My 1989 F-150

[Bowman85merc]

Wow, I keep forgetting to update this thead on this site, lol
Alright, Im going to copy/paste everything recent from The Ford-Truck site I frequent, so bare with me.

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Well, if some you have eagle eyes, and can notice something "different" about where my tailgate should be on may last few pics. You may have noticed some uprights tubes, and a tube going across the bottom of the box, tieing the uprights together.

Welllll, those are for a special project I completed about a month ago (Man Im getting lazy with updates on this thing :-X18)

Its my spare tire holder!!!
I got tired of not having a spare for "just in case," and since I had no place to stick a 35" tire without making it look tacky, I made this.
I found some basic designs off of the beloved internet, and decided, "I must have one" So I got started on it. Its all from scraps laying around the shop. The only peices that were purchased was some 45* butt-joints so I could make the top bar of the holder the have the correct bends, since I do not have a bender :'(

Everything is hand made. Actually, the holder or "pedastal" which the tire sits on was a spindle off of my cousins old SVT Focus, I welded in the holes where the studs went, and turned it on the lathe to make it look nice. Then I welded a 1-1/4" nut on the top of that, worked it down with the lathe, and you cant tell that it wasnt made this way. And the "Y" bar which actually hold the tire in place is an old peice of 1-1/4" all-thread, which was worked down on one end and then I welded 3/4" or 1" (cant remember) tubing on it for handles.

I have only "heard" of one other like this on our type of pick-ups, but Ive never seen it. Im not sure as to why, since I think it looks nice, and gave the truck a whole new look (in a good way).

Anyways, enough blabbering, on with the pics!!!

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And yes, it actually is reversable, I can flip it so the tire holder would be on the outside of the bed, and I can use all of the bed space, if you were wondering

Hope you like it

If you have any questions just ask.
Thanks.

[Bowman85merc]

Geuss what I just installed...

Here, Ill give you a hint...



If you geussed a York compressor, you are correct!!!

Took a bit of work, but not a whole lot of effort. If you didnt know, you can take the old air-conditioners off of certain older vehicles and turn them into air compressors!!! The compressor is off of an early 80's Wagoneer, its the Big York, 10.3 cu.in. of displacement.
It originally came with a double V-belt pulley, but as you know our trucks have a serpentine belt. So, this is where some creativity and machine work comes into play. My Dad tossed it on the Ole' lathe, and cut down the middle divider for the Dual V-belts down, and then cut grooves in it like you would see on any other serpentine pulley. And, its works perfectley. Then he also made a custom bracket out of 3/16" steel plate to brace it up, its very secure.
Got a new belt for it (96") Fired her up, and man does this thing blow air!!! Just to show an example, I hooked it up a 33-gallon tank, and at IDLE it filled it up from 0-125PSI in 2-1/2 min. And if I set the RPMS to 1500RPM (recomended) it filled the tank from 0-125PSI in 1 minute FLAT!!!
I already hooked everything up as you will see, I have a hose going from the compressor to an air/water seperator, into a one-way check valve, then into a 8-hole manifold block, I only have a couple main things hooked up so far, (safety valve, gauge), but the main thing I have hooked up is the pressure switch, its an auto one an its set so it shuts off at 125psi, and turns itself on when it gets to 100psi.
And its all controlled by a rocker on/off switch I have setup in that blank spot in the dash, along side the PSI gauge. It all works flawlessly so far, just have to hook up my tanks (going dual ~10-12 gallon tanks) and then my couplers in the front and back of the truck. And of course, this insanely loud air horn I got }>

Now, onto the pics!!!

More pics:


The compressor/bracket:



The block:



The tank, off of a semi, had to cut 16" out of it so I could get it to fit where I want it to:



Thats all the pics as of now, more to come, sooner or later :-X06

[87gtVIC]

Everything looks great David. The spare tire holder/liftgate looks like it came right out of a catalog! Having a compressor on board could always be handy. Where do you plan on mounting the compressor?

[Bowman85merc]

We made the custom brackets to bolt the compressor where the factory a/c location would've been. in the last pics i posted the compressor is the thing that says york automotive on it.

Oh and the compressor operates as it should, once it reaches 125 psi the pressure switch dissengages the compressor clutch, with the switch turned on it'll cycle on/off just like all air compressor do.

[87gtVIC]

I meant air tank

[Bowman85merc]

Here's pics of the tank mounted, as you can see i have it tucked under and in between the box and the frame rail. my plain is to someday make custom tubular bumpers and run air from the tank to those with quick connect air couplers. right now the tank is supplying air to the air horn

[DsTrBd]

Nice dedication

[packman]

Very nice truck!!! I almost bought an '89 F-250 4x4 with a 351W/5-speed last year. At the time, I had nowhere to put it, so I passed that deal up.



Packman

[gabegt90]

very nice mang Ivan has the same set up with his air comopressor very nice to have