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As of last night, I have "officially" started restoring my Pepsi 81! I really enjoyed tuning in to Pat's V-90 thread and thought it would be fun to document my process/progress.

Last night I had about an hour to work on it and here's what I got accomplished:

#1 - Removed the kickplate and tossed it, it was beyond recoverable in my book. I had to use my trust rotary tool to cut off a few screw heads but I got it!
#2 - Removed the refrigeration system and set it aside. I did test it before I removed it and cooled down just fine. Appears to be the original set-up.I will crate it up and send it out tomorrow.
#3 - Removed the Coin Mech Heater wire. Kinda funny, the guy I bought it off of said the one time he did plug it in he accidentally touched the frayed and exposed heater wires and got the shock of his life! :laugh:
#4 - Removed the Bottle Stack and shelves
#5 - Removed the Breaker Strips and tossed 'em!
#6 - Removed the Refrigeration Compartment Liner
#7 - Removed insulation. I inspected the beltline and it look like there was just some moderate to heavy surface rust with no rust-through in any spot. I'm pretty happy about that!

I will update when I have something new.

Here's some pictures of the first day (hour!) of festivities!

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That's one hell of an hour.  Looking good so far.

I would love to have an 81 fall into my lap one day.  I guess I'm not that lucky.  Lately, it seems you guys are finding Pepsi's by the dozen and even a R.C.

I'm always at the airport or train station when my ship comes in. :tounge:

        Looks good so far Brian, minimal rust on the floor.

        You might want to lift that main door off the hinges before it falls over and creates a major dent you didn't have before.   :darn:

Looks good so far. Your going to have a great looking machine when done. If you need any of the decals I do have those. I restored a Pepsi 81 not to long ago, so I have the paint code and the decals. Of course I also have parts if you need any. Keep the pictures coming. Love to watch the progress.

thats a great bit of advice moondawg!

number of times i have been doing jobs

and something catches you out you just

were not expecting


it usually happens to me immediately AFTER

i have congratulated myself on say the paint

job or something else and i managed to scratch

it or a door swings open and knocks a chip off

not on soda machines but on other items i have

been refurbishing........................................

GP

Looks great Brian,
I'm tearing into mine this weekend as well.. Lets Race! :biggrin:

Looking awesome so far, Brian!  I agree, heck of a first HOUR!

Larry, I think I'm standing next to you at the airport/train station waiting on that ship!   :down:

Brian I think this is great to show off a round top restoration  .
keep up the good work :smile:

WOW! you did get a great macine for the money,
and as Pat said that will be interesting to watch the restoration procsess.

Question for all of you powdercoat "users".

Concerning the bottle shelves w/ sliders & springs. Removing the spring and the slider is a no-brainer. What about the black plastic wheel that the spring rides in? I'm thinking that it requires drilling out and replacing. What are you guys replacing it with?

        I posted the same question back in August of 08. You can look it up in the refinishing section of this site. Marvin has a great solution.

Thanks for the info, Glen! That helps a bunch. Now I just need to take all of my powdercoat eligible parts to the closest powdercoater which is about 20 miles north of me. Hopefully I can get some decent pricing.

Funny you bring this up.  I have been rethinking this so the next one I do will be more original.  

The original rollers are held by a semi-tubular rivet. The rivets are pretty inexpensive but the tooling to flare them is kind of pricey.  I found this while looking for pinball parts http://www.pinrestore.com/Riveting.html

I am thinking of building an arbor press like this when I get some extra time.

Marvin

I love seeing other peoples projects, it helps me get motivated.

Keep the picture coming.

The spring roller on the bottle shelf is a simple fix. Just drill it out and save the wheel. When you get it back from the powder coater just drill the hole out the next size bigger. Then use a blind rivet (which we sell on our websight under the Vendo 81 section) and drill the hole out on the wheel a little bigger to fit the blind rivet, and screw everything togeter, and reattach the spring and it looks and works better than new.

I do like Rod said, and maybe they are the same thing.. I've always heard of them being referred to as a sex screw.. or a post screw? but I guess Blind Rivot would be the more PC term?  :blush:
They work great though!

Day #2 - Friday, 3/12/10

Collected my Garage Pass from "Da' Boss" and went on my merry way. Here's what I accomplished:

#1 - Lifted the Main Door off of it's hinges and set it aside. (Thanks for the reminder, Glen!  :biggrin:)

#2 - Removed (6) carrige bolts and nuts from top and bottom hinges. As expected, the bottom set was rusted and required a little more "finesse" to remove them.

#3 - Removed Condensate Drain Tube and hanger bracket.

#4 - Removed Compressor Deck mounting bolt.

#5 - Removed Vendorlator nomeclature tag.

At this point, the cabinet is stripped down with the exception of he leg levelers. I will soak them in pentrating oil before I even attempt to take a crack at them. fNow it's time to turn my attention to the Main Door.

#1  - Removed Bottle Door. (1) hinge was still good, the other was bad. I will replace both. I will break the Bottle Door down to it's component pieces later.

