Saving a Unimatic - a Custom Imperial restoration

[swestoyz]

Shortly after the restoration was done I reached out to Bud and he sent some of the final jewelry pieces to Iowa - a brand new '58 cap with the correct shade of turquoise and a replacement lint chaser ring.

Both look AMAZING on the washer, along with the spot on circulator (coral) ring. I can't wait to test out a new pulsator from him, hopefully soon.

Bud - I can't thank you enough for all the effort and hard work you've put into this project.

 

[swestoyz]

With the restoration complete I've run about two dozen loads through the washer, and for the most part everything is working great. The top outer tub seal will leak just a tiny during spin on loads that are somewhat out of balance, and the brass elbow someone knocks against the outer tub.

Otherwise, mechanically this machine sounds about as good as they come.

At some point I'll try to film a full cycle clip and load it up to YouTube, but for now here's a great clip of the Ultra Clean doing what it does best - washing some towels!

 

[swestoyz]

Thank you to everyone who helped along with the restoration, and for John and Tom holding on to this set for so many years.

I'm hoping to address some issues with the dryer later this winter. While I didn't get all the details covered about the restoration, please let me know if you have any questions where I may have left out some critical points.

Here's some final glam photos of the restored, 1958 Frigidaire Ultra Clean washer and Filtrator dryer!

 

[swestoyz]

* special bearing tool

One final note -

Robert graciously lent me his spin bearing removal tool so I could finish out the project at home. I'm planning on making several copies of the tool this winter with plans to either sell some of the copies or make sure they are strategically located across the US for others to use.

More details to come as I dabble at working a metal lathe and Bridgeport at the local Makerspace over the next several months!

Ben

 

[tomturbomatic]

This is surprising. I was led to believe that the Beltsville 58 pair were loaded onto a cargo container and shipped to Australia after the last Beltsville Wash In. Since we had restored the mechanism in the 1980s, I am surprised that it would be in such bad shape again. Mine was operating when it left my house, but it is good that this one is working properly again. I am glad for all of your good fortune including getting this treasure back in operation.

 

[joelippard]

This really is an amazing restoration job.  One question Ben.  Could you detail for the rest of us here exactly the steps involved in wiring in a relay on a Unimatic?  I'll be restoring a 55 sometime this coming year and those instructions would be very helpful.

 

[jetaction]

Amazing job as always

Having worked with Ben (apprentice here) on many projects I can tell you he does everything well. No cutting corners and quality everything, just like him!

 

[hippiedoll]

WOWZERS!!

What a REMARKABLE restoration you've done here on that 1958 FRIGIDAIRE Unimatic washer. That set looks BEAUTIFUL! These would put ANY modern washer & dryer to shame, when it comes to looks & styling!
It bares repeating, THESE ARE BEAUTIFUL!

I am so HAPPY that this restoration came together for you.

WOOOO HOOOOOOO!
)

 

[swestoyz]

Thanks for the kind comments, everyone. When folks outside the club ask why washers, why this hobby, one thing I like to mention is the community of friends here at AW as a huge reason why this hobby means so much to me.

Glenn - if you could get the mechanism up to Iowa I'd be happy to take a look at it for you.

Joe - I've included a crude but slightly modified wiring diagram below, from a WI-57, along with updated photos with labels for the wiring. There are probably other ways of going about wiring in a relay, but this method has worked well for me.

The key is to get power (hot line) from the protected side of the motor protector so that if the motor pulls too much current the motor is still protected.

To do this I add in a new wire using a piggyback disconnect on the black lead between the motor protector and the timer, and run that new wire down to the switched side of the relay. Next, I add in a new blue wire between the other side of the switch on the relay over to the BLUE terminal on the trip solenoid. That takes care of the new power feed to the motor.

The next step is to wire in the control magnet side of the relay. Take the original BLUE wire that went from the timer to the trip solenoid and run that to the control side of the relay. Last step is to get a neutral feed to the control magnet and a wire from one of the neutral sides of the water valve is usually the easiest place to tap into.

Where you place the relay will vary based on the machine. For the '55 you may find that it is best placed up in the control panel, vs. where I located it down on one of the support legs of the outer tub for the '58. I also cut the original blue wire to fit nicely in the modified harness due to where I put the relay, but if you add in a relay in the panel of the '55, you may be able to take the original blue wire from the timer and connect it right to the relay, depending on if the '55 has 1/4 spade terminals vs. the round Douglas connectors. Feel free to shoot me a PM if you need help when you get to this stage on your '55.

Ben

 

[rickr]

Great tutorial on the Unimatic Ben. The 1958's were always my favorite of the Frigidaire. I have replaced the bearing on one, and of course had to adjust the "frying pan" and replace the start capacitor, but that was as far into one, I ever got.

 

[felix]

congrats from Brazil!

Man, this machine was perfect.
For the first time I could see how it is inside and how the transmission of a Unimatic works.
congratulations for this restoration !!!

 

[gansky1]

Really great documentation of the 58 rebuild, glad to see it shine in your basement.  I've added the motor relays to my unimatics for some time now (it was Ben that researched what we needed originally from Grainger) and it solves the timer-stress problem once and for all.  

