Timers?

[Jim Byrne]

What is the best timer? Snyders lists roller timers, New Day timers & Anderson timers.
I am interested in best performance & dependability. I am a new owner of a 1917 touring car.
Thanks

[speedytinc]

IMO New day.
I prefer to make a soft carbon brush.
I tried them all. Best firing accuracy, minimal maintenance & long life.
You do need to seal the cam. (must be dry) & cam front thrusting (in & out movement) can cause problems.

[Humblej]

I have used all of those options and prefer the Anderson timer. It will last for years and require little to no maintenance.

[Norman Kling]

I like the New Day or the Anderson. Much less maintenance. You need to set the timing for each type. The guage is only correct for the original roller timer.
Norm

[Steve Jelf]

I prefer a good New Day. I'm specifying good because some of the bad repops still turn up occasionally. A Google search should bring up previous discussions (with pictures) of good and bad New Day timers. No special tools are needed to set timing:
https://dauntlessgeezer.com/DG97.html

[A Whiteman]

I have had an Anderson in my TT for years - works marvelously without any problems.

I ditched the Anderson from my roadster as it was impossible to get to run right.

I replaced it with a good 'old' roller - runs well at low speed but 'bounces' at high engine rpm causing misses.

After asking the same question you have I have ordered a New Day based on the overall great results fellow club members have had.

[A Whiteman]

(welcome back Steve, good to see your posts again )

[greenacres36]

I-Timer or E-Timer. It’s little pricey, but install it and forget it forever. No maintenance required. I carry a standard timer with me in case my timer ever burns out, but I don’t know if I’ll ever need it.

[love2T's]

I-Timer or E-Timer. It’s little pricey, but install it and forget it forever. No maintenance required. I carry a standard timer with me in case my timer ever burns out, but I don’t know if I’ll ever need it.

I prefer the TW timer.

Unfortunately the TW timer is no longer in production but I've been able to get brushes made when a bunch enough are needed to do a run. Will likely try late this year. Timer preference has gone the route of oil, water pumps, you name it. Everyone has their preference and that's fine. I too have tried em all, and my TW's still out shine em all. Well, haven't tried Mike K's of course. I did have a couple of Tru-Fire's that came with the car and they worked well too. I'm currently still using the TW timer I put on the '13 at around 500 miles, the car now has 20,120+ on it and the timer is still like new. I usually do a brush replacement every 4,000 miles. Got 3224 miles on the current brush and it's not quite half wore out. Proper coil operation and timing is everything.

[love2T's]

I-Timer or E-Timer. It’s little pricey, but install it and forget it forever. No maintenance required. I carry a standard timer with me in case my timer ever burns out, but I don’t know if I’ll ever need it.

At the risk of having a new ahem...ripped open....I beg to differ about anything electronic. They will fail. On a tour two years ago one of those did just that for a fella, the spare New Day he kept saved his tour. Just saying. Yes, the E-Timer and I-Timer are great. No quarrels there. But just keep spare parts, I even do despite my huge confidence in my TW timers.

[TXGOAT2]

An I-Timer that is operating Ford coils with the vibrators active would likely be most reliable with a good set of properly adjusted coils.

[Dodge]

New Day, be careful though there were some made a few years ago that were not good.

[Will]

I had a TW carbon brush timer for a while but my cam seal seeped a little and made my car run rough. I switched it out for a Anderson and have never looked back. As I mentioned in a different post I had my Anderson for over 15 years. It does require a little maintenance which I might be going a little overboard on that some as I clean and relube before every trip but it has never let me down.

[Oldav8tor]

New Day - I have 13000 miles on 'em - I'm on my second brush and changed the cap (although there was nothing wrong with it) in order to compare it to an original cap at 6000 miles. Older repops like the "S" or Best should be avoided. If you buy a New Day kit from Langs or Snyders you'll get one made by Tip Top Timers of Spokane Valley, WA. These are excellent reproductions. Indeed, my non-scientific test seems to indicate the Tip-Top cap wears better than the original. I do not recommend the $10 brush from Snyders....it is leftover stock from when they sold the "S" caps and doesn't wear as well as the Tip-Top.

New Days require no lubrication, just occasional cleaning. If you still have a felt camshaft seal and big brass disc over it, it's time to discard the disc and replace the seal with a neoprene one which is fairly easy to do.

[MKossor]

I-Timer or E-Timer. It’s little pricey, but install it and forget it forever. No maintenance required. I carry a standard timer with me in case my timer ever burns out, but I don’t know if I’ll ever need it.

At the risk of having a new ahem...ripped open....I beg to differ about anything electronic. They will fail. On a tour two years ago one of those did just that for a fella, the spare New Day he kept saved his tour. Just saying. Yes, the E-Timer and I-Timer are great. No quarrels there. But just keep spare parts, I even do despite my huge confidence in my TW timers.

ANY timer CAN fail. That's why its always prudent to carry a spare stock timer and spare coils, especially when on a tour.

That said, the Electronic timers have been very reliable, many with well over 10,000 trouble free miles on them. The vast majority of the Electronic timer issues reported were caused by external faults in which the Electronic Timer did exactly what they are designed to do; provide fail safe protection of the car and wiring.

One such I-Timer failed on tour report involved an I-Timer shutting down due to a blown internal fuse. However, there was no internal I-Timer failure! Simply replacing the internal fuse restored normal operation and was done at no charge. Turns out one of the coils had a loose point contact so the contact points never opened! The first indication of that coil fault using any type of stock mechanical timer would have been smoke and fire from the timer wire and coil. So a more accurate report of the event would have been "I-Timer prevents catastrophic failure of defective coil on tour" but certainly not as salacious.

[Art M]

I like roller timers, but not their life. I get about 1600 miles from them before they get lumpy. I bought an Anderson timer and checked it with my timer timing analyzer. This consists of a camshaft and a timing gear cover from Joe Bell and a timing gear from Jim Riedy. The timer control rod did not require any adjustment. The cylinder to cylinder timing was within a degree except for number 3, which was off by about 3 degrees. The correction was easily made. Also the rotor would rotate backwards without any issues.

The timer was installed and the car ran very well. I was sold on them, until I saw a disabled model T on the side of the road. The rotor spring broke on the flapper. The owner said that he has a lot of trouble with the spring breaking in just a few hundred miles.

I have not heard of anyone else having trouble with this spring breaking. Has anyone on this forum experienced this trouble? Please comment.

Art Mirtes

[Chris Barker]

I used Andersons for 20+ years and never had a spring fail.
But cylinder to cylinder timing needs careful setting up.
They last maybe 5000 miles