I was thinking about something the other day. I was wondering if it would be possible to add some type of fill port on my tank so that if i was ever away from home and my comp. died, i could go to a gas station and use the thing to fill tires up with. Sounds like a good idea to me, i'm just wondering if it is possible.

 

I've got one on mine. But I am doubting a gas station compressor would ever get it up to the PSI needed. I've only used mine to check the tank pressure with a tire guage. My little port thing came with my airlift kit.

 

You are on the right path, but your best bet is to take it one step further. Rather than using one of your spare ports to mount a Schrader valve, use it to mount a quick-connect like you would find on a shop compressor. This way you have the option of quick-connecting anything you want.

I have this on my truck. Once you have done this you can use the quick-connect as a fill point (shop compressor or Schrader valve) or as an air source. In a pinch you can use your air source to power just about any pneumatic tool, fill tires, or whatever. It is just a matter of piecing the right parts together and keeping them packed away in your car.

 

Yea man i also wanted a port for that ... now that i know i can have the quick disconnect port have a "Schrader" valve connect to it i'll just do that! Could a gas station pump at least put like 50 PSI in my tank? I mean if it was my LAST place to go to if i was far away from home and my comp. died. Couldn't i fill the tank the max that the pump will do then fill the front, repeat and fill the rear? I guess i really need 2 comps lol

 

I wouldn't rely on a gas station pump for more than about 40 psi. You could very well get higher pressure, but I wouldn't count on it. That would probably be plenty for the rear, but I am not sure about the front. And be mindful of how much pressure you already have in the bags. If you open the a valve with more pressure in the bag than in the tank the air will flow the opposite direction, dropping your car.

Just remember that if you install the quick connect it opens you up to a whole new world of options. If the gas station is also a service station you can use their shop air. If you can make it to a garage, or someone's house with a compressor you can also fill there.

 

yea ... i just think it would be better to plan now in case of a problem then to figure it out when the problem occurs and i'm away from home

thx for the ideas tho, i will be getting a quick disconnect port from Parker next time i go

 

I had one on my setup. It was convienent for everything.

 

I had one on mine as well.. I used it for a varity of different things.. When My Compressor went out Chevron was in for the save with there 110 PSi pumps,. Take all there air and was back on the road :D lol


I did fill up the neighbors kids basketball with mine to one time lol

 

Best use I have ever seen for a quick connect on an air suspension was cutting our way out of a truck show.

Yep, cutting our way out. Our group was the least to leave Resolutions (2001 I think). We were having to change a bag on my friends fullsize truck so we were running late to leave on Sunday.

Well, apparently the promoters (Sunset) thought that it would be ok to just lock a group of mintruckers/hot rodders in the show grounds when they left. So when we went to leave the gates were chained shut and we had about 6 trucks still inside. So we hooked a long compressed air line up to a quick connect off of a nitrogen bottle and attached a pneumatic cut-off wheel to the other end. The chain was cut in under a minute and we had pictures to memorialize the entire thing.

If we hadn't had that quick connect, who knows how long our trucks would have been locked in. No problem for us though. I bet the owners of the showgrounds were none to happy with Sunset when they discovered the open gates and missing lock upon their return.

 

LOL that's awesome man! Well i'll have a quick disconnect port but i don't know about carying a pnuematic saw around with me

 

I wouldn't expect most people to. But back then we were on the cutting edge of air suspension. The group of guys I used to run around with back then were the ones who did the initial testing of the prototype Slam Specialties bags. We were some of the first people to be hopping on air. (Long before the SS bags.) We were literally testing the limits of air suspension at every single show we attended. Because of that, there was always an ample supply of tools on hand.

All of us have since grown out of that phase, but boy was it fun while it lasted. There is nothing quite like pulling a fullsize extended cab GMC up next to a kid in a minitruck who is bragging about being able to hop inches. Then proceeding to embarrass him by hopping that big heavy truck FEET.

