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Adventures of the Bionic Spridget

Sarastro

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Some time ago, I installed a Crane XR700 electronic ignition in my bugeye. I've never been really happy with the plastic shutter that comes with the kit--to make a long story short, it just doesn't fit right, and the poor fit could lead to significant mistiming of all cylinders except no. 1.

Last week it was really too hot to do much else, so I got busy with my lathe and made a new shutter out of aluminum to replace the plastic one. This new one is accurate to a couple mils in all important dimensions; it's probably more precise than the distributor itself. Now that it's installed, it fits perfectly. No eccentricity at all. A really fun project.

Pictures below. Not shown is the fact that I colored the aluminum shutter black, with a felt-tip pen, to prevent any problems from reflections; it's an optical device, after all.

Got out today for a test drive. It was a beautiful, 70-degree sunny day in S. Cal, and Ruby Redcar hummed along beautifully, cruising down Pacific Coast Highway to Newport Beach. Several compliments and thumbs-up gestures (yes, it really was the thumb); one from a guy driving a new Porsche Carrera.
 
That is a lovely bit. Looks like it should have come with the kit. Your workmans ship is excellent.
 
I love how Steve throws off "accurate to a couple mils" like it's no big deal -- I'm truly impressed with this sort of machining ability. Nice work. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif
 
Actually, with the Sherline lathe, it's pretty easy to hold tight tolerances, at least on small parts--I make no pretenses to being a machinist, so if I can do it, probably anybody can. I must admit, though, I get a real rush out of finishing a pretty little part like this, actually not screwing up and having to throw it away, and finally seeing it really work.
 
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