Restoration/Refurbishment myself or farm it out?

[photogman]

It has been quite a while since I was on soda-machines.com.  I had intended to start on my machine this spring/summer but I had to have an aortic valve replaced in my heart along with having an aneurysm repaired.  A couple of setbacks from surgery landed me in the hospital on two more occasions, so my 81A had to get put on the back burner.  I'm still home recovering from my surgery and the Dr. will only allow me to life 10 pounds.  I expect that to change soon. 

Anyway, my wife and I were out in the garage yesterday doing a little cleaning up and rearranging the garage to fit all our stuff into.  There sat the lonely 81 and she told me to get it restored/refurbished so we can put it in our basement and start using it.  Like a dutiful husband assured her I would look into it.  I put a link on the forum to some pictures quite a while ago and will include it in this email to refresh people's memory of my old email.  Anyway, the 81 is an original and although the pictures look really nice, as you would expect it has it's share of warts that the pictures do not belie its actual condition.  It has a gradual dent in the top of the door that causes the seal to stick up a little higher on the door.  The people I have seen post in this forum seem very knowledgeable and very polite.  They seem willing to help others of less talent, like myself.  As a teenager, I overhauled my own car engine and later raced it at the drags and did pretty well.  It ran in the low '13's and flirted with the high '12's once.  That's my only claim to fame I guess.  I know I can save considerable money by doing it myself.  The question becomes.....do you think this is something I can tackle?  I know you guys can direct me to where to buy parts because there seem to be a reputable source in this forum.  I would impose a time limit of 1 year on myself, thinking it could be done in that amount of time if I was careful and didn't get in a hurry.  On the other hand, if you think this is way over my head, you could always recommend somebody to do the refurbishment/restoration for me. 

My wife likes the original look that the machine currently has.  I don't have a problem with that if I have somebody from a body shop buff the heck out of it and polish it up as good as it could get being original.  The inside, however, is something I want to restore because I don't know about any beltway rust etc.  I want to have all my racks powder coated and everything inside looking new and the outside looking original, if that is possible?  Anyway, I thought I would connect with you guys since this is a great group of people and an invaluable resource for pop machine enthusiasts.  AND, my wife is finally behind me on this.  Your comments are appreciated and I will give considerable weight to all of them.  Thanks for your help. 

http://www.nylen.com/pics/archival/81a/

P.S.  Heart surgery saved my life, but avoid it at all costs if you can.  It's not a walk in the park, especially valve surgery.

[Kaleid20]

I think the biggest pain in the butt of a restoration is the taking apart and putting back together of a machine. If you feel you are up to that and make sure you take a ton of pictures I think you can do it yourself. Personally I have to farm out the body work and painting, because I don't have the expertise there. 81's aren't super difficult, so I think you've got a good machine to start with

Glad to hear your doing better, speedy recovery.

[mznb1u]

Good to hear that you are recovering well.  That is a nice looking original and I would do everything to keep that baby original on the outside.  I know there have been a couple of posts on cleaning up the outside but I think Dave gave the best step by step when he cleaned up his Dr. Pepper Jacobs.

See this post:

http://soda-machines.com/discussions/index.php/topic,16943.0/all.html

As far as a couple of bumps and bruises--heck the machine is probably 60 years old!

While the inside of your machine is also spotless, you will still want to remove the interior and make sure you do not have any rust lurking under the liner.  I have seen people do different things but I think the spray-in bedliner on the inside of the machine is the best defense against beltline rust.  See this post:

http://soda-machines.com/discussions/index.php/topic,1837.10.html

As far as powder-coating the tub and the shelves, I will leave that up to you.  With as clean as your machine is, I would be tempted to leave all of that original as well.  There are plenty of posts about cleaning up and re-wiring the compressor.  so I will leave those for you to find.

That is going to be a good looking machine when it is done--Heck--it is already a good looking machine.

As others have said--plenty of pictures coming apart will help everything go back together again.

