SUN machine Q...

hardtimes

hardtimes

Well-known member
my neighbor, a mechanic and older than dirt (me:)), has a fully functional , he says, huge SUN 'tuneup' rollaround (casters)machine. he made his living with this type equipment, so bought the best in 60s. he is not well now wants to sell his eqmt. my question: hopeing SUN expert on board ...is this eqmt at all usefull for model A application ? and are they worth anything if functional ?

ENGINE TUNE UP....not distributor repair !
 
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hardtimes said:
my neighbor, a mechanic and older than dirt (me:)), has a fully functional , he says, huge SUN 'tuneup' rollaround (casters)machine. he made his living with this type equipment, so bought the best in 60s. he is not well now wants to sell his eqmt. my question: hopeing SUN expert on board ...is this eqmt at all usefull for model A application ? and are they worth anything if functional ?
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It really does not have much usefulness in a typical Model A garage or repair shop however the value of these are very high to guys that frequent H.A.M.B. and GarageJournal who like to build era-authentic garages to work on their traditional machines. Offer it for sale over on either of those sites and you will likely fetch your neighbor a tidy sum.

.
 
Small2.jpg This is a pic of my sun dist machine. I hope I put the pic on right LOL. Some day I will get around to restoring it. Bill
 
hardtimes said:
bill,
nice machine! restore it ?? can these old sun electronic machines be fixed/restored functionally.....or have all the ole timer factory repair boys ridden off into the....SUNset:cool: ?
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Yes, there are still places that repair them or offer parts. Like I said earlier, these things fetch a decent price to folks repairing 50s-70s vehicles so there is a market both for parts and resales.

Give Bob Masters a call at http://www.distributortester.com/index.asp and see what he has for you. He might be able to appraise it for you also.

.
 
As a kid I worked for an old timer in an old garage and he had the Sun Distributor Tester as seen . It had some way of testing condensers by charging them.Being an endless practical joker he would take condensers from the ignition cabinate, charge them, put them back in the box and back in the cabinate.You never knew when you did a tune up if you were going to get zapped.Memories.
 
We use to do the same thing back in the 50's when I was with the Linc Merc dealer. We would put them on the service desk so the guys there would pick them up. Bill
 
Kurt in NJ said:
Is it a "tune up" machine like this??
http://www.upillar.com/listings/167629-sun-tuneup-engine-analizer
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kurt,
nah, its a lot larger than that machine pictured! it has a large oscillascope on the left side, about 16" tall, and huge function guages..5, i.e.- amps,rpm,volts and on. it has a speggetti bunch of wires/connectors,etc for dif tests , i guess. it has a large 2 door cabinet base and stands over 6/7 feet tall. very nice condition and impressive , intimidating looking! my guess is that ole virgil could/would teach you how to use it too!
mabe i can get pics for here in next few days. but im limited to one finger work for two months now:(. well see.
 
hardtimes said:
kurt,
nah, its a lot larger than that machine pictured! it has a large oscillascope on the left side, about 16" tall, and huge function guages..5, i.e.- amps,rpm,volts and on. it has a speggetti bunch of wires/connectors,etc for dif tests , i guess. it has a large 2 door cabinet base and stands over 6/7 feet tall. very nice condition and impressive , intimidating looking! my guess is that ole virgil could/would teach you how to use it too!
mabe i can get pics for here in next few days. but im limited to one finger work for two months now:(. well see.
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Sounds like you have a Sun Engine Analyzer, and not a Sun Distributor Machine. A distributor machine is very useful but an Engine Analyzer may be difficult to repair and of marginal use to most hobbiest and they take up a lot of room. If you offer it for sale, be sure it is a "Pick Up Only" deal.

Chris
 
years ago my dad horsetraded for one, but it was a Marquette brand. He never got the hookup leads for it. We would rib him all the time about it and called it his gigantic vacuum gauge because that is the only part of it you could use.
Years later I found a Sun analyzer complete at an auction and an exhaust sniffer, two different machines, I paid $85 for the pair, and have basically only used them to check if they worked. They do, and still they are basically just decorations.
 
hardtimes said:
ill try for pics and model #, etc mabe tomo. but ill have to have one of youse post pic....as im not able to:(
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Here are pictures of the Sun machine that "hardtimes" is talking about:
 

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THANKS fordcragger for your assist!
when got pics, owner gave me more accurate info as follows:
this sun built is model #1115. this machine was built for chevron stations in '80s, at a cost of over 9k. this machine still fully functional. it can test 4 / 6 / 8 cylinder engines that are equipped with distributor/ coil. he recently used it to tune a '55 chev 6 cyl dually flatbed trk.
note the special timing light in the end of the swing arm!

so apparently it can be used to thoroughly test madel A , just as ant other dizzy run engine..
 
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