Sun Distributor Tester... anyone have one?

[Brad54]

I picked one up for a great price earlier this summer (model 404), found a guy in Michigan that restores them and sells all the hardware and replacement electrics to make them work again, and got mine back into working order.

I spent two days taking it completely apart and degreasing/scrubbing it, replaced the drive wheel and the electrical leads, and got it in very nice shape.

Tonight I used it for the first time and learned that the distributor in my wife's Corvair had no centrifugal advance, while the vacuum pot was slow, and the spare distributor I had has a seized vacuum pot, and the springs in it are set to 110hp engine specs, not 140.

Oh, and the bushings are worn out!

I've got a '61 Suburban, her '61 Corvair, a '54 Buick that'll be on the road soon, and a '57 Chevy gasser that'll be racing next summer.

I've also got a bunch of car-guy friends who are thrilled i picked this thing up.

So, anybody else have one?

-Brad

 

[airrj]

My engine building partner has one. We used it allot when we were street stock circle track racing. It is certainly an item on my to get list.

Can you share the source that you have for parts?

R.J.

 

[mrholeshot]

I had one built by Sun that I used until I got my dyno. DIS as well as Computer controled distributors have made them obsolete. They still work good on dist with weighed advance systems. They are handy sometimes but not worth the floor space they take up anymore. They made good money for shop owners well into the 80's With so many engine dynos and in ground dynos recurving a dist is better done on the engine where you can see the result happen in real time. It was a great peice of technology in it's day.

 

[mrpowderkeg]

I have a sun 506, I've gotten it to work, but I don't have a manual for it. I really really really wish I had wiring diagram for it, I contacted Snapon, who purchased Sun, and they don't have anything on file anymore. If anyone has a Sun 506, and the Manual for it, I really need to know if it has the wiring diagram in it, and perhaps I could get a copy of it?

 

[Bigpigdave]

I have a sun 506, I've gotten it to work, but I don't have a manual for it. I really really really wish I had wiring diagram for it, I contacted Snapon, who purchased Sun, and they don't have anything on file anymore. If anyone has a Sun 506, and the Manual for it, I really need to know if it has the wiring diagram in it, and perhaps I could get a copy of it?

Look on Ebay, service and use manuals show up pretty regularly.
Good luck, Dave

 

[Brad54]

Call Mark Saunders at Paramount Distributors.
http://paramountd.com/

Then buy the upcoming issue of Hot Rod Deluxe magazine for everything you ever wanted to know about Sun machines... I just did a story on them, with Mark as the main source.

The wiring is very simple in them (even for me), and the instruction manual answers a lot of questions.

Paramount has everything to rebuild one, too.
-Brad

 

[Brad54]

I had one built by Sun that I used until I got my dyno. DIS as well as Computer controled distributors have made them obsolete. They still work good on dist with weighed advance systems. They are handy sometimes but not worth the floor space they take up anymore. They made good money for shop owners well into the 80's With so many engine dynos and in ground dynos recurving a dist is better done on the engine where you can see the result happen in real time. It was a great peice of technology in it's day.

All my vehicles are obsolete, so it's a great fit in my shop! My daily driver is a '61 Suburban, and the wife's is that '61 Corvair wagon. Also have a '54 Buick that's almost back on the road, a '73 Duster on a rotisserie, a '57 Chevy gasser that's going together, and a basket case '56 Chevy.

My shop is filled with great pieces of technology for their day!

-Brad