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EFV-8 Club Forum / General Ford Discussion / Sun Machines, Stroboscopes, & KR Wilson Fixtures?

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Posted By Discussion Topic: Sun Machines, Stroboscopes, & KR Wilson Fixtures? -- page: 1 2 3 4     RAK402 06-23-2016 @ 6:58 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 440 Joined: Jul 2015 Which is best? How difficult are these to acquire? What are their approximate values in working condition? Thank you all in advance. TomO 06-24-2016 @ 7:34 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 7256 Joined: Oct 2009 There are many different Sun machines. Which is best depends upon what you want to do and the year of your car. The Sun distributor tester and other makes of distributor testers are much more accurate in the hands of an experienced operator than the KR Wilson timing fixtures. They are also much more expensive and harder to find in good condition. IMHO If you are just wanting to maintain your car, it is much more cost effective to send your distributor away. Maintaining a distributor tester is difficult. Some of them are battery operated, some of have mercury batteries that are no longer available and the controls are subject to corrosion if not used on a regular basis. All of these conditions make the tester unreliable. For trouble shooting purposes, you can use a tach dwell meter and a powered timing light along with a vacuum gauge. Tom RAK402 06-24-2016 @ 10:19 AM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 440 Joined: Jul 2015 TomO, Thank you for the very rapid response, sir! I am still interested in obtaining one of the aforementioned machines. Very few seem to come up for sale so far (I have only been looking for a couple of weeks, so more may appear, over time). I was using the 1940 Ford as a daily driver 15 years ago, and put a lot of miles on it. My regular distributor person was very reasonable, but he has since moved away. I was fascinated by his machine (which I think was a Sun), but cannot remember. What I am seeing at present is that distributor work appears to be done on an exchange basis and is quite expensive (at least relative to what it was in the past). I would like to learn to do it myself, as much because I am interested in learning how to do it, as due to the expense. DD931 06-25-2016 @ 12:11 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 66 Joined: Nov 2014 There are two brands to look for - Sun and Allen. They come up on eBay from time to time. Be ready to pay!!! supereal 07-01-2016 @ 5:34 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 6819 Joined: Oct 2009 We have a Sun machine I bought at a car show years ago for $25. It required some repair, and we found a source in Kentucky. The advantage of this machine is the strobe feature to show if there is any point bounce or if the shaft and bushings are in good condition. The vacuum pump is nice to have, but not critical, as the snubber is usually backed clear off, anyway. If buying a machine, be sure the adapter for the Ford flathead distributor is included. We had to buy one, and paid more than the machine itself. The KRW fixture will help set the point gaps, put little else. The Sun machine is now being reproduced, but is very expensive. 1935fordtn 07-03-2016 @ 4:13 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 31 Joined: Feb 2015 I have been using my Sun Machine nearly every day for distributor rebuilds the last couple of months.. If you buy one that doesn't work, be prepared to spend some serious $$. You can buy a restored rebuilt ready to go one from MArk Suanders at Paramount. They are expensive. BTW if you plan to do Early V8 distributors you will also need a Tasco, or KRW, etc. fixture to set your initial timing with. The flathead 1932-48 adapter for the Sun Machine is harder to find than the machine itself. If I can help in any way email me at driskellracing@gmail.com RAK402 07-03-2016 @ 9:29 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 440 Joined: Jul 2015 Gentlemen, Thank you for the responses. I have an early (wooden box) KR Wilson V-126 timing fixture on the way. From what I have been able to tell, through research, the earlier ones did not have a dwell scale. I am wondering how much of a disadvantage this will be. I have a line on a second one that is the later model (quite a bit pricier). I appreciate the advice about the expense of the Sun machines as well as that of making sure that they have the correct adapter. The hunt is on! Any other information would be greatly appreciated-especially from those who have used the KR Wilson fixture (I have read the Ford Service Bulletin instructions, but there must be a great deal more to it than that). Thank you all again! 1935fordtn 07-03-2016 @ 11:28 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 31 Joined: Feb 2015 If you have a Sun Machine, you will not need the dwell scale on the KRW fixture. While the KRW fixtures are great, they are unable to check things such as what RPM's the advance kicks in, or what RPM's the points start bouncing. I personally use a Tasco fixture but have a KRW as well in case the Tasco breaks. In my opinion forget the dwell on the fixture and set it on a machine with the distributor running. Just tonight I was building a 11A distributor. Set it up on the fixture perfectly. Moved it over to the Sun Machine and notice the points (NOS) were floating at 2280 rpm's, without a strobing machine one would have never known until it was on a car. Many will say the Allen Synchrograph is the best dizzy machine I personally would rather have a Sun as parts are slightly more available. The other good alternative is a original Heyer Machine used by Ford dealers. When you get bored check out this website..... http://paramountd.com/ RAK402 07-06-2016 @ 10:38 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 440 Joined: Jul 2015 935fordtn, I checked that website-very, very interesting. Thank you for posting the link. A restored machine does go for BIG bucks! My KR Wilson fixture is supposed to arrive tomorrow. I have ordered the manual for it. If you or anyone else who has used a KR Wilson fixture, I would greatly appreciate any incite with regard to how to use it. I have a good used distributor to use to get some kind of idea of what a good one should look like, but I would really like to get some practical info from someone who has used one. TomO 07-07-2016 @ 7:13 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 7256 Joined: Oct 2009 The KRW fixture just sets the timing of the contact points. It can set the make and break times accurately and the dwell would be within specs. It will not tell you if the points are bouncing or if the cam or bushings are worn. These can be checked with a dwell meter on the car. The key to setting up a 23-48 distributor is experience and carful operation of the test equipment. Tom

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