I am tired of trying to find someone to fill my air shifter bottle. What kind of kit, and where to get it? To fill my bottles

Last year I bought my own setup and a 20# bottle.

A steel Siphon tube bottle and fittings and a steel braided hose all from my local welders supply that I do business with.....

The cheap kits online are junk and you risk getting hurt from a hose blowing apart....Made in China garbage...

2 CGA-320 (I think they are) bottle fittings and a tee and 2 ball valves....

I had to buy one brass Tee fitting from Ebay and added 2 ball valves off the shelf from here at work.....you also need seals but I use the screw in brass with captured o-ring type. The disc seals work fine too.

Works perfect and I don't even need a scale...

I bought a small digital fish scale but it will not work. It reads highest number and holds it making it not usable for this application.

I chill the empty bottle quickly and than just refill it. It takes seconds and you can hear it going in and than stopping.

I checked the pressure once I put it on my car.....In the sun it never got to 1500lbs.....Plenty safe with a 2000lb safety blowoff valve....

I have 3 bottles and can change one in 5 minutes.......The tank goes with me to the track.

I spent about $150-$175 for it.

I had a paint ball store 5 minutes from my house...was $3 a bottle....They closed up and I too got tired of taking the bottles to get them filled....

I have the same fitting that goes on my bottle on my car, a high pressure rated 90* valve, and I use a nitrous line that I didn't need. My tank doesn't have a dip tube, so I invert it. Fills my car tank in about 10 seconds or so...cheap and easy.

I have been filling mine off argon bottle.Heck its rarely full and overfilling very low risk. I did find out that freezing o2 bottle got me more pressure.

With shifter and two air solenoids I am thinking about going to bigger bottle.

No need to freeze a bottle.
Put a small amount in the 10oz bottle and than exhaust it out quickly. The bottle will get ice cold.
Now fill it.
My 10oz bottles last very well running a shifter and a t-stop.
Co2 Bottle is mounted upright and no leaks.
Check your lines and fittings with Dawn soap.
Even small leaks will show up. Fix them.
10oz bottles have an o-ring under the brass valve.
They can leak there too.
Very easy to remove valve and replace that o-ring.
A vise/rag and a wrench gets it done.

the real fix is to move into the 21st century ...

I resisted adding a Air armed compressor for years to my car, even being personal friends with Steve Woody, RIP, that built these for K&R. Finally added one when I went TD racing and after having one and not having to worry about C02 bottles, I wish I would of got one a long time ago. Being able to add air to the tires if I get hung in the lanes due to a oil down is another plus.
Kind of like switching from MT to Hoosier, never thought having leaking tires was a problem until I had tires that didn't leak. Just one more thing not to worry or think about.

Big Steve...KNOWS!

2 things that I've NEVER said....

I Lost that round because my tires were low
I Lost that round because I ran out of air

Nope.....

Not a fan of CO2 shifters, I've run out of air in the past and the car didn't shift. That said, my Biondo electric shift solenoid has never failed me. (not the spring type that gets hot)

I do have a compressor in the trunk of my Nova for tires and a 20ft coil hose that will reach the front tires if needed.

You can race a lot of rounds with a properly filled 10oz bottle of CO2 and if you race and win a lot, you can go all year on two bottles with some left over.

I have had a CO2 leak in the throttle stop system for a long time, (10 ounce bottle), absolutely can not find the leak. I have changed every line, every fitting, every seal even the gauges..... leaks like a screen door on a submarine. It's driving me stone crazy, I carry two bottles and can't make it through the week end on just one bottle. Two weeks ago I bracket raced the car full throttle (not using the T/S) but needed it to open the throttle and it ran out before the end of the day. Doesn't make any leaking sounds, can't feel any CO2 leaking, runs dry after a few runs.

Bob

maybe it's the bottle(s) leaking. Spray every fitting, the entire length of hose, the regulator which are known leakers, everything with windex, you'll find the leak.

Get a bottle of Dawn dish soap and a paint brush or foam brush

Paint the Dawn on every fitting and use it right out of the bottle....thick, no water...

Even the smallest slowest leak will show up as a bubble....

I've used that to find a very minor gas leak at home on a water heater....and also found very small leaks on my air lines/fittings....

A 10 oz bottle has an 0-ring under the valve....they can leak...

The regulator itself can leak along with any fittings

I have the electric shutoff valve that goes on with my ignition...

My regulator will hold pressure after the valve for a long time with the valve off....

I did use an air storage can right by my t-stop for a while and that was always leaking down....I removed it....works fine without it...

A MaxSpeed carb comes with one of those and so did a Sunset Plate Stop......

Even a small leak will empty a 10 oz bottle pretty quickly.....

I chased a bottle leak on a chrome bottle and it was the o-ring....

I did not know they had one until a Paint Ball store guy showed me the valve was easily removed and the o-rings dry out....

When I had a 10oz C02 bottle on the bracket car, I would replace it maybe 3 times a year with a spare. Running SLC and air shifter.

Bob you either need to find the leak or add a compressor, but even if you added a compressor if you still got a leak it will cycle allot and they are somewhat loud.

After fighting a leaky C02 system for a few yrs., I recently installed a compressor on my car. I still had a dam leak. I soaped and checked several times and I could find nothing wrong. I finally took the guage off of the regulator ( same guage I used with C02 system) and plugged that port. No more leak ! So if you cant find a leak, try replacing the guage.

I have a 30lb mother bottle that I had a dip tube installed in. I made my own setup out of two female fittings. I just empty my bottle and fill it while it's cold. I do it a couple of times a year whether it needs it or not. I don't have an air shifter though just the throttle stop.

quote:

Originally posted by SCDIV1:
Get a bottle of Dawn dish soap and a paint brush or foam brush

Paint the Dawn on every fitting and use it right out of the bottle....thick, no water...
.

I have a lot better luck mixed with water. Your results may vary.