I've been going through all the ignition electronics for our FlatCAD Bonneville engine. It is a blown/injected 1940 Cadillac flathead - running Alky. Every part of the engine (except the block) is something we designed . . . most of it we built as well (heads, lifter blocks, roller lifters, girdles, etc). It makes 650 HP on the dyno. Anyway, I've needed a way to test the complete MSD ProMag system. It is a ProMag 20 amp unit and the magnets are so strong that you cannot use a Sun type distributor machine to turn it. So, I needed to come up with an inventive way to do my testing. I decided to create a "Frankenstein Test Bench" - using my lathe to drive the unit. Had to make the fixtures to hold it, the hub to mount the crank triggers, the spark plug rack, etc.. Anyway . . . here is ole 'Sparky' on my lathe, with a link to a video of it running: Video: https://www.instagram.com/p/DSa9V6KkgSL/
I'm not getting within 10 feet of that thing! Were you able to get the RPMs you wanted? About the only addition would be a sealed chamber for the plug ends and regulated air pressure to it!
You may have noticed that I can rotate the tungsten electrodes that the spark has to jump to. By increasing the gap, you make it a lot harder for the mag to do its work . . . which is similar to creating a pressure chamber. In the video I increased the gap to about 3/4" . . . it will still jump that huge gap. This is the same technique that my friend Joe Hunt had on a machine he designed to test mags in his shop (when I was 16 years old or so). I always thought it was a cool way to test, so I created my own version.
The Jalopy Journal
