wewing1
Registered
Greetings. I am an air gunner and a long time observer of this forum, collecting knowledge with the goal of one day acquiring a compressor to fill my bottles.
I decided on a Bauer based on their reputation for quality an reliability. I have purchased a 1998 Utilus U 3. Long story short, it looked better in the photos than in person. The Bauer 3 phase motor that I hoped to use to at least spin it up with was locked up solid, so without a suitable motor it is nothing more than a heavy lump sitting on my bench.
I enjoy a good challenge and have rebuilt many motors, manual transmissions and have a Bridgeport mill and Clausing hydraulic VS lathe currently in use that I completely rebuilt several years back, so I have the tools and basic skills to at least give this a go.
A quick call to Joe at Filter Techs to verify he had the parts needed for the rebuild, so here I go.
The unit had a clean Bauer intake filter, German drive belt,( which looks reusable) and the compressor pulley looks to still have paint in the belt v groove. The paint looks original with no wrench marks on the fasteners or pipe fittings.
I knew it would at least need valves so I pulled the heads last night. I half expected to find worn, rusted bores with corroded piston tops. To my surprise I found pristine, shiny bores and pistons, no corrosion what so ever and super strong hone patterns. no wear at all that I can see. The third stage piston has a shiny top and the word "top" on it (not sure what the bore should look like, but it seemed fine as well). So far so good.
What has me somewhat concerned is I drained the oil and put it in a glass jar to see if there was any water in it. The oil is about the color and consistency of a heavy maple syrup, I have no idea what it should it should look like. There was no water in the oil or foul odor, but under bright light, I do see what looks like very small shiny particles suspended in the oil. They aren't ferrous as I dropped a magnet into the jar and left it overnight and nothing stuck. and they haven't settled to the bottom, So I'm not sure what the particles are. Chrome, aluminum? And from where. I wouldn't think there is any moving aluminum bits in the crank case.
So I am looking for advise on how to proceed. Do I button it back up and move forward or pull the bottom end and make sure it looks everything looks in order there?
Anyway, thanks guys and sorry for the long post! Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.
Wes
I decided on a Bauer based on their reputation for quality an reliability. I have purchased a 1998 Utilus U 3. Long story short, it looked better in the photos than in person. The Bauer 3 phase motor that I hoped to use to at least spin it up with was locked up solid, so without a suitable motor it is nothing more than a heavy lump sitting on my bench.
I enjoy a good challenge and have rebuilt many motors, manual transmissions and have a Bridgeport mill and Clausing hydraulic VS lathe currently in use that I completely rebuilt several years back, so I have the tools and basic skills to at least give this a go.
A quick call to Joe at Filter Techs to verify he had the parts needed for the rebuild, so here I go.
The unit had a clean Bauer intake filter, German drive belt,( which looks reusable) and the compressor pulley looks to still have paint in the belt v groove. The paint looks original with no wrench marks on the fasteners or pipe fittings.
I knew it would at least need valves so I pulled the heads last night. I half expected to find worn, rusted bores with corroded piston tops. To my surprise I found pristine, shiny bores and pistons, no corrosion what so ever and super strong hone patterns. no wear at all that I can see. The third stage piston has a shiny top and the word "top" on it (not sure what the bore should look like, but it seemed fine as well). So far so good.
What has me somewhat concerned is I drained the oil and put it in a glass jar to see if there was any water in it. The oil is about the color and consistency of a heavy maple syrup, I have no idea what it should it should look like. There was no water in the oil or foul odor, but under bright light, I do see what looks like very small shiny particles suspended in the oil. They aren't ferrous as I dropped a magnet into the jar and left it overnight and nothing stuck. and they haven't settled to the bottom, So I'm not sure what the particles are. Chrome, aluminum? And from where. I wouldn't think there is any moving aluminum bits in the crank case.
So I am looking for advise on how to proceed. Do I button it back up and move forward or pull the bottom end and make sure it looks everything looks in order there?
Anyway, thanks guys and sorry for the long post! Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.
Wes
