At 11:15 AM 4/7/2005, you wrote:

        Could a little piece of a magnetic rod embedded in either steel or Al disc (flywheel, pulley, etc.) do the trick?  I always thought magnetic pickups actually involved a magnet, or at least a dominant spike of metal passing the pickup.

        Yes, this is possible. I have operated a pip sensor with a steel set screw in an aluminum disk before. However, a steel "ring gear" would be a better bet. You know it will work if you made it look like the stock timing disk. It would be less likely to vibrate out of position unnoticed.