No Witnesses

Ok, one last post to talk about my air compressor and I'm done. Honest.

This past Saturday I had decided I was going to change the lube oil in the compressor pump because it looked grey and contaminated. Because I didn't have a pump, I'd devised a scheme in which I would use a long funnel placed under the drain plug to simply let the old oil flow out into a waste bottle. Sounded good in theory. Right? What ended up happening in reality was something that would make the Three Stooges proud, as I unthreaded the drain plug and watched oil pour out every which way and down the sides of the compressor tank. If Moe Howard had been there he would have slapped me upside the head and poked me in the eyes and I would have deserved it.

The good news is that the pump has fresh lube oil in it and it runs even better now than it did before. Of course now I have oil stains on the concrete that I have to clean up.

And here are a couple random garage shots. The black wall in the background is the newly (re-)framed bathroom enclosure covered in plastic sheathing while I look for some old clapboard siding to finish it with.

Hey, anyone have a spare nail gun? Nyuck, Nyuck, Nyuck!

We're Here To Pump You Up

Got my antique Champion Pneumatic compressor wired up and fired up. The old girl seems to work pretty good so far; the motor starts easily and doesn't draw too much power, it runs cool and quiet and has plenty of air to power my impact, grinder and DA sander. I still need to change the compressor oil and tighten the belts. Need to find a filter housing as well. Repaint will be coming soon too.

And here's a link to my original post with some more details: LINK

The One That Got Away

edit: traded out of Blu summer 2012

What I passed up to get the Impala wagon...

I may never get another chance to grab a 63 longroof and I hope I don't regret it later but she just needed more work than I was willing to tackle. Thanks for the heads up anyway Pete, I appreciate you remembering me.

NOT made in China

When I started putting my shop together last year one of the things I decided right off the bat was to use as many vintage, US made tools as I could locate and afford. And I've been doing pretty good too - my old US made tool boxes are fast filling up with old Craftsman, Proto and Snap-on ratchets, sockets and wrenches and various pieces of vintage automotive test equipment. On the top of my list of things to find has been an old school 2 stage air compressor... which I finally scored last week, and got to the shop Saturday!

The Champion Pneumatic Machinery Company model TU-55 60 2 stage air compressor, circa 1950. Traces of the original manufacturers decal can still be seen on the tank. I plan on repainting it silver metallic and having the original logo reproduced on the tank.

In other news, BLU sputtered briefly to life Saturday (for the first time in over 5 years) after replacing the bad ignition switch and running a quick test. Her official debut will come next weekend hopefully.

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