Thanks so much, guys. I really appreciate the compliments.
In reality; it's a great 10 food paintjob. The color does match very well. It was a learning experience for me with the epoxy paint. It sprays very watery and takes more time to gel up than the paint I normally use. I tried to warm up the area and the unit by hanging the heater on the hoist and having it blow on the top of the refrigerator. It seems to have only warmed up one side of the condenser, so when I painted around to the other side, the paint didn't set up, and ran off instead. Again - it's not horrible but... I'm glad it wasn't someone else's item I was painting. I would have to redo it if so. But for what it is, considering the condition of the rest of it, it's passable!
This cabinet I recieved with a completely burned motor CA-2-B16 top on it originally. Some of you guys may be following the teardown videos of that unit. As you may have seen, that top was completely clean and showed no signs of ever having had been exposed to rain or moisture. The cabinet insulation also appears to be in similarly pristine shape. For it to be "show quality" the door would need to be replaced because of the deep scratches. They look like someone pulled a highly tensioned steel wire rope across the door. If it weren't for that, the cabinet would be an 8/10 with no repairs other than cleaning.
As for the racks, I have many which are ugly. The setup and cleaning is the worst part, so I may just gather together all the bad racks and try to nickel plate them. This is not hard, from what I've read. It's especially easy on things that aren't smooth and polished. In that case, the nickel provides a rust resistant coating but there's no need for extensive grinding down and polishing before hand. If I do attempt it, there will be some videos and documentation.
So, to run-down what I have done to this:
Make assessment of the compressor, and get it running again.
Bleed noncondensable gases from system.
Rewire the top, completely, adding a modern, auto-reset thermal overload breaker in the circuit. Now it has two; original in the control plus the Klixon type.
Built a 3-wire grounded power cord. (Note, still have to install a cabinet light plug in this cord.)
Located a replacement start relay since the one was missing. Had to replace the coil.
Wipe down cabinet inside and out with Rain-X and Scotch-Brite pad, to clean the porcelain.
Stripped, primed, and painted the top.
Blasted, painted, and clearcoated the control faceplate.
Installed adhesive rubber door weatherstripping.
Some of my YouTube viewers aren't on our forum here. It was raining (loudly) on the metal building yesterday so I couldn't video it. Also, heater had been off, so I couldn't run it. Today I plan to make a video of the completed repair as well; so there won't be folks who feel as if I stopped short of a complete project LOL!
I really am amazed at the amount of engagement everybody has with these projects. It's satisfying to me, making something that looks and functions well. It's also great when I see others following along and learning and enjoying it as well.
Nothing I did was really hard, nor did it take any special physical skills... just motivation and patience. The paint stripping was the worst part for patience.
