It begins... The Inglis restoration

[turquoisedude]

When I took stock of my what's in my collection and how it all started,  I quickly realized that the 1966 Inglis Sterling washer and dryer set were the first laundry appliances in the collection!  I fell head over heels for the Inglis washer pretty fast - so much so that I never even bothered to hook up the 2004 GE that we moved from our former home in Brownsburg-Chatham... 

 

Well, that Inglis set served me well until summer of 2010 - one fine Sunday morning, I set the washer going and came back upstairs to pour  myself another coffee when the smoke detector in the basement went off.   There was a haze of evil-smelling smoke pouring out of the back of the washer.   Long story short, I concluded that the motor burnt and I set about finding a new one.    To really add insult to injury,  the dryer motor (or possibly just the starting switch of said motor) went bad on me.  In February of 2011, I got a good, used motor and installed in the washer, along with a new drive belt.  Initally it seemed to work, but on the second test,  the washer motor seemed to stall and I heard that tell-tale 'zapping' sound one associated with an Extend-O-Let meant for 8 plugs but into which you have plugged 10.  Well, I was discouraged to say the least.    At some point or another, though, I examined the pump (thinking it was what may have stalled the motor).  I was partially right - a whole bunch of nasty chunks of rusty metal fell out of the pump when I opened it up. 

 

So, my theory was that something inside the washer tub was rusting off and had fallen into the pump.  But this was late summer of 2011 and I had other projects to work on, so the poor Inglis Sterling pair (I call them 'Roger' and 'Mona'...) went to the back of the garage, waiting for their chance to be revived.

 

Now, as I am in the mad rush to complete projects in progress (anyone else hear that whine of 'I had better be able to get the car into the garage this winter'??) I have nonetheless decided to take a run at getting the Inglis set restored!

 

So, after two years sitting and with no pump in,  I decided to throw caution to the wind and test the washer.   The motor started right up and ran fine!!  I think I got real lucky and did not manage to mess up the 'new' motor after all!!

[this post was last edited: 9/7/2013-15:55]

 

[turquoisedude]

So, now I wanted to get the tub out to investigate the suspected rust damage.

 

[turquoisedude]

I took the entire washer top off to avoid getting my fingers smashed by anything falling... 

 

I was pleased to see that most of the wiring was hooked up to a 'quick connect' block.   But I suppose by 1966 that must have been the norm even on Canadian machines... LOL

 

[turquoisedude]

Washer tub came out pretty easily.  I managed to loosen it without having to stand in it... LOL

 

The centre post actually looks worse than it is,  there was plenty of flaked rust which cleaned right up.  I hope it can be saved!!

 

 

 

[turquoisedude]

The washer tub also had lots of flaked crud (not a great name for a breakfast cereal...).   This is what I found in the pump.

 

Anyway, most of it was easy to remove and I don't think there is any serious damage to the inside shaft.  

 

[turquoisedude]

Now here's the dilemma....

I actually do have a 'parts donor' machine - a 67 Whirlpool.    The Whirlpool still runs,  but would probably benefit from a rebuild.

 

 

 

[turquoisedude]

The tub is in much better shape, but I have to ask myself, 'What's it like inside?'

 

To be fair, the Inglis was well-used (one can tell that from the wear on the inside of the wash tub).   However, I am reluctant to tear apart a decent machine if the Inglis is salvageable.   

 

My initial thought is to attempt to clean up the rust damage and treat it with POR15.  I would also consider using the POR15 'WhiteCoat' for the inside tub to spiffy it up.    Oh, and I think it might be prudent to remove the inner tub and give it a cleaning and a coat of the POR15.

 

An easy option would be to slap the Inglis top on the Whirlpool, but if the Whirlpool needs a recon job anyway...   I could potentially have two restored machines (and because hubby is hovering over me while I write this, I will go on the record as saying - only ONE will remain)

 

Any thoughts or suggestions? 

 

[combo52]

Whirlpool Washer Restore

I am glad to see you attacking this project Paul, I would tear both apart and use the best parts to restore the orignal Inglis, even though it is a shame to do so it is better to have one better machine in the long run.

 

[danemodsandy]

Paul:

Since Inglises were pretty much for the Canadian market, they have to be far rarer than Whirlpools; the U.S. market was always larger just on the basis of a larger population.

I see no moral dilemma in sacrificing a more common machine to restore a rarer one!

