OldCarGuy’s Retirement Toy Shop

Newly arrived here, and cruising through this amazing thread, I think OCG does not need a big shaper as much as he needs a whole new set of little tools to fix Packard clocks. If you want it done right.....

New Toys for my Retirement Garages

I purchased a few new toys for my garages.
Knowing a good deal when I come across one, and wanting to increase the capacity of my air supply in my garages. For 95% of the time my 5 HP Devair is more than ample to supply air to my five garages. However my sandblaster has a need that surpasses the output of it if I want pressure over 80 PSI for any lengths of time.

I purchased a new model LS580V-601 TriMax compressor. The Trimax is a 5 HP three cylinder air compressor by Bendpak. The 80 gallon vertical A.S.M.E. tank is manufactured by Manchester. The motor is a massive Baldor 213T frame TEFC. Baldor is one of the top American brand motors. And being totally enclosed fanned cooled makes it more suited in adverse operating conditions. It came standard with a Siemen’s magnetic starter. And a Furnas pressure switch. The heart of the compressor is the three cylinder two stage Puma cast iron compressor that is made in Taiwan. The compressor’s 950 RPM is relatively low thusly makes for lower noise level and last longer. Having two first stage cylinders that feed into a third second stage cylinder. All mounted on a common cast iron crankcase. The big argument for three cylinders verses inline two, is that it has more even cooling.
Being a two stage, it has a working pressure as high as 175 PSI. with an impressive output of 20.2 CFM and 22.8 @ 90 PSI. .







The first half of the following video sound clip below has the Devair running by itself. It has a deep throat slower pitch rhythm sound. Due to its’ larger diameter pistons and stroke along with its’ Low 635 RPM. Midway through the video you’ll hear it unload and the TriMax will start,, no pause. But you’ll notice a higher pitch sound along with a higher rhythm. In my opinion the Devair produces about a third less sound.




I set the clock on the post to compare the time each compressor takes to hit 150 PSI. I can tell you the results. Both tanks were emptied. With all valves closed I simultaneously started both compressors. After the 7 minutes and 10 seconds the Devair shut off as it hit 150 PSI. The TriMax continued on for another minute and 10 seconds. For a total time of 8 minutes 20 seconds to reach 150 PSI. That’s about 15% longer run time to reach 150 PSI.

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New BendPack Two-Post lift

I have been in the process of fitting out one of my 26' X 38' four-car garages for working on cars. I started out by installing an overhead bridge crane that I had in storage. It was removed from my old garage. Under the crane I have a 10,000 pound BendPack XPR-10ACX asymmetrical two-post lift. Although the lift limits the cranes travel to the front half of the garage, it has enough travel to remove a vehicles engine. That I had intended it to be used for.

Picking up columns with crane.


lining up columns on chalk line and lagging to floor.


Using my handy scissors truck to install overhead cross bar.


Movie time: Lifting a 2005 Chevrolet Equinox for an oil change..


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Along side of my lift I purchased a Ranger RX-950AT tire changer ..


And a Ranger and DTS-1000 computer wheel balancer..



In the front of the lift is a 6” maple top workbench and 52' Waterloo combo tool box.


New Waterloo tool box next to old Craftsman set I have owned for 40 some years...


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I must say OCG you just had me scratchin my head and taking a walk out to the shop I picked up a triple pump over a year ago to build another compressor, looks exactly like yours or so I first thought, mine is a single stage as I had remembered. So heres the question.....is there any difference in cylinder size on the second stage jug? They appear the same but they may have been able to keep manufacturing down by having the 2 first stage feed the second.......just curious. Specs on mine are similar 18.6 cfm @ 100 psi at a slightly higher rpm but of course can't operate at 175 bein a single........

If this is the case some replumbing would be all thats required???

oldcarguy, thanks for showing what heaven is like. Awesome setup and I think jealousy is among you. Any chance you need a gardener?

hardtail said:

I must say OCG you just had me scratchin my head and taking a walk out to the shop I picked up a triple pump over a year ago to build another compressor, looks exactly like yours or so I first thought, mine is a single stage as I had remembered. So heres the question.....is there any difference in cylinder size on the second stage jug? They appear the same but they may have been able to keep manufacturing down by having the 2 first stage feed the second.......just curious. Specs on mine are similar 18.6 cfm @ 100 psi at a slightly higher rpm but of course can't operate at 175 bein a single........

If this is the case some replumbing would be all thats required???

Click to expand...

All three cylinders on my compressor are the same size. The two cylinders to the right with the round black mufflers are the first stages. They both feed into the left hand cylinder.

That's an interesting concept to turn a three cylinder single-stage compressor into a two-stage. Other than rerouting the plumbing, it may be necessary to change the type of valves... Other than obtaining higher pressures, is there any value to a two-stage compressor though.

The only thing would be to run something at higher or constant pressure/volume with a reg........I checked the reciever I bought and it's rated @ 150 psi so I likely won't try it.

I just got looking at yours and recalling mine and unless the valving is different in the second stage head I'd almost be willing to bet thats how they're doing it, volumes should be close for the boost Pretty smart of them, they can likely make single and 2 stage from the same setup.

You sir most definetly have the ultimate workshop. My suit case is packed and I will fit in any corner of the shop :-)

very nice!!

A project that I've been working on.

Adding an Overdrive to a Rools Royce Silver Ghost Piccadilly Roadster...

In the early years of motor cars, Pre-World War Two, there were two classes of cars. Rolls Royce and all the rest. And if you ever drove or worked on one you would understand. The first Rolls Royce Silver Ghost rolled off the assembly line in 1906. . And was so advance, it remained virtually unchanged except for minor upgrades till 1927, when the Phantom range was launched. It earned its' name Silver because one of the original models had a polished finish. And Ghost because it was so unbelievably whisper quiet.


