Engine as air pump

[itchyvet]

Diesel will perish rubber.

I wouldn't use petrol to reseat beads - too hard to control the fire and a real risk of igniting the tyre, or everything.

Aerosol lighter fluid or equivalent volatile hydrocarbon ( aerostart, carby cleaner?) is the go. It can't create a burning pool as it evaporates too quickly.
The air pump will be fine with an EFI petrol with the injector pulled. Don't think it's feasible with a diesel.

Steve.

Crikey, I don't believe this, here's a heads up from an OLD BLOKE.

Ever heard of a thing called SOAP ? If you have, and you got some handy, try rubbin some along your bead, and POP, goes right where it should with no smell, no fire danger, no perishing and a bonus is the cleanliness.

Regards the cylinder pump mentioned, NO, it did NOT draw air thru the manifold, it sucked it in staright from the valve fitted at the top of the screw arrangement that screwed into the spark plug hole.
In effect, sucking air in every down stroke and blowing it out every up stroke. No air was sucked throught the manifold cause it was easier sucking direct from the valve.
Found these things to be a bonus, heaps easier then the old car tyre pump, (like over grown push bike pump, REAL hard work) and NO, in those days there was no such thing as 12 volt electric pumps, though some enterprising folks pulled out compressors from trucks and fitted them with starter motors if they required air lots of times.

But hey, here's the clincher, we NEVER needed 4WD's, the humble rear wheel did the job quiet admirably, and let tyres down to negotiate some soft stuff ? You gotta be kiddin right ? unless of course you volunteered to pump the things up again. HEH !

[David_S]

I used one of these Shrader pumps for years when I worked in Saudi Arabia which was pretty hard on tyres. On one desert trip I had to fix 5 punctures. Schrader worked fine and a lot easier than a hand pump and quicker than most 12V systems. Still have it in my truck as a backup. The cheap Chinese copies never lasted long as they had inferior tubing which could not stand the heat but the Shrader was/is great.

This pump went well with those self vulcanising kits for fixing punctures in the field - Camel patches I think they were called. Buff the area of the hole, clamp on the little tin container with the patch underneath, light the compound in the tin, clouds of smoke, peel off the container. Done - great fun and I never had a failure.

David