Kevin C
Well-known member
In 1980 I bought a 3 HP Sears Craftsman air compressor. It got a lot of use sand blasting and painting my project cars in the early 80's, some days I would run it 4 hours straight with a quick break for lunch and four more hours of running my DA or blaster.
I even shipped it from Boston to CA when I moved. It was in the U Haul when we moved to Portland.
In 86 or so I went through it and put in new valves, painted the fins black and polished out a couple of small scuffs in the pistons.
27 years later it was time to take another look.
View media item 31358
Some carboning up in the head. The pump was run using Sears 20 wt compressor oil. It tended to knock if I used 30 wt ( manf was not kidding when they said to run 20 wt). Since 20 wt compressor oil is hard to come by I have started using 20 wt Redline Synthetic. The carbon came of really easily. Not sure if the synthetic was helping to loosen it or not.
View media item 31357
The crank still looks perfect.
View media item 31356
Cylinder walls are still in good shape.
View media item 31359
No issues with the pistons.
View media item 31360
Before I put the pistons back in, I cleaned the skirts a bit with 1000 grit paper. Same thing I did 27 years ago. Notice the polished rod flank? I did that in 86, it's possible that I'm obsessive.
View media item 31361
Front needle bearings.
The only thing I found was the intake valves need to be serviced. I did a short term fix so I could get back to work and I will get a kit on order this week.
Background on the pump:
I was pretty good about changing the oil. I also put in a magnetic drain plug when I got it. It ran on standard Sears compressor oil for 30 plus years and held up pretty well. It even managed to pass a tiny chunk of intake valve retainer without scoring the cylinders.
It was good that I pulled the head off, a bigger chunk was close to being drawn in.
The bore on the pump is 2" and the stroke is 2.75.
Most of the internals for this pump are no longer available, so I try to be extra careful.
BTW... The little pink specs are from the foam board I have been cutting up. I got it cleaned up for final assembly.
Not having the compressor working makes cleaning up the foam chips just about impossible!
I even shipped it from Boston to CA when I moved. It was in the U Haul when we moved to Portland.
In 86 or so I went through it and put in new valves, painted the fins black and polished out a couple of small scuffs in the pistons.
27 years later it was time to take another look.
View media item 31358
Some carboning up in the head. The pump was run using Sears 20 wt compressor oil. It tended to knock if I used 30 wt ( manf was not kidding when they said to run 20 wt). Since 20 wt compressor oil is hard to come by I have started using 20 wt Redline Synthetic. The carbon came of really easily. Not sure if the synthetic was helping to loosen it or not.
View media item 31357
The crank still looks perfect.
View media item 31356
Cylinder walls are still in good shape.
View media item 31359
No issues with the pistons.
View media item 31360
Before I put the pistons back in, I cleaned the skirts a bit with 1000 grit paper. Same thing I did 27 years ago. Notice the polished rod flank? I did that in 86, it's possible that I'm obsessive.
View media item 31361
Front needle bearings.
The only thing I found was the intake valves need to be serviced. I did a short term fix so I could get back to work and I will get a kit on order this week.
Background on the pump:
I was pretty good about changing the oil. I also put in a magnetic drain plug when I got it. It ran on standard Sears compressor oil for 30 plus years and held up pretty well. It even managed to pass a tiny chunk of intake valve retainer without scoring the cylinders.
It was good that I pulled the head off, a bigger chunk was close to being drawn in.
The bore on the pump is 2" and the stroke is 2.75.
Most of the internals for this pump are no longer available, so I try to be extra careful.
BTW... The little pink specs are from the foam board I have been cutting up. I got it cleaned up for final assembly.
Not having the compressor working makes cleaning up the foam chips just about impossible!
Last edited:
