There are two hoses coming off the distributor shaft on the 292 in my 1959 F600 dump. They have makeshift plugs in the ends, almost like home made filters. Can anyone tell me anything about these hoses, like where they may have gone, or what they may have done? Thanks

 

Sounds like you have the HD292. Does it have a four barrel carburetor? Those hoses were used for the governor on the carburetor. At some point, someone either changed the carburetor to a non governor type or just bypassed thet governor.

There is a chance that someone installed a distributor from an HD292 onto an MD292, as the MD292 had a two barrel carburetor and a standard distributor.

If you are not using a governor, having the lines plugged as you described is OK.

 

That sounds right. There is a Holly 4BBL that is the correct style, but no governor. How did this system work? What was the governor assembly getting through those hoses to make it work?

 

Well, if it is the HD292, the original carburetor would have been a four barrel with vacuum secondaries and a governor assembly on the side where the throttle linkage attaches (kind of looks like a roughly rectangular box on the side of the carburetor). A vacuum line goes to the distributor, and a mechanism in the distributor regulates the vacuum based on engine speed and a line connects the output of the distributor to the governor. When engine speed gets to the limit, the governor reduces the throttle opening to maintain speed at or below the limit.

Often over the years due to carburetor problems or even not being able to set or plumb the governor right, the carburetor gets changed to a non governor style. I do not remember the rpm limit the governor is set at on the HD292, but it is probably somewhere between 3600 and 4000 rpm.