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steve(ill) 
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 Topic: Gasoline air compressor
Posted: 14 Sep 2024 at 10:13pm |
Has anyone made a SIMPLE air compressor out of an old 4 cylinder gas engine ( like a VW) running on 2 cylinders and pumping on the other two ?... Or a 2 cylinder lawn mower engine running on one and pumping on the other ?
I really dont NEED one, but have always thought about trying one.. Have seen where they put special "double lobe cam" to pump on every stroke, and special heads or valves to help efficiency.......... but im thinking remove the spark plug and connect a hose and you got over 100 psi right now... maybe not a lot of CFM depending on what motor you use..
anyone ever do it ??
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steve(ill)
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Posted: 14 Sep 2024 at 10:15pm |
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i guess a 6 HP Predator engine from Harbor Freight and a small compressor pump together would be a SIMPLE solution... but that takes all the FUN out of it..
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plummerscarin
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Posted: 14 Sep 2024 at 11:10pm |
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Years ago, a friend of my dad built one in to a Vega. Gutted the interior for the air tank but could still drive it around. Then, where I used to work there was a unit that used a V8 Ford for sandblasting. Ran on four cylinders. The head on the compressor side was different
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DMiller
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Posted: 15 Sep 2024 at 3:42am |
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Ingersol Rand built a portable compressor based on the Ford engine designs, half engine half compressor, tuned up a number of them in the 70s. Very common for the smaller towables that city services once used.
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DiyDave
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Posted: 15 Sep 2024 at 4:48am |
Or you can get an old "chuffer" pump. Many tractors had it as an accessory, listed in the manual. Just a hose and a gauge that screwed into a spark plug hole. Don't know which manufacturer actually made it... 
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Joe Goodwill
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Posted: 15 Sep 2024 at 6:10am |
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The only air compressor we had on our farm 60 years ago was a valve and hose that we swapped for a spark plug in our 1949 Mercury M-68 truck. Flat head V-8. It wasn’t fast but it was portable!
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Lars(wi)
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Posted: 15 Sep 2024 at 6:16am |
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Using an internal combustion engine, how would you change the fuel/air mixture going to those cylinders that are now ‘compressor’ cylinders, to strictly air? As I think this thru(yes, I know with what is in my head, this is a Herculean challenge), using a carbureted engine would more difficult that a fuel injected engine?
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I tried to follow the science, but it was not there. I then followed the money, and that’s where I found the science.
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DMiller
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Posted: 15 Sep 2024 at 6:53am |
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The Ford V8 used in the IR Compressors had a special Intake system even with the stock FORD Intake Manifold, and a IR Head for the Compressor bank, NO Fuel/Air mixture entered the Compressor side.
Edited by DMiller - 15 Sep 2024 at 6:54am
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Jim.ME
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Posted: 15 Sep 2024 at 7:35am |
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Smith is another that made some using engines. We had one that was a Ford 302 engine. One head/bank was run as the engine for power. The other bank had a special head with the Smith valving system and a separate air intake, so it did not use the fuel/air mix of the engine side for the compressed air output.
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desertjoe
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Posted: 15 Sep 2024 at 8:23am |
After I retired from the Refinery, I took on a consulting project with BP America in the big oil fields in East Texas and western Louisiana. Most of the wells were very remote and most of them had a Ford V8 engine that used one bank as the power side and other bank had a special head that had the valving arrangement for the compressor side. The power side had a special intake that resembled a Plymouth slant six configuration and a 2 barrel carburetor. I used to know what the CFM rating was but,,,,? I think it was a Dresser-Rand design on the compressor head. Steve,,you could usually find some of those discarded in the trash heaps out in the boonies or maybe even at the local yard sales,,,,??? My Dad made a small one from a car A/C compressor and a swamp cooler motor but it just barely made enough air to fill a flat tire before the swamp cooler motor ran out of gas,,,,, My Dad also had one of those "special" hoses that went in the spark plug hole, start the engine and Presto,,no more flat tire,,,,
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steve(ill)
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Posted: 15 Sep 2024 at 8:31am |
yea, i think thats the catch... If you use an old V8 engine, then the head has to work as a 2 stroke that every time the piston comes up, you discharge the air.. Cam will not do that so you need a couple reed or check valve type "Thingies"..... advantage of a VW flat 4 was that it was air cooled.... Wondering if a BRIGG or similar 2 cyl would run on one piston and pump on the other with a "NEW HEAD"...
