My Compressor Will be the End of Me
My air compressor has caused me many nuisances and many hours of fixes since the day I brought it home. It was inherited when my uncle passed, so I guess I have no right to complain. But then again, I'm not complaining, but only documenting my troubles.
Before I could get the compressor running, I had to take the existing 220 volt line to the garage and figure out what the inexperienced person did when connecting the line to the house. They had 2 220 volt lines and was only using 1 1/2 of them, but only 110 volts! In a couple phone calls to my dad, a few trips to Home Depot for breakers and such and numerous trips into the basement to the breaker box and back out to the garage, I finally got the 220 line hooked up correctly and used 1/2 of the other 220 line for my 110 needs in the garage.
After a few weeks of running the compressor, I was having a problem with moisture in the line. It was suggested by my uncles to buy an "Automatic Compressor Drain Kit" from Harbor Freight for 10 bucks. I looked at the instructions and it seemed easy enough. In an attempt to install it, I tightened it too hard and split the cheap metal, rendering it useless. A few cuss words later, I installed the original drain plug.
The next day, I bought a new drain kit. While installing the kit, I realized that I needed different parts to fit onto the pressure switch. While removing the old parts and installing the new, again, I tightened the part too tight and rendered an irreplaceable part on the pressure switch useless. I spent a few more days researching prices for a new pressure switch and I believe I ended up buying one from Ace Hardware or Home Depot. After purchasing the switch, I realized that installing it will be a little tricky, because it is larger than the original. I ended up having to install it on a tilt. It works, but it is not aesthetically pleasing.
I also noticed that the drain plug needed more clearance on the bottom where the drain kit is installed. That was the easiest fix of all of them. I got some cinder blocks and set the compressor on those.
Great!!! Now I have a working compressor...NOT!!! After 5 minutes of using the compressor, the air coming out of the cylinders blew a hole in the poly-whatever (plastic/rubber) tubing needed for the auto-drain kit. It turns out that the air coming out of the cylinders was too hot and melted the tubing.
I then came up the ingenious idea to create some kind of metal coil to allow the air to cool before bringing it over to the rubber tubing. After a few trips to AutoZone and Sears Hardware, I did just that with some break line and compression unions and fittings and such. The air was still hot towards the end of the coil, but it was enough not to melt the rubber tubing.
Part of the reason for the overheating was because it was running longer than it needed to, to get back up to pressure. This was due to the fact that the first day that I started messing with the compressor, I changed the oil and removed the cylinder head to see if the cylinders needed cleaning. I subsequently ripped the head gasket that was melded to the head. So, since day one, the compressor has only been about, if I had to guess, 60% efficient. This made the compressor run longer in order to pressurize. I had purchased gasket material from a swap meet and replaced the gasket by cutting my own.
So, it turns out that a free inheritance may have cost me more to fix it than it wold have cost me to buy a new one. But, I learned a lot in the process and I'm satisfied with the work I put into it.
Patching the Front Frame Horn
Another day back in July, we decided to do some cutting and welding. Because of the fact that the Nova once had a lead-acid battery, a bit of corrosion formed on every part located directly below the battery tray. This included the front frame horn in which the bumper connects to. The corrosion also occurred on the front passenger wheel well and part of the radiator support. These two areas will be addressed at a later date.
The air hose, the grinder, the face shield, a few new cutting wheels, a permanent marker, and a piece of stock sheet metal were all brought out to begin the patching process. Uncle Kurt aligned the piece of metal to the rusted frame and a rough outline was drawn with the marker. He handed me the necessary equipment and told me to cut the piece outside the line drawn and he left to go inside. After about 20 minutes of cutting at a minuscule speed, the rough cut was finally finished.
He came back outside and redrew the line in the sub-frame and had me cut out the deteriorated section of the frame. He then took the metal piece that I cut and used the bench grinder, a few hand grinders, and the bench vise to get the exact shape that was needed. When the shape was achieved, the patch was clamped into place. The recently returned, smaller, flux cored welder was brought out. He put on the welder's mask and tacked a few spots around the edge of the patch. After a few tacks, he ran out of wire. I won't go into details about who is to blame, because that's not my territory.
The flux cored welder was set aside and the MIG welding cart was wheel out to the middle of the barn. He finished the tacking and removed the clamp. We then rotated the sub-frame so that the patch was on top of the frame and we propped it up with car jack stands. He showed me the best technique for welding on a small section of the patch and then he handed the welder to me.
I finished the job and you could definitely tell who did what section. My section had what he called a "booger weld", in which the welding material was splattered all around the area that was welded. This was, after all, a new experience and I will get better over time. After the welding was done, Uncle Kurt took the grinder and made the weld flush with the patch and sub-frame.
After finally getting the photos off of the photographer's camera, Aunt Tina, I have finished this post and included the before , during, and after photos below.
Swap Meet, Ball Joints, and Bushings
Sunday, July 19, Uncle Kurt, Uncle Jim, and I took at trip to Canfield to spend the day at Dave & Ed's Canfield Swap Meet. Uncle Jim bought the most stuff and he did end up visiting the ATM only once. I had been looking for a product called Por-15 for the past few weeks. It is a rust preventative. After spending a bit of time talking to a very knowledgeable person about it, I left the swap meet with a can at reduced price along with another product used with it. I also bought some work pants that ended up being too tight, a few chuck keys, and a few chamois cloths.
After the swap meet, my two uncles met me at my house, so that Uncle Jim could see my garage and my progress. He had a little fun with the neighbor kids as they rode their bikes up my driveway. We then took a trip to Harbor Freight before it closed to pick up a few things, before heading to Uncle Kurt's to do some more sandblasting. This visit was when the sandblasting pot was taken apart and the sand was filtered.
One of the days it rained last week, I couldn't do any sandblasting outside, so we decided that this would be a good time to remove the ball joints and the bushings from all four control arms. This involved a lot of hammering and the use various punches, the impact hammer, and the bench vise. Nothing too exciting happened when removing them, but we did have to consult the Internet for an image of the bushing to see what part actually needed to be separated from the control arms. The Internet is a wonderful thing.
