You are absolutely right, a stock, original M715 will be worth more to a
collector, and changing engines and other modification does decrease the
collector value. However, for "users" the modifications are fairly important.
My policy is to try and make each modification as non-destructive as possible,
and to that end I will go the extra expense to avoid drilling new holes,
cutting, welding, etc.. and I have original engines to drop back into my
715's.
The 230 Tornado overhead cam 6 cyl was a design that never seems to have the
bugs worked out of it. It was only used on the civilian Kaiser Jeep trucks for
3 years and was dropped due to the trouble it had. Then it was supplied to the
Government 2 years after it was discontinued in the civilian market, which
makes me wonder what kind of low-bid hoodwinking may have been involved. My
experience is that top-end failures are very common, with proper lubrication
being one possible reason. Also, these engines are a pain to service properly,
and require a variety of special tools to rebuild completely.
I am convinced that the 715 would not have been so unpopular with the Military
IF they had designed it with a better engine and a fewother modifications.
Erik Timothy
Federal Way, WA
===
To unsubscribe from the mil-veh mailing list, send the single word
UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of a message to <mil-veh-request@skylee.com>.