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Hi guys,

Before I begin, forgive me if you found some spelling mistakes, english is not my mother tongue!

I recently bought an old 1961 Cavalier C55-D and I totally fell in love with it. After doing a couple of fix, I realized that everything is working except the cooling system. I decided to remove the compressor and all the other components to have a closer look at the problem. At this moment I tell myself, why not disassemble the whole thing and make a complete restoration? So here I am, 2 hours later with all the parts removed and ready to restore!

I decided to share the evolution of the restoration with members of this forum, so I hope you'll enjoy it!

I will certainly have questions since it's my first machine and that i'm new to this world! If anyone can offer me any advice, suggestion or ideas, I would be extremely grateful.

Restoration Journal

December 12th 2015 - Bought the Cavalier C55-D for 250$. It's in good condition, but the frame is dented and need some love.
December 13th 2015 - I realized that the coin return bezel is missing. Found one by miracle when looking in a forum conversation from 2013.
January 6th 2016 - No electricity in the door panel... After investigation, I found an unplugged cable, burned lights and a broken relay. Problem fixed
January 7th 2016 - I received a Coinco change mechanism that I bought for 15$, but it's not working properly. It need maintenance, so I set the machine to Free Vend.
January 8th 2016 - I adjusted the machine to vend 12oz bottles. I can't explain the feeling I had when I saw the first beer dropped from there!!!
January 9th 2016 - The C55-D was plugged for the night, but beers are still warm. I tried to found why the machine is not cooling, but with no result.
January 12th 2016 - I decided to remove the compressor and all the components from the machine. Didn't find the issue and I started a post to investigate the problem with members of SMC Discussions Area (http://soda-machines.com/discussions/index.php/topic,20998.0.htm (http://soda-machines.com/discussions/index.php/topic,20998.0.htm)l)
January 13th 2016 - I started this post to share my restoration project with the SMC community.
January 14th 2016 - After looking on the internet and this forum for suggestions, I'm thinking of buying a new R134a refrigerant compressor.
January 15th 2016 - I disassembled the machine entirely to clean every corner of it and to remove rust.
January 16th 2016 - I unbent the frame and removed some dents. I'm really satisfy of the result... Especially because it's the first time I'm doing this!
January 17th 2016 - I took photos of all the lettering to replicate it in vector with illustrator! I will then cut it on white vinyl to make stickers or stencils for paint. I'm a professional wrap installer + graphic designer, so this will be the easiest part!
January 19th 2016 - I started to remove rust on the other parts. Check the image below to see the difference with the bottle opener... Simply amazing!
January 20th 2016 - I've cleaned the bottom trims and wrapped it with a waste of 3M Brushed Titanium and Avery Conform Gold Chrome that I had! Oh yeah, and for the gold trim, I made a replica with a steel sheet.
January 22th 2016 - The vending door was in 3 pieces, so I've glued the plastic parts together to fix it. I then cut the same shape in a steel sheet, wrapped it in 3M Brushed Titanium and placed it over that part. Looks like new now!
March 15th 2016 : I received my brand new compressor.
August 23th 2016 : I sent the frame for sandblasting.
September 28th 2016 : I  repaired some dents and put Bondo where the frame had some small bumps.
October 7th 2016 : I put primer and paint the whole machine in matte black.
October 16th 2016 : I wrapped the exterior with 3M Gloss Envy Green and put the custom lettering on it.
October 17th 2016 : I placed styrofoam and mineral insulation inside the frame.
October 18th 2016 : I painted all the chrome parts in silver metallic cause I hate chrome!
October 19th 2016 : I reassembled the machine and cleaned all the electric circuit/wires.
October 20th 2016 : I bypassed the machine to set it to free vent with new cables and switch.
October 21th 2016 : A refrigerating system specialist came to set-up the new coolling system.
October 25th 2016 :Ta-dam! The machine is finished and working like a charm!

Video : https://www.facebook.com/yemmons/videos/10157563580020177/?l=7983893366564424046 (https://www.facebook.com/yemmons/videos/10157563580020177/?l=7983893366564424046)

Since you've gotten this far, and you are enjoying yourself.... Go for it!

Great machine to start with for a first restoration. Good winter project.

Welcome to the board! Take lots of pictures as you go. Helps getting the bits back together :-).
Creighton

Thank you for the support guys! I'm really enjoying working on this restoration project... I'm becoming addicted and I think it won't be my last vending machine! haha

Great machine good luck on the restoration, can't wait to see it done!

Can I put more than 4 pictures in my post or should I create a new reply each time to show the progress?!

It might be best to post each time, so that it is in chronological order.

Just create a new reply.

Also many site sponsors sell the bottle openers brand new...

http://www.fun-tronicsllc.com/index.php?crn=247&rn=657&action=show_detail

Looking forward to more photos! Great job!

Here is some pictures of the door trap i've restored!

Time to show the final result! Since the square top is a less popular model and that we are only using with beer bottles, I decided to convert it in a Heineken machine... Let me know what you guys think!

Turned out nice!

 :drinking: Tim :drinking:

Looks great!  Always like those machines, cool to see one done differently, nice job

Looks Awesome!
Nice to something a little different...

My initial thought when I saw the Heineken theme was .. :glare:..but the more I look at it I am beginning to like it more and more. Very nice job.

I always liked them (the poor mans V 44) we used to say. There is one of sale around here asking $1200 :oh:

Thanks cormy! It was a hard decision to go with the Heineken theme instead of Coca-Cola, but I think it turns out great! The green looks nicer when the sun reflects on it because we can see more deeper into the metallic color. I don't drink Coca-Cola and it's always fill with Heineken, so it's perfect like that for now! Maybe one day I'll turn it back to a Coca-Cola Machine because the design is only a vinyl wrap over a matte black paint! The poor man V44 do the trick while waiting to have enough money to buy the rich man V44  :laugh: