Recent content by bctexas

My first piece of Sun gear back in 1971 was a Master Motor Tester from the mid 1950's. The batteries in the dwell/tach had leaked, and the face of the panel is rusty in that area. Stripping and painting the panel is not a big deal. But how do I replicate the printing?

Oh, you bet. The seller did a good job of preserving it - packed it in another box to avoid damage, tape and shipping labels.

This came up on Ebay a week or so back. The model name on it is "TUT" for "Tune Up Tester". First Sun tune up tester I have seen that includes a vacuum gauge. It is essentially new in the box. There is a tiny bit of wear on one of the alligator clips that tells me that it has been hooked up...

Added some shelves in the corner where the tester collection lives. Looks a lot less cluttered now.

Finished the transaxle/flywheel/clutch change in the MR2 yesterday. Clutch works properly and the used gearbox shifts well. I won't try an aggressive run through the gears until I get some miles on the clutch.

Pulled the original gearbox and clutch out of my '86 MR2 over the last couple days. Installing used gearbox that I was *told* has good synchros. Also installing aluminum flywheel along with the new clutch. 150k miles and the clutch still looks pretty good - still has lining left and was...

The permanent solution to this problem is using a AGM battery. They do not corrode terminals or the car body surrounding the battery. For example, we bought a new Subaru in 1997 and shortly after we got it, I replaced the battery with an AGM and only used AGM batteries going forward. 20 years...

Thanks Ryan and Innova for a smoking deal on three very useful tools.

The fellow I bought the 947 from bought it new, but didn't remember what he paid for it. He said that he got the machine with the large screen because he worked on a lot of 12 cylinder Jaguars and the big screen made reading the trace easier. The scope didn't work properly when I got it. I...

I found the 1160 in a Sun price list dated Feb 15, 1974. Is was the least expensive of the 4 listed "Performance Testers". It lists for $3,380.00. The biggest and most expensive was the 947 at $6,214.00. I *think* the 947 was the biggest tester they ever built - anyone know of a bigger one...

I keep motor oil, coolant, transmission fluid and windshield washer liquid in the bottom shelf of my 5 drawer cart from HF. It is the cart I use when working on cars.

I suspect it is the hexane/propane mixture used to calibrate the exhaust gas analyzer. You can see a blue sticker on the back of the machine that gives the "hexane/propane correlation factor".

A while back I replaced the factory A6 compressor on my 1970 Cadillac with a Pro6ten. The Pro6ten is a bolt-in replacement that works better with R-134 than the A6 does. The only issue with it is that the Pro6ten is only available with a single groove pulley. The factory used a dual belt...

Wow. I have a few of the jars left over from my dad's days as a Sexauer salesman, but I have never seen the rack they were made for. I sure would like to come across one of those some day. It is neat to see the labels on the jars too - don't remember ever seeing those. I know dad serviced a...

No offense taken! As you say, we are all working in the dark here....