Disadvantage of running the hose off one cylinder is that you do get gas fumes as Lars was suggesting.... Maybe tires only... air would not be good for much else.
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steve(ill)
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Posted: 15 Sep 2024 at 8:36am |
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Im not sure if this is how you calculate the discharge... but if i take a 300 CID V8 and run off one side, that is 150 cubic inches... at 2500 RPM that is 375 cubic inches pumped in a minute... divide by 1725 cubic inches in a cubic foot and you get 220 CFM out of that compressor........ LOTS OF AIR ... too much for any small time operator.
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Like them all, but love the "B"s.
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wjohn
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Posted: 15 Sep 2024 at 8:36am |
There were companies like Schramm (Pneumatractor) and Leroi (Tractair) that made tractors that were portable compressors. I see them pop up on auctions now and then. You might be able to see how some of those were done for more ideas. I always thought one would be neat, but probably not worth the hassle of fixing up and maintaining when 95% of my junk that needs air in the tires is within a few hundred feet of my shop.
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steve(ill)
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Posted: 15 Sep 2024 at 9:46am |
I always thought one would be neat, but probably not worth the hassle of fixing up and maintaining
john... i think that is the bottom line !
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ekjdm14
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Posted: 15 Sep 2024 at 12:29pm |
I've seen a Wisconsin (if memory serves) V4 engine before, converted in this way to run a tow-behind compressor. Well, when I say "seen" I really mean "watched on youtube"... Fella by the name of Matt, channel's Diesel Creek. Good watching for a rainy Sunday.
I think that had different heads on the compressor side with reed valves for intake & a check valve to stop bleed-back. In theory it's a fairly simple way to get high volume portable air especially if it were a converted V8, it'd only be as complicated as you want it to be.
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Jim.ME
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Posted: 16 Sep 2024 at 7:12pm |
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I think the Smith, using a 302 Ford, we had was rated at about 100 cfm under proper operating conditions.
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SteveM C/IL
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Posted: 21 hours 44 minutes ago at 12:34pm |
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You have too much time on your hands. If I need a compressor I buy it and it works....
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ekjdm14
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Posted: 21 hours 3 minutes ago at 1:15pm |
Where's the fun in that though?
Fair enough, if you need it the quickest & simplest way is to buy it but I think most of us already have a reasonable compressor for general tasks (I would expect anyway). This post seems to be more about having fun in the shop & probably achieving big CFM for little outlay.
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KJCHRIS
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Posted: 13 hours 44 minutes ago at 8:34pm |
As said; LeRoi made a self-propelled compressor it looked like a small tractor they also made them in a skid version & towable 2 wheeled cart version. In late 1970's I had the displeasure of reworking a towable unit. It could run a 60-75 lb jackhammer. It was USA War Department, WW11 & Korea military surplus by tag on engine block. It used Farmall M engine parts/specs for the powerplant and Farmall H piston/sleeves for the compressor. The one I did was 2 cyl power and 2 cyl comp. Dealer I found for the gasket set & some other misc. parts told me they made this version and larger 1 but had never seen one.
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desertjoe
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Posted: 12 hours 4 minutes ago at 10:14pm |
 ekjdm14 wrote:
Where's the fun in that though?
Fair enough, if you need it the quickest & simplest way is to buy it but I think most of us already have a reasonable compressor for general tasks (I would expect anyway). This post seems to be more about having fun in the shop & probably achieving big CFM for little outlay. |
YEP,,,YEP,,,,,when I was still getting paid for working and getting close to start thinking bout retirement,,,I started to "put back" some projects that interested me to make sure I did NOT go home and just sit in front of the TV,,,,,!! I expect ole Steve has a few store bought air compressors as most of all us others do as well,,,but it gives you a fine feeling to play around with parts and pieces and make something workable,,,,  ,,, PEACE,,,,
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