Pneumatics

[TheMonkey]

just a thought....

i am close to committing to an air suspension setup. it seems that a lot of people are fitting an air tank to their car, and it could probably be put to more use than just the suspension...

for instance, electric exhaust cutouts are cool, but if they were pneumatic, they could pop open/shut rather have the delay. i thought it might be slick to have the cutouts opened automatically by megasquirt ecu at a certain point on the TPS, but the electric motor is slooow.

of course, nobody makes a pneumatic cutout (yet), so unfortunately the point is moot.

are there other features that could use pneumatics?

nearly 20 years ago, i had a '67 lincoln continental that had door locks actuated off of vacuum, so there had to be vacuum in the reserve, and when you hit the button, you could hear all 4 locks... pfump pfump, pfump pfump.

[Blown353]

Door locks, hood lock, trunk lock, gas door lock has all been done by Mercedes in the 70's albeit with vacuum. There are vacuum lines and cylinders EVERYWHERE on a 70's Benz. The driver's side door lock controlled the hood/gas door/trunk interlocks.

Pneumatic exhaust cutouts would be easy, get some old heat riser valves, the Mr. Gasket cable operated cutouts (or make your own) and then buy Bimba or another brand of pneumatic cylinder-- they come in many sizes/strokes. Make some linkage so the cylinder works the valve and also isolates the cylinder form the heat. Rig them on a solenoid and have your Megasquirt or a manual switch control the solenoid.

[pav8427]

I had a 68 Olds 88 with trunk vac. operated release, don't pass on all the luxo barges you see sittin' around.

Caddy, B.O.P.,Chrys. should have a good varity to choose from.

A couple of short stroke air cylinders and some rod ends, and that heat riser idea isn't so bad.

Doug

[Camaro Zach]

my tank is going to be used for the horn, suspension, and tools. Quick disconnect off of the tank in the trunk and run your airline wherever its needed.

[MonzaRacer]

I already have a hose and a ball valve to turn it off and on. Its not enough to run an impact unless you have 2 of the big Viair 400 or bigger model pumps. and remeber the 5 gallon tanks arent really good for running air tools, dont get me wrong I have a york 906 AC Compressor pumping on my truck and it works fine and before that I used an A6 AC compressor. The trick for using an AC compressor is pick one that has a larger sump to hold lubricant.
The A6 hold 12 oz of oil, and I believe my York holds something like 10 to 15 (I have a dip stick).
The best oil to run in mechanical pumps is either the standard mineral based oil or give cliplight a call and spend a tone of cash buying a case of 6 qts I think of ROC oil. that oil is awesome it makes all refrigerant oil look like rusty mud.
As for how good it is it mixes with all ac oils and it boosts libricity of them and its stabile and doesnt require multiple viscosities to lub ac systems either.
and its not hygroscopic like all other ac oils (it doesnt absorb water) even the synthetics(R134A compatible) oils are hygroscopic.
I do ahve a "group buy" in the works for July but its in July, to buy ROC oil from Cliplight.
also using those smaller pumps for making air to work on your car give them time to cool off especially if they are in a closed off area.
but being able to pull up and air up a pretty ladies(or any stranded motorist)tire makes it very cool idea.
Also if you have a quick connect on a spare loose air tank it can add volume to the system and be ready to use, simply unhook and slip in your air fitting and go air up that tire,ball, etc.
also if you check out a company called Airpot, they have air cylinders available to actuate just about anything.http://www.airpot.com/.
also at one time Bret from Air Ride Technologies could and did source air cylinders to open and close and hold things on cars.
Lee Abel
AFTERMARKET PERFORMANCE

[TheMonkey]

i didn't realize there was so many universal type of air cylinders available. the mind kind of races when i think everything i could hook these up to. i'm thinking i can have them all around my house and pop open cupboards & stuff.... it would sound like the robot dog from 'Battlestar Galactica'.

it looks like it would be easy to fab the air cylinder up to the exhaust cutouts, and would be easy to spec one that works for size, temps, force, stroke, etc.

i guess i'm just not familiar with how to control the air to the cylinder? is there valve & regulator that can be opened with a 12v current?

[pav8427]

We use air on a lot of the stuff we build. Usually there is a selenoid hooked up to a valve(all one unit) and it can be triggered by anything.
Manual switch,photo eye, proximity switch,could even be set up to run wireless just like any new car remote. You could even use a vacuum reference switch that would open them according to engine load.
As far as cylinders go I can get cylinders with almost any kind of mount you could imagine.
Some cheap, some not so.

Doug