Snap-on Distributor tester

Got this distributor machine from a good friend of mine.
The last time I used one was in highschool 30 years ago.
I remember lights on the big rotating dial, and spark at the points, not getting either. It spins and pulls a vacuum, but that's it.
It has two leads a red and a blue can't remember what does what, have tried both.
Does anyone know where I can get a manuel or any info how to fix this thing?
Here's some pictures.
Thanks Paul

 

when I get back to the shop ill send a number, he mostly works on sun machines but may be able to help. the strobe light flashes with the opening of the points or at the point of ignition on electronic boxes, should be able to fix with a few bucks worth of modern electronics? timing lights are so cheap now maybe just part one out?

 

Cool thanks
Paul

 

paul , there are electical contacts on the part that rotates to light up the blue or red strobes...make sure they are clean.

have the three vacummn tubes checked to see if they are working...the two tubes together on the one box are for the strobe lights ....one controls the red, one the blue . the third one on the right in your picture is for the guages. they are very common tubes and you can find new ones on ebay for a few bucks each

did you check the fuses? there are four of them , they are right by the power cord

 

Thanks Greg for the info. the tube all seem to get warm but I'm thinking I'm missing something on the wheel for the strobes here's a pic. Is there supposed to be something here?
Paul

 

paul..sorry to say you are missing the strobes


i have no idea what you could do now. parts and information on this machine seams to be almost nonexistant

FYI , they were made by a company called Weidenhoff for Snap-On.. and snap-on later bought the company.

 

Okay I guess they're something to look for. Can I bother you for a pic of what they look like?
Paul

 

as soon as i get the batteries charged up in my camera.

since you seam determind to get yours running..i'll tell you that the v-belt is gates truflex 0190 , the cogged belt is gates powergrip 240L050 , the two strobe tubes are 6BE6 and the other tube is OB3

also...Snap On is absolutely no help at all

you now know as much as i do

 

Thanks Greg you're a big help!
Paul

 

here's a strope...there are two of them




and to get you inspired

 

paul, there is a guy that advertises in hemmings...he is kind of a specialist for dist. machines. i cannot remember his name to save my life, but i do remember that he is located in kentucky,or tennesee...sorry, my memory is going...LOL.. anyway, look in hemmings .. he was real helpful when i needed info for my machine.( it is an allen) but he works on all brands..
good luck
dave

 

Paul,

I have a different model Sun Distr. Tester. The "wheel " rotates with the dizzy. I will email the model number tomorrow when I am back out in the shop. I found manuals for mine on ebay.

POP

 

Thanks Greg that does get me going. I guess I'll pick a Hemmings, haven't had any luck on Ebay.
Paul

 

here's an idea for the strobes, measure the dial of your strobe face and find an old fishing depth finder, they used the same design...I've found the old Lowrance Fish-Lo-K-Tor's (green or red steel cases) at garage sales for like $5-$15 bucks each...just figured I'd throw that out there...

 

I decided not to try to rebuild mine with parts that are hard to find. It is a handy machine, but it is stuck with Flinstone technology, so I stuck a degree wheel on the spinner, and use a Sears dial-back timing light to set up the advance curves at the different speeds.
I just clamp the distributor in place and use the dial back light.
For me it works so much better than the old setup.

 

i emailed the other guy i know who has one, and he gave me this name:

robert masters at: rmasters3@fuse.net

Bob
30 Willow Drive
Fort Thomas, KY 41075-2035
800-385-5811 9am-6pm ET
rmasters3@fuse.net


i beleive he is the guy mentioned that does repairs on distributor machines , and may have a parts unit


dare-to be...does your tach work?

 

Thanks for the good ideas guys.
Greg just emailed Robert, thanks again. The tach does work.
Paul

 

Sorry to resurrect a 3 year old thread but I recently acquired an old distributor machine that is much older than the one pictured above.n It still has the red and blue contacts to hook to a distributor as mentioned above. My question is how would a hook up a HEI distributor to this machine? Which wires in the HEI go to the red/blue contacts on the machine? Also I have a crane points eliminator module that has a Blk/Yellow and a Blk/Red wire from it. How would I hook this up to the machine?

 

H.E.I. distributor requires a D.P.A. (dist. pulse amplifier) to trigger the machine. I don't think that they have been available for quite a while, but I would try the dist. machine repair guy listed above.

 

i see those pulse amplifiers on ebay sometimes , i think the seller is making them..i've been thinking about getting one

 

I just checked the bay and nothing came up tonight. I'll give that guy listed above a call tomorrow. I'll keep you guys informed on the results.

 

check this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Sun-...Z170456471067QQptZMotorsQ5fAutomotiveQ5fTools

 

Thank you, I appreciate your assistance regarding this issue.

 

Hal and 36 3 window...
Robert Masters is the guy I was talking about back in 07 ! thanks for jogging my memory !
Mr masters sold me a zerox copy of the manual for my T-allen machine..
He also charged me $20 for the super top secret "signal amplifier" info...
IT is a 4 pin hei module !!
The 2 small wires from the mag pickup, bat to 12 volts and tach to the machine trigger ( points wire )
This works for all electronic dizzys. I have used mine for gm hei,chrylser,ford, and msd.
Good luck
Dave

 

Dave, suppose I couldn't talk you into drawing a quick diagram of this? I have an old hei coil that has a red and yellow wire coming from it. Each of those wires has two tabs for a total of 4 tabs.

The hei distributor has a 3 wires connector coming from it.

 

I have never figured out how to post a drawing here, and if I could you would not be able to figure out what it was ( NOT an artist ) LOL !

Lets try it this way...Inside the hei (cap off) you will find the module.

One side of the module has 2 small spade connectors. This is where the wires from the magnetic pickup hook up .
The other side of the module has 1 large spade marked B (or bat ) and another spade marked C...

To test your hei, un plug the B and C (they are on a common plug )
Hook 12 volts to the B term and hook the machine trigger wire to the C term.
It is that easy !

If you want to test any other electronic dizzy ( msd, dodge, ford, etc> )
just go buy a 4 pin module and mount it on your machine, hook the mag pickup wires to the small pins and 12 volts to bat, hook the trigger wire to C....

BTW the three wires coming from the dist to the cap are BAT, COIL neg (tach ) and ground... They hook to the coil, BAT term= red ,Coil term= yellow and ground is hooked to the black coil ground wire and metal strap . ( Make sure you have both !! )
Good luck
Dave

 

hey Dave , that's some good info....thanks! i will give it a try

 

Thanks Dave, That's way better than a diagram.

 

My girl has , Oh Snap on, nevermind.

 

I just tried the machine and it didn't work. It spins and everything but the strobes don't fire. Worse yet, I called the 800 number posted above and it's now disconnected. I 'll have to put this on the back burner for now.