Andrew E's Onboard Air Connection

**PaulP38a** · 21st September 2009, 10:54 PM

I like Andy... he sends me cool stuff to play with.

Latest toy arrived while I was doing the engine refresh on the Rangie with some other bits he sent. There were no instructions, just a phone call to say "figure it out" or something like that

Tonight I didn't feel like doing the heater pipe o-rings so decided to have a go at this collection of stuff.

After reversing the bracket on the regulator, it fit nicely to the top of the LH shock tower.

Then it was just a matter of cutting the 6mm air hose from the EAS compressor line to the air tank, inserting a T-piece and connecting another piece of hose to the new regulator.

Mine is a little different to a stock P38A, as I already had a T-piece that takes a line off to the regulator for the air-locker, and carries forward to the EAS Emergency Bypass Kit (another Andy special).

Here's the end result...

The blue air gun velcro'ed to the engine harness can blow dust off at 100+psi

and the orange flexi-hose has the tyre inflator attached.

Cool, nice one Andy.

This is a prototype, and I am very impressed at how good it is already. I'd change/add a couple of minor things:

longer air hose that can reach the back tyres and spare
a couple of clips to secure the tyre inflator and gun to the EAS box
incorporate a pressure guage and deflator on the tyre inflator
taller bracket for the regulator so it doesn't sit so low in the engine bay
perhaps change the regulator over for the type that has a needle to show the desired pressure
dust caps for the open-ended connections

I know this will make it significantly more expensive, however the type of people that will want this kind of unit will also be prepared to pay extra for the functionality.

Well done Andy... I'll buy it

cheers, Paul.

**adm333** · 22nd September 2009, 09:43 AM

Yep, I'd buy one.

I found a place here in Bris Vegas called "Fittings -R- Us" and bought a whole lot of those 6mm mini connector fittings. I built my own emergency kit, but the next stage was to cut in a permanent fitting for auxillary use such as tyres etc.

Seeing that is exactly how I planned to do it, but why re invent the wheel if someone has already done it !

I was thinking of running a line down to the back bumper with a fitting as well, so you could connect the air hose front or rear. I supppose the risk is having too many connectors for something to get a leak.

On a side note - and I'm not sure I like this idea for safety reasons, but on the BASH, someone had made their roo bar / bull bar out of wide diameter alloy pipe and sealed it up to make a compressed air tank. The nitto fitting was mounted into the roo bar and you could attach the air hose directly.

Dave

**PaulP38a** · 22nd September 2009, 10:09 AM

yeah, I think I'm starting to push the limits of how many T-pieces should be in the system. The car lost 20psi overnight... Guess it is out with the soapy water bottle again. The new T-pieces appear to hold very well. I'm suspecting the air tank itself, or heaven forbid, a connection on the valve block.

Cheers, Paul.

**LavisLane** · 22nd September 2009, 11:43 AM

Brilliant. I've been hitting the dunes quite a bit recently and decided that this was month to bite the bullet and make on board air happen.

My only worry is overworking the compressor or having the EAS freak out and go into fault mode

- Paul, guessing you've not had a problem with this? Anyone know if this is an issue worth worrying about?

D

**PaulP38a** · 22nd September 2009, 01:46 PM

Originally Posted by LavisLane

Paul, guessing you've not had a problem with this? Anyone know if this is an issue worth worrying about?

D

I have heard that the standard compressor is not intended for extended use, although I did replace the seal and piston earlier this year.

A shiny new Thomas compressor arrived from Rover Renovations today

so I'll give the old stock compressor a good flogging to see how it copes.

I believe the EAS hard fault is not triggered by the compressor over-running, but by some logic in the EAS ECU that times out when the car can't reach the desired height. Maybe someone else can tell us if this is the case or not.

Cheers, Paul.

**LavisLane** · 22nd September 2009, 02:31 PM

Great pics and diagrams by the way!

**Hoges** · 22nd September 2009, 07:57 PM

Hi Paul
what happened to the monster compressor which once resided in the wheel well of the HardyMobile...

??

**andrew e** · 22nd September 2009, 08:50 PM

Originally Posted by PaulP38a

This is a prototype, and I am very impressed at how good it is already. I'd change/add a couple of minor things:

longer air hose that can reach the back tyres and spare
a couple of clips to secure the tyre inflator and gun to the EAS box
incorporate a pressure guage and deflator on the tyre inflator
taller bracket for the regulator so it doesn't sit so low in the engine bay
perhaps change the regulator over for the type that has a needle to show the desired pressure
dust caps for the open-ended connections

cheers, Paul.

Thanks for the kind works paul, i am curious to se what the rangie says when you pump up the tyres after sand driving or somthing.

Longer air hose, no problems, That one is meant to be 4 metres, but i should have got a 6 or 8.

Clips, how about velcro? the disco 1 used a velcro strap to secure the jack, i could use similar.

That is a cheap tyre inflator, only about $10. I had planned to have an option in the kit with a more expensive (like the ones at a servo) tyre inflator, for an extra 30 or 40 dollars.

taller bracket, well i was worried of clearance on the inlet rubber pipe, but i think it could be a bit higher (you could just hit the button on the dash and drop your car down)...

I have looked everywhere, and i cant find something rubber and suitable for a dust cap that will fit over an air fitting. Does anyone have any ideas?

Andy

**PaulP38a** · 22nd September 2009, 10:49 PM