Tool suggestions?

[RacerBill]

Ryan: I'm thinking of getting the HF hydraulic crimping tool. Want to borrow it?

[boywonder]

Bill: I think I'm good at the moment, thanks though.

Jay, Jim, Jim: Interesting that you all changed your avatar after I finally added one. And Jay, your previous one was better. Just sayin'...

Also, I like how in my avatar I'm in front of Frenchy, and in his he's in front of Jim. Hopefully that's how this season will pan out...but where are Jay and Bill?

[jumbojimbo]

I fixed mine.

[boywonder]

I fixed mine.

Argh, well played.

Look kids, this is how you destroy tires. And piss off a Mustang. And pee your pants.

[jay05]

There you go Jim.

[jumbojimbo]

Okay, here is one that has been bugging me for a while. What do people do for air?

Back in the old days my little 7 gallon tank worked just fine for autocross. But that was before the free compressor broke at the skanky no-name gas station. My Sunoco station will give me free air if I ask, but it's not always on the way to the track and I'm not always smart enough to remember to fill the tank.

So I show up at the track with an empty tank, I forget to fill it at the track (or the compressor is not turned on) and I've got 2 tires with 20# of air 3 minutes to grid.

I've burned up a couple of little compressors at home trying to fill my 7 gallon tank. Apparently that's a bad idea. Even though they say they are good to 120# they give up like the French army at 70PSI.

What does everyone else do besides (duh) remember to fill the tank at home or first thing at the track?

I see HF has a "250psi compressor" for $8 that looks just like the one I got from my brother-in-law that couldn't blow a prom date. Or, they have a spiffy chrome 12V 150PSI model for $55 that actually lists 1.05 CFM at 90PSI. Or is that just going to be another doorstop in a month? Will a 3 gallon compressor allow me to fill my 7 gallon tank, or am I going to learn a painful lesson about equilibrium?

Should I bite the bullet and get an actual 7 or 10 gallon compressor? That seems like a pain to carry to the track and again, can I fill my portable 7 gallon tank from it?

[Matt93SE]

Right after I moved and hadn't had a chance to wire my 60 gal compressor up, I broke down and bought a little 7 or 10 gal pancake type compressor from the store with the big orange sign (I HATE that place, but it's the only hardware store for 30 miles. sucks to live in the country sometimes).

Anyway, I paid about $100 for it and it does the job just fine. I've run my 1/2" impact off it (just barely) as well as aired up tires and run an air nailer. it's actually pretty durn handy.
You can suarely fill your portable tank off it, just be sure to wear earplugs when you fire it up cause it'll be running for 10 minutes. I'd fill until it starts sucking wind, then stop filling and walk away for a minute or two. then come back and do it again after the compressor has had a minute to rest.

OR.. just do what I do now and toss the whole compressor in the trailer. it weighs just a few pounds more than my portable tank and holds almost as much air. fire it up at the house and let it fill up there, then truck it to the track and only plug it in if you need more air.

The benefits are many-fold since you have enough air at the track to run an impact wrench and so on so forth.

[tomylee1]

thats ok.

[joeg]

I got me one of those cordless inflators from Sears (look like a cordless drill with a hose coming out of the chuck).

They work fine and I keep it in my DD.