70 Sport resto/mod

[CityHick]

Re: 70 Sport resto/mod

Hey Tony, what car did you get your AC compressor out of?

(Post 669)
I'm trying to find a sanden and all the ones I've seen have the mounting holes that go perpendicular to the body of the compressor instead of parallel like the one you have. I haven't actually found a Sanden, I keep seeing the Visteon ones though.
Thanks,

Hey - I got mine out of a Heep Cherokee. I believe it was an early to mid 90s Cherokee. I had to make an adaptor plate to make it fit my van AC bracket but that was easy.

[kman67]

Re: 70 Sport resto/mod

Thanks Tony, I found one from an 88 cherokee that should work. Now, what fitting did you use to convert the AC hose to the NPT air lines/fittings? I was at Royal Brass today and they couldn't help me with an adapter. They might have to make me a new hose with fittings.

[CityHick]

Re: 70 Sport resto/mod

I ended up having a hose made. If I were to do it again I'd use braided stainless. My custom rubber A/C hose has already failed once, those compressors get hot when pumping straight air. The shop was able to fix it by crimping the connector down tighter but I know it will fail again. Fortunately the shop owner is cool and said he'd cut me a break on a braided stainless hose when my rubber hose finally fails for good.

[highlander]

Re: 70 Sport resto/mod

The fittings on the compressors are usually 8-an o-ring output and 10-An o-ring input fittings. I originally just cut the original hard line section of the hose that came from the donor and soldered a 6 AN fitting on it. A while back I was trying to clean things up under the hood and bought 8-an o-ring to 6-an adapter from summit. The output side should have a short section of hardline to dissipate the heat before going to rubber hose. I have some pictures of my current setup in my build thread

[CityHick]

Re: 70 Sport resto/mod

That is a nice setup Steve. I just noticed you have your pressure switch and pop-off valve on that manifold in your engine bay. I put both down on the tank (my tank has 6 1/4" NPT bungs). I was a little concerned about having both of those items so far from the tank but it obviously works for you. In a way that's a cleaner setup than mine, I may have to immitate part of that one day when I redo my oba plumbing.

Your use of AN fittings approximates what I'll eventually do. The braided stainless hose I have in mind is supposed to be pretty effective as a heat exchanger as its designed to be plumbed right off a compressor head. The hardline setup is nice though... Lots of ideas...

[highlander]

Re: 70 Sport resto/mod

That is a nice setup Steve. I just noticed you have your pressure switch and pop-off valve on that manifold in your engine bay. I put both down on the tank (my tank has 6 1/4" NPT bungs). I was a little concerned about having both of those items so far from the tank but it obviously works for you. In a way that's a cleaner setup than mine, I may have to immitate part of that one day when I redo my oba plumbing.

Your use of AN fittings approximates what I'll eventually do. The braided stainless hose I have in mind is supposed to be pretty effective as a heat exchanger as its designed to be plumbed right off a compressor head. The hardline setup is nice though... Lots of ideas...

I don't run a tank, for airing up tires it isn't needed. However, a tank is useful if you want to run air tools. It's in the plan to add one, just haven't got to it yet.

[CityHick]

Re: 70 Sport resto/mod

I run a tank because I run my ARBs off the same compressor I air up tires with. Out of curiousity, what RPM do you run your Sanden compressor at when airing up? Mine gets pretty hot when I run it above 1500 rpms for very long - but much below that and its pretty slow to air up a 37" tire.

[highlander]

Re: 70 Sport resto/mod

I run a tank because I run my ARBs off the same compressor I air up tires with. Out of curiousity, what RPM do you run your Sanden compressor at when airing up? Mine gets pretty hot when I run it above 1500 rpms for very long - but much below that and its pretty slow to air up a 37" tire.

I air up with the engine at idle, fills just as fast as my home compressor. It will go a little faster if the engine is idled up, but when I idle it up the compressor cycles on and off, so it is pushing more air than the air chuck and valve stem can flow. I have an ARB compressor for the lockers, but plumbed in a way to use the sanden as a backup, no tank is needed to run the ARB off the Sanden.

[Broncrick]

Re: 70 Sport resto/mod

The tank is good for fast 'tater gun refills too

[CityHick]

Re: 70 Sport resto/mod

Thanks for the info Steve. I'm now wondering where my limiting factor is. Mine pumps pretty well but it sounds like you're getting better performance out of your Sanden. Mine will cycle on and off when I have it running at 1500+ rpms so that's a good point.

My reason for the air tank is mainly so that I don't have to keep running the compressor to lock/unlock my ARBs. With a full tank of air I can run the lockers for days without pumping back up. I guess its not a big deal either way.

Rick - I like the way you think... My previous tater gun was powered by propane and an ignitor but compressed air sounds like the way to go. What do you use for a valve to release the pressure into the cylinder?

[TeckniX]

Re: 70 Sport resto/mod

Well after a couple of days worth of reading and looking at pictures, Tony I'm very impressed with all the work.
A lot of the fab work is simple and yet functional, which I believe is key to enjoying the rig, even if it took you 2.5years to put it all together.

I now must find a bronco and perhaps join the builders club!

[CityHick]

Re: 70 Sport resto/mod

Thanks!
Careful, it is a sickness. Some call it an addiction or a disease. There is something about these old rigs though, I still can't explain it 3 years later. I am really enjoying my Bronco now. They are however never done...

-Tony

[California Monkey]

Re: 70 Sport resto/mod

It's also the source of about 1/3 of the arguments with the wife. I think the arguments would still take place but she'd find something else to argue about if it wasn't the bronco.

[CityHick]

Re: 70 Sport resto/mod

I'm sure many of you have seen my various posts about my hard top restoration woes. This project started within the last two weeks, I decided it was time to start working on the hard top, mainly because driving the rig without a top in the winter isn't fun, and as a result I'm missing out on too much Bronco driving time.

My original hard top has been sitting in my side yard, neglected, for over 3 years. Its main problem is that the driver's side front corner is crushed, and it was repaired with fiberglass, without much (if any) surface prep. The result, a bunch of nasty cracks on that corner. It also had a roof rack installed on it, and it was apparently used for something too heavy for an EB top. All 4 corners are dented, and of course there are a bunch of holes that need to be filled. The first picture is my original top and the damage it has.

Last week TBS-POPS offered me a free hard top. I gladly took it - this is the top that came from 904 Bronco's 77 EB. When I first got it home I started thinking it was a mistake. The roof panel was pretty wavy, and it too once had a rack installed on it. Some PO riveted the roof panel to the support bows, causing the waviness. I have been waffling back and forth on which top to use, and whether to cut the crushed corner off my original top and section a piece of the new top onto my original top. Today I made the decision to charge forward with Doug's 77 top - the reason being that as soon as I drilled all the rivets out, the roof panel popped back into nearly perfect, original shape. Sure there's some welding to do, but this top is a more solid starting point.

Anyway - today's project was to get started stripping the 3 layers of paint off. The top layer was applied using a roller and came right off. The next layer was an automotive paint of some kind - it was harder to remove but still came off. The next layer is the original Ford Wimbledon White color, and there are areas where even with the nasty stripper product I'm using, it won't come off, so I think it gets sanded, and will get primed and painted over. If its that tough, I'm not worried about it coming loose under the new paint the top will receive.

The last two pictures show the progress I've made stripping the 77 top. I'll keep plugging away at it this weekend and hopefully start welding and repairs to it soon.

[earlybronco72]

Re: 70 Sport resto/mod

Looks like work Tony. Good luck.