PRIMING &PAINTING & FLAIRS..... OH MY!!!

[soberleaf]

summer is over and now it's time to get to work ( as joan would say) so here i go! i have all fall and winter to work on dishwashers and rollermatics!

this week i am working on the 1965 rollermatic as well as several dishwashers. plus i picked up that flair stove last week! what a behemoth that thing is! can barely move it myself! took me forever to get it off the truck and inside where it sits in the middle of my living room for the time being.

my goal is to have the flair stove in place by the end of oct. but that means finishing 2 kitchenaid dishwashers first as i intend to use a kd-15 varicycle and one of my kdi-16's as a base for the stove to sit on.

and that means priming and painting, finishing the sumps in both those dishwashers so i can reassemble them. once that stove is on top it will be much harder to work on them.

and i'm busy priming and painting the outer tub (water container as frigidaire called it) on the 1965 custom imperial that i picked up from my friend walt in the buffalo area (and promptly dropped off my truck) this summer! once the painting is done i can reasemble it as well. have a new water seal and both bellows just waiting for use on it!

here's some pics for anyone interested.

 

[soberleaf]

outer tub

was scrubbed, sandpapered, steel wooled, wire brushed with a drill and in general cleaned up, then the priming started.

also drilled and cut a hole for a new 2 inch drain line of pvc.

note the pitted areas and several small pin holes around one
screw hole. these will be fixed as well with jb weld.

 

[soberleaf]

looks a lot better

i am putting 4 coats of primer on it, probably major overkill but oh well..........

 

[soberleaf]

the sump on the kd-15 imperial

was primed. i usually don't prime that bi an area of the sump but this was origonally started last spring and i have learned some tips since then.

 

[soberleaf]

the kd-12 i picked up

in cleveland a few weeks ago needed a bit of sump attention
so here it is after it's minor touch up.

 

[soberleaf]

looks ready to reassemble

i had already primed and painted the underrside of the sump several weeks ago. hope to have this one back together by next week.

 

[soberleaf]

this was the wash tub

on the custom imperial before i started on it

 

[soberleaf]

here it is

cleaned and scrubbed and lint picked and outer surfaced primed

 

[soberleaf]

the inside looks very good

just a few small rusted areas that will be an easy fix

 

[soberleaf]

the first coat

of the enamel finish was sprayed on the outer tub tonite. painting it royal blue.

 

[soberleaf]

ofcourse

"tiger' the new kitten had to check it all out. here he is perched on top of my custom deluxe rollermatic watching the whole scene unfold in the living room.

 

[soberleaf]

now for some flair!

here is that big beautiful stove sitting in what used to be my living room. it awaits it's new home in the kitchen.

it was so heavy i had to take the top exhaust fan off, as well as the oven doors and all removable parts just to be able to move it into the house.

 

[soberleaf]

i love those oven doors

with all that glass and chrome!

 

[soberleaf]

this one is different

from the one in my old house in that the interior of the ovens on this one look like stainless steel.

if anyone has any tips on how to clean this surface please inform me. i would think oven cleaner would be a big NO!

 

[soberleaf]

it needs a good scrubbing

but that will be easy! lifting it onto it's shelf over those two kitchenaids will be the hard part, thing weighs a ton!

do love those big fat calrod burners! and that pull out burner tray is fun too!

this is gonna be my new main stove, the other one is coming out and another dishwasher taking it's place (a kd-12)

 

[soberleaf]

a friend on this site

had mentioned possible bad wiring but after a pretty close inspection everything looks very good on this one!

 

[soberleaf]

the exhaust fan

is also in good shape, it will be remounted on top of the ovens after i get the stove in place.

 

[soberleaf]

on the bottom of the exhaust fan

smeared in what i can only assume to be old grease is the origonal schematic for the stove.

it does say 1962 on it! wish i could clean that schematic up without ruining the paper it's printed on.

 

[soberleaf]

all in all a very

productive day off from work!

i even topped it off by doing several loads of laundry in this beautiful sears kenmore wringer washer i got from walt (18 mill st.) on my last trip to buffalo.

this wringer also has a permanent spot in my living room next to my dog's apartment (cage) that has a book shelf built around it.

 

[soberleaf]

oh i forgot

here's the kdi-15 with it's first coat of shiny enamel on it's sump.

the kdi-16 (that will serve as the other half of the stove base) i have not started painting yet.

 

[norfolksouthern]

Which kinds of enamel are you using on these machines, Soberleaf? I really should consider refinishing the cabinet on my Roto-Rack.

