Kitchenaid KD12 repairs

[austinado16]

Man, when it rains around here, it pours...literally!

Just barely finishing up the reboot of our 1953 Westinghouse LB-6 washer, and the 1959 Kitchenaid Dishwasher is ready for some attention.

A couple of times it's not filled properly, and last night I finally took the drain manifold off and think I have that issued sorted out, and fixed. So, with the machine torn down a bit, I decided it was time to remove the inner door panel and have the powdercoated finish redone. I'd had it powdercoated about 10-12 years ago during the original mechanical/cosmetic restoration. That began to fail within a couple of years, probably due to them not priming the metal first (unbeknownst to me).

While at the powdercoater's today they blasted off some of the loosest/blistering coating and that revealed rust, and some rust holes.

Back home, I've just given it some love with the MIG welder and Milwaukee grinder...

This time around we're going with a special coating for metal that's exposed to water, then a heavy coat of flat black as primer, block sanding, and then a coat of white. Going to try to replicate the original white with blue speckled porcelain finish and ad some blue powder to the mix.

 

[turquoisedude]

Suggestion: use POR-15 for the undercoat. Just finished a redo of a 59 Mobile Maid tub that way and it seems to be working out fine!

 

[austinado16]

Can POR-15 be used under powdercoat though? I also hear great things about "Silver Bullet" and have a friend who restores cars that uses it all the time.

I'll ask, but I don't think the POR can take the 450*F heat in the powdercoat oven, and then the powder may not adhear to it when it's time for the top coat.

 

[turquoisedude]

Hmmmm. Not sure if POR can take that kind of heat... Maybe the company Website can help. I've only used regular spray paint from a can over it so far.

 

[austinado16]

The guys that own the p/c place now were telling me about an epoxy primer that they use on pump housings and other stuff that stays in the water or gets a lot of water exposure. They bake the part and then blast on the epoxy primer while the part is still smoking hot. That bonds the epoxy and seals the part. They had some huge flange/hub assembly that they were just done sand blasting and were getting ready to bake and prime.

So I think there epoxy will work, especially once gone over with a heavy coat of flat black. I've used the flat black trick before on a couple of vintage (1936 Scamp) kids pull wagons that I restored for my daughter. It works great and you can block sand it for a better/smoother final finish from the top coat.

If you like the POR, you'll probably love Rust Bullet because it's not so crazy caustic.

 

[volvoguy87]

Sounds interesting.

Please keep us updated with the performance of this system and the work on the KD-12.
Dave

I love your Boomerang, btw.

 

[ronhic]

Todd....

I just noticed your user name Austinado16....

...and then the link under your profile - man, a small world.

I have to say, here and now, thank you for the Austin America site. It has been very useful to me as I have an Australian built 1969 Morris 1100 's' (meaning 1275cc) automatic - one of only 766 built and probably one of only 5 or six of that specific model still registered (and on full, not club/classic reg)...

Here is a pic...

 

[austinado16]

Thanks very much for the kind words! Small world indeed, especially when it looks like your Morris is the same color as my '70 America. Yours is just in unbelievable condition and the panels are just straight as an arrow. BEAUTIFUL!!

I've always loved the Aussie version, especially with the bench front seat visor over the windscreen and louvers in the back glass.

If you ever need to rebuild that transmission, please take advantage of the info on my website, as well as get ahold of me!

 

[austinado16]

Dishwasher Update:

They finished the door panel today and it looked terrible. The guy decided to lay on some extra powder over the weld area and it looked like chewing gum had been smoothed out to hide something. So.......he's sanding it down in that area and going to repaint the whole thing.

 

[ronhic]

Todd...

....if you want a louvre, you can still buy them new on ebay Australia for about $190AUD...mine is only 18mth old

 

[austinado16]

All done...

Got the door panel back today and it's much better. The welded area is nearly perfect. Unfortunately, there are some divets right in the middle of the panel where the previous coating had cracked and allowed water/detergent to get to the metal. Not much I could do with that.....although I guess I could have had it brazed up and then ground it back flush.

Still need to install the front surround panel and kick panel, but during an initial test run, it filled properly and washed just fine.