 

Great job, as always, Ben and congrats on your efforts coming to such a beautiful finish.

 

[peteski50]

Frigidaire!

Ben you did such a Great job on this awesome restore! Thanks for showing a lot of the details.
Best Of Luck

 

[Unimatic1140]

Wow Ben what a great restoration job and documentation of the process! Hopefully that machine will run perfectly for years to come now, it's one of the best vintage washers to have by far! Not to mention it's so darn fun to see run!

 

[joelippard]

Thanks Ben!  That's great documentation to have here.

 

[askolover]

That's awesome.  I wish it was mine.  By the time I have space to keep one they will probably all be gone to washer heaven.

 

[swestoyz]

Thanks again, guys. While going through the motions of the restoration it became evident early on that this would be a great opportunity to document a full Unimatic rebuild.

With the rebuild done I just wish that 1957/1958 had not been recession years within the US economy and that more WCI-58 washers existed today so everyone that wants one could have one.

I'm hoping to do a write up on Unimatic oil pumps here shortly, and at some point dabble in 're-shoeing' the brake plates with new pads (thanks Bud for the tip on the material - .060 sail cloth!), as well as exploring the lip seal version of the mechanism support nut to see if we can install a new lip seal for the '47 through '56 models. Lastly, documenting my first experiences of machining with the creation of additional bearing tools!

Ben

PS - I just re-read through this post and I apologize for the many grammatical errors throughout. Most of it was written live on the site, under the gun of taking care of my 19 month old daughter, LOL. Wish we had a way to go back and do approved edits on potential archival posts

 

[christfr]

wow how awesome is that.... such wonderful work I know I am very very impressed indeed.. fantastic job my hat is off to you. wish I had your talent.. cheers from st louis and a great new year to you... wow

 

[cornutt]

This is fantastic work. Reading and looking at the pictures was like following a race car restoration. Congratulations!

 

[bajaespuma]

Thanks for the memories

I've enjoyed every bit of this post.

What great memories of this machine: the startling immediate transition from agitation to spin with that click, and the high speed spin ending with the bouncing agitator coming to a full stop. Good stuff

 

[sfh074]

As for the brake material ....

that Ben is talking about in Reply# 46,

I noticed in the multimatics the brake material GM used was cotton based.

What lead me to believe that this is a cotton material is the fact that 3 of the 5 multimatic transmissions I've rebuilt had water in them. Every brake assembly I took out had a tremendous amount of rust, evenly across both sides of this brake material, to the point the brake assemblies were not able to separate. Only after prying the metal plates apart would it release and tearing the cotton friction material. Even though the original cotton material was submerged in oil, the oil was totally replaced by the water.

BTW ..... one important lesson to take away from this! If you ever get your hands on a multimatic do not power it up. The very first thing to do is drain the oil and check for water. WHY? If water got into the transmission, the brake will be fused together with rust because of this cotton material. Operating it will destroy the transmission when it goes from spin to stop. It will agitate and spin just fine .... but when the machine goes from full spin to stop when the motor is no longer in spin mode, the clutch is forced past neutral and into agitate. At this point the spinning mass slams the brake assembly on the spin tube and rips the 6 clips that hold the brake assembly together and strips the inner brake cup teeth on the spin tube. A very ugly and violent death! pic #3. After removing this brake, it was found the brake plates were totally bonded together with rust with the cotton in the middle again.

If you drain the oil and find water, you can almost guarantee the brake will be corroded together. Even a small amount of rust between the brake plates, it may still work as it should, but the rust will tear up the cotton friction material in no time. When the brake doesn't work, you will get agitation in spin mode.

I was able to acquire 2 NOS brake assemblies. Both of them still in boxes but one had gotten wet. This one had again held water and the plates rusted together. The other was pristine and showed the cotton cloth that GM had originally used. After some research I found an article that talked about a hydraulic brake built in the 50's that used a heavy weave cotton as a friction material constantly saturated in oil.

I ordered a very heavy cotton sail cloth or also known as oil cloth and used an oil resistant contact cement (pic #1) to bond the cotton to the brake cup as seen in the pic #2. I have reman'ed 3 brake assemblies using this material and it has worked very well. If you wanted to get really slick you could order "kevlar tape" that is 3.5" or wider by the foot on ebay. The thickness of the sail cloth is about .055" and the kevlar is about .065" The extra thickness will make no difference, but the added benefit of the kevlar is that it will not absorb and hold water .... if water ever got into the transmission.

Bud - Atlanta

 

[swestoyz]

One year later...

Quick update - the oil pump write-up has been completed! Link below:

https://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?84838

 

[appnut]

BEN!!!

I can't believe I missed this entire thread. But I'm glad I got to meander through it. Beside myself with awe and amazement at your meticulous, thorough restoration and the beautiful fruits of your labor. My favorite Unimatic pair too. And John & Tom, thank you both for your involvement and contribution.

 

[jetcone]

YAY

Love Seal All !!! TOO!

 

Ive just updated my work too.