Mi-T-M wheelbarrow compressor project

[jeepwm69]

So a buddy of mine who has hilarious stories about his farm hands and the **** they do drops this by.

About 4-5 years ago he had two farmhands, driving his two farm pickups to a field. The guy in front hammers down on a dirt road, and the guy behind him is trying to "drift" while they mess around. Guy in front can't see the guy behind him due to the dust cloud, and guy behind can't see the guy in front for the same reason.

Guy in front hits the brakes, guy in back slams into him.

Nobody was hurt, but both trucks are totalled, and one ends up on its side in a ditch, tossing this compressor out. Gotta love farm hands.....

Anyhow, it's been sitting in his shop since. He dropped it off and said if I wanted it I could have it (I've wrenched on his ATV's).

Has a GX160 Honda motor that was missing the pull start and air cleaner, and the tank pretty much disintigrated when I took the gas cap off. I boiled out the carb and found that it would fire, so I put new plug in and ordered a pull start and it would crank up and run. Have a new fuel tank and air cleaner on the way.

Once I knew the engine would run, I moved my attention to the pump. It was HARD to turn over, so I took the head off yesterday to find cylinders full of rust. I've filled the cylinders up with 50/50 acetone and ATF, but am wondering if I'm wasting my time, as I can turn the pulley and the pistons don't look like they're moving.

Soooo, at this point I guess I'm waiting to pull the cylinder off and see what the crank looks like, and wondering if the HF $139 pumps are worth a ****.

This is my first time in the innards of an air compressor so any advice would be welcome.

 

[B_Bimmer]

Sweet project, are you sure the crank is turning with the pulley, I have a hard time seeing an impact breaking much more then the key on the shaft if there isn't obvious damage on the pump.

 

[jeepwm69]

Good point. didn't think about the woodruff key shearing off. I'll take a closer look at it after work.

 

[jeepwm69]

Got the cylinders off. Broke the crank bolt off taking the pulley off, so that should be fun extracting.

The crank pulley was a press fit, so no key. The pulley was just dragging on the crank and the crank wasnt turning because the pistons were seized up in the cylinders. Soaked with 50/50 ATF and Acetone overnight and got the cylinder off, and things actually don't look too bad. Going to try to get the crank bolt out, the cylinder walls cleaned up and put it back together and see if it works.

Anything else I need to do that I'm not thinking about?

 

[jeepwm69]

More pics

 

[jeepwm69]

It lives.

Hone came in Wed, so I honed the cylinders yesterday, put the compressor back together, and fired it up and it pumps air and works good.

I need to fix a couple of minor things on it but it can be used as is. Engine sounds good, and looks like the compressor part is still working great.

On the pilot valve, there is a "engine air throttle control" that has broken/ come apart (first pic). What exactly does this do? Seems to be working fine without it, but I know it's on there for a reason.

Also, the pressure relief valve on the pilot valve is broken off (2nd pic), Is it possible to ONLY get the little part with the toggle on it (threads into top of pilot valve) or does one have to buy a whole new pilot valve ($100ish)? It will start with the valve closed but Dad is 78 so would prefer to make it as easy as possible for him to start it.

 

[jeepwm69]

Looking at that air throttle control, so that's just an air line that hooks up to the pilot valve, right?

 

[jeepwm69]

Well, to finish this one off, it's complete, runs great, and everything works perfectly.

Total costs
Pull start $17
Aftermarket carb $16
Air filter $10
New unloader valve $40
Ball valve and brass elbow and ****** (for easier draining) $12
New tank pressure gauge $11
New air hose $20
New regulator $12

So $138 plus some time and whatever the oil cost that I used in it.

Pumps up quickly, unloader kicks in a 125, kicks back out when pressure drops to 95.

The old unloader wasn't consistant and several times would allow pressure to get to 135ish, which would pop off the pressure relief valve where the pressure gauge is.

Stuck it in the back of my old pickup where it will pretty much be a back-up or used when I need air away from the house or shop.