Buzz Box for setting points

[chief]

No it's not a welder, it's a labor saving device "a really neat toy" that I thought I would share with you guys, but you may already know of it.
I am the proud owner of now two spiders a 76 and a 78.
The 76 I purchased and the 78 was given to me.
Well I decided to put new points in the 78, and to set the dwell, being an A&P "aircraft mechanic" I have at my disposal a nice little toy known as a buzz box used for setting magnetos up in aircraft.
All you do is remove power and hook up the leads to the points and one to ground.
As the points open and close when the engine is rotated, the buzz box gives off an audible signal along with a visual indication as to when the points are in the open position. It has come in real handy working by myself, I don't have to keep going back and forth checking the points and thier position. It cut the time down in half for what it took me set the dwell on the 76 "I left the toy at work" not so for the 78.
Chief

[SLOSpider]

I use a match book cover.....much cheaper and I can light my cigarettes or use it on my heat shrink tubing too. What else can that Buzz box do?

[chief]

Hey neat idea SLOspider, if you get frustrated at it you can use the match's to light it up and toast marshmellows while holding hands and singing around the fire Cool Idea
Chief

[SLOSpider]

On my Rotary Engine cars the points were a breeze to set as I could run the car with the distributor cap off and set the points with my dwell meter in a mater of moments. I won alot of bets on telling people I can run my car without a distributor cap

[chief]

That's a cool concept I have never heard of such a thing and didn't realize that was possible.
If one ever gets to the point that you can't show or teach them something then one of to things they are so full of thierselves they won't learn or they are dead. I am glad that you taught me something today, it just proved to myself that there is still room for improvement.
Chief

[SLOSpider]

It was possible because the Rotary uses 2 coils for leading and trailing timing. By simply installing the lower plug wires straight to the coil you could run without the distributor cap. Was taught to me by a Mazda Tech after I bought my first Cosmo.

[chief]

I will remember that.
I have made a mental note but seeing how I don't trust that I made a hard copy too.
Chief

[mdrburchette]

That buzz box would have come in handy the first time I replaced the points in my 72. I put the car in 4th and rocked it until I finally had it where I needed it. The problem with this method was I rocked the car over my father-in-law's foot when he stopped to help me. It was several years later that my husband brought out the remote starter he had stashed in his toolbox.

[pooldoctorstl]

Reminds me of the old GM dist caps with the window in them and points with the adjustment screw that you could access through the window to set dwell with the engine running. Haven't seen one of those in a long time. And for those of us that don't have a buzz box, a test light can also be used in a similar manner.

[CShroom]

I have something similar around. No buzz, but a turnsignal lamp from a motorcycle. I use it to set the timing on the goldwing.

Disconnect the points from the coil, and run a hot lead to the light and then ground the light to the points. When they begin to close, the light come on. Nice thing is you can rock it back and forth to get the timing set dead on with this method. Get the crank set to where you want. and then move the points to where they begin to fire.

Takes a little bit of work to get it down.

[cbrewer13]

i just use the continuity buzzer on my multimeter.