NorfolkSouthern

 

[soberleaf]

i use rustoleum

"rusty metal primer" for primer found at home depot or meijers.

i use rustoleum high gloss enamel for the paint itself.

if anyone has a better idea please inform me! just wanna use what's best and will protect the most.

speaking of rotorack kenmores here's a couple shots of the one i got. the motor and pump is out of it and the sump doesn't look bad at all.

am going to try to find a replacement motor for it rather than go thru all the work of drilling and re-tapping that motor shaft for the impeller bolt to screw into. the origonal broke off in the shaft as i was trying to loosen it.

 

[soberleaf]

tub looks quite good

for it's age and considering how rusted that motor shaft was.

 

[soberleaf]

on small areas of rust

or wear i simply use appliance epoxy that comes in those little bottles with the brush in the cap.

i did that on the kd-12 pics above and several other kitchenaids i have restored.

probably will do that here on this sump area. i always prime and paint the other side of the sump where the motor mounts with above mentioned primer and paint.

 

[autowasherfreak]

Great job there Peter, love that Kenmore wringer. I have a question about the Flair, was there a LP gas model available? I had friends that lived on a farm, and I think they had something similar to Flair, I remember the pull out burners, and the oven being on top, it sat on a cabinet with storage underneath for pots and pans. I think the oven doors were black. One of the burners had a strange piece that stuck up in the middle and was referred to as the "burner with the brain". I don't remember seeing the brand name, but I thought it was the coolest stove I've ever seen.

 

[aldspinboy]

Beautiful Work! Peter.
I Really , Really love that Kenmore wringer
I know you feel good on those tubs Congratulations man.

Darren k

 

[soberleaf]

thanks!

darren- yes i was quite worried when i first saw that tub on the custom imperial. but after dropping it off the truck and destroying the console (my favorite part) i was determined that this machine would be given the best restore job ever! i'm painting everything but the cabinet. it's turquoise and i would not think of changing that beautiful color. and it's not that scratched from the fall, the washer landed on it's head and fell in a ditch!

i'm using new stainless steel bolts and rubber and plastic washers to remount the motor and tub support in that outer tub. the motor has been oiled and cleaned, the rollers likewise. i have a brand new motor if i need it. i have oil and water bellows and a new tub seal, although the ones on it all look fine to me, which was surprising, considering it's age.

the new 2 inch drain line has a pvc swimming pool fitting that mounts into that hole i cut. am using the origonal drain as well. the idea is to drain the water out as fast as possible, don't want it to ever even come close to hitting the water seal or area where tub support mounts. i'm sure it's overkill but hey, i killed it already by dropping it so why not!

will post more pics as it comes along. thank God timer was not damaged in fall and i have ideas to make a new console. won't be the same or "classic" looking anymore but it will have a new life! and it's rapidry, something the rollermatic i use now is not! can't wait to see that rapidry spin in action.

glad you like the wringer! i got it several months ago but i had a problem getting the wringer to "set" in it's "wring" mode but when i tried it again last week it worked fine so i immediately moved it to the living room (washer room) and ran a gravity drain line for it down thru the floor. this one has no pump. i love washing clothes in it, reminds me of doing laundry with my mother! in 1965 she bought a wringer after her norge timeline quit on her.

jim- thanks for the wringer compliment too! i'm not sure if the flair ever came in a propane model or not. maybe some of the guys here could answer that one. i do know of the burner with a brain, in fact this one i think is supposed to have that "brain" but is missing it from the burner part. i say that because the one burner control has "heat minder" on it with calibrations for temp. two are called "infinite heat" and the last one is called "speed heat" which i'm assuming is a faster burner.

the burner that is supossed to be the 'heat minder" is shown here and has a hole in the middle that i'm sure must have origonally held the "brain" part. who knows, maybe i can find that part somewhere!

so for now my little stove will be singing "if i only had a brain"!

 

[soberleaf]

the missing "brain"

has to be here!

 

[whirlcool]

You are doing a fantastic job on your restorations. Are you using a rust inhibiting primer like POR-15 on the inside container of your washer?
That before photo! Years of lint and gook!

 

[gyrafoam]

Those Rustoleum products are good. I use them as well as POR-15.

That Rollermatic tub isn't too bad. I had one one that every single drain-slot at the top was plugged with lint. The water (and clothes) had no where else to go but over the top! What a hassle to get rid of all the caked-on lint. I usually take a sponge with Sno-Bowl on it and wipe the areas of lint. It dissolves the mineral deposits and allows the lint to come off. (Be sure not to allow it to drip on the inside of the tub).