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THE LOBBY A gathering place. Introductions, sports, showin' off your ride, birthday-anniversary-milestone, achievements, family oriented humor. |
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#1
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Sun 740 Electronic engine tester time capsule
I was picking up Super T10 parts at my manual transmission guy's shop and he showed me this cool engine diagnostic dinosaur.
Its in pristine condition and fully functional...I like cool old stuff, my only worry is if it needed maintenance I wouldnt know how to fix it. Really cool nonetheless... Any idea what its worth? Hes getting old and wants to thin the herd before retiring. Peter |
#2
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I had one for awhile, a later model, a 1215 I think. bought for $125 at the time, about 25 years ago. Luv the ignition scope. took up too much room in my garage. Still have the lower cabinet.
George
__________________
"...out to my ol'55, I pulled away slowly, feeling so holy, god knows i was feeling alive"....written by Tom Wait from the Eagles' Live From The Forum |
#3
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I love old SUN equipment. Very high quality and easy to use. I used a SUN 1020 scope allot in the old days. Used other brands as well, Bear, Marquette, Allen and so forth. SUN was always my favorite. The bad news for the seller is they have little no no value. They are so big and heavy, often just thrown away or tossed in a land fill. That one as nice as it is probably worth $100.00 or so. Sometimes really cool stuff doesn't have allot of resale value. Cool find .
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The Following User Says Thank You to mgarblik For This Useful Post: | ||
#4
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There are people over on the Garage Journal forum who collect them, you could go over there and look around to see what they go for. I haven't followed the prices but one in that condition would be worth quite a bit to the right person. I think they're not so much used as tools these days but as accessories for fancy garage spaces.
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The Following User Says Thank You to Stuart For This Useful Post: | ||
#5
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Quote:
Ill see and if he can't sell it , Ill catch it before he turfs it... its just so clean, can this perform things a simple compression tester, vacuum tester and fancy adjustable timing light do? Any idea what year that thing is? |
#6
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I would say mid 1960's model. I can't say he can't get $500.00 for it. But similar SUN equipment comes up all the time for sale in similar condition for much less. The key factor, if desired just for nostalgia furniture would be the ability to just come and pick it up. To put it on a palate and then a wood crate and ship cross-country would cost $700.00-1000.00. Customer pick-up changes the story. I had a chance to get a SUN 1020, which is a larger nicer unit for free. But I had to go get it in Nebraska. I think he just ended up throwing it away. It looked to be in similar condition including all the manuals. As nice as the unit looks, I bet all the paperwork is inside the cabinet. In the door, they had a pouch for all that stuff. Again, I love them. But difficult and expensive to transport which kills their value unless a local buyer. Good luck with it.
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The Following User Says Thank You to mgarblik For This Useful Post: | ||
#7
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Thanks, ill try to find him a buyer hes in Montreal. Im not saying I will buy it but if he end up turfing it , ill pick it up. It would fit well in my shop which is like a 1960 bubble. It would just be one more headache I dont need lol
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#8
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That is pretty cool but 500 dollars for a display piece is asking alot.
__________________
going bandit-Reynolds style |
#9
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They are neat old "Garage Art" for the most part.
I think there are a few guys out there that sell parts and such. The problem like with any large item is logistics, which will always make for a hard sell. I sold a 720 with all the bells & whistles still with it. Even had a full Card Catalog from '60 to '70 something IIRC. The test leads were all very dry and brittle so I never attempted to power it up. This affected price. I think I let it all go for way under $500 but it was years ago.
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When I die, I want to go peacefully like my grandfather did, in his sleep. Not screaming like the passengers in his car. |
The Following User Says Thank You to Jeff Hamlin For This Useful Post: | ||
#10
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I used Sun equipment in the late 1970's and they were very dependable and accurate. In the recent past I have been offered several for free if I just hauled them away. I never took any even though I would have liked to because they took up too much room. Even if it works I can't see it being worth any where near $500 even if you use it often.
