The glass housing protects the halogen bulb and acts as the lens and reflector just like any headlamp assembly on a new car. Take away the housing and the halogen bulb still works.

One of my old cars came equipped with a high-beam headlamp bulb that was surprisingly turning yellow like a plastic headlamp assembly that got too much sun. That Sylvania “bulb” turned out to be made of plastic not glass. Sylvania tried hard to make it appear to be glass. It has “sealed beam” molded into it and little glass injection bumps. It is a plastic halogen headlamp trying to look like a glass halogen headlamp that is trying to look like a tungsten filament light bulb!

I turned to the drill press in my laboratory/garage to further my research and to have some fun. I did not have a drill bit to drill through Gus’s glass headlamp, but luckily I had saved that unusual plastic bulb. I drilled a hole through the lens of the Sylvania headlamp, wired it up and sure enough, the halogen bulb inside lit up just fine. I put a pencil in the hole so it is easier to see in the photo.

The point of this story is the old style, sealed beam headlamp bulbs on my Dodge van, on late-model Jeeps, etc. can be thought of as bulbs permanently installed in retro-style headlamp assemblies. These headlamps might need to be replaced before they burn out. The halogen bulb in Gus’s glass headlamp works, but the headlamp will be replaced because the black film significantly reduces the amount of light emitted. Plus, as my daughter pointed out, one bright headlamp and one bleary headlamp makes Gus look tired and battered!

Tom Taylor,
RockAuto.com

My mother bought her car brand new in 1968. It is a 200 cubic inch six cylinder Ford Mustang Convertible. The color was changed in the 1980s from yellow to red, but other than that, the car is all original. It was a daily driver for her until 1990 and has been sitting in her garage ever since. About a year ago, I decided to tackle the job of getting it road ready so it could be put to use as an occasional weekend driver.

I used RockAuto for all the mechanical items to get this car rolling again. It needed brakes, wheel bearings, belts, a fuel pump and filter, a carburetor rebuild kit, all the ignition parts, a radiator, a valve cover gasket and many other parts. The car now runs, drives and stops great! The best part about it is that Mom decided to give me the car since I put all the hard work into bringing it back to life! Thanks Mom!

Mark from Pennsylvania

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