Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Topics - Spud Miller

Pages: [1]
1
Spud Miller's Cave / Reissued: Magneto advance weights
« on: February 13, 2019, 05:03:15 PM »

 Discontinued many years ago, the advance weights for the Super-Mags & Sprintmags allowed a person to crank and start against less ignition timing. For Sprintmags used in hot rod and street applications, centrifugal advance is a great thing to have! There seems to be enough demand that I figured we'd build a batch of them. Recommended only for Sprintmags, Super-Mag II and Super-Mag III.

Available in 10, 14, 18, 22, 26 crankshaft degrees, "all in" by 2800 RPM, these work great to retard engine timing for easier starting.

Works only with a 2-pin style mag drivers and original style lower drives with two pins. We can still build the 2-pin style drives and can fit drives with a new pin-style replacement shaft for those needing to convert in order to use advance weights.

https://fuelinjectionent.myshopify.com/collections/drive-related/products/super-mag-sprintmag-advance-weights

 Spud

2
Spud Miller's Cave / FIE Tech Reference Library
« on: February 04, 2019, 01:40:48 PM »

 I've been meaning to do this for years. It took way too long, but it's finally ready to unveil!

 http://www.fuelinjectionent.com/library.php

 Every FIE instruction sheet, schematic, manual, reference chart, etc. in one spot.

 I'll continue to add to it as new stuff is generated.

 Thanks,
 Spud

3
Spud Miller's Cave / New 6 cylinder Magneto: Super-Mag IV
« on: October 25, 2018, 05:11:47 PM »

 (Also posted in the 6-cylinder section)

 Hello,

I just wanted to drop in here and let every one know that in 4-6 weeks, we'll have brand new 6 cylinder Super-Mag IV magnetos for sale! These are points-style, external coil mags making 4 amps average (about 10 amps peak). They're the standard band-clamp type generator like the regular Super-Mag series that we have been manufacturing for over 7 years now.

Mallory never offered a 6 cylinder version and neither has MSD. Vertex quit making their 6 cylinder mag a number of years ago. Our Australian dealer convinced me to build some 6's and try them since 6-bangers are a hot item over there. So, we're doing a "limited production run" of these to see how they sell.

At this point, we have no lower drives ready for any of the 6's. We're happy to take distributors from customers, measure them up and get some of the popular drives made and offered that way.

Also, mainly because of these 6's and their eventual and intended use in Australia, we've reintroduced the advance weights that Mallory once offered for the magnetos. They allow an advance curve in the lower drive, mainly to make starting easier. We have 10, 14, 18, 22 and 26 degrees available.

Thank you!
Spud

4
Six Cylinder Drag Vehicles / New 6 cylinder Magneto: Super-Mag IV
« on: October 25, 2018, 05:10:00 PM »

 Hello,

I just wanted to drop in here and let every one know that in 4-6 weeks, we'll have brand new 6 cylinder Super-Mag IV magnetos for sale! These are points-style, external coil mags making 4 amps average (about 10 amps peak). They're the standard band-clamp type generator like the regular Super-Mag series that we have been manufacturing for over 7 years now.

Mallory never offered a 6 cylinder version and neither has MSD. Vertex quit making their 6 cylinder mag a number of years ago. Our Australian dealer convinced me to build some 6's and try them since 6-bangers are a hot item over there. So, we're doing a "limited production run" of these to see how they sell.

At this point, we have no lower drives ready for any of the 6's. We're happy to take distributors from customers, measure them up and get some of the popular drives made and offered that way.

Also, mainly because of these 6's and their eventual and intended use in Australia, we've reintroduced the advance weights that Mallory once offered for the magnetos. They allow an advance curve in the lower drive, mainly to make starting easier. We have 10, 14, 18, 22 and 26 degrees available.

Thank you!
Spud


5
Spud Miller's Cave / Misbehaving plug wires
« on: July 30, 2018, 09:44:12 AM »
 Since someone brought it up in another thread...I have MANY Promag "bad plug wire" stories this season so far.

 Behavior that you'd never suspect and it's the suppression core race wire that the electronic mags require. People don't understand that it wears out! It looks perfectly fine and good but electrically, it's a nightmare. It might check out fine and seem normal with the ohm meter, but when they're changed out for a new set, everything is happy and normal again. Even if you can't explain why, it's difficult to argue with results!

 So, if your Promag ends up having strange timing and phasing issues that don't make sense, timing lights freaking out, points boxes not working right...save yourself some time and change the plug wires first!

 Spud

6
Spud Miller's Cave / Catching up
« on: July 26, 2018, 08:04:05 PM »

 Hi Guys,

 It all started when I was displaced from my home office for a couple of weeks...I got out of the habit of checking here every morning first thing. Then I shifted to reading the morning news, tweets, etc. on my phone in the morning instead. I'm not a forum user on my smart phone. Then I took a vacation and forgot everything (that was nice). Came back buried in work and the minute my butt hits the chair in the shop office every morning, it's scramble-scramble.

Sorry I neglected my cave! I'm playing catch up and will get back in the habit. Thanks for taking care of each other here in my absence. I just replied to months old stuff and didn't realize the date on it.....water long since passed under the bridge I'm sure. I'll start from the top down next time!