 

Sounds cool man, i'm not really into that aspect of air suspension but i can understand it. Something i found interesting was looking in the new mini trucking magizine (i think this is the name) that came out this month. It is a special issue about minitruckers in other countries, which they had a few articles from Japan ... they make some good trucks over there! I'm going to be buying the mag today, maybe i'll scan some of the articles up ... there is a sweet 1960's white yoda with white-walls in there ^_^

 

I'm really not into the big hopping thing anymore either. Back then it was about being on the cutting edge. But we learned very quickly how abusive it could be to a vehicle, and how quickly it could empty a bank account. I still prefer a quicker rather than slower air system on just about any vehicle. If it is driven daily, it can really keep you out of trouble. And it is much easier to slow a system down than speed it up.

I have seen the magazine. And I actually saw that truck featured in Low Life Video before it made it to the magazines state side. The features (magazine and video) were all done during the same trip out to Japan. I used to have a serious addiction to magazines when I was really heavy into trucks. Every single month I would get a copy of Street Trucks, Truckin', Sport Truck, Minitruckin' and Tailgate. I still glance through them, but Street Trucks is the only subscription I currently have.

 

Wow man your all over the industry . I'm all for the unique and trying new things, that truck is the first of its kind that i've seen so i have respect for it. I also think that the orange one in the same issue is very well built. I love the molded tailgate and the interior is just NICE. But i wouldn't consider that one a daily driver ... i can appreciate that type of work but right now what i want is simple:

Something cool & entertaining that has a lot of technology added into it but is still a reliable daily driver. That is my basic reason for building the xB as i am, CarPC, air ride, etc.

I never thought that there would be a mini-trucker following in Japan tho, so the mag blew my mind ... now i wonder tho, did it start over there before it came here? If i had to guess i'd say it started with S10's based off of old-school hot rod type trucks ... i'm sure you know it's whole roots man, fill me in please

 

Minitruckin' has been around for decades. It got it's first real start in the early 80s. Old mini trucks from Nissan (then Datsun), Toyota, Mazda and the like. Back then the options were limited, but they got by. Minitrucks were chosen because they were cheap to buy, got great mileage, offered a lot of utility and made a great starting point for a custom.

In the 80s some of the big trends coincided with a lot of the vanning going on. Reverse wheels were big. Technology inspired graphics, scallops, water style scallops and bold fluorescent colors were the in thing as well. S-10s like you mentioned were being built, but the imports were where it was at. Toyotas and Mazdas were the hot ticket into the early 90s.

Minitruckin' as you see it today really came about in the early 90s. A few guys had taken their knowledge of hydraulics from low riding and applied it to their mini truck before then. Even more were crazy enough to slam their trucks ridiculously low and then use air shocks with Schrader valves to lift them back up. But in the early 90s airbags came into play. And around the same time the first "bodydrop" on a minitruck was performed. It had been around for decades already in hot rods, but now it was being applied in the truck arena.

This excessive dropping led to a quick change in wheel choices. Most guys were still running 15s, but they tucked. A few were even able to fit 16" wheels under their wheel wells. A few years later 17s were released and that is where the big wheel progression began.

In the early 90s bright pastel and fluorescent colors were really big, and chrome became big no-no. Everything needed to be monochrome. By the big 90s everyone was ready to break out of that rut and some of the wildest graphics ever scene came out of the custom truck community. A perfect example of the ultimate minitruck for this era would be "Last Look" by Kal Koncepts in Bakersfield, CA. That truck was so far ahead of it's time that I can still stare at it for hours today.

The mid 90s is also when the truck scene really started to take off. My personal opinion is that this due largely in part to the introduction of the '94 S-10. This was a huge leap in truck styling and drew thousands of new enthusiasts to the scene. It was also just ahead of the big import boom. A lot of the guys that ended up getting into imports started out in trucks.

Custom truck popularity seemed to peak somewhere in the early 2000s. I remember seeing comments in a couple of different hot rod magazines at the time stating that hot rodding was becoming stagnant and that most of the new trends and innovations were taking place in the truck scene. And at the time, they were right.

That innovation and progress continues today spurred on by die hard truck enthusiasts. With builders and owners worthy of just as much respect as some of the best the hot rod industry has to offer. Though the popularity has faded to some degree, the quality of trucks being built today has never been higher. I encourage anyone who hasn't ever been to a truck show to attend one. A larger one if possible, but local shows can be great as well. You may just be surprised at the kinds of things going on.

Or at least that is what I've got real quick off the top of my head.

 

here is my set up with the blower. I also have a tier inflator on a quick disconnect.