SMC Discussion Areas

Restoration Starting on a Progress Pepsi Cooler - But how does the inner galvanized tub come out/apart? and how does the handle remove?

Any websites with detailed photos? Much appreciated..

When you figure all of that out, let us know... :biggrin:

Typically the liner is left in when restoring. They're usually spot welded at the top. You also have to contend with the drain plug at the bottom.

The lids are usually assembled the same way with spot welds.

Yea, I saw the spot welds for the lid, but not the tub. Did not even get to the drain plug yet.. Humn..

Here you go: http://soda-machines.com/discussions/index.php/topic,16901.0.html

I did this one a couple of years ago, a little tricky to get started, but goes quick once you are moving.

The handle comes out by pulling one side away from the cooler, it is just pressure fitted in there.

Perfect, thank you. I see there is also insulation in there? Did you clean, paint or powder coat the tub? The handle comes off by prying?

Curious is people powder coat the inside? Paint? Chrome or Nickel plate? What insulation is used?

I'm documenting all my progresses on this and a VMC-88 as well.. Will share when all done.

Appreciate the documenting. Will want to "copy off your notes" for when I restore my Pepsi picnic :)

I'd love to say I did one of those and everything is great, but reality checked in on this project and it's still in the torn down stage waiting.  I planned on it being more of a display piece, so I am going to just do Hammertone in the liner.  One thing to think about is that the liner flexes a lot and is held square by the outer shell.  Whatever you decide to do, make sure that you either figure out a way to keep it stable so the paint/powder coat doesn't flex or chip out before you get it back in the shell.

Ah yes, good point about the edge bending over for powder coating..

I did a 7up with one of my boys a couple years ago.  It was certainly not a professional job, but turned out well for what we wanted it to be.  Bought it for $40 at a garage sale and turned it into a keepsake my son will take with him when he leaves the house some day.  We used a dremel tool to cut the spot welds out and separate the lid from its inner liner.  It was the only way we could get access to try to straighten out the dents in it.  We put it back together by filling it with low expansion foam.  Not as strong a hold as the welds, but it essentially "glued" the 2 pieces together.  Holds fine since the piece will be used only for display purposes.  Our paint was just rattle can, and we left the inner liner with the original galvanized finish.  The inner liner for the cooler is held in place by the compression fitting along the top edge.  You can carefully bend this out with a flat blade putty knife and slide the liner out.  All the metal pieces can be polished up to look pretty nice.  I looked all over for replacement corner pieces, but could not find a source.

I have the same Pepsi version of the cooler in pieces now.  My youngest is doing that one with me.  It's sort of a compromise I have with my wife.  When I pick up a new item, I redo it as a father/son project.  That item then becomes theirs.  It ensures her that down the road it will eventually leave the house.  The pics below show what it looked like when we got it.  The lid was smashed and had a hole rusted all the way through it.  We took it apart, banged out the dents, did our best bondo job (still learning that process) and just painted it last weekend.  Not sure if the color is what we want, may not be dark enough to match the original close enough.  Working on the cooler body now, trying to figure out how to do the Pepsi stencil for the embossing.   If anyone knows where new corner pieces can be found, would love to know where.

I took several pics of the 7UP project and saved them to a photobucket album.  You can look at it here if you want to see how we took it apart and put it back together.  Like I said, this is an amateur level restoration, but it may have some useful pics.

http://s1230.photobucket.com/user/ilikecoinop/slideshow/Jakes%20Picnic%20Cooler

wow that 7up came out great, thanks for sharing! so cool that you did it with your son too

Thanks for the pictures Brian! I've seen quite a few "professional" cooler restorations that did not involve the liner removal, etc. you guys did a great job with that 7 up.

Was that an electrolysis bath with the body?

Yeah that was a bit of a science experiment we decided to try.  Didn't have a big enough tub and had to put together a rigged up contraption to get it to work.  It was pretty amazing how well it removed the rust though.  It was down to bare metal after a couple hours in the baking powder bath.  Probably not the safest configuration, but it was effective.  We will do the same thing on the Pepsi cooler but will plan a bit more in advance on how to rig it up.

Looks great! Yea, liked the 7-Up as well. Also liked the Williams Pinch Hitter in the background :)

Ok, I decided not to restore the Cooler. I had a quote of $500 just in paint, and that is just not worth it for me.

However I did and have started the VMC88 and will start a new thread for that with some question and my progress photos..