Hi all,

Just wondering what kind of compressor people use. I welded one up and it turned out to be a piece of junk. So should I just hit up superjunk or lash out and get a good one?

Cheers

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Get a fairly good one - for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, they are almost never designed for a mini head and you usually need to fit a socket over the valve head to compress the spring completely and it takes a bit of force.

Secondly, they are your fingers slipping in collets and the like - the last thing you want is a cheap one to give up the ghost or slip at a crucial moment. You would lose the top of a finger in the blink of an eye.

Mike

thanks Mike,

While dicking around I had a couple of collets ping off at a million miles and hour.


I came across this one (scroll down to the bottom) It looks simple and it looks strong too. All I have to do is cut up a socket and tak it onto the G clamp.

http://www.thisoldtractor.com/gtbender/ ... ressor.htm

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u made your own compressor or am i readin somethin els

I got the one from supercrap some time back as the number of times I rebuild a head didn't justify the expense.

I had (as I have done in the past) full intentions of marching back in with the tool and the receipt if the tool wasn't up to the task at hand.

In the end, the supercrap one (which is the same as the Bursons one but a little cheaper) worked fine enough. The handle could be longer, but it's all down to the adjustment. Ands no socket was needed luckily either.

It's onto it's fourth head, as well as having rebuilt an old Astron engined Magna head a couple of weeks ago.

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

I made one... worked for disassembly, no good for assembly

(but my mate gave me one after that!)

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did I tell you that I won a trophy?

If its the one made in Taiwan, its not worth two knobs of goatsh*t in my opinion. Needs another foot on the lever arm. Who ever designed it never passed elementary physics

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1967 Cooper S - new front bearings to do.
1965 Cooper S shell - Slow progress. No time or money!
1966 Deluxe- next rustoration!
Mk 2 & XJ6 Jags. Less said the better.

Yep, I hear ya. It doesn't lend itself to adding an extension bar to the handle either, but it builds yer forearm muscles up at least when disassembling.

When removing the collets for the first time in years it's a bit tough. I worked out that if you tapped the valve caps with a copper drift and hammer or similar it broke the sticky crap that held it on. Once that was gone it was much easier.

Putting it back together wasn't a problem however, it works fine.

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

if you have a drill press, just make something up to fit in that, and put a block under the valve when reassembling. You just use the downward motion of the drill head to compress the spring......I learned this from GR who happens to have a bank of drill presses, so dedicating one to be a valve compressor is not a problem for him

cheers
michael

ps no you don't turn the drill on

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the world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page
66 Mini Minor sponsored by http://www.lifeonthehedge.com.au/ The Dog Harness Specialists
It was a pleasure ausmini. I'll miss all you misfits and reprobates

i'm using this one


made by Elora , and modyfied by me. yes, ist a 1/2" ID, 40cm long steel gas pipe welded on as handle extension, the factory handle was 10cm "long" and 4mm thick, covered with cheap plastic, very user friendly .....

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Rover 214 atm ....

we use one very similar to this one... just be careful when using it a lot the tangs start to open up(maybe we use it a bit more than most people though)

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Miniworx Centre 0883741299
Sooperdooperminicooperexpertengineering
Online BMW Mini Shop

I have this one. It works like it was made for a Mini and I've loaned it out to club members a few times. About $50, but worth it in my opinion to have a tool that you don't fumble with and end up breaking something.



http://www.toolsource.com/valve-spring-compressor-overhead-limited-p-70508.html?osCsid=vdltb8hqsm1n9rdr1gkhpqd067

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Looks similar, the crap one I have here has a wingnut and thread to adjust the width of the tangs to the size of the valve cap. I could really do with a piece of pipe over the end like Klas's.

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

yes, i fitted a small aluminium tube to have a fixed size



i use it a lot, too. thats why i bought a "german quality tool". but i even had to mod it to pull straight and sometime it still pulls to one side or the other

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Rover 214 atm ....

How's about a pneumatic one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbmoMiYIHdg