Things you forgot you had

[mrholeshot]

I sold my Big Box a few days ago and I've been going through a lot of my stuff trying to get stuff narrowed down. I keep running across stuff I forgot I had. Some of this stuff I've had for 20-30 years. Here is one thing I forgot I had and could have used quite a bit. It sure would have saved me a lot of brake clean. The battery wasn't in it because about 15 years ago I needed a battery for my DMM and I took it out of this. I guess thats what saved it over the years. I put a new battery in it and it works like new. I can't understand why I quit using it but I'm curious who else has one of these. Also what treasure have you found in your own garage.

Pulling a vacuum

 

[scott37300]

How exactly does this work?

 

[mrholeshot]

How exactly does this work?

It has several tips that go into the main wand (or you can use it without the tips for larger leaks) and you just put the tip anywhere you suspect there may be a leak (like down the side of an intake manifold,T body gasket, hose, etc) and if it sences the leak the red light and a loud buzzer goes off. You can set it to be so sensitive that you can hold it 8 inches from your face and draw a breath in and make it go off.

 

[scott37300]

It must sense vacuum? Pretty neat, I've always used brake cleaner on my intake leaks but I could see this being very nice to use. Do they still sell these or is there something better?

 

[solitaire]

How does the brake clean sense a leak near a manifold?

 

[KrisM]

If the intake manifold gasket is sealed perfectly, the brake cleaner wont have any effect on a running motor.

If the intake manifold gasket has a vacuum leak, the brake cleaner will get sucked in, combusted. The effect would be some momentary irregularity with the running motor (increase rpms, change exhaust tone, etc..)

 

[mrholeshot]

It must sense vacuum? Pretty neat, I've always used brake cleaner on my intake leaks but I could see this being very nice to use. Do they still sell these or is there something better?

It does, it can be very sensitive.

 

[johnny1290]

Never seen one before. Very cool!

 

[mrholeshot]

Do they still sell these or is there something better?

There are a few companies that sell something very similar but they are very expensive. I think a good smoke machine probably works a little better as you can see smoke exit where you can't get your hands. I don't understand why they would stop building these other than they were quite expensive when new. I think NAPA sold one almost identical to it. If I'm mistaken they were about 600 dollars new. That was in the 80's

 

[crewchief888]

ran across this stuff a few months ago while reorganizing the garage.

SO armature cutter
armature growler
matco digital charging/ starting system tester
analog charging/starting system tester
old WEN soldering gun

 

[mrholeshot]

Very Cool!!