Dwell Meters, who still uses them?

[Gurp]

Since mine comes in tomorrow figured I'd ask.
I finally got tired of using test runs and ear so I bought a timing light and dwell meter.
It was dwell that had me tore up one day. Allergies had my ears killing me. I said I need the right stuff.

 

[kbuhagiar]

Still using mine that I bought 47 years ago (similar to this below):

Vintage Sears Tach Dwell Voltmeter 92165 Made in USA for sale online | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Vintage Sears Tach Dwell Voltmeter 92165 Made in USA at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

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Indispensable when tuning my old (pre-1972) cars.

 

[dnschmidt]

Gave away a Kal-Equip Tach/Dwell to a friend that has a 1955 Chevy. It was top of the line back in the day.

 

[RedneckWelder]

I have my father’s Sears analyzer in my cabinet at work just in case I have to work on something weird that uses it like an old forklift or tractor.

 

[64C10]

Couldn’t live without one around here - always got at least 2 pre-electronic setups around here.

 

[DrinkMan]

I got rid of my old Sears analyzer decades ago but last year when setting up my Mercedes, I really needed something more than a feeler gauge and timing light to get it running good. Luckily, I had DMM that has a digital dwell display. Really helped diagnosis my issues and get things set up properly. I missed my old needle dwell meter but the digital display was adequate.

 

[humber2]

Using a dwell meter is not a pointless exercise....

 

[Kent_B]

I keep my dwell meter and timing light around for use on my old 4-cyl. Ford tractor. All the vehicles are electronic ign,

 

[four.cycle]

now I'll just have to dig out those feeler gauges and tappet wrenches!

 

[BillK]

Not very often but still use it. Mostly to help out customers. Everything I own has electronic ignition. Its also used on some GM cars like my Wife's Riviera to check the operation of the electronic Quadrajet carbs.

 

[mervyn]

Haven’t seen it or my timing light in many moons. Don’t have a clue what happened to em. Don’t miss either one of em.

 

[Old Donn]

My old Chevy still runs points & condenser, so yeah, I've still got a dwell meter. Matter of fact, I'll be putting it into service shortly, when I roll the car out for the season.

 

[driftpin]

Whoever buys my '68 327 4-bbl sitting on an engine stand. The one in back.

I still have a Sears volt/ohm/tach/dwell meter I bought new.

 

[Neggy]

we still have a distributor out of the car set up machine.

We also have a dwell tach and timing light on the wall

 

[richfinn]

I have an old Fluke 78 multimeter with Dwell function (just in case)

 

[2ndGearRubber]

I've never used a dwell meter, I just use a labscope and degree cursors if need be. Which is a few times in my career. If I need rpm to set idle speed, I do the same, degree cursors on ignition strikes.

Full disclosure - I typically just set the idle rpm and base ignition timing to factory spec, then tweak the mixture screw until I get an ignition burn line about 1.2ms long. I do very little carb fiddling as most carb equipped vehicles I encounter just need new engines, thus I never even get that far.

 

[metaldad]

Still using mine that I bought 47 years ago (similar to this below):

Vintage Sears Tach Dwell Voltmeter 92165 Made in USA for sale online | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Vintage Sears Tach Dwell Voltmeter 92165 Made in USA at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

Indispensable when tuning my old (pre-1972) cars.

i have that exact one getting dusty on a shelf

 

[txvwnut]

Does the one on my distributor machine count? If so I do.

 

[richfinn]

I've never used a dwell meter, I just use a labscope and degree cursors if need be. Which is a few times in my career. If I need rpm to set idle speed, I do the same, degree cursors on ignition strikes.

Full disclosure - I typically just set the idle rpm and base ignition timing to factory spec, then tweak the mixture screw until I get an ignition burn line about 1.2ms long. I do very little carb fiddling as most carb equipped vehicles I encounter just need new engines, thus I never even get that far.

Back in the 80s our Crypton Tuners Oscilloscope (CRT no record or cursors)
would calculate the dwell angle and display it on a separate readout.

 

[dscheidt]

Just yesterday, I was at my local Habitat restore, and a 20 something year old guy was looking at a dwell/tachometer thing, and asked me if I knew what it was. I resisted the urge to tell him to ask his grandfather, and told him. I'm pretty sure he had no idea what a distributor was.