Nearly 8,000 Silver Ghost cars were produced. Including, lesser recognized fact that 1700 were actually produced at the American Springfield Massachusetts factory. Many of them are still running to this day. This 1925 Silver Ghost Piccadilly Rumble Seat roadster is one of the 79 that were produced in all those years. That I'm in the process of adding a Gear Vender's overdrive unit http://www.gearvendors.com/ to the drive train that'll provide 22% less RPM's. Providing higher speed driving at lower engine RPM's with less noise and vibrations. The engine has more than enough torque at the lower RPM's to handle the lower overall gearing.

I originally set out to use my BendPack lift without success. Though it easily picked up the car, I wasn't comfortable with the placement of the arm pickup points. The frame has a series of stiffener rods running from front to rear nearly the entire length. Staring just behind the front leave spring mount.

And ending at the rear just before the wheel well.





I decided to switch to the garage with my Mohawk lift. The Mohawk has longer arms and the symmetrical design was more suitable reach the lifting points needed to pickup the Rolls.



The first thing I did was make a cradle to hold the axle out of some old 2” X 8”. And screwed them to the pallet that my BendPack air compressor was shipped on. I C-clamped the pallet to my hand cranked adjustable height die table. I used my transmission jack to support the front of the third member.



With the cradle in place and my transmission jack supporting the third member. I removed the rear leaf springs, brake cables, and shock absorbers from the rear axle. And the 12 bolts from the torque tube to the rear transmission universal joint assembly. Side Note: All the nuts, bolts, and threads are to British Whitworth Standards on Rolls Royce's.

A project that I've been working on.

The good news is that the Silver Ghost was designed with a mid bearing mounted inside the solid third member and having a two piece drive shaft within. The overdrive unit will just replace the shorter section. Talk about over-designing. The two torque tubes are fastened together with 20 bolts.

GearVender's overdrive unit.


Rear axle out from under with short torque tube removed


The overdrive unit bolted to rear torque tube


The rear axle assembly being raised in place



The overdrive unit bolted up to the transmission's rear universal joint.


Reattach the rear springs, all the brake cables and shock absorbers. All that's left is extending the speedometer cable to reach the rear of the rear housing of the overdrive. RE-route the center bearing lubrication tubing, installing a switch, wiring, and then a test drive...


Most everything went together as planned. The only snafu I encountered was making an adapter so that the speedometer cable could be extended to the Overdrive’s output shaft. That way the speedometer would be reading correctly in or out of overdrive. A number of enthusiasts leave the cable attached to the transmission. Making the speedometer’s readings erroneous when the overdrive is engaged. Anyhow the overdrive functions better than I could have imagined. The engine has plenty of torque so that the car will cruise at Interstate speeds of 65 MPH all day long while the engines turning a tad over 1,500 RPM’s. The RPM was 1,850 without the overdrive.

A little more about the Silver Ghost. Most antique car enthusiasts (pre World War Two) felt that Henry Royce did not start out to make the best car in the world when he designed the Silver Ghost. Rather he just wanted to improve on his older six cylinder to be smoother running and more reliable. He succeeded to produce the most desirable antique car ever produced. Along with being the longest running model car next to the Ford model T.

The 7.4-liter side valve six-cylinder engine is rated at 80 BHP. The seven bearing crankshaft is totally pressure lubricated,, a rarity of its’ time. Along with two head castings with three cylinders each. Each cylinder has two spark plugs. Powered by two distributors. And a precision, quality of a Swiss watch, carburetor that is as reliable as it is beautiful!




Here’s a video of this 84 year old engine idling at 250 RPM’s.

Radial Arm Drill addition...

I had to play musical chairs to shoehorn in my latest acquisition. A 36" arm 9" column Radial Arm Drill Press that I moved in last week. It looks as if it's in pretty good shape and has seen little use. Other than a cobbled up table that didn't originate with this machine. And a broken downfeed gears that needs to be repaired. But the new replacement parts are included. It has a 3 HP spindle motor with speeds from 75 to 1800 RPM's and a number 4 Morse tapered spindle. A 1HP motor to raise and lower the arm and a small coolant pump. I’m going to build a barrier wall of sorts to keep the chips from the Radial Drill from getting on my optical comparator placed behind it.






Here's some updated pictures of my attached garage workshop since I have added a number of machines to my toy shop. They were taken from near the ceiling at the four corners of my shop. The second picture is obstructed by the top of my 1914 Cadillac that I presently have on my lift for repairs... As you can see my shop has been filling up with equipment in the past few years. At this pace I’ll have to come up with plan B to accommodate much more equipment!

OCG,

Is the corn field Cadillac one of the one's you restored? Incredible, if so. Looking at the photo in the field I would think nothing was salvagleable, anything.


Cat

Wow

Wow what a shop and car collection absolute perfection in what you do .Just an note on your radial drill make sure you bolt it to the floor I have seen a big 6 footer flip over at a tool show when the arm was moved over it happen in just a second a real show stopper.

Very nice Old Man!! Very Nice.
I don't know what you did or do for a regular living but you have done well for yourself evidentally. I have been trying to piece together a small shop for a few years but unless the Powerball fairy grants me a small wish it will not look like yours. Me and my two sons work on pre-73 muscle cars and every now and again I get maybe a 54 or55-57 in but nothing as old as that beautiful metal you have. Hoped your overdrive worked out well.

Wrustle better watch out..OCG has become a lead contender for "best shop thread on PM"

OCG...congrats on building a dream shop..and your car restorations leave me in awe.

David

WOW thats all i can say.

Wow is right wait till i tell my mom the guy on PM is like the daddy i always wanted

Wow...........But it looks like you are running out of room in the tool shop........