Greetings all!

I am an old school technician, from the mid-70s - early 80s.  In the mid-80s I got scooped up into the computer revolution.  Now in my early 60s I recall how back when I worked as a tech "old timers" (like me now) used to tell me they used to be auto mechanics, and would tell me how complex things had gotten with "modern cars."  Well, here I am, over 35 years later, and I could easily say the same thing.

But, there is a difference.  Just because I got sucked up into the computer world does not mean I turned my back on the automotive industry.  Rather, I leveraged my business and dealership/technician experiences and brought all kinds of interesting value to the retail dealership industry.  So I did not lose total touch, but I did lose some ground re: newer diagnostic equipment capabilities.

Back "in my day" the very nicest diagnostic equipment came from the Sun Electric Corporation.  I was very handy with Sun brand oscilloscopes and related machines when it came to diagnostic equipment.  But, that was then.  This is now.  Kind of...

I just purchased an old school 1969 Shelby GT500 that has been fully and beautifully restored (I am no longer medically able to do the kind of work needed to restore one on my own).  And despite some medical limitations I feel I can still dink around with the 428CJ engine a bit.  To that end I was starting to look around for an old Sun scope.  But the ones I have found are either inoperative, too far away to fetch, or are much older units with pre-induction secondary leads.

So, I am looking for a newer oscilloscope with similar capabilities to the later model Sun scopes, or more, so I can have some fun playing around with the primary and secondary ignition systems, dwell angle, timing, etc., just so I can keep occupied and hopefully out of trouble.

If anyone can recommend a nice, up-to-date oscilloscope package that will let me play around I would appreciate it.  It is my understanding there is no PicoScope Raster Pattern available, something I can live with.  I am looking for primary and secondary ignition Parade and Superimposed patterns, and perhaps (if available) the ability to electrically/electronically kill one cylinder at a time to do a dynamic power test without me having to manually pull spark plug wires.  Anything beyond that diagnostically would be cool, but the electrical systems on the 1969 vintage Shelby (Mustang) vehicles is fairly simple. 

Many thanks!

Gil

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mrgmhale wrote on Aug 20^th, 2017 at 1:26pm:

I was very handy with Sun brand oscilloscopes and related machines when it came to diagnostic equipment.

Yup.  I am from that same era myself.  I played those big box analyzers like a church organ.   ;)

You can do a kind of superimposed with Pico using some advanced features but it's not really needed.  The detail and capture time of the Pico allow you to analyze hundreds of engine cycles, panning and zooming through them in a way that would have made us wet ourselves back then.

Automated cylinder kill no.  You'll have to use the old school method like a grounded test light to short individual cylinders.


mrgmhale wrote on Aug 20^th, 2017 at 1:26pm:

so I can keep occupied and hopefully out of trouble.

Out of trouble with a car like that?  Not likely.   ::)

Mac Vandenbrink used to have a box that would hook to any scope, I cant find any info, I'm sure there is a few around. Mac seems to have disappeared  a legend in the ignition arena. I new his did cyl kill.

If you could  find an old counselor 2 it may be another option.

pico and the mixmaster may be another avenue, depends on the budget.

Buy a pico and hang out with us, you'll luv it.

Welcome by the way.

Hello mrgmhale, I have a pico 4423 that I believe I have sold to a friend so I can buy the 4425 kit from tom, if he doesn't take it I will contact you.  By the way, that is a sweet car, I see you are from Rochester, if you frequent the spencer speedway then you have seen me race there in the #21 super stock, I had the red/white wood brothers look alike in 2013 and the red mustang body on in 2014.

That is a sweet car!  One day I will have a mustang myself.  You can't go wrong buying from the Nerdz crew.  It is a ignition smorgasbord on the Picogroup forum.🙂