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Brahma On-Board Air

subzali

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This is where I'll document my on-board air project. I was going to try and sneak it in with my power steering project, but my red truck pooped out as I was buttoning that one up, so this one had to be put on hold for a little while. Longer than I would have liked, but oh well.

This morning I tried to get air to fill my tires back up, since I didn't air back up after the Argentine Cleanup Run. At $0.75 for 3 minutes with a low cfm compressor at the gas station, I almost got my rear 2 tires filled up before I gave up and went to work. Went to Discount during lunch and got topped off, but this is pretty much the last straw. I'm sick of not having on-board air, especially since we still live in an apartment and don't really have room for an air compressor.

I don't like the small 12V compressors because they're noisy, don't have high CFM, don't have a great duty cycle, and the better ones are pretty expensive. And you have to store them someplace when you're not using them.

I don't like Yorks because the typical York mount makes you move the alternator down to where the smog pump bracket is. I don't like that idea that my alternator could be submerged in a water crossing while my air compressor, which is not a necessary accessory, is happily dry at the top of the engine bay. I also wanted to try something different that I had heard about from Red Fox and maybe a couple others.

Hence, the Sanden compressor. Found as an A/C compressor in Volvos and possibly other vehicles, it has a slightly lower CFM as compared to Yorks, is tubular in shape which saves space, and the only "drawback" is that you have to add oil because it's designed to be lubricated by refrigerant like an Aisin compressor. But there's a port on the top that allows you to do that, so it just becomes part of pm. Let's give this a try:
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First, here was a mockup of the setup while I was doing my power steering conversion:
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As you may be able to see, since I am not running a smog pump, I was thinking of using the smog pump bracket and tensioner as the foundation of my installation. This seems promising.

Now, the smog pump bracket is designed to fit 8mm bolts. The Sanden pump is designed to mount using 10mm bolts. So I went to McMaster-Carr and ordered a few sleeve bearings to make up the difference:
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The tensioner has a bend in it to mount up to the smog pump. The mounting ears for the Sanden don't quite line up, but a little smithing to straighten the tensioner out and everything lines up nicely.

The mounting ears on the Sanden also don't exactly line up with the ears on the smog pump bracket, but a simple spacer from Ace Hardware (3/8" ID, 3/4" OD, 3/8" thick) will make up the difference:
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I was thinking of using a really long 8mm bolt, but it would have to be M8 x 140mm or so to be long enough; not easy to find. So I'm thinking of just using a shorter M8 bolt for each ear. We'll see how this works.
 

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subzali

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Here's before/after shots of the sleeve bearings going into the mounting ears:
 

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AxleIke

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Looks awesome Matt! I love reading your documentations. I'm all about the details, and I love the time you put into your projects!

Didn't realize you were in an appt, but if you ever need tools, or a place to tinker for an afternoon, feel free to swing on by!
 

Rezarf

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I will follow this closely. I am hankering for OBA, the CO2 tank is great but it takes up a lot of space if I can stuff a pump under the hood.
 
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Not sure how much info you have on the plumbing but make sure you have oil. I have a Sanden from a Ford 302 on mine and was not told about it from the PO and almost smoked it. If you go on the Front Range forum and search on board air there is some good info and online to. I am sure you know this but just throwing it out there. If your not running a tank may want to think about it. So you dont have to run the compressor all the time. I have a 5 gal tank and when it worked it was great. nice start. good luck.
 

Jacket

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Need more detail in how you have to modify things to use the existing air pump mounts. But based on your other projects, I know you'll provide excellent detail. :)
 

subzali

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Looks awesome Matt! I love reading your documentations. I'm all about the details, and I love the time you put into your projects!

Didn't realize you were in an appt, but if you ever need tools, or a place to tinker for an afternoon, feel free to swing on by!

Thanks Isaac, my parents live pretty close by and have almost all the tools I need. And Air Randy is just a little further in case I need a lift ;)

I will follow this closely. I am hankering for OBA, the CO2 tank is great but it takes up a lot of space if I can stuff a pump under the hood.

Yeah, I like the idea of infinite air too vs. a CO2 tank.

Not sure how much info you have on the plumbing but make sure you have oil. I have a Sanden from a Ford 302 on mine and was not told about it from the PO and almost smoked it. If you go on the Front Range forum and search on board air there is some good info and online to. I am sure you know this but just throwing it out there. If your not running a tank may want to think about it. So you dont have to run the compressor all the time. I have a 5 gal tank and when it worked it was great. nice start. good luck.

Thanks Kenny, that's good advice. I know just enough to know that this should work for what I want to have done. I'm thinking of just doing a manual oiling process, rather than having it automated. That might come later if I feel like I need it.

I'll look into it a little more and post up more info as I find it, as far as CFM rating goes etc.

