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I have just bought an old Champion cleaner and tester from an autojumble and am trying to find information about its date and restoration information. It has a plaque on it marked "Type B: B 171". Anyone know anything or can point me in the right direction.

Thanks in advance

Dave.

Is this the unit from the 1950s? I worked for Champion for 32 years and these units were all over the place at the plant and warehouse here in Toledo. Unfortunately, Federal Mogul, the present owner of Champion doesn't stock the parts any longer.

In the 70s, a cheaper plastic housed version of the abrasive cleaner came out and was just a shadow of the classic units of the 30s, 40s and 50s. They were all fairly simple: compressed air and abrasive sand were sprayed against the dirty plug firing end thus cleaning carbon deposits. Usually the brass nozzle and the rubber boot the plug sat in needed replacement from time to time.

While I was doing an internet search for parts for these units, I stumbled upon a site offering "antique" Champion Spark Plugs.
These were probably the ones we made in the 70s, 80s and 90s that were exact copies of the 20s plugs--even with exact "antique" cartons.

I'm trying to restore an aviation version.

It's shrouded in gray-painted metal, and the abrasive pick-up tube was clogged. I cleaned out the tube, but it won't feed 30 mesh sand.
My guess is that it needs silicon carbide grit which is maybe lighter?

It doesn't appear to work like a conventional sand blaster, it appears that pressure difference inside the unit might feed the grit.

Anyone have any insight on this?