Now, generally speaking a York style air-conditioning compressor is a better onboard air compressor because it uses a piston style pump that is easier to modify for in on board air system.
A sand and style compressor uses something like a swash plate in multiple small pistons to accomplish the same thing but in a more compact package. The problem with using either one of these platforms is you have to remember that air conditioning systems carry lubricant within the refrigerant and it is a closed system. In an onboard air scenario, it is an open system-meaning we intake air from the atmosphere and then exhaust it somewhere else so lubricant for the pump does not recirculate within the system. And this is a problem, especially for Sanden style compressors that require lots of lubrication.
My solution is to automatically recover the lube oil the compressor discharges with the high pressure air output, separate that oil from the compressed air, then automatically discharge the scavenged oil back into the compressor intake, thus making the lobe oil sorta a closed system while the air is a open system.
I’ll show you how I go about doing this.
First, here is how the engine bay looks currently, you’ll notice some changes/additions from previous pictures.
You will see that the dual ignition setup has progressed, some air conditioning components have moved, there’s even more lines and hoses and there’s a big box on the passenger side.
Let’s break off and check out that box real quick-it will house the controller for the Premier Power Welder.
Back to the compressed air system.
Here’s a close up of the back of the Sanden compressor and its inlet/outlet braided stainless lines.
The large line is the air inlet, and it goes to a hard line then to a custom intake box that is baffled to control noise. More on that in a sec.
There are two smaller lines-one is the high pressure discharge, the other is the pressurized oil return.
If you look real closely under the fuel pressure regulators, you can see the check valve that prevents the compressed air in the remote mounted air tanks from escaping back into the compressor.
I modified the back of the compressor to port how I needed it to and welded on the male A/N fittings.
Here’s an overhead view of the plumbing.
You can see the braided stainless line that goes to an aluminum hard line, which terminates in a small aluminum box at the bottom right of the picture.
This is the air intake line.
Here’s the baffled/filtered air intake box, mounted up high and out of harms way.
Now, the discharge and oil return lines change to stainless hard line. The discharge line goes to this manifold on the firewall that holds a pressure gauge, pressure switch and a safety blow-off.
From this manifold, the discharge air goes to a set of special oil removal filters buried under the drivers front fender.
An auto drain on the filters sends the scavenged oil back to the compressor’s intake port.
The now oil-free compressed air then goes to the trucks air storage tanks and air chucks.
That’s the bulk of the compressed air system.
There’s a lot of little details to it.
Let’s get a slightly better look at the LC Engineering header and passenger side inner fender well while we’re here.
And looking towards the rear on the passenger front, you can see some more of the exhaust, the air-gapped heat shields I built, the twin MSB ignition boxes, and some other goodies.
And what will probably be the last Project Bronco picture for awhile-fittingly its rear end. 😄😄
Now, the spare tire carrier and tailgate are minor works of art themselves with more functions than a Swiss Army Knife-but to show you all that I’d have to move the truck-and I just don’t have that much time right now.
Perhaps when I get some free time I can get some better rear end pictures, and I really need to show you all the crazy suspension-but for right now, I leave you with a picture of Project Broncos ass. 😊
