DIY Injector POP tester questions

[Thefarmboy21]

Getting ready to start gathering parts for to build my own and I've seen several variations of this done.....bottle jack, grease gun, porta power etc...and several different ways to do the caps. Anyway I have a few questions:
1. What's the shut off valve at the gauge for on some of these? like the one OLDBULL built. And his even has a return line? Most I've seen are even simpler, with no return and no shut off valves.
2. For our IDI injectors, how to we adapt a stock line to the fittings to the bottle? Do we have to take one out of an old pump, or cut an injector up or what? Our lines don't seem to have any comparable off the shelf fittings.
3. What's the best type of gauge to use? Just the easiest to read hydraulic gauge I can find that goes to 3000psi?
4. Does everyone just use diesel as the fluid? Does diesel ever ruin the seals?

Any and all help is appreciated. I'd much rather build my own pump and check my own injectors with my own eyes and hands than pay a shop $7.00 a piece to say "yea they're good" or " yea these three are bad" Thanks guys!

 

[diezelcrazee]

1. What's the shut off valve at the gauge for on some of these? like the one OLDBULL built. And his even has a return line? Most I've seen are even simpler, with no return and no shut off valves.

I used a 2 ton bottle jack and didn't use the gauge shut off valve. Works fine, just release the pressure with the jack valve.

2. For our IDI injectors, how to we adapt a stock line to the fittings to the bottle? Do we have to take one out of an old pump, or cut an injector up or what? Our lines don't seem to have any comparable off the shelf fittings.

I used the timing adapter fitting or whatever that extension on the one injector is called. I had a junk one, you might have to source that from a salvage truck. Then just weld or braze a 1/4" pipe fitting to that.

3. What's the best type of gauge to use? Just the easiest to read hydraulic gauge I can find that goes to 3000psi?

I used a 3000 psi hyd gauge.

4. Does everyone just use diesel as the fluid? Does diesel ever ruin the seals?

Diesel fuel is working for me so far.

Hope this helps.

 

[Thefarmboy21]

Sweet thanks for the info! I forgot about that fitting. My truck doesn't have them but I have ONE that I just acquired on a core motor.

 

[Thefarmboy21]

Got any pics of your setup....specifically how you did the top part of the jack, where the fitting start?

 

[OLDBULL8]

Got any pics of your setup....specifically how you did the top part of the jack, where the fitting start?

In the IDI Tech Articles on my pop tester, #5 pic shows how I welded a plate over to top cap, then trimmed away the excess plate. Drill and tap a hole for a 1/8" pipe thread or whatever size pipe you want to use.

 

[diezelcrazee]

Got any pics of your setup....specifically how you did the top part of the jack, where the fitting start?

I don't have any pictures, but what I did was thread the cast jack top to like 1" coarse thead, then I took a short 1" bolt, drilled a 1/4" hole all the way through it and then tapped the hole to 1/4" npt for the fitting. I used JB weld to seal the 1" threads.

Old Bulls way is also good, there are several options.

 

[Thefarmboy21]

Yea I saw OLDBULLS.....just trying to make it as weld free as I can. It's just me.....I like things to come apart really easy etc. But my opinions may change as my parts pile starts to accumulate and I can see everything in my hands. I want to make everything really neat and clean. I don't like the cobbled together look as much as I did as a kid haha. PLUS I can't weld good enough so is have to take it to a buddy and it would turn into an all day event lol.

 

[Thefarmboy21]

Not saying yours looks "Cobbled up" OLDBULL, it's actually the nicest I've seen. But mine would lol. Is that extra line and valve to somehow release the pressure? It just looks like a strange way of doing so BUT it's hard to tell from the pics on my Iphone

 

[OLDBULL8]

I have a check valve in the pump pressure line to the injector, so I can't release the pressure with the jack valve. Just made it that way, cause the jack valves ain't worth a damn, then again I can hold pressure on the injector just below pop pressure to watch for leak down.

 

[jaluhn83]

Here's what I did:

Buy a cheap 2 ton hydraulic jack.
Unscrewed the threaded adjuster thing from the top (need to wrench it out the last bit as the threads are peened, but it'll come out)
Drill out the threaded section at the top of the ram to a fractional size. I think I went 5/8". Doesn't have to drill out all the tread, just get it to wear the bolt will fit reasonably closely.
Find a steel bolt (I used grade 5, grade 2 would almost certainly have been fine but I wanted to play it safe) that diameter and at least 1" or so long. I used one ~3" but you don't need that.
Drill a center hole through the bolt. (1/8" is fine. If you use grade 5 you'll want a cobalt bit and a good drill press)
Drill the hole out and tap to pipe thread (I used 1/8", 1/4" would also work fine) on the hex end of the bolt.
Clean the paint off the top of the bottle jack ram and casing.
Put the bolt into the top of the ram - it should sit flush and the hex is close to the size of the ram top.
Weld the bolt to the top of the ram
Weld the ram to the cylinder with it almost all the way down. Position is not critical as long as it's not fully up.
Buy some high pressure fitting and gauge as needed. DO NOT USE HARDWARE STORE PIPE FITTINGS Typical hardware store steel is rated up to about 100 psi - you need high pressure forged fittings.
This place:
http://www.surpluscenter.com/hydraulic.asp
is a good source of cheap fittings and gauges. Fine a gauge you like that goes up to ~ 3000 psi.
You don't need a check valve or drain valve, they're built into the jack already.

Now the trick - making the adapter. It's actually really easy. Get a spare idi injection line. Find a straight section and cut it so you have 1/2" or more of reasonably straight line. Then get a short ( ~1") section of 1/8 sch 80 pipe with one end threaded - ie cut a nipple in half.... the OD of the injection line is close to a fractional size, I think 1/4" (verify this first) - drill out the ID to that size and it'll be a close slip fit. Make sure both are clean and free of oil and put the non threaded end of the pipe over the cut end of the line, make sure you have at least ~1/2" of overlap and braze.

I use diesel, should be fine but I really don't know. I'd be hesitant calibrating injectors since I don't know how differently calibration fluid acts, but it's fine for checking spray patterns and comparing pop pressures.

 

[Devon Harley]

Ya I'm not sure why shops charge so much for pop testing injectors. I can do 8 injectors on a boush pop tester an it takes about 10 min. There was one on CL last week 150 bucks. Not to bad of price came with adapters.

 

[icanfixall]

No matter how or what you end up with just make sure the fluid is filtered before it sees the injecters. Any dirt will ruin a good injecter. I have three of the Rotunda pop testers. I run diesel fuel as the fluid in them. Inside the case there is a filter so any fuel that goes thru the tester has been filtered...

 

[Thefarmboy21]

Yea I'll have to figure out the most practical way to filter it. I want to be able to build a self contained unit that I can move without disassembly.

 

[diezelcrazee]

Yea I'll have to figure out the most practical way to filter it. I want to be able to build a self contained unit that I can move without disassembly.

I used an inline type clear fuel filter between the fuel reservior and the jack. Then I flushed and flushed the jack and fittings before I hooked an injector to it.

 

[Thefarmboy21]

Yea I'll clean all my parts as thoroughly as I can before I re-assemble it. I'll make sure to pump some diesel or maybe some kerosene through the whole apparatus, before I hook up an injector.