Hi guys,

I’ll update my ‘ups and downs’ thread, but I have been making progress. The refurbished rear axle is back under the car and in place. Just a couple more things to sort out and I should have her back on her wheels. Hopeful for next weekend.

Now as with the top end engine rebuild I’m thinking there will be a lot ‘going on’ when I first power up - brakes will need bleeding and the EAS will be empty and need calibration (new rear EAS sensors).

So I’m thinking that I might take one of them out of the equation (EAS) by pulling the relay, but that it would still be nice to have the car off the bump stops.

So is there a view on the best ( or easiest - not necessarily the same thing) way to have a manual back up EAS, or the best/decent kit to buy, and where to install?

I don’t doubt this has been done before, but I did search and found nothing in the first page or so.

I’m hoping to have a sound and reliable EAS system, but apart from this refurb start up, it does seem like a good thing to have tucked away for emergencies.

Any suggestions gratefully received. Ta.

I teed into each line that goes to the wheels and put Schraeder valves in them. It works great. You may not need to do this for your test run though, as it may all work just fine.

Get yourself a set of these https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274891528271, put one on each line and blow each corner up one at a time. I keep a set in the boot just in case (except only 3 of them were in the boot and the other was on the bench at home on the one occasion in 12 years that I've ever needed them). I don't like the idea of adding Tees and fitting them permanently as you are adding 12 more potential leak points.

Thanks Gents,
So - Tees = permanent. Keeping them in the boot (whether 3 or 4!) means you disconnect the bags from the valve block when needed, and add these on the end.

Then, when pumped up, assuming no leaks, they just individually hold pressure until released?

I know I could find this, but as I'm here, what sort of pressure are we talking about (in psi) - a bike pump, or 12v tyre inflator?

I noticed the recent thread about the via-Air compressor and filed it away for future reference.

Thank you.

The more heavily loaded you are, the more pressure you’ll need. Empty you need around 100psi. I doubt that you’d ever need 120, but the system runs at 150.

I found mine would lift from the bumpstops at around 5 bar, roughly 75psi. So tyre inflator is a must.

The easiest option as mentioned is to just buy the fittings and keep them in the glove box ready.
If you carry them with you, the car will never break down. On the one occasion you leave them at home is when you get a problem.
With separate fittings, it is bit of a hassle to blow each airbag up individually. In the dark and pissing with rain.

I fitted a Tee in the line to the tank and fitted a gauge & shrader valve mounted on a stainless plate.

The advantage of fitting a Tee is the EAS continues to work as normal, assuming that the problem is just the air compressor that has packed in.
If it is the valve block or leaking bags, it won't solve that.

I do take a few shrader fittings and a length of tubing as well. If you have ever travelled any distance on the bump stops, it galvanises the mind.
Not a pleasant experience.

Originally I used push in fittings but they do leak eventually. I went to brass Wade fittings and they have been OK for maybe 12 years now. No problems at all. The underbonnet gauge is very handy. You can see what is going on.

My car started to lift a bit higher at around 6 bars or 90 psi. It depends on the weight in the car I guess. I think this was when I had a winch on the front. Like all p38 owners, my emergency chest in the back also gets bigger and heavier each year. Add on bull bars and roof rack. The diesel engine is 40 Kgs heavier than the petrol as well.

You will need a decent portable air compressor to take with you. At the time I bought a Ring compressor, not a particularly good make, but it has been OK. It doubles up as a tyre inflator. It goes up to 120psi. I would have prefered one that goes to 150 psi, which is the normal EAS pressure.
You can't run it off a cigar lighter plug, it is too much current. It uses battery clamps.
Paddock Motors has a good selection of portable compressors:

portable air compressors

dave3d wrote:

If you carry them with you, the car will never break down. On the one occasion you leave them at home is when you get a problem.

Exactly what happened to me. They sat in the boot for years and were never needed but the one time they were one of them wasn't in the boot and I needed a full set. Instead I tried using a tyre pump (in place of the dead pump) to pressurise the whole system but found that with trying to fill the reservoir as well as lift the car, it took nearly 30 minutes with the tyre pump running before the car started to lift. It just wasn't capable of supplying sufficient volume.

That is sods law or someone's law.

A tyre pump that runs off the cigar lighter doesn't have the oomph. I have had a few of those over the years. Pump and flash light combo usually.
The Britpart compressor with a dual head from Paddock Motors would be my choice. I thought they went bust?

twin cylinder Britpart compressor

The ARP compressors look the bees knees, but are too expensive imho.

Thanks for the further replies. Not quite so straightforward maybe.
I've a set of the four valves ordered. I don't need them anywhere else but on the RR, and I only have one of those, so I guess it's likely they'll stay with the car. It's also more or less at 'standard' weight - no winches, bars or anything.

I think there's a distinction above between filling the whole system, or individual corners? There's an attraction to the permanent 'tee' system, but for me at this stage, just trying to lift the car off the bump stops temporarily, do you think a 'cigarette lighter' tyre inflator would lift an individual corner OK?

Ta

Yes it will. Doing an individual corner at a time shouldn't take too long with a tyre pump as you are only filling the air spring, probably a lot less volume than blowing up a tyre. Filling the whole system, all 4 air springs and the 9 litre reservoir, will take quite a bit longer (the best part of half an hour when I tried it with a fag lighter tyre pump).

Excellent - thanks again. With a fair wind I might have it mobile again this weekend… though an MOT could be another story.

and you only need it far enough off the bump stops to get you to a garage air line...