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

wait a minute..
it was grifted?

 

I picked this up awhile back with plans on using it. Life and floor space is dictating a different direction.
I guess I'll try to find it a new home. Its a Sun EPA-75

 

Haha! Dammit!!

 

just teasing!!

 

Ok!

 

Floor space? What’s that?

 

I forgot I took these with this thread in mind when we were at the British Motor Museum last month. Obviously not Sun but this thread already has a few deviations!

I threw the visible motor in because it was just too cool!

 

Great stuff! Is the "Octopus" a tool for measuring how much smoke comes out of a Lucas generator?

Thanks for sharing....

 

Hello all.
I am in desperate need of an operators manual for the SUN Master Speedometer Tester. Our shop has one of these machines and nobody, including me, really knows how to use it properly. All of our Smiths speedometers were previously sent to a local gentleman for servicing, who owned the same machine. Unfortunately he passed away recently, and took his secrets of the Sun Speedometer tester with him.
Information specifically related to recalibrating with the magnetizer is needed most of all.
Thank you

 

Britcarmech, if you are on FB there is a Sun group that may have your answer.

Mike

 

There are Sun manuals available for download at this page, but they are listed by model number so can't see if they have the one you need.

https://bama.edebris.com/manuals/sun/

 

Seems to be the Distributor tester user manual!
https://bama.edebris.com/download/sun/404/Sun 404 & 504 Manual.pdf

 

Been watching this thread for years, and looking for some nice old Sun equipment. Finally found a really nice Master Motor Tester in great shape locally and picked it up. No clue if it works, will get started on testing and sorting it out soon. It came with the user manual and sales catalog, pretty cool. From what I read it was 6V battery powered I think.

 

Fadingfast, I have the same model but I think it is a year or two newer. Mine has a 6v-12v switch on the breaker point tester. But other than that it is the same model. Great score on your part!

Mike

 

Right on! Mine seems to be 6V only. I got it powered up using the battery in the Model A, and everything seems to work fine. The breaker point motor spins, and the vacuum pump works fine. All the gauges seem to operate as well. Need to fix up some of the wiring and will put this thing into use soon!

 

That Sun Motor Tester appears to be in nearly new condition, like it was only used in a classroom or maybe as a sales demonstrator.

But if you figure out how the Condenser Vacuum Unit and the Combustion Booster Unit work, please report back here. Those two have me scratching my head.

 

I have the original manual with it. I will check the pages on those functions!

 

Slightly askance question: I worked at a shop in the 70's that had a shiny new Sun analyzer scope, and I recall that when looking at the ignition score trace, you could shut off each cylinder by pressing a button to see its contribution. What I never figured out was how this worked with only a connection to the coil primary and a clamp around the number 1 plug wire. How did these machines shut off cylinders?

 

They also had a connection to the coil + and - so shorted out that pulse. I had a shiny new TUT1015 at that time.

 

We had one of those in high school auto shop. The game was to see how many cylinders that could be shut off before the engine died.

 

So... it counted pulses from #1 and shorted whichever one by how long away it was? That's kinda neat.

 

Sounds pretty advanced, for the time.

 

I just picked up a couple Sun machines...a 500 Distributor Tester and a 200 Tune-up Tester from a guy that had them on his bench as decoration. I wanted the Distributor Tester but had to purchase both units.

When I plugged in the Distributor Tester, the motor turned, but the vacuum pump and strobe light didn't work. The vacuum pump was easily repaired by adding a couple drops of oil and replacing all the brittle and cracked vacuum hoses.

The glass on the dwell meter was broken and it looked like the gauge needle was used in (and lost) a knife fight. I straightened out the needle as best I could and added a piece of plexiglass so at least it looks the part. I investigated, and it can be rebuilt for about $300USD plus 2 way shipping. For now, it will remain a decoration.

To repair the non-functioning strobe, I contacted a fellow here in BC that makes new replacement electronic boards and LED lights for these units (very reasonably priced I might add!). When I explained that my dwell meter was also toast (wondering if he might repair them as well), he offered an optional module for his board that provides an additional flash to the LED at the push of a button that shows the dwell on the 360 degree gauge (so now for 8 cylinder engines the led flashes 16 times when the button is pushed showing when the points open and close...giving the dwell time in degrees). I also bought a module from him that allows the machine to read electronic distributors as well. He was a great guy to deal with and proved to be very helpful in getting my machine working (I am far from an electronics guy!). I am very pleased with the results, if anyone needs or is interested in his contact info, send me a PM.

This is the other tester I had to buy as part of the package. I have it as a display piece in my "man cave"...but also have it listed for sale here on the HAMB Antiquated classifieds if anyone is interested. I don't know if it works or not.

 

Referring back to my Sun 200 kit (pictures in post #329), I'm missing the spark plug lead for the Electronic Distributor Tester. In user manual pictures, it appears to be a socket that plugs into the male of a spark plug on one end and the female of the sparkplug wire on the other end, and has a lead coming out the middle that connects to the tester. Does any one know where I could find this piece, or has anyone made one or adapted a substitute?

 

am i overlooking something or is that a simple splice?

 

The boot that fits over the spark plug and the lead would be easy to splice. Not sure about the side that goes into the cars spark plug wire I essentially would need a "dummy" spark plug with no point/contact that a wire can connect to. I'm thinking I'll take an old spark plug apart and see what I can do, or try modifying one of those in-line spark plug testers with the light bulb. The side of the lead that connects to the Sun tester will take some lathe work. Just curious if someone else has had the same issue, and hoping to make something without too much duct-tape. I'll see if I can find a picture to post. I know there's a drawing in the manual at least.

 

I will see what I have at home. I have some sort of adapter for that just not sure if it is SUN or not.

Mike

 

Could you adapt something like this? This one does specify for HEI ignition.

https://www.amazon.com/MSD-Ignition-ASY10124-Power-Adapter/dp/B019XBJRSM

Might be able to rig something up if you find the right size spring at the hardware store.

https://www.chevelles.com/threads/the-inline-timing-light-spring-thingy.121639/

Older non-inductive timing lights used a sort of stepped, tapered spring affair to connect the plug wire to the plug. The pick-up wire from the timing light had an alligator type clip on the end that you clamped around the spring. Check the thrift stores for a cheap old timing light with the adapter spring/connector. Shouldn't be too spendy, I reckon.

 

Here's a pic from the manual.

If I need to DIY it, I found this spark plug tester to sacrifice. I'll drill a hole in the side for the lead to come out and replace the bulb and spring with a brass slug for the lead to attach to.