 

[mickeyd]

HI PAUL

Since the Inglis HAS LIGHTS, for me it would be a no-brainer. And you can use the gleaming chrome cap from the Whirlpool to reflect the glow.

 

[turquoisedude]

Let's check out the 'donor' machine

Here's the 67 Whirlpool that will either become a donor OR may become the new base for the Inglis. It's a MOL model by the look of it, but by golly it's similar.

 

[turquoisedude]

Let's check out the 'donor' machine

Here's the 67 Whirlpool that will either become a donor OR may become the new base for the Inglis. It's a MOL model by the look of it, but by golly it's similar.

 

[turquoisedude]

The timer dial and controls are pretty close - note the WP machine doesn't have the 'suds return' option on the dial. But we know better, don't we??

Added bonus, this timer also works perfectly![this post was last edited: 9/16/2013-16:43]

 

[turquoisedude]

Here's a pretty big difference, though. The Inglis is on the left - the bottom 'indent' in the front panel is not quite the same as the Whirlpool.

This could be a big factor as I have the matching Inglis dryer... Let's see what the rest of the machine is like!

 

[turquoisedude]

With the top off and the tub ready for removal, I spotted another big difference... The WP tub upper lip is much more narrow than the one on the Inglis. The Inglis has a lip with a row of holes for the spray-rinse. I guess this is more typical of earlier WP washers.

 

[turquoisedude]

Well after nearly deafening myself pounding the tub nut loose, I got the Whirlpool tub out. I was surprised to see the accumulation of flaked off crud in this machine. I'll bet a turquoise dishwasher that if I'd filled this machine with water I'd have jammed the pump as thoroughly as I did with the Inglis!!

 

[turquoisedude]

Once out, the tub wasn't too bad... The inside of the centre post seems to be better than the one from the Inglis for sure, but there's still enough rust...

 

[turquoisedude]

Well, I'm going to have to pull the inner tubs and see which is worse.. By the end of the day yesterday, I had only managed to knock off the drive block from the Inglis (ran out of propane for the blowtorch...curses!) so I'll have to come back to this next week.

So ya think I can re-use this drive block?? LOL

 

[kenmoreguy64]

Paul --

I've noticed in your pictures that Inglis appears to have been using older versions of parts after WP USA had revised them. Brastemp in Brazil did the same thing. The inner wash basket is a very good example, as those with four rows of bottom perfs and the upper splash holes at the rim were a 1950s production standard here. The two row and no splash holes version was in production by late 1960 in the US. A further later 1960s or very early 1970s revision reversed the tub top curl to an outward curl instead of the inward curl as your tubs have.

I am quite sure that the US versions of all of these are still cross-compatible, but I have no idea if the parts are dimensionally exact to the Inglis or not. We probably should not assume that they are, but the best way to know is to try to swap them and see if they fit in each machine. Since Inglis was its own entity and not subject to all the US changes as if they were another WP plant, I wouldn't want to assume that every part is dimensionally identical, though they may well turn out to be.

As to the rust, some of that is detergent and other residue build-up, that gets stained by a bit of rust as it accumulates, especially from the centerpost. I have chisled and scraped away at that for hours, and made huge piles of it, but it didn't take much metal off the centerpost of either the basket or the baseplate --- note I'm not saying it didn't take any, just not as much as it looks like. In general, I think things in this area often look worse than they are. Much of that though was probably loosened with all the banging from the hammer and spanner wrench --- and YES, I know exactly what you're talking about as to the noise. I usually wrap some of those blue paper automotive shop towels around the spanner wrench to quiet the sound. They rip fairly fast, so on really stubbon spanner nuts I have found that a heavy dead-weight rubber coated mallet works well. I had to quit working on my '65 Kenmore 800 because I'd made the notches on the spanner nut two to three times their size, and got nowhere, even with heat from a torch and a huge amount of spray penetrant. Time to cut that one off...

The important part here is to re-seal the centerpost of either/both machines, whatever you decide, so that the agitator shaft is sealed by a spin-tube seal and the spin-tube is sealed by the centerpost seals. This will trap air again as when new, and won't allow water to rise so far up the post, which hastens the crud build up and deterioration you see. You can see the old build-up line in the Whirlpool where water and air met under the agitator for years until the seal began to wear.

I wish you success!!

Gordon

[this post was last edited: 9/16/2013-17:38]