Carbon brush wear on Timer

[Mark Osterman]

As they say ... now there’s your problem! I was wondering why I wasn’t getting much out of this OF carburetor and decided to pull the TW timer and try an NOS New Day timer to see if there might be a difference in response.

Well, this is what I found when I pulled off the TW Timer. It had been on the car since October and got some milage until December when we got socked in with snow. So, I didn’t get much wear on that brush but it answers why I progressively felt the timing become less distinct .. more fudgy. I found the timer required a lot of advancing just to start and drive better.

So I put on the New Day and reset the timing ... adjusted the rod etc. and yes, now I can feel the difference with the carburetor. Still need a little tweaking but so much power now.

[Bruce Compton]

Mark : I had the identical problem. I put a TW timer on my coupe and it never ran better. Maybe a year later I installed a Stromberg OF and in a short time began noticing a drop in smoothness and power. Having recently changed the carb, I blamed it for the problem but in the search for the culprit ,discovered that the brush in the timer was nearly gone. I cleaned up the carbon mess but was unable to re-install the worn TW brush, so switched to a good used New Day and the problem was gone. I tried to get a replacement brush but Lang's was out of stock, so I'll stick with the New Day

[Mark Osterman]

Hey Bruce. Wow ... now that’s a coincidence. Yeah, I liked the TW but the first time I got less than a year from the brush and this time it was less than five months wear and actually I was feeling the timing get indistinct before this. I had an old Anderson before that and liked it. Today I just decided to use the New Day timer since I had picked it up at Hershey and had never tried one before. I like trying different carburetors and timers for the fun and understanding.

[Original Smith]

I've put thousands of miles on New Day timers, in all of my cars. I like them. I hope Tom Carnegie does will with his new ones. The old Snyder New Days didn't work out too well.