I don't think I'll start with a surge tank, but I have been keeping an eye on other fellas' setups because I'm sure eventually I'll want one. I am planning on getting a water/oil separator though, me wants dry air.

Need more detail in how you have to modify things to use the existing air pump mounts. But based on your other projects, I know you'll provide excellent detail. :)

Well, I'll try to take pictures, but it goes like this: Remove air pump and associated plumbing, and then blacksmith the tensioning arm until it lines up where you want it :hill:

I'll get some pictures once I get the pump mounted to get a good look at the alignment.
 

rover67

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Make sure whatever drier you get can handle some heat too. I got a cheapie plastic one for my setup the first time and it melted. The one I run now was expensive, but it works very well and is all metal.
 

subzali

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Got the compressor mounted tonight. These pictures show the alignment of the pulley and the distance from the exhaust manifold.
 

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subzali

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This picture shows the wrap of the belt around the OBA compressor pulley:
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Not that great but should be enough to move some air (hopefully). I lost just a little wrap on the power steering pulley. Hopefully it won't be a big deal because I'm going to try to find a wide pulley for the power steering pump, so maybe that will add more friction to help prevent it from slipping.

This picture shows the front mounting bolt on the bottom. It's an M8x35 I believe, and it was just a hair too long so I added a second washer at the head end of the bolt to bring it back away from the pulley just a touch:
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Thiis picture shows the rear mounting bolt on the bottom. It's an M8x40 I believe, with the 3/8" long spacer to make up the distance between the ears on the compressor and the ears on the smog pump bracket:
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Couple more views of the installation...
 

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subzali

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last
 

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I would highly suggest an oil set up if you dont have a tank. You will be running it longer so you run a better chance of it drying out. On mine the PO told me to just squirt wd40 or a lubricant on the filter and it would suck it in... NOT! It being closer to the manifold it may run hotter also. Just a thought.
 

subzali

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I saw some info on tooling oilers, so may have to check into that. Red Fox says he oils his like once a season and it's good to go.
 

60wag

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Pneumatic tool oilers are designed to go on the high pressure side of the system and use a venturi tube to suck oil into the air hose. I doubt that would work on the pump inlet.

I'm not sure what would work well other than to make it really easy to put a few drops of oil in the inlet just prior to running the pump.
 
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That is what the other folks using this set up have done and from what i have read has worked well. I believe they got there stuff from Northern Tool for the most part. Just google it, or look on the Front Range site. That is what i did. Not sure how much oil mine had but would not suspect much but could possibly work with just oiling once a season. But would suspect it depends on usage also.
 

subzali

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Slowly but surely...
Got my Trollhole replica small courtesy light switch installed in the previously plugged hole in the dash today. Not quite sure if it's what I'm looking for, any opinions? By the way, in earlier FJ40s this little knob is installed on the right side of the pocket (glove box). My FJ40 has no holes in the dash at this location, so for now I'm using holes that are already existing.

Exclusively for Jacket, I wiped down my dashboard so it's all clean :D
 

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Uncle Ben

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Pneumatic tool oilers are designed to go on the high pressure side of the system and use a venturi tube to suck oil into the air hose. I doubt that would work on the pump inlet.

I'm not sure what would work well other than to make it really easy to put a few drops of oil in the inlet just prior to running the pump.

In Wildrice I have used an inline oiler for years! I have a dryer on the pressure side that I pull most of the oil back out along with most moisture. I have run Toyota A/C pumps for a long time! I did chew one up years ago and that was from occasional oiling. Knock on wood but I have never lost a pump since I use the inline oiler. For oil I use a 50/50 mix of A/C oil and Slick 50.
 

subzali

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Had a thought a couple days ago that I forgot about until today - If I had an FJ60, or FJ60 carb, I could hook the idle-up vacuum pot to take signal from the compressor turning on. That would be cool. But not necessary for this build. Or is it? :confused:
 

Uncle Ben

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Had a thought a couple days ago that I forgot about until today - If I had an FJ60, or FJ60 carb, I could hook the idle-up vacuum pot to take signal from the compressor turning on. That would be cool. But not necessary for this build. Or is it? :confused:

That helps but you will find higher RPM is needed for air tools or rapid tire filling. A simple hand throttle is sufficient. In Long Grain (my V8J62) I flash programmed the ECU to kick the throttle up to 1800 when the welder was in need. I did it through the voltage drop when the welder circuit dropped the alternator off line. Worked well!
 

subzali

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That helps but you will find higher RPM is needed for air tools or rapid tire filling. A simple hand throttle is sufficient. In Long Grain (my V8J62) I flash programmed the ECU to kick the throttle up to 1800 when the welder was in need. I did it through the voltage drop when the welder circuit dropped the alternator off line. Worked well!

I figured it wouldn't be enough. Time to think about a hand throttle...
 
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