  Tim

[Kaleid20]

Sorry, I didnt check your pics before my last post. Yes, that is a very nice 81A. I wouldn't restore it, just get the refrigeration cleaned up and working.

If you want a real project, Ive got a rough 81D I'd trade you for that one.

[MoonDawg]

       What timing, I have an 81A in my shop right now. Customer called and wanted it restored but when he sent pictures I immediately talked him out of it as it is as nice as yours. Inside his compressor and compartment was much dirtier and rustier than yours.
        What I did do so far is pull the compressor, clean and paint it, and cleaned the rust from the inside floor. He wanted his shelves cleaned for sanitation and looks but I didn't want to scrub off the galvanized plating so I switched his shelves for zinc plated ones. New glass goes in the bottle door tomorrow.
        I think you should do the same, just clean it up enough to bring it into the house, skip the heavy work.

[coke_and_stuff]

Nice machine please don't restore it, clean it up and use as is. I hope I look that good when I'm that old!


Joey

[Eric]

WOW.... no way would I restore that.... You would regret it... That had a soft life....some elbow grease, CLR and/or white vinegar and some fine steal wool would do wonders for the tub...and run the jar/bottle through the dishwasher
Nice survivor....

[BrianS]

Nice machine.  I would pull the compressor and the inner tub to make sure there is no hidden rust.  Its pretty easy to do and there is quite a bit of discussion on site to walk you through it.  The parts are easier to clean outside of hte machine anyway.  Put fresh insulation in, clean up the compressor and bottle rack, reinstall and enjoy.  Lots of pictures make reassembly much easier.  It looks nice now, will look great with a little time and clean up.

[SIGNGUY]

As obviously stated by now.. DON"T Completely restore this beauty.. keep it as original as possible... the insides look great too.. just a little cleaning of the shelves and tub and you'll be set.

I do agree that it should be refurbished, however,, you said your wife wants to use it.. so go with that..

The original I have ,  I still took it part and took the compressor out , cleaned, painted and rewired it for safety and better running.. I took out the tub, cleaned up the old rust, (you will have rust on the inside bottom pan guaranteed,)  remediate that , clean it up and put new insulation in it and new gaskets and put it back together.. new glass in the bottle door will help as well and then polish up the outside and enjoy!

also, didn't see where you are at. but maybe your near a member that could assist as well.. if your in the NW Wisconsin area.. give me a shout!

[Pat Pixley]

Yeah I would leave thing alone on the shell , But I would pull the tank ,shelves and bottle rack and spend the time and money and powder coat them 
with a ultra chrome  or super ultra chrome  it will make that inside look much better and when people see the inside they wont be thinking twice about
getting a drink from it .
And  do the compressor  new fan motors new wiring harness and new thermostat.


Just my two cents

[MoonDawg]

        There you have it, honest opinions from restorers and other members of the Historical Soda-machine Preservation Society. 

[photogman]

Ok, now before you roll your eyes, how can I be absolutely sure this is original and not an old refurbishment?  Just asking....

[Jim]

Ok, now before you roll your eyes, how can I be absolutely sure this is original and not an old refurbishment?  Just asking....

Too many "signs of originality" that would lead us to the direction given to keep it as original as possible...
Our favorite cliche: "It's Only Original Once!"

[photogman]

Yeah I would leave thing alone on the shell , But I would pull the tank ,shelves and bottle rack and spend the time and money and powder coat them 
with a ultra chrome  or super ultra chrome  it will make that inside look much better and when people see the inside they wont be thinking twice about
getting a drink from it .
And  do the compressor  new fan motors new wiring harness and new thermostat.


Just my two cents

I like your two cents!

[SIGNGUY]

yes as stated, too many signs of originality,, most restorations don't use "Screened" labeling, meaning where it says bottle opener and coin return, and the message above the coin door , "if bottles are not visible"  these where screened on originally and most restorations will use vinyl or water release decals.