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The Following User Says Thank You to Goatracer1 For This Useful Post: | ||
#11
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I will say that if you ever run across a working SUN Distributor machine, pick it up. They are still in high demand, most parts are available or can be made. I have 2 available to me when I need them which is about 3-4 times a year. If someone has a distributor with vacuum and mechanical advance and needs it to be curved or modified, this is still the easiest and most effective way to get it exactly right. One in working order is worth at least $1000.00. They are smaller and easier to ship as well.
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The Following User Says Thank You to mgarblik For This Useful Post: | ||
#12
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I have one as well and it looks like new
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#13
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Quote:
__________________
“It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.” Dr. Thomas Sowell |
#14
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My dad operated a single man garage from about 1970 - 1980. He had a Sun unit that looked very similar that he bought used around 1970. It was probably a mid-60s vintage. He used it for many years until something failed, I'm not sure what. He was close to shutting down the garage and he didn't think it was worth fixing at the time. It stayed in the garage for many years, but I think my brother threw it away when they were cleaning out the garage probably ten years ago or so.
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#15
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one cool feature with those units (prob on the later ones) is they had a current clamp to clamp on the battery cable; it would measure the current during starting to determine if there was a weak/bad cylinder and which one it was by measuring the load on the starter. Cool. I worked at Sun in the early eighties.
George
__________________
"...out to my ol'55, I pulled away slowly, feeling so holy, god knows i was feeling alive"....written by Tom Wait from the Eagles' Live From The Forum |
The Following User Says Thank You to george kujanski For This Useful Post: | ||
#16
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When Snap-On bought SUN I was actually Naive enough to think they were going to utilize their brain trust to improve the lousy Snap-On diagnostic equipment of that time period. But instead, they were just purchased to eliminate one of their competitors. As far as I am aware, they never did anything with them. Just acquire and dissolve. Their analyzers, Voltage/Amperage testers, Timing lights, gauges, everything they had was far superior to the Snap-On stuff.
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The Following User Says Thank You to mgarblik For This Useful Post: | ||
#17
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Never could afford a Sun.
Bought a brand-new Allen that was obsolete then about 1970. Would not do electronic ignitions (which I didn't, and don't have). Very best find-an-ignition-problem-when-nothing-else-can tool. Don't have to really understand it. Just hook it up, and compare the picture on the screen to the picture in the diagnostic book. Believe it or not, found a bent distributor shaft on a friend's car when 6 different dealerships were unable to find it. Took about 5 minutes. Have no idea on values. Jon
__________________
"Good carburetion is fuelish hot air". "The most expensive carburetor is the wrong one given to you by your neighbor". If you truly believe that "one size fits all" try walking a mile in your spouse's shoes! Owner of The Carburetor Shop, LLC (of Missouri). Current caretaker of the remains of Stromberg Caburetor, and custodian of the existing Carter and Kingston carburetor drawings. |
The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to carbking For This Useful Post: | ||
#18
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I would love to find a working Sun machine locally for my shop.
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#19
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FYI, The SUN Sleuth I and II were among the last live screen scopes from SUN. Plus they did allot of other functions and had a dial back timing light. They had adapters for coil pack ignition and of course HEI. Very nice machine and MUCH smaller than the older stuff. Probably weighed less than 100 lbs. They made a fair number of them and I see therm around various shops still. Obviously became obsolete when scan tools had more capability starting in 1996. I see these for $300.00-500.00 regularly on Facebook and Craigslist. If you can verify it works, a really nice tool. One for sale on facebook marketplace right now in PA for $350.00 asking. Looks very nice.
Last edited by mgarblik; 02-03-2023 at 09:52 PM. |
#20
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Those machines have a little collector value. My buddy has restored a couple and also did a distributor machine. He has had a lot of interest in them from others. Some parts are hard to find and there are some newer more modern electrical parts to make them work. On the west side of Michigan, near Grand Rapids I think, there is a person who makes either decals or the lettering for the machines. They look brand new when my buddy gets done with them.
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