#2 - Removed Main Door Handle.

#3 - Removed Main Door Liner and Rubber Seal. Ran into a little bit of trouble on the bottom row of screws. As is in most cases, the other notoriuos spot for condensation to build up in is the bottom of the interior portion of the Main Door behind the liner. The heads on all of the screws were completely eaten away. What to do......Again I turned to my trusty rotary tool and cut slots into each screw head. That did the trick!! all of them with the exception of (1) came out, using a flathead screwdriver, like a champ. The last one was completely frozen. I cut the back side and the head off flush with the lip of the "shelf" and was able to knock the rest out with a light tap, all done with that!

In the process of removing the Main Door Liner I was able to ascertain that my Connecting Linkage from the Coin Mech to the Vending Stack was still there!! It has just dropped down into the nasty old insulation, one less thing to buy!

#4 - Removed the Bottle Door Trim Assembly.

#5 - Prepared the Refrigeration System for shipping. I ended up building a crate for it and will be taking it to UPS today for shipping.

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Last one!

What's up next? Bottle Door disassembly and Vending Stack disassembly. I will also seperate parts into piles for Sandblasting, Polishing, Chrome plating, Plating, Powdercoating and Painting.

Leonard, please check your PM.

Nope, I'm sending it to Antiquities Vending in North Carolina where It will be in good hands. I will post some pic's of it when I get it back, I can't wait!!  :biggrin:

Day (Night!!) #3 - Monday, 3/15/10

Had a few hours to mess around in the garage with the 81. Here's what I got accomplished:

#1 - Finished crating-up the Refrigeration System and took it to my local UPS Store for shipping. The screws I used for securing the top were about 1/4" too long and protruded through the wood. Had to run over to the Tractor Supply Company which happened to be right next door and bought some shorter screws and resealed the crate. I would have driven home and done this but they were set to close 15 minutes after I got there!!  :laugh:

#2 - Disassembled the Bottle Door, removed hinge assemblies and hinge rods, threw springs away!

#3 - Disconnected Connecting Linkage from Bottle Trim and removed all attached hardware. One of the square nuts was completely frozen so I had to cut it in half using the rotary tool.

#4 - Removed ballast, light sockets and associated wiring. I will completely rewire.

#5 - Removed light switch (by any means necessary! :glare:) The aluminum threads on the switch and the nut were corroded past the point of saving plus somebody had knocked the majority of the pushbutton portion of the switch off. Once again, my trusty rotary tool came in super handy and saved the day! :smile:

#6 - Got a good start on disassembling the Bottle Stack. Only a few sub-assemblies to remove. Had to stop working at 9pm to go watch American Pickers!

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Last pic's from Day #3

Comin' along nicely Brian, are youg going to restore this one all blue or blue/white.

As much as I like the two-tone (Blue & White) I think I'm going to go with the original, all-blue. I really like both looks and I had to put a little thought into the decision. Any suggestions on which blue, paint code wise, that I should look at using?

Good call on the all blue Brian. I think they look better that way as well. Keep up the good work

I'm not sure on the exact color, but you might want to color match to the inside of the machine somewhere? see if there some unmolested area, that isn't faded and take it to your paint guy, they should be able to get a profit match to the color and you'd be set.. I am pretty sure the solid color machines where a lighter blue than the blue used on the two tone...

Brian Chrome the whole thing  ,  That would be so cool :biggrin:.

  Ok Just joking about the chrome :tounge:
It is looking great so far.

Love this thread!! I just started a VMC-56 and even though the machine is different, I have found it useful. You've convinced me that I should start a thread for VMC-56!

Hey Brian how it going so far ??    :smile: it has been a little bit  :smile:

I have been really busy with birthday parties and a school for the military over the past weeks. I havent had a chance to touch it for about 2 weeks!! :down: Such is life though! I'll get back to it shortly and will post something when I do, I promise!  :biggrin:

Welp, I don't have any new pictures to add but I have been working on the machine! I have been doing a lot of prepatory media blasting (iron oxide) prior to getting things plated and painted. Instead of using hammertone paint, I am going to be using chrome , where appropriate and the following: Clear Zinc plating, Yellow Zinc plating and, powdercoating

Last Friday I sent off a few peices to be chromed and zinc plated. I am trying a new place in Illinois and will let you guys know in a seperate thread how things turned out. I have spoken to the owner of the company a couple of times and he seems very knowledgable. The biggest (and most important!) part I sent him was my recently acquired VMC Coin Entry Bezel. He quoted me $40 to chrome it, what a great price!! I can't wait to see the results. His current turn-around time is 4 weeks which is pretty typical for a busy shop.

Other than that, I should be receiving my refrigeration deck back from restoration any day now and will post pictures of that as well. Springtime here in Indiana is a rainy affair and I haven't had a chance to blast the big painted parts like the main door and the body.

