Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

I am new to Packard but I have a friend that is a Ford Guru. He has set my dis for my 120 on a machine and the car runs like a top. I was asked to take a pic of the machine he used. He stated that Ford of the period had exchange distributers. They only went in one way (unlike Packard) and when it can time for a tune up or it brke down, they just slapped a dis in. According to him by setting this up on a machine he can test everything before it gets to the car points, condenser, spark advance etc. he say that you set up on the machine, slap it in, set the timing for one set of points, and the off you got. According to him my 120 has 5 degrees of advance at 1050 RPM that full on. He had some other setting for slower speeds. His cheat sheet is at the left corner of the machine, but he did not have any trouble finding the setting in an old motors manual Hope this helps someone, you guys have been great to me
Thank
Will

Sorry I am having trouble attaching the Pic PM me and I will send them to you
W

The machine is a Sun Distributor Tester, Ford also has their own version.. Can be found on ebay for $100 to $700. Nothing magic about it, you can do the same thing with a feeler gauge or a dwell meter.

If the dwell is erratic on the machine then the dist needs new bushings. If you can't hold a constant gap doing it manually then the dist needs new bushings.

Vacuum adv can be tested on the machine, if it doesn't work it needs a new one. If you suck on the vac adv and air pulls through it needs......well, you get it.

Mechanical adv is really not adjustable. A timing light with the vac adv disconnected will tell you if it works and how much adv.

But a Sun Machine looks real COOL, we have a few.

HAPPY MOTORING