Tip - Air Compressor Drain Valve

The other week I went to drain my air compressor for the first time in a few months. Now the manual says I should be doing this every time I use the air compressor so my maintenance habbits are clearly pretty shit. But with so much crap in the way and the drain vlave located all the way in the bottom of the tank, I just couldn't be bothered (how lazy IS this guy?).

To make draining the air compressor a bit easier, I decided to make an extension for the drain valve which would locate it to a more convenient location so that it could be accessed without any fuss.

I threw out all my SAE tools so the 15mm socket didn't work, which is why I keep an adjustable wrench for just such occasions

Out comes the old valve

A quick trip to Princess Auto produced some 3/8" air compressor fittings and a ball valve

Mix in some teflon tape...

...and we're done

Perfect ground clearance!

Now I can drain the compressor by simply opening the ball valve just under the front of the compressor. No more lifting :)

This setup is pretty easy to use and any moisture that does build up inside the compressor will drip into the elbow fitting instead of sitting in the bottom of the compressor. When the day comes where I can't be bothere do bend over to turn a valve (just a matter of time), I'll think about relocating the valve or building some kind of remote switch.

Tip - Restoring Rubber Gaskets

Everyone who spends enough time messing with older bikes (and even newer ones) will eventually encounter either a swollen or dried up gasket/o-ring/diaphram. More often than not these bastards can be MASSIVELY expensive to replace. So before you bend over for your favourite parts distributor, have a go at restoring the rubber yourself.

Swollen rubber can be shrunk by applying heat. Using either a hair dryer or heat gun on the bloated rubber should produce results after as little as 10 seconds. Don't over do it; you don't want the rubber to shrink too much.

Swollen float bowl gasket

Apply heat :)

Shrunken rubber can be expanded again by dunking them in carb cleaner or throttle body cleaner for a minute or two. Once again, don't over do it or you'll have to break out the hair dryer again.

Float bowl gasket too small now

Add some carb cleaner or throttle body cleaner

Submerge gasket for a minute or two

As long as the gasket/o-ring/diaphram isn't torn, or cracked you stand a good chance at restoring it for whatever it was intended for.

Perfect fit!