 

[James-W]

I used to have a timing light and a dwell meter, still have them although I have no clue as to where they are. Not real sure what I would do with them even if I knew where they were. They are, essentially, a product of bygone days.

 

[driftpin]

They are, essentially, a product of bygone days.

Aren't we, all.

 

[Aileron]

My dad still uses the one i built when i was 12 from a Radio Shack Archer kit. I built a Archer vom back then when i was a freshman in high school electronics class. Not sure what ever happened to the old ham radio i built. I'm 56 so its been around a while.

 

[mike93lx]

Dwell meter? Points? Carburetors? What are you old folk talking about now?

 

[Kscardsfan]

My dad still uses the one i built when i was 12 from a Radio Shack Archer kit. I built a Archer vom back then when i was a freshman in high school electronics class. Not sure what ever happened to the old ham radio i built. I'm 56 so its been around a while.

De KEØQEM.

 

[Kscardsfan]

Oddly enough, I don’t have these things despite owning a ‘48 Ferguson TO-20, a 1963 C600 Ford, a 1950 Chevy 5 window, and being the next owner of my dad’s ‘82 Jeep Scrambler.

 

[Desertskyy]

I have two dwell meters still. One Sears engine analyzer type from about 1982 or so and a Sears/Peneske Dwell/Tach from about the same time frame

I still use my timing light perodically as I have a 94 Ford Ranger that still has a distributor

 

[PBCampbell]

I still use the timing light also, but haven't touched the dwell meter in at least 40 years I'd bet. Strangely I know exactly where it is. Mine is a Marquette 41-something.

 

[bctexas]

A couple. The oldest is from 1947. The Master Motor Tester and the distributor machine I've had since the very early 1970's, and the Heathkit stuff on the top shelf in the first pic I built in 1971. Most of the rest I've collected since we built the shop in 2018.

 

[CoogarXR]

I still have my timing light and dwell meter. I have used the hell out of the timing light, but I think I have only owned one car in the last 10 years (65 fury) that still had points. I keep the dwell meter around just in case I run into another points vehicle. I never know what I'm gonna buy until I see it, lol.

 

[engineer2]

If anyone knows of a compact stand-alone digital dwell meter or dwell-tach, I'd be interested.

 

[bctexas]

If anyone knows of a compact stand-alone digital dwell meter or dwell-tach, I'd be interested.

Hi Engineer2! Why digital? It seems to me you would be able to, for instance, see variations in idle speed and smoothness as you were tweaking the idle screws easier with a meter needle than with a digital display. But I have to admit I've never tried a digital display for doing tune-up work.

Happy Motoring!

 

[engineer2]

Why digital?

To supplement the analog meters on my Sun distributor tester. I found the primitive electronics aren't that accurate. I agree that analog is better for observing fluctuations.

 

[APEowner]

My dwell meter died about 10 years ago and on the rare occasions I work on a points ignition I've been using an oscilloscope since then. Two of my three race cars have distributors so I do use a timing light pretty regularly.

 

[DrinkMan]

If anyone knows of a compact stand-alone digital dwell meter or dwell-tach, I'd be interested.

There are dozens like this on Amazon and other places. Multiple brands. Automotive DMM with Dwell & Tach

 

[engineer2]

There are dozens like this on Amazon and other places. Multiple brands. Automotive DMM with Dwell & Tach

I saw those and might have to go that way. I really wanted a panel meter(s). They exist for RPM, but not for Dwell, as far as I know.

 

[bctexas]

To supplement the analog meters on my Sun distributor tester.

Ah, great solution!

 

[anndel]

Still have my Sears Engine Analyzer 161.21300 (9-2163) I bought in high school and it still works though only tested volts, alternator charging and RPM. Don't have any cars with points and condenser anymore.

 

[snakeeyes]

Dwell meters are still good for modern engines to check coil packs to make sure they are in spec or what actual dwell is. Not super common, but once you get into upper levels of racing you start checking what coils are capable of and what you can command from them via the computer.

 

[Buster21]

This thread made me go find mine, found it in the drawer with my timing light. Not much use anymore but keep it just in case.