DZAUTO

I have a chance to buy a GOOD used dist machine for $500. Is that a good buy?

Hitch

Does all of the gauges and the strobe work when in operation? Does it have an internal battery or does it have a power supply. If everything works I would say that 500 dollars is a pretty good buy.

Dave

BarryK

from what i've seen on eBay, if the unit works it's a decent price. I've been looking myself in case anything shows up worth buying that's close enough to drive to pick it up and prices i've seen seem to go from $500 to $1500.

I've also been told that if you find one that needs a bit of repair they really aren't all that complicated inside.

The ones that have the external 12V battery and also take two D-cell batteries for the instrument module are the older units. Later models used an internal low-voltage power supply instead of the external 12V battery and added a distributor resistance/capacitor test meter and circuitry. The internal power supply is nice to have over the external battery but from what I'm told the the distributor resistance/capacitor check function is not much use for what we typically use these machines for now.

Most of the mechanical and electrical items are still commonly available parts you should be able to get locally except for the vacuum tube rectifier used in the high voltage power supply although there is a company in AZ that handles vacuum tubes.

BTW, if the unit you are looking at happens to be Blue, it was probably a military version.

A friend of mine (who I got all this info from) bought one last year for around $600 that needed some work. He spent about $500 on mechanical & electrical parts to get it working again to first class operation.

There are also a couple guys that specialize in repairing these units if needed and chances are they may also be able to supply parts if you want to do it yourself if the unit needs it.

In fact, there is a good chance that Dave, who replied before I did, had his distributor curved on my friends unit........
(Dave, yes, I'm referring to Bill who I got the info from! )

Plasticman

My early unit uses an external battery (spare 12 volt car battery) for powering the Sun Machine "ignition" circuit, plus 2 "D" 1.5 volt batteries were used (they are accessed via 2 covers on the front angled panel). The 2 "D" cells were used to power the RPM and Dwell gauges (1.5 volts for one of them, and 3 volts for the other). I replaced those 2 with DC power supplies, but still need to rob a 12 volt battery whenever I use the Sun mach.

Later units evidently used internal transformers for the same functions.

As for value, $500 sounds a little steep, unless it is pristine and a later model to boot (but then again, I must be just "cheap").

Plasticman

Mr D.

If it's a 504 / 505?? (red machine), good condition and a pickup vice shipping cost than I don't think you would be alright at $500. I have been looking high and low for a good machine but it's always a local pickup only from up north or out west.


The above statement should have read "I think you would be alright at $500". Opps.

Powershift

D: I have been told that many of these SUN machines were used in local tech/vocational schools years ago, and are now gathering dust in a storeroom or closet. Suggest checking a few vo-tech schools in your area. They are almost always in very good condition and reasonably priced. A couple of my friends bought SUN machines this way a few years back from local Louisiana vo-tech schools.

Although I would love to have one of these distributor machines, my garage is just too small to accomodate.....unless I park the wife's car outside. Think she would mind?

Larry

rgs

That's where I got my engine analyser, for $40, 15 years ago.

Mr D.

That's where my wife parks, she knows better than to even go there.

My garage is full along all walls with a nice open area in the middle for the 65 all by itself.

62Jeff

I paid $375 for this one in July, found on e-bay about 150 miles from my home. So I spent $55 in gas and drove to pick it up. It is a 1975 model but produced in the mid 1980's. I had to clean up the ends of the hoses for the vacuum system, and Plasticman had to spend many hours remotely determining that I had a bad capacitor and resistor (and provided the new capacitor), but it otherwise was in working condition when I got it.


Yep


My machine has this resistance check. I haven't used it for diagnosis, but you essentially connect the + and - leads together, adjust the dwell gauge until the needle goes in the black bar, then connect + and - leads to the distributor and see if the needle stays in the black bar. If it does not, something between the wire from the points, to the ground, has too much resistance. Seems like a handy test.

Interesting, mine is blue and has USA hand-scratched into it in several places.

I also recently acquired a set of instructions for building a simple adapter tool that allows a distributor with the Pertronix conversion to work on my machine using a 9 volt battery. I have permission from the author to draw up a wiring diagram and post it here if anyone has interest. Full credit will of course go to the creator of the tool.

muncieman

Which model is it Tom????

I bought one over 5 years ago for $400.

BarryK

Jeff

I remember well when you picked up that unit. it was at that time that I received the info I related.
$375 was a good price. I hadn't see any that low recently. The price range I quoted was pretty much average prices I have come across.

DZAUTO

Wally,
I haven't seen it yet. It belongs to a retired mechanic who was my uncle's partner at Jim & Jerrys Garage. I talked to him a couple of months ago and the dist machine came up and I asked how much he wanted for it. He said $500. So, I need to go look at it, and go from there. I thought I'd ask here first. I've always wanted one and I thought this may be a good one to buy.
My uncle is on the left (Jerry) and Jimmy is on the right. Picture was taken in 1959 when they left the service dept of a BIG Chevy dealer in OKC and opened their own garage. Jim and Jerry's is still in business, owned by my cousin (Uncle Jerry's oldest son).

ricks327

TOM,
That is one great family photo!! Love the business hours.

RICK SMITH

K2

Cool Picture! See the haircut has remained a family tradition. The CE on the sign must be the phone prefix?

muncieman

The one I bought works with the exception of the dwell meter. I just hung a cheapo on the side and all is well. It's a 404 model.

Allen also made nice machines but I was never able to find one.

Plasticman

Just a caution on any of these "older" machines. The dwell and RPM (tach) gauges will undoubtedly have drifted out of accuracy over the years, and it certainly does not hurt to hook up a more modern tach and dwell gauge to at least verify their accuracy.

There are internal adjustment potentiometers that can be reset to bring them back into spec, but having a "gold standard" to set them to is absolutely necessary. For my RPM check I had 2 separate tachs plus the Sun Machine, and none of the 3 matched! I ended up using (as my final judge) a RPM strobe unit (ex military).

Plasticman

dazvet

62Jeff, Would be very interested in the adapter to run the Pertronix conversion on my Sun Machine. Thanks.
Larry

62Jeff

Hi Larry,
Turns out, the originator of the little adapter, Gil Baumgartner from the Classic Thunderbird Club International Club, has posted the instructions for his adapter on his web site
http://www.ctci.org/membership/Gilsg...gPertronix.htm

Jeff

DZAUTO

Klaus,
Correct, CE is the phone prefix and it has been the same since the garage opened in 1959, CE 22055, now of course, 232-2055.
In my MIND, when I call to talk to my cousin or give the phone number to anyone, I dial CE 22055! Oh ya, and I still dial on a rotary phone at my house (out of about 20 phones in the house, MOST are rotary dial phones, and some don't have dials at all).

Plasticman

One more caution on the purchase of any Sun Machine:

Check to make sure that the drive wheel has not been left engaged for extended lengths of time. There is a rubber portion to this drive, and if left engaged, it will develop a flat spot. Effect will be a thump for every revolution of the drive. Mine had that issue (when purchased many moons ago), so I made an aluminum pulley with a groove, so that an "O" ring now does the driving. "O" ring is easily replaceable and available (if I ever have that issue again).

As mentioned previously, there may be replacement parts available, including the rubber drive pulley, but knowing what to look for always helps.

Plasticman