What to do with that old Ford/Mercury air cleaner sitting around....

[cjshaker]

Several years ago, I got tired of the loud noise my compressor makes (2 stage, 80gal Quincy...so it's plenty loud). Knowing that a lot of the sound comes from the intake, and not wanting to route it outside to the cold moist air (and picking up a ton of water in the process), I decided to come up with something different. I took the old air cleaner housing from the '64 Mercury 390 I took out to build for my '68 F-250 and decided to rig it up for an air cleaner for my compressor.

Turns out the compressors air cleaner base fit PERFECTLY into the base of the 390 air cleaners housing. Lucky! Not only do I get a ton more filter area (after about 15 years now, it still looks clean), but it gave it a cool deep throbbing sound and got rid of that extremely annoying higher pitched sound that drowned out all but a passing freight train. I still need to get a 390 sticker for the housing to finish it off though. 

[jayb]

That is cool, Doug, your compressor looks better than a lot of peoples engine compartments.  But please don't mention the word "filter" again LOL!

[cjshaker]

But please don't mention the word "filter" again LOL!

Yeah, I thought about adding a disclaimer to this post

[machoneman]

Hah!

No, get a 427 sticker instead 

[cjshaker]

Bob, seeing as how I had the dealer upgrade the motor to an industrial 5hp for reliability purposes (I sandblast alot), you're absolutely right...it's not your standard run of the mill 390 anymore

[Garyford]

Some mercury restorer is cringing at the thought,   

But in truth you probably picked up some good silencing technology that would be appreciated on most compressors. 

[Qikbbstang]

The Filter disaster I had on a piston type compressor was a monumental mess. I was called to a Paper Mill for an air intake Filter for a large 2cyl Joy Compressor. If I recall it was a 14" ASME flanged inlet pipe. Being in a Paper Mill they wanted the housing to be Stainless Steel. Got with a manufacturer, submitted drawings and supplied the large filter housing. Couple weeks later I got a call from mill advising to get out here and see the filter housing it was cracking at every weld (and it was). Fortunately we'd hired a compressor guy who asked if we'd checked the "Critical Length" ?  He told me he needed Bore, Stroke, inlet pipe size and RPM. I faxed it to him and called to ask if he got it. He had and advised that Critical Length for that combo  was between something like 12 and 18 feet. The installation was right in the middle of that. We shipped the filter housing back to Mfg and advised mill about Critical Length needing to be changed.  That housing held up for decades and never cracked again.
      Critical Length???    Imagine the power of air intake pulses traveling back out through the filter element itself with enough force to shatter stainless steel welds and panels of the housing.... then dream of an engine that tunes those pulses to hammer air into or out of the cylinders!..... 

[Drew Pojedinec]

Some mercury restorer is cringing at the thought,   

I begged people to take some of those housings off my hands a few years ago.  I had 2-3 of those and not the space to keep them.  They are all being melted into Kias now.