Brown -- I've never had air conditioning on the AMC 360 in my CJ7. About 12 year ago, a friend of mine was parting out an AMC car that his mother had owned. I bought the York compressor from him, along with the mounts, for $50. I installed it on my engine in a vertical position. All I had to do to get it to run was buy a longer fan belt, and run 12 volts to the clutch wire.

I subsequently bought a 2-1/2 gallon tank and installed it under the Jeep just aft of the front seats. I spend a few bucks on air hoses, connecotors, a 150-lb blowoff valve, a 120-140 lb air pressure switch, and a one-way check valve.

Today, it still runs as well as it did when I installed it. About every 2 or 3 years, I put a squirt of oil in the compressor crankcase. That's it.

I once ran a test on how effective the York was. My test involved airing up a 35" BFG from 10 psi (my typical off-road pressure) to 25 psi (my typical street pressure). A "cigarette lighter" small compressor took about 8.5 minutes to fill up the tire, and was too hot to touch at the end of the test. I had a Campbell-Hausfield compressor with a built-in battery that did a little better - about 7.7 minutes. I had an electric air compressor installed in my truck at the time -- it was a 1/3-hp compressor that pulled about 24 amps and cost about $350. It took about 5.5 minutes to fill the tire back up. Then I tried the York compressor on the Jeep -- it took 17 SECONDS to fill the tire.

With the York compresson and the 2.5 gallon tank, I can run an air tool continuously. If I run the engine at about 1500 rpms, I can run two air tools simultaneously continuously.

It the best investment I've ever made. On one trail ride, five of us had to air back up at the end of the ride. We all had 33" to 35" tires. I aired up my CJ and three of the other vehicles before the fifth guy finished airing up his third tire with a $250 electric air compressor.

Shop around - there's still some old AMC Jeeps, trucks, and cars in wrecking yards that have those compressors, and they don't cost a hell of a lot.