I promised more details on the VolksAir once I received the literature from
Dunn-Right. So it has been around two months and I finally had time to open
the packet and read the handful of pages about the unit.
Price:
$299 for basic conversion kit
$489 for deluxe kit w/ 10 gal air tank and some more fittings
Specs:
58CFM @ 100PSI (Randall is probably going to go into another fit about SCFM
vs CFM ;-) ) So even if that is SCFM, it is still 3x the SCFM rating
you'll find on the $900-$1000 air compressors from Home Depot, Lowes, Harbor
Freight, etc. DunnRight also sells a sandblasting rig with a 3/4" nozzle,
so I would imagine they sized the nozzle to match the characteristics of the
compressor so that people buying the sandblaster would not experience poor
performance. 3/4" is a relatively huge nozzle!
120psi max pressure
Parts:
You'll need to supply your own dual port type I or type III VW engine from
1971 and up Beetles.
DunnRight supplies you with a camshaft of their own design, so that two
cylinders (the compressor cylinders) operate as a 2cycle setup. Eight new
cam followers, two compression boosters (aluminum discs that get mounted to
the piston faces), two exhaust pipes and mufflers, two valve spring shims,
two threaded manifold adaptors, two aluminum manifold block off plates, two
fan housing plugs, two head shroud wire hole plugs, one rebuild gasket set
and the obligatory instructions. That is for the $299 basic setup.
An interesting thing from reading the literature... the setup is touted as
being self governing, that engine speed varies depending on air usage /
consumption... so that the compressor is largely running at lower RPMs
unless something is using the maximum volume of air it is capable of
producing.
During the previous discussion about the VolksAir someone made a comment
about the lack of a larger tank. Well for $50-150 you can pickup new 60-80
gallon tanks rated at 200PSI on eBay. I saw some running VW dual port
engines on eBay going in the >$200 region as well.
So yah, you will end up spending at least $500 and probably closer to $750
to get this setup working. But then again the specifications blow any other
compressor in the $750 range out of the water...
Contact info for DunnRight:
Dunn Right Inc
Phone: 864-296-9316
Kai
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