August Ride and Meeting

I will present the information and format to you all at the August ride in Uwharrie and those not present will recieve an email discussing our thoughts on the format. I will be looking for a volunteer to Chair the Caney Fork event (i.e. create the itenary, organize the ride, arrival times, making sure everyone arrives and getting contact info for each driver).

Hope everyone is able to make the ride and if not I would like to possibly set a date at a central location to get everyone together so we can gather the information needed to make this a successful ride and a good representation of Olde North State Cruisers.

Using the Toyota Front Axle SST

This article show you how to use the Toyota Special Service Tool to set up the knuckle. Many old time Toyota owners have this tool, and a few clubs around the country have purchased them to share amongst their members.

Begin by attaching the assembly to the end of the housing as shown in the picture below. It is important to have the bearings in place then this is done.

Torque down the SST assembly on the end of the housing until the proper preload is achieved at the end of the arm.

Measure the height of the torqued assembly to get the first part of the shim thickness – calculation “A”

Scribe a centering line on the shaft with the part of the tool that fits into the end of the axle housing where the seal goes.

Measure height of knuckle to determine second shim measurement – Calculation “B”

Attach spindle to knuckle and scribe a second line to determine centerline of knuckle – measure the distance between the two scribed lines to get measurement “D”.

Calculations

Total shim thickness “C”: C = A – B

Lower shim thickness “E”: E = D – 3mm (0.118″)

Top shim thickness “F”: F = C – E

Once the shims are calculated, install them along with the steering arms and bottom caps. Torque to specs and recheck preload with fish scale.

This article originally appeared on  4x4Wire.com and is published here with the permission of the author and 4x4Wire.com

 

Porting the Superflow MV50 Compressor

Please see the Superflow MV50 Gallery for full-size detail pictures.

 

I wanted to find out whether there was anything wrong with mine, and whether I could do anything to get sustained flow again. For disassembly, all that is required is a 4mm allen wrench or driver for the head bolts, and a 14mm wrench for the output fitting.

 

Disassembly of the compressor piston and head takes a minute. Once the four studs are removed, everything else can be removed by hand. Not surprisingly, when I pulled the piston head off, I found very visible signs of overheating. I cleaned up the piston, the skirt, and the head, and used a very thin application of high-quality grease on the piston.

After studying the head for a few minutes, it became obvious that there was room to port the intake and output ports. Each port is covered by a flexible steel flap, and when the piston is on the downstroke the flap opens to allow air in to the chamber. Then when the piston is on the upstroke, the compressed air forces open the output flap. These flaps make excellent templates for the porting.

Using a router bit on a Dremel, I removed the rib and a bit of extra material on the intake port for a roughly 25% gain in flow capacity. I used the Dremel to effectively double the size of the output port.

 

After a good cleaning, I reassembled the compressor, and using parts from leftover projects installed a brass, barbed output; and a new coiled hose (the original hose fittings leaked at the assembly that is screwed onto the valve stem). Then I sourced a zooty Type R filter to replace the original plastic and sponge filter for more airflow and a touch of bling.

The MV50 is rated at 150 psi and 2.5 CFM and when new, it could inflate a 33″ tire from 18psi to 35psi in roughly 3 minutes. After this cleaning and porting, the MV50 sustained airflow over multiple fills and consistently aired my 33’s from 18psi to 35psi in just over two minutes per tire. This is a very satisfactory result for 1 hour of time and $7.

This article was originally published on http://www.4x4wire.com and is reproduced here by permission of 4x4Wire.com and the author.