On Board Air Setup  

For a long time now I have carried a nitrogen tank to refill my tires offroading.  What ends up happening usually on extended weekends, I give away most of the air to charity cases that didn't have their own air.  Not a problem, I just want to have enough for me, so I started the York Compressor project.  When I bought the Bronco in 1990, it had an unfunctional AC system.  I bagged everything except the compressor and the mounting hardware..  Recently I found out it was the right kind of compressor to use as an air pump.  Below is the step by step. 

This is the York Compressor.  I glass beaded it to clean it up, checked the clutch to make sure it still worked, and made sure there is still oil in the crankcase of the compressor.  I will have to mount the compressor sideways to fit under the hood.  I don't like the discharge side being the lowest, but we'll see how it works.  May need an air dryer to filter oil.

When I rebuilt the motor, I cleaned up this plate and used it for a perch for my coil.  Now all I have to do to it is re-route a little wiring and a heater hose and it will be cleaned up for the compressor.  I went to the just yard and picked up a double pulley for the altenator.  EBML said to run the belt from the alt - comp.

While I was junk yard hopping, I went to American Trucking and Salvage and picked up this tank for $10.00.  I have all the fittings stripped off of it right now, but it came with a pop off valve.  I will glass bead the tank and rinse the inside to get any oil out of it and paint it.  Originally it was going to fit under the hood, but an inch too big in diameter, so I am relocating it under the truck .  I will take pictures when I decide on a location.  BONUS (FORD stamped  on it!)

This is a shot of the tank sandblasted and painted with the fittings installed

I bought a pressure switch (Part#5B419) $14.38 and check valve (Part# 6D914) $6.11  @ Grainger.  They are on the web at www.grainger.com if you need them.  I have a whole box of assorted fittings to put together the manifold that will be under the hood. 

I mounted the compressor in the factory location.  After carefully looking at the pulley situation, I decided not to go to just the altenator, but use an idler pulley and go off of the crank pulley which has an available slot.  My fan is less than 1/16" away from the pulley on the compressor, so I will have to space it closer to the radiator.

This is the manifold that I created to distribute the air.  It goes through the check valve first, then through the pressure switch and then passes the gauge, then it is T'd off to put air to a quick disconnect in the front grill and the other part of the T sends air to the tank under the truck.

This is where I mounted the air tank.  There is enough reserve to run air tools with minimal breaks.  You can do lugs nuts with no problem.  I ran a hose to the front of the vehicle and to the rear with quick disconnects for tools and air hoses

7 Months Later

This is the hose that I ran to the front bumper. It has a quick disconnect and I keep a 20´ length of hose with me for air duties.

The rear hose is long enough to reach all the tires incase I do not have the other hose with me.  This works out great, because you are always with friends that need air, and I can run the front and rear hose at the same time.  Or, I can conec the spare hose to the long rear hose and stretch almost 40´ to another vehicle.  Which I have had to do on numerous occasions.

This is the manifold in working condition.  The only problem that I have had with the system so far is the extreme heat from the headers cracked the clear plastic basket of the dryer unit.  So far with the compressor on its side, I have only lost 1 tablespoon of oil.  I put in 1 1/2 tablespoon of 30W back in the compressor.  There is no way to dipstick the compressor on its side.

I went and bought another moisture seperator (dryer) from Home Depot.  It is  Campbell / Hausefeld unit for about $8-$13.00 .  I tried to find the old box to get you a part number, but I must have thrown it away.  As you can see in the picture, i wrapped the dryer in insulation and heat tape to prevent it from cracking again.

Additional Notes:   When I was in Moab, I blew the front tire off the rim.  In less than 5 minutes I had the jacked up, tire off, reseated and back on using the air and the  impact.  At no time did the impact starve for air.  Also, the pressure cutoff is set at 120 PSI, so my impact actually runs faster on the truck, then with my home compressor at 90 PSI. 

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