Author Topic: Sun Master Distributor Tester (MDT) - 1950's vintage -  (Read 2817 times)

Offline goodfellow

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Sun Master Distributor Tester (MDT) - 1950's vintage -
« on: October 10, 2020, 11:45:22 AM »
Note: These threads are old. I managed to restore these Sun Automotive Equipment threads from backups that I had made several years ago.
Hope you like them -

Digging into my archives and post a few pics of how this old 1950 Sun Master Distributor Tester (model MDT) was refurbished (LOL) ;D   

Hope you guys enjoy it and that you'll post some of your own old/new projects.

I found this model "MTD" in a garage in Pennsylvania. I always liked the "art deco" designs on Sun equipment beginning in the 1930's to the early 1950's; so I was looking for this particular model. It had been sitting unused in a locked garage for almost three decades

Here is the what it looked like when I got it home -- right off the truck

It's not restored, just refurbished. A restoration would be super expensive because many of the components are not generally available anymore -- nor are the silk screen masks for applying new letters and diagrams. Mechanically it's sound, and cosmetically it's "good" -- not "pristine". It still looks like it's been well used over the years.







I love the scroll with the old car specs (listed from 1925 to 1952)





The interior was a mess!! wires were rotted and the basic electricals were shot









BUT, some units were pretty good -- the vacuum pump just needed a good cleanup, new hoses and a new paper diaphram that I made out of gasket material. It has leaked oil everywhere. I guess someone overfilled the pump with oil at some point. It only needs a few drops every few weeks









The dwell/RPM meter was a different problem -- The pic shows that no matter what I did, the meter would not move over to the calibration line.
However, I found that a few leaky capacitors and a bad resistor on the meter kept the thing from calibrating properly. I finally repainted part of the housing to remove the battery acid stains (third pic)







I also painted the external cage and the backplate





Two modules finished



The turntable was a pain and in all my frustration I forgot to take pictures -- but it needed almost all it's capacitors replaced and most of the primary wiring harness replaced. The bearings were locked up with dry grease, but Kroil penetrant solved that problem and I was able to free them up after a few days of soaking. This is what I wound up with -- a refurbished and repainted turntable





The cabinet base was stripped and repainted a nice industrial grey color (Sun didn't do this to their machines -- so it's not really accurate, but it looks clean and tidy)



Beautiful GE 1/4 HP motor with "oil cups". After I cleaned and lubed this motor it ran so quiet that you almost couldn't hear it -- a true quality US made GE product. Sun used the best!!



The cabinet itself was stripped with 80 grit on a DA sander and the dents were pulled with a stud welder/puller. I filled some minor corner dents with a little Bondo -- it took a little over two weeks to do this project (worked everyday on it during my vacation)