Get some sort of air filter, hook that to the intake. plumb your outlet to a tank, with a pressure switch and a gauge, preferably. Hook that inline with the single factory clutch wire. The rest of the system is up to you.
If you are running the factory rotary pump you have to run an oiler on the intake side or dump a small amount of oil down the intake before you use it. I learned the hard way.
Small K&N style cone filter
Oiler from Granger
Into Stock AC Compressor
Out to Water Seperator (to catch oil and condensation)
Check Valve
Into tank
Trigger Compressor with a Pressure Switch
You need an oil/water seperator after the compressor. The further from the compressor the better because it gives time for the air to cool down and the seperator works better.
Did you ever get this built? I'm going to do the same thing on my 88' K1500 since my A/C leaks. I'd rather have OBA than fixing all the A/C lines, so I planned on putting a 15 gal tank under my toolbox in the bed, and plumbing outlets to the front, back, and one in the bed to run air tools and airup tires.
I was also going to run a toggle switch in series with the pressure switch so I don't have to loose the gas mileage running the compressor when I don't need it (which is 90% of the time right now).
And do you have any idea how much pressure the stock compressor is capable of and the duty cycle?
AC compressors are quite capable of 300-500 psi, but I wouldn't recommend that for OBA (compressor life will be very short!).
Duty cycle depends on how fast/hard you run the compressor and how well you keep it oiled. If you run it too hard or without oil you will know because it will lock up solid and the belt will squeal like a mofo.
At idle with oil its pretty much 100% duty cycle.
OK, I was going to put an in-line oiler so it'll always be oiled if it's running. And I was only planning on 100-110 psi so I can run air-tools. I don't see a need for any more pressure personally since my cheap impact runs at 90psi.
Thanks guys. I'll do a write-up that hopefully gets stickied or something when I do this. I see this question asked a-lot but I can't find any pics or a write-up.
You do not want to use the type of oiler that is used for tools, you want a small drip type oiler. When I was running a rotary type compressor I had it set to about 4-5 drips per minuite. As far as a water/oil seprator mount it as far away from the compressor as possible, the air coming out of the compressor is hot and most of the smaller separtors have plastic insides and believe me they will melt.
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