OBA (On Board Air); I've wanted to do this for a while. First I picked up this portable compressor about 2 years ago. Tsunami; a really cheap one from The Boys at Pep for less than $50 bucks. Not the greatest by any means but works like a champ:
First carefully remove the front plastic grill by carefully removing the (4) plastic clips:
Inside I found a really great mounting spot. There's a structural plate on the inside of a SWs bumper. You can kind of see it here: (arrow is pointing to it)
Here's another view of the mounting location:
I drilling 4 holes that lined up with the base plate holes of the Tsunami. You'll have to remove the rubber feet that were inside those holes. Put the compressor in there and mark the holes for drilling. Make sure the compressor in not too close to any wires or hoses that could cause future probs by any rubbing. Remove the compressor then drill your holes.
Next tap the hole that feeds the air line. Tap it for a 1/4" brass air nipple (Note: the threads measure like 5/8"). You'll have to remove the quick disconnect fitting first obviously that came with the compressor (its the cheap, chrome crappy one). Yellow arrow in the picture shows which hole it is. (forgive the 'already installed' photos - I did take step-by-step photos while i was during this but my flash card failed and I had to do these after the fact)
After tapping that hole install the compressor with your favorite fastener.
In this picture purchase these (3) items: (1), a 1/4" brass nipple, (2) a 1/4" brass elbow, and (3) some kind of airline that will have 1/4" brass fitting on both ends. I opted for a teflon stainless steel braided line. Mine was 17" long and cost $26 (you dont have to go for this expensive of an option - you could use a piece of an old airline with 1/4" barbed ends and hoseclamps. I always like to use teflon tape when doing any kind of fitting like these.
Here's what it looks like so far:
On the other end I put a quick disconnect in case I need to dismount the bumper I can disconnect the airline easily.
Using a washer and a 1/4" brass coupler I mounted a quick disconnect male fitting here:
On the back side of this is another quick disconnect male fitting, this is where the stainless hose connects to.
Inside view installed:
After that you can just wire the compressor directly to the battery. The Tsunami has an inline fuse in the power wire. Switching it on/off is easily done by reaching into the square access holes in the SWs bumper.
Here's what it looks like in operation:
That should be it! Now say goodbye to the crappy storage bag and the one dimensional airline:
OBA On The Cheap
Linear Mode
