Howdy all. Bought my first M715 last week off gov't auction. It's about 250 miles away in BFE Pennsylvania. Went there today to assess and see if I can get it running and drive it back. It's currently not running b/c the harmonic balancer is messed up. Looked around a bit online and all I could find was one on evilBay for $131. I know parts are difficult to locate for these Tornado 230's but, jeez... All the parts except the crankshaft key seemed to be there, so I brought the balancer back w/ me to match up the keyway. The key slot in the crankshaft looks somewhat chewed up but I think I can make it work. Opinions on that are welcome, of course.
In any case, the truck was sitting for 3 years and the rest of it checked out ok. Master cylinder was bone dry but I put in some fluid and pumped the brakes a few times and it seemed to come around. Clutch seems functional as do the gears. Tires all had air. Didn't test spark but the points looked good. Had a weatherproof sealed style distributor cap so I think that helps a lot. The crank bolt was still there and I tightened it up until the engine started turning and I got two full revolutions of the crank w/o any strenuous effort. I'm sure the fuel is questionable but I'll assess that when I go back to get it running. Oil looked fresh and didn't stink of fuel or have water in it. Radiator was dry but I think they might have drained it when they took the balancer off.
Couple of questions: Does anyone know of a good place to get replacement rims? I work at a tire shop and the widowmaker rims are not allowed. I have another place I can get them done but they charge a lot. I'd rather just get replacement, non-life-threatening rims and be done w/ it. Suggestions?
Is there anything else I should look for when something has been sitting for a few years? Besides fuel, spark, etc... I plan on taking three new batteries for the dual voltage system so I should be ok there too.
I attached a few pics to this post, but couldn't figure out how to include them inline. I read a couple of other posts where they suggested just putting the URL in the post but that didn't work, it just turned the URL into a link. I also tried using <img> and [img] tags but that didn't work either.