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Hi all.
Been wanting to do this for ages. I have a 2 foot air horn placed in my car with a 5 litre receiver in the boot. Now what I wanted to do was to use the air con compressor to pump my receiver. I know I need to keep the compressor lubricated as to whether I use an oil catch or occasionally pump with High Temp grease I am not sure. Just wondering if anyone would like to help out here....?

I used the air con pump in my Landcruiser as a tyre pump for a year before reverting back to air con because I'm a pussy, they blow a lot of air & at pretty high pressure (12.5x33x15" in about a minute from flat to 34psi). All I did for lube was put a tiny bit of refrigeration oil in it every now and then, didn't seem to harm it in any way as it worked perfectly as an air conditioner for the next 7 years.
If you're going to do it have a T piece and set up a hose to do your tyres at the same time, I had a switch under the bonnet so I could turn it on and off any time I wanted.

5 litre receiver??? I assume you mean a tank. 5L is pretty small if thats what u mean.

There are a few things u need to do this properly and safely. Some things depend on what model air con compressor u are using. I have experience with 2 types. The Ea81 air con pump and the EJ22 air con pump.

The Ea81 seams stronger and seamed to pump more air. This we used on a (i think) 20L tank and we did not oil it at all... We probably should have but it never failed so we didn't get around to it.

After that we did the same with an EJ22 pump. This i would only use up to 100PSI and it needs to be dismantled and lubed inside (i used wheel bearing grease). We destroyed the first one we did because we did not lube it and it seized up after a few minutes.

I have installed an air tool oiler to the inlet pipe to help lube the internals every now and again. (I use magnatec oil). There is an air/oil seperator on the out line to stop oil getting in my tank. I have a 9L tank at the back that needs an emergancy valve incase something goes wrong, an drain plug, an outlet fitting, and the inlet needs a one way check valve.

Also a pressure sensor needs to be fitted and hooked to the air con compressor and a switch on the dash... this will turn it on and off autmatically when your tank reaches pressure. Mine turns on at 70PSI and off at 100PSI.

I also find that the pump gets very hot.... i can smell burt grease if i run the thing for more than a 4-5 times without rest and it makes the pipes get hot. The factory air con lines seam to work best and convert them to standard air lines atleast a foot from the compressor to help prevent heat damage to your air lines.

We tested some air horns with 150PSI and seriously it was WAY WAY too loud. 100PSI was about right though... Still mega loud though.

Dave

Dave, on the money. all good parts of a wicked egg-presser.

Perhaps maybe one of you bright people might like to... help me along the way...?D_Generate thanks for the idea with t-peice so I can pump tires also. Sadly I do not have the Forester anymore but the Cat Killar is still at dad's place. All this work is goin' into a commonbore.

just get the pressure switching 'button' off any old household compressor. it will keep the tank full for you always. good luck.

mine is done very similar to daves works a treat im runnin a air line oiler from work and using a pressure switch set at 100 psi to bring the compressor in and out cant remember the size of the tank tho ive managed to run a nail gun off it tho



tristan

Not sure if you have a pump todate, Pm me if your in need of one as I have a few here.
I also have a DWG of all the parts you require on my lap top

http://www.mcs.net.au/~grungle/endlessair.html

This may give you some ideas