On Board Air

With a Stock Ford AC unit.

Unit used is in a 1991 Bronco.

I decided to turn my stock AC unit into an on board are compressor because I never used the AC. It had not been charged in years and I didnt see the need for it. I have a soft top and if it gets hot out the top just comes off.

First thing you are going to want to do is but a few parts. The main items are a Heavy Duty Series Coalescing Filter and a Lubricator. Nice ones can be bought here: http://www.onboardair.com/new-accessories.htm

There rest of the items can be bought at a hardware store. You will still need an air filter, air regulator, and a pressure cut off switch. Also the fitting to mate them all together.

First you need to cut the hoses that are attached to the unit and determine which sucks and which blows. Before you cut the hose though make sure to release all the pressure from the system. I have labeled the pic below with the intake and exit.

Once that is done assemble the parts together. From the Intake out put the pre-oiler - then an air filter. I got the one pictured from the parts store in the rice rocket section. From the exit out attach the Coalescing Filter - then the regulater - air pressure cut off - and finally the hose.

Then simply attach the assemble units to the correct sides using JB weld and hose clamps. The JB weld is to insure a air tight fit. The hoses on the AC unit are bigger then the barbed pieces. In the second pic I noted where the pressure switch is to be mounted. I forgot to mount it when the pic was taken.

Now you can run the hose directly to a fitting or to an air tank. I ran mine directly to the fitting, but plan to run an air tank in the future.

I have not run this AC unit against a york, but it did fill up one of my 39.5 Boggers in only a few minutes. All in all it was worth the time to do. (Which was only a hour or so...)