How I mounted a York Compressor to a SBC

[blime81]

Ok so I see lots of folks asking about EDCs and how to mount them up. Thought I'd share how I did mine in my '72 C10.

Things I needed were:
2 groove water pump pulley
belt
plate steel
threaded rod and nuts (for tension adjusters)
(4) grade 8 bolts (mounting bracket to head and compressor to bracket)
spray paint

Tools I used:
drill press (you could use a hand drill)
vise
grinder
torch
110v welder (used flux core wire)

First I cut and fitted a heavy plate to mount to the passenger side head. I was originally going to use 1/4 plate for this and put a brace on it to keep it from from flexing in towards the crank but a buddy cut me a piece of 3/8" so no worries about it bending.

Here it is roughed out on the drill press ready for drilling.


Next I bolted it up and did the final fitting.


The plate for the York is nothing more than 1/4 plate that I cut and clamped in a vise. I heated it up and bent it 90* to make a tension adjustment then drilled the holes and connected them with a grinder to make slots. You could just make it flat and put 4 slots in the bottom instead.

Next was the hardest part. I bolted the compressor into the plate and then my bro held it on the mount off the head. We measured to the new water pump pulley and measured some more to make sure it was level and straight. The slots and tensioners allow for a bit of adj in this but you wanna get it really close. Then I tacked it in place and removed it.

Welded it up and did a bit more grinding.


Rattle can black paint job.


Then mounted it up. Measured and got a new belt (48" in my case). Here you can see the studs on the end that allow me to tension the belt.


Wiring: This was simple. Just ran a wire from the clutch to the pres switch on the tank. Then a wire from the pres switch to a toggle in the cab and finally to the fuse box. Compressor turns on when tank pressure drops and I can turn it off if I want to. It's only hot when key is on.

Plumbing: I just used little knock off K&N I had laying around for intake. I still have to mount a oil/water seperater between the tank and the compressor. The Yorks tend to spit oil so you need this to keep your valves from getting gummed up.Tank gets a one way valve where the comp goes in. This will keep air from bleeding back into the compressor. I'm also going to put a quick fitting on the tank so I can air up tires, run airtools etc. (good luck doing that for long with electric compressors)

Probably going to get this filter with the sight glass. http://www.kilbyenterprises.com/coalescing-filter.htm

Overall it was pretty simple. Spins nice and quiet, plenty of air and cheap! Total cost for me was about $50 for everything including the compressor! Hope this helps someone and good luck

[hotrodhomi]

nice

[nhtc33d]

Nice job on the the bracket and the detailed "how to"!

[Rollie396]

well done.Good post!

[edflores]

Fantastic job. What did you use for the fittings coming out of the compressor?

[blime81]

Originally Posted by edflores

Fantastic job. What did you use for the fittings coming out of the compressor?

I used the factory "roto-lock" fitting on the inlet side with a little brass cap to plug the little hole on it.

On the outlet side I used a 3/4" npt female to 1/2" npt female reducer (had to trim the bottom to clear the bolt heads on the compressor) and then a 1/2 npt male to 3/8" line elbow.

Eventually I'll get the 1/2" npt to rotolock fittings that Kilby sells just to clean it up a bit.

[edflores]

I didnt realize the outlets on these were 3/4 NPT.
And i asked because Kilby is going out of business.
Keep up the good work. I have a sanden laying around, but i'm going to hunt a york down at the junk yard.

[blime81]

I had to trim the bottom a bit for it to fit (the roto fittings are tapered on the bottom outside).

I'm pretty sure it's 3/4" npt. I got that fitting at Lowes a long while back, but I took the factory roto fitting with me and matched them up. Might be flare but either way they can be had.

I just saw today that Kilby is going under. Probably why he won't return my calls. Guess I better get on those fittings and filter! Shame to because nobody does the york thing like them.

[63sbssbbw]

Nice work Jeff
T

[Shane]

sweet write-up! thanks for sharing!

[michael bustamante]

hate to bug can you post pics of the compressor on the sbc at other angles also? I have a york as well and I Id like to see how well it looks in the engine compartment

[blime81]

Yeah I can take a few more pics when I get home today. I was worried about looks as well. The yorks are sorta ugly. But I think it came out looking ok.

I had tinkered with putting it low on the drivers side and running it off the power steering pully. Tilt the compressor towards the drivers side a little. It's tight but you could make it work. But then you have 3 things spinning off the drivers side and none on the passenger side.

[michael bustamante]

Originally Posted by blime81

Yeah I can take a few more pics when I get home today. I was worried about looks as well. The yorks are sorta ugly. But I think it came out looking ok.

I had tinkered with putting it low on the drivers side and running it off the power steering pully. Tilt the compressor towards the drivers side a little. It's tight but you could make it work. But then you have 3 things spinning off the drivers side and none on the passenger side.

exactly. except I have the alt on the passenger side but swapping to the driver side is no big deal.

[blime81]

Ok so here's a couple more shots of the whole engine compartment to give you a better idea. You could have make it a bit lower but I felt it fit best where it is.

[mario1128]

question for ya im an hvac tech and in order to properly lube an ac compressor it need the system to be in a closed loop to recirulate the oil in the system .How did you over come this with out seizing the unit up.That is a cool set up if it can be mad to last nice job

[71swb4x4]

Originally Posted by mario1128

question for ya im an hvac tech and in order to properly lube an ac compressor it need the system to be in a closed loop to recirulate the oil in the system .How did you over come this with out seizing the unit up.That is a cool set up if it can be mad to last nice job

The York has it's own oil, it does not depend on oil from the freon.

[mario1128]

awesome this set up sure beats a noisy electric unit and should last a long time

[hotrodhomi]

Originally Posted by mario1128

awesome this set up sure beats a noisy electric unit and should last a long time

trust me, they are still noisy. You just don't have to listen to it as long as an electric because it fills so much faster.

[lonestarluck]

nice work

[VA72C10]

Thanks for the writeup....considering this on my next build but I'd have to bling it up some more

you might want to see if you can get a deal on that filter because the site you linked to is closing its' doors august 15th per their website.

[blime81]

Yeah I saw they are going under.

Bright side is Kilby still has a bunch in stock (get 'em while they are hot) and the company that makes that part is Coilhose Pneumatics (who is not going under).
http://www.coilhose.com/products.asp

Reason I want to go with this one over the hundreds of other filters available is that it is rated for higher temps and I plan to mount it in the engine compartment.

As for bling, the Yorks have an aluminum case. Have seen a few that folks had stripped the paint off. If you had some time you could probably polish one up real nice!

But then I was b****ing cuz I couldn't find a non-chrome 2 belt pulley locally!

[m6z]

Nice write up. Plan to use a york on my build.

[raider65]

Where would add oil to the york.. I have one and it is being used for the AC

[steppside69]

Cool install, Was wondering what models were equipped with the york 210? Looked on e-bay and found them cheap but no info on where to look for possible findings locally. Thanks Eric

[63sbssbbw]

They were installed on all kinds of vehicles
My 209 came as a dealer install on a '78 cutlass (305)
but you can find them on fords too.
Not sure about true BOP's (that spin the opposite direction)
Hmmm? if you reverse the spin on a york do the in/out ports just switch?
T