Question: If the the machine needs a little body work, do you guys blast, flash prime, bodywork and then prep and prime? or do you bang out any dents then blast, do body work (putty) then final sand, prep and prime? I've seen it done a few different ways. I'm open to all suggestions.

For kicks, I'll have a few local body/collision repair shops run a quote for me for all body work, primer and paint. I will then have them break down the (3) seperately for pricing. Even though I like to do as much myself as possible, I realize than not everybody goes that route. Maybe this will help give people a raw number to work with if they want to go the "full" body shop route.

I am going to be doing that with my Westy S-O-M and it will be interesting to compare the prices we get across the country.
I too am curious about blast before body work and the generally accepted procedure.

I always blast first. Tin bang and then fill where needed/new metal and prime.

First update in a while!

As of yesterday, my machine has been comletely sandblasted and I will hopefully pick it up this afternoon after work if all goes well. I am coordinating getting it painted at the same time! I will post some pitures of the machine later.

Talked to Alan Huffman today. Told me that he was finishing up my refrigeration deck and would be shipping it out via UPS on Monday the 5th of July along with a case of soda pop with the shipping paid for! I'm excited to see what it looks like!  :biggrin:

Finally got around to snapping a few quick pictures of the machine post-sandblasting.

Remarkable how pronounced that embossing looks whit the entire door blasted.  Can't wait to see the finished product!

 :drinking: Tim :drinking:

Yeah, I too was struck by how nicely that clean, paint free embossing "popped". I'm really excited to see it in paint!!

Well, some more progress.   :biggrin:

I had a box waiting for me on the front porch yesterday evening containing my chrome and a few zinc plating test peices from a new plating shop that I tried out and am pretty sure will get my continued business! The name of the shop is Quality Plating and they are located in Sterling, IL. which is a couple of hours due west of Chicago and on the way to Moline and Rock Island, IL. Here's a link to their website. http://www.qualitychromeplating.com/index.html (http://www.qualitychromeplating.com/index.html)

Here's what I had done and the prices:

Chrome Plating
VMC Coin Entry Bezel and Bent Coin Release Handle: $58.00
Main Door Handle: $38.00
Main Door Handle Sleeve: $10.00
Coin Door Locking Bar Catches: $20.00 (for 2)

Zinc Plating
I had (2) peices done for test purposes. The owner, Gary Shultz, ended up hooking me up for free on these two parts because I didn't know that they had a zinc plating minimum order of $65.00 and I had already sent them via UPS.

(1) Bent Coin Release Actuator Bracket (Yellow Zinc)
(1) Main Door Locking Catch (Clear Zinc)

For an actual grand total of $126 but again, Gary hooked me up and only charged me $121 out the door w/ S&H included!

Everything turned out AWESOME!!! I was so happy to see that the VMC Bezel wasn't damaged and the "VMC" Logo was still intact. Take a look at the pictures below and judge for yourselves. I'm definitely going to use them again.

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Looks great so far can't wait to see it done.
Keep up the good work Brian. :smile:

Looks great brian, how fast was he?

About 5 weeks. He quoted it pretty much dead-on.

After just under 4 months, my refrigeration deck is back home. I have attached pictures.

I'm interested to hear people's opinion on the quality of the restoration of this deck considering the machine that it's going to be re-installed in

I'm not a 100% "purist", but, you be the judge.

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I would be very upset if I were you. Leaving the bar code tags on the fan and the compressor????? Isn't the deck base supposed to be a pinkish red? and the insulation on the lines??? This is going in a 100% restored machine and a Pepsi 81 at that! After 4 months I would expect perfection. Let me guess someone in the Carolinas did this rebuild? There have been other members with a lot of problems with their chocolate covered cherry work. Remember leonard's (Ltransam's) problem with his cooler and then someone else had a deck rebuilt by them and it was so bad it couldn't even be used. I would demand at least 25% back and if he wont then call the BBB

I didn't pay for this, except for shipping it there, it was a freebie to make up for a previous set of errors that was made on my Westinghouse WC-44SK refrigeration deck.

Yes, you are correct on the location.

        I don't think it looks too bad. The compressor has been replaced with a modern one and I believe the evaporator may be from a Vendo, but not a big deal.
        One thing I noticed is the capillary tube from the thermostat does not seem to be connected to the evaporator, or at least where it should be.
        The only improvement I can suggest is to move the wiring harness (birds nest) to the rear out of view when the main door is open.......and to color code the compressor plate to the machine, but that is not really the job of the compressor guy.
        You got the job done at a bargain price, anything else you need to do is minimal.

I didn't know it was a freebe but still take the stickers off the fan and the compressor. Come on that should be a given. Even though it was free given the problems with your last system this one should have been 100%. At least that is the way I would personally feel if I was doing the work. If my people messed up a job (which does happen to us all from time to time) and I needed to do another to make it up to the person I would want to make an example of it.

I think it looks pretty good. Way better than my machine looks. What is that foam on one of the lines for? Does that make it more efficent?