Progress update on that 58 Frigidaire dishwasher...

[turquoisedude]

It has been quite some time since I made any real progress on that 1958 Frigidaire dishwasher that I picked up in Hamilton, Ontario last March. The cold weather and hubby's reluctance to bring another project machine into the basement (I was working on the CLB-6 Laundromat, the Inglis washer, the Inglis dryer AND the Whirlpool FP50B1 dishwasher) for the cold winter months kept me away from working on the machine. But I had a couple of hurdles to get over, so I was using the old brain in 'low cycle' mode to ponder on how to solve the issues I had.
The first was that I managed to completely and utterly mess up the original pump housing. I managed to snap out a whole chunk while attempting to re-attach the pump to the tub mounting collar. Remember that old saying there's a right way to do things? Well, I did it the 'turquoisedude way'...

 

[turquoisedude]

It is not all bad news though, for I got an entire replacement pump with motor (and a bunch of other Frigidaire parts from a 1964 model) thanks to kindness and generosity of Nate and Steve D.
What I did quickly find out is that the mounting collar was totally different on the donor pump from the original one. I puzzled for a long time as to how I could make it fit and in the end, I gave up...
I had been messing around with that fiberglass autobody patching stuff and I had a flash of inspiration - use it to repair the pump housing.
Well, I did and it seemed sound. Trouble was now when I tested the original motor, the son of a gun was overheating badly. Strike two...
After a winter of simmering, I figured I had nothing to loose so I tried mounting the 58 pump upper housing on the 1964 motor. Well, it held water...

 

[turquoisedude]

Now kids, DO try this at home...

Yes, this looks odd, but I had been given a very valuable piece of advice from Mike (dishwashercrazy): turn the tub of a Frigidaire dishwasher upside down, THEN attach the pump! Should've figured that out on my own, because that is how I got the pump back into a 1959 MobileMaid I restored for a fellow collector here in Montreal!
Looks odd, but it seemed to work...

 

[turquoisedude]

So who spotted what was wrong in the last picture?? I'll get back to that in a sec...
So, moment of truth, I tightend the mounting bolts... Reminded me of an old Christmas tree stand for some reason...
One thing I did differently this time, too, was to tighten EVENLY!
Guess an old coot like me CAN still learn things... LOL
The good news is that the fiberglass patchwork seemed to hold.

 

[turquoisedude]

My bad...

So, who noticed that I didn't mount the wash solenoid plate on the water direction valve? I did, AFTER I put the valve back on the pump housing... D'OH!!
Remember what I said about the 'turquoisedude way'??
Never mind... It will be something to play with next weekend! Hopefully I can get the machine right side up and do some water testing... If I run into any further leaks, I have a Plan B (just hope it doesn't turn into to 'Plan 9 From Outer Space')... LOL
Stay tuned!!

 

[turquoisedude]

My bad...

So, who noticed that I didn't mount the wash solenoid plate on the water direction valve? I did, AFTER I put the valve back on the pump housing... D'OH!!
Remember what I said about the 'turquoisedude way'??
Never mind... It will be something to play with next weekend! Hopefully I can get the machine right side up and do some water testing... If I run into any further leaks, I have a Plan B (just hope it doesn't turn into to 'Plan 9 From Outer Space')... LOL
Stay tuned!!

 

[rollermatic]

paul

that's exactly how i put mine back together a few weeks ago. i did everything with the dishwasher upside down. pump on and off.

hope it works and holds water with no leaks!

 

[turquoisedude]

You're right, Pete!  I even saw that in your recent thread about that 'Sunny Yellow' spin-tube you recently picked up.   I guess like many 'restoration lessons' I learned this one the hard way.  

 

 

[rollermatic]

oh well

at least you didn't drop it off a truck like i did with my 65 custom imperial washer.

the important thing, will it hold water and pump? when will you know?