1955 Frigidaire Cycla-Matic Fridge Restoration - Part II

[58limited]

Well, projects always get a little behind, but tonight the auto body shop guys are here sanding, priming, and painting the fridge. The patch panel has been welded inside the door.

Here is the door, we just started sanding it:

 

[58limited]

Here is the fridge - sides and top are sanded, now for the back and the lip in the front.

 

[tuthill]

Good luck, 55 Frigidaires are my absolute fav!

 

[gansky1]

That is quite a project you've undertaken. Can't wait to see more!

 

[58limited]

Here is the patch inside the door where the plastic door liner mounts. It has been sprayed with a sealer, unlike the original which was basically bare metal. It looks a little wavy in the photo but isn't bad in reality.

They are almost done sanding, will spray the primer in the next few minutes, then paint.

 

[hydralique]

Impressive work . . .

This refrigerator is gonna be a real beauty!

 

[58limited]

This sucks: my damn compressor just quit. I checked the breaker, the reset button, used my voltmeter to make sure power was at the plug, removed inspection covers over the electrical connections. Nothing. All connections look good, the flywheel and the pulley on the motor turn freely by hand.

We waited in case a thermal switch activated, it cooled down quite a bit but still won't run.

The guys are going to come tomorrow and we are going to take it to the paint shop to finish.

 

[swestoyz]

Bad news about the compressor! Hopefully it is not permanent. It will look stellar when done.

Love the 58 Buick in the background! Is that the 58 Limited? LOVE 58 GM cars.

Ben

 

[58limited]

Yes, that is my '58 Limited coupe. There are pics on my web page at the link below.

I'll try the compressor again tomorrow. If it is a thermal switch it should reset by then.

http://home.roadrunner.com/~limited58/58buick.htm

 

[goatfarmer]

Looks good, David!

 

[58limited]

The compressor started this morning, guess it needed to cool off a little longer. I'll call the manufacturer today to make sure this is normal with heavy use.

 

[58limited]

Even thought the compressor works again, we are taking the fridge to the auto body shop. Its the weekend so we can use the paint booth and let it sit until Sunday to dry and harden. I'll post pics when I get back later.

 

[beadsobleach]

GM

Glad you are keeping the GM tradition alive, since it may be gone soon...

 

[58limited]

GM

Heard about that. A real tragedy.

Well, got the fridge painted. My dogs got out while we loaded the fridge to transport it to the paint shop. This distracted me enough that I ran off without my camera. I'll post pics of the finished fridge on Sunday when I pick it up.

When we got to the shop, the guys went over the bare metal with 180 grit to take care of any micro rust that formed overnight. They wiped it with a metal prep solution, then applied a coat of a primer that inhibits/encapsulates any tiny rust areas that might have been missed. This was followed by two coats of sealer, then two coats of paint. It really looks good, and these guys made it look easy. It took me way longer to paint my '51 GE.

 

[58limited]

Pictures

Here is the newly painted door. There are two small dings on the other side, but the guys didn't bring any body filler the night they sanded it, and there wasn't any time to let the filler dry the night we painted, so we left them. The dings will face a wall and they give the fridge a little character anyway.

 

[58limited]

Here is the side. You can also see a little of the back. We painted the back too, we taped off the wiring diagram and the model number (it was inked on near the top).

 

[58limited]

The chrome is now back on the door. It needs to be rechromed but the shop is running about a month. There is no time to do this now since the school needs the fridge soon. Fortunately this is an easy door to remove and take apart.

 

[58limited]

Insulation put back in place. The door gasket is on order and should be here this week, then I can finish this project.

Now to go out and put the plastic molding back on the fridge box. This molding covers the space between the outer and inner boxes.

 

[classiccaprice]

Pretty fridge! You've defiantly put a lot of hard work into it!