Vintage Shop Equipment
Meet the machines that kept generations of hot cars running at their peak.
by Tom Shaw
photos by Tom Shaw
So if you’re new to the subject of vintage shop equipment, read on and we’ll introduce you to some very cool stuff.
1-
Meet the Hemi Cuda of engine diagnostic equipment, the Sun Infra Red Engine Performance Tester. In the center is an oscilloscope which would show an electronic trace of each cylinder’s firing. The display could be set to show individual cylinders, or all at once. A trained eye could find the errant squiggle and replace the corresponding part. Cylinders or combination of cylinders could also be misfired to locate a weak or dead cylinder. It also has dials for dwell, cylinder leakage, emissions, vacuum, and air cleaner efficiency among others. Later versions had a larger scope, but the overall dimension stayed about the same. Size and shipping limit the popularity of these machines now. They’re just too big for most garages, and they are impractical to ship. This keeps the price way down.
 2- Here are some variations on the theme. On the left is an abbreviated version without the emissions unit to the right of the scope. It also has the big scope introduced around the mid-1970s which shows the electronic traces in greater detail. In the middle is the full console with the smaller scope, and to the right is the full console with the big scope. It also has the light up sign on top. |
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| 3- Here, taken from a late 1960s catalog, is the Sun 820 engine tester, an earlier version of the big kahuna. It fits on a single width cabinet. The scope is smaller and it has less extensive instrumentation. |
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