 Spud


 

7
Spud Miller's Cave / FINALLY! A magneto friendly tachometer
« on: November 02, 2017, 02:01:05 PM »

 We recently had a magneto customer who could NOT make a tach work on his vehicle. We tried all the tricks, all the adapters, every gadget there is and it would not give him a reliable reading. He visited a trade show recently and came across the STACK CLUBMAN tachometer which is billed to work with all ignition systems INCLUDING magnetos. It works beautifully for him! That got our attention, so we tested these in-house with a variety of mags and conditions. We eagerly became a dealer when we discovered how perfectly this tach works with all magnetos. No one has manufactured a mag friendly tach for almost 10 years.

 This isn't a "bouncy needle" kind of tachometer. The STACK CLUBMAN indicating needle is mounted on the end of a servo motor shaft for superior accuracy and positive movement. What a neat idea to use a servo motor!

 This premium quality tach features a built-in programmable shift-light activation circuit. RED panel mount or dash mount shift-lights are available for it. It is LED back lit instrument and also features a peak RPM tell-tale memory.

 This tach works with all Super-Mags, Sprintmags, Vertex mags and all MSD mags. A racing suppression core spark plug wire of 50 ohms/ft or less is recommended to be used with it. This tach uses no pickups or converters. Just connect its orange wire to the positive primary terminal of your coil or the "hot" side of your grounding kill switch and it's happy. It is configurable for any number of cylinders.

 At this time, the STACK CLUBMAN tach is available only in a panel-mount version that fits a 3-1/4" (80mm) hole. By year's end, we will be able to offer this instrument in a free-standing dash pod version.

 We just added these to our webstore and as a special FEDS.org promotion here, we will offer a discount code for 10% off one during the month of November. One per customer, forum members only! Enter discount code at checkout: TACHINTRO10

  8,000 RPM:
https://fuelinjectionent.myshopify.com/collections/magneto-accessories/products/stack-clubman-tachometer-0-8k

10,000 RPM:
https://fuelinjectionent.myshopify.com/collections/magneto-accessories/products/stack-clubman-tachometer

 Thanks for looking!
 Spud

8
Spud Miller's Cave / Video: Measuring and Comparing Magneto Generators
« on: December 21, 2015, 05:44:52 AM »

 My first video effort:   "Measuring and Comparing Magneto Generators"

 

 Spud

9
Spud Miller's Cave / Do it yourself: Points mag Rev-limiter
« on: October 10, 2015, 10:13:13 AM »
 
 I added this to the FIE Tech Articles page a week or so ago.

  A rock-solid rev limiter for any points-type magneto. Complete with schematic!

 http://www.fuelinjectionent.com/revlimiter.php

 Spud

10
Spud Miller's Cave / Will the QUALITY gear, please stand up?
« on: October 10, 2015, 08:54:40 AM »
I posted this to the FIE Facebook page last night. For those that aren't FIE FB followers...
---------------------------------


Just like anyone else, we're always looking to save money. When I saw a "Quality aluminum bronze gear" advertised for $29.20, I knew it had to be too good to be true. But it was a reputable name, so I decided to try one and see what we'd get. We go through a lot of gears here on the new magneto drives that we manufacture as well as servicing customer mags and drives. We often see gears with severe wear...teeth that are wispy-thin and ready to fold over. When we're told the gears have very little time on them, we have to wonder. Cheap stuff?

When the new gear arrived, I measured it up and found dimensional quality to be fine...everything was to spec. I knew something was fishy however, when I put the known GOOD gear next to the cheap one. The color of the material was very different. Notice in the picture how the good gear on the left has a darker, reddish hue. Someone in the shop claimed one was heavier than the other so I weighed them on a scientific scale and sure enough, the cheap gear was 12 GRAMS heavier! Wow, that's a big difference for two items that are virtually identical in size and shape.

I looked into having our own gears made a year ago, and I know the special alloy aluminum-bronze used for the good gears is very expensive. The material comprised half the cost of the gear! In the end, my cost each when making 60 gears at a time was the same as buying them from our current source one at a time. I quickly put that notion out of my head.

I would normally assume the heavier weight of the cheap gear would mean more bronze than aluminum in the alloy and everyone knows bronze is harder than aluminum, right? It turns out that when bronze and aluminum are combined, all sorts of magic happens and the resulting alloy is much harder than either by itself. I submitted both gears to a Rockwell hardness test and was shocked to find the cheap gear 49 Rockwell points SOFTER than the known good gear. Wow: FORTY-NINE! Obviously, the cheap gears are an inferior grade of material (an alloy of butter-metal?) and that's why they're cheap. They say they're aluminum-bronze, but I don't think so. Not the right stuff.

Bottom line: The only way you'll know the good ones are from their price tag. If you're not paying in the neighborhood of $50 for a distributor gear, be suspicious. Since the gear not only drives your ignition but also your oil pump, that is NOT a place to scrimp. We'll continue using the good stuff here in the shop not those cheap things. I'm using the one I bought for a paper weight here on my desk...it even holds a pen nicely
 ;D

Spud

11
This topic has been moved to the WTB section.

12
Spud Miller's Cave / Here I am!
« on: February 05, 2013, 07:14:01 PM »
 My own new room...I promise to keep it picked up. I'll check it daily.

 Maybe this should be The Spud Cellar! (no gunnysacks allowed please)

 Spud

Pages: [1]