Vintage Sun Tune Up, Testers, Scopes, Analyzer, Distributor Thread

found this Snap On unit at an antique store today for a reasonable price, plugged it in and heard it struggle, very nearly bought it anyway..

 

Finally got my 820 fired up! A few bulbs out in the meters, which is no bigee...... The screen actually warmed up, and started to show, but only on raster........(flat line)I let it sit for a while, 15 mins, and then it blew the breaker strip...... I reset the breaker on the machine, and now it instantly pops........ Something is worn/touching.....I haven't dug into it yet, and only a visual dig in first.........Looks cool, and have all the accessories, but id'e still like to get the screen up and going........Before I electrocute myself, i'll be asking..........

 

I picked up this Sun 400 and cabinet.. unfortunately I gambled and it doesn’t work. The unit will spin the dizzy. No flash. And non of the gauges work .. I installed a D and AA battery in the panel. And the tach will pull the needle to the left when you put it into calibrate . Aside from Paramont , is there anyone who’s good with these to help diagnose it ?

 

This unit came from a high school shop class

 

"Condenser resistance"? What would be the function and purpose of that?

 

My 504 dist machine has developed a clunking, knocking noise. Belt and drive cone are ok. Any thoughts as to where I might start looking? Thanks

 

There's bound to be some bearings in that drive assembly. Considering the minimum age of those machines, any grease in them may have solidified or gotten some dirt in them.

 

Thanks. I guess I'll just to have to tear into it. It's weird it was ok the last time I used it and started making noise. Guess that's how it goes.

 

Is the noise there all the time or only when a distributor is mounted or not mounted?

 

Noisy any time the distributor drive is rotating. Distributor installed or not.

 

This might be something to look into.

http://paramountd.com/parts.html

Scroll down a little from the top of the page and check out the "Idler Wheel Kit". Sounds like the rubber on the wheel can deteriorate and develop flat-spots which could make it rumble and growl.

 

Thank you. I'll check it out. Wasn't quite sure where to begin looking.

 

That comes from someone cranking the speed control without the motor running. It puts a flat spot on the wheel that rides on the drive. That was one of the fist things we were told never to do.

 

Le Mans 24 Hours 1966.

 

Paramount was OK to deal with...I purchased some parts from him to fix my free machine....earlier than anything he had listed.
The LED conversion is wonderful ....your old neon one probably is beyond repair.. the conversionn was pretty straight forward to install
To get the tach to work you need to have car battery voltage in addition to the dry cells...
I decided just to use an external tachometer that I had and knew it's condition. I had a very nice old 12V DC power supply that I use in place of the car battery
His belt and drive wheel was good quality
Good luck

 

I was cleaning out a storage area and decided to drag out my Allen E137 distributor machine. I bought it around 87 or 88 from a local Sanford & Son type place. I was 18 or 19 and just thought it was cool and probably didnt pay much more than $20-40 at the time. I remember playing around with it a little, but not knowing anything about what to do with it. At some point I found a chrome, dual point, Mallory (I think) distributor and stuck it in there and thats how its been ever since. At that time the strobes all worked along with the gauges and vacuum.

Now that I am older and wiser I am not going to plug it back in until I do some repairs to the wiring and replace the capacitors. It looks like the capacitors where replaced before as they dont fit in the original holders. My plan is to just clean it up and hopefully make it functional again then figure out what I want to do with it.

Anyone have any manuals or information on this model? I have hunted around and found a few pieces of things here and there, but nothing specifically for this model. It doesnt look like the Allen equipment has the following that the Sun equipment has.

 

You might be able to find Allen literature under the Rotunda name. Allen provided test equipment for Ford dealerships under that name. Sun had a better sales and service network than Allen. Both are quality, period test equipment.

 

Old Hangtown Speedway....Uncle took me there back in the late 60's when he was helping Frank out in the pits.....one of the few that guys still running a GMC motor.....still have the program som where...

 

I looked around for Rotunda and didnt find anything that matched. I have some information about operation of it and think I could figure the rest out. Looking more for some service information and wiring schematic. Not looking to "restore" it, just clean it up and repair the wiring that needs addressed. Here is a pic of it.

 

Just adopted these two for winter projects. Anyone know what model as I have so I can find a manual for them?

Mike

 

Hi Mike! Nice looking units! The model should be listed on the metal tags attached to the machines. The Distributor tester looks like a "MDT" that appears in the June 1952 catalog, and the Motor Tester appears in the same catalog as Model MMT - "Master Motor Tester". Here are the four relevant catalog pages:



Interesting to note that someone in the deep dark past hand wrote on the Master Motor Tester page "1949 model". Also interesting to note that $750 in 1952 (the cost of the Master Motor Tester) is the equivalent of $8,900 today. That was quite an investment back in the day!

Happy Motoring!

 

Dang.....that motor tester looks just like mine I lost in my storage fire - hit by lightening.

 

Wow, N72727, that is a neat shop! What truck is that?

mike

 

It's a Renault.

 

we are ALL jealous--very cool!!

 

Saw these today inside the Wisconsin Auto Museum in Hartford, WI:

 

This one was gifted to me yesterday. Seems to work (well lights up and neeedles move anyway.) I have yet to hook it up to anything. Date on the manual is 1975.

 

well-the pic taken in the dark....and your expression 'gifted' is suspect...!

 

The pic is in the dark because I turned the overhead lights off to better see the machine lights? And gifted because it was given to me by my pal @2muchstuff so not sure what you’re implying?