Restoration tips

I've restored a cavalier in the past by striping the paint and cleaning the inside up as best as I could and then took it to a body shop to have it painted.  I also went to some local places to have a new sign and decals made.  
My question is this.  I have a Vendo 63 in pretty good shape. I want the inside to look as good as the outside.  What exactly do I need to do to have the inside looking great.  Am I better off having a pro restore the whole machine for $2000 or can I do most of the work taking it apart then having a body shop sandblast it for me and then paint it and then I'll put it back to together.  How are the insides of these machines restored?  Can any body shop do this?

[BryanH]

Howdy Rupeco - search the forums on restoration or restoring.  There are several threads this year on the topic that'll provide lots of tips and techniques.  Whether or not you want to drop $2000 to have someone else do the work or you want to do the work yourself is a choice of time and effort.  Either way, you can end up with a great machine.

Rupeco,
Welcome to the fold here.
You'll learn a ton here, we all have.
Pull up a bar stool and read, read, read.
We'd all love to help you as much as we can.

I've read all the sites I could find about restoration but I still haven’t seen anything about restoring the inside parts.  The metal casing, the bottle mechanism parts.  The Shelves, what exactly is done to these parts to get the best outcome?

[BryanH]

Rupeco - I just did a quick search in the forums on restoration and pulled up 5 pages of threads.  There are gems listed in almost everyone... but here's a couple that I found helpful:

Restoration for Dummies
One of many paint discussions
Racks
Cleaining

I have also been collecting tips in a word doc that may be helpful.  Tips Doc

[Creighton]

Bryan,
Great job on the tips PDF!! Printed that puppy out.
Creighton

[BryanH]

Quote (Creighton @ June 15 2005,11:58)

Bryan, Great job on the tips PDF!! Printed that puppy out. Creighton

Creighton - glad to know it might help.  I'm just the collector of the info...  Most of the info came from SMC members.  For those of you that recognize your tips or techniques, remember that plaguerism is the highest form of flattery.

Next question for the group.  My Vendo 63 has the origninal cooling system which uses a coolant that I'm told is extremly costly and hard to find.  I'm I better off replacing the cooling system and were would I go for something like that?  How much do you think that would cost.  Would the unit make less noise or if I just replace the fan motors will go the job?  So many questions?  I'm glad I found this site.

Patrick

[Lulu]

Thanks for the tips, Bryan.  Printed them out, too.

[Eric]

Check with the sellers here.... There's a company called Global Compressors
that could help you out with the cooling.
Also check the photo gallery as far as seeing images of some of the do-it-yourselfers
jobs on restoring and we have somweone here doing test on different types of paint
 or finishes on the shelving (Help me out folks on where that thread is)
I have the little stuff (hinges, latches, shelving supports zinc plated... I even had my shelves
zinc plated but I think I may paint them too with this paint called hammertone
it's tough and looks like galvanized... I like the look and texture.(That's one of the paints being tested in that thread) You'll be supprised on how much you can do yourself with the help of this group... Everybody here, I think, gets as excited as the one who gets a new
machine and starts working on it. We love the step by step, seeing images and the final results.  Good Luck!

Eric