And as promised, here's a picture of what I've been doing to build a distributor advance machine, at least as far as the distributor end of it goes.
I used a protractor that I got from Harbor Freight because of its size, it should make it easier to see once everything is working.
The base, or mounting for the unit is an old adapter tool that would turn a hand drill into a drill press, it's an old Dayton that I've had for over 25 years, and I've almost thrown it out about a dozen times, but each time I think, Murphys Law will catch up with me if I do.
If you think it looks a little odd, you're right, I turned the adjustable head upside down so that the drill points upwards, and the distributor will sit above it once I've figured out exactly how to mount it.
Then I'll make a control board to mount the coil, any switches necessary, and the wiring needed to make it work.
Once I figured out exactly how I would mount the protractor to the distributor, it was a matter of cutting and drilling everything for clearance. I also needed to add a reinforcement to the protractor itself to steady it as once I started to spin the shaft the whole thing began to vibrate. So a small piece of aluminum plate was all that was needed to stop the vibrations.
I started by first removing everything from an old distributor housing so that I could determine exactly where the mounting screws are located for each part, as I wasn't sure which ones I would have to use initially.
More to follow as things proceed. Just wanted to show my progress so far.
