After a rather quick dis-assembly, I ended up with a pile of copper tubing, a box of electrical cables and wiring harnesses, and a dirty frame with a few rust spots on it. I had a box of high gloss black spray paint and grey primer from another "find" I never got around to refinishing. The boiler mounts and electric cable mounts were still riveted to the frame, so I drilled those out to replace with some screws and bolts I picked up for the task.
Before painting, I wanted at the very least to sand down the rust spots to the bare metal to prevent the paint from bubbling. I used 120 grit to start with and worked down to 400. I used the water hose and a brush to scrub the grime and bug crust off the rest and gave it plenty of time to dry. As I was doing this in the winter and the garage wasn't heated, I would put the frame inside to warm up, then take it out and put a coat of primer on, let it dry, and then bring it back inside to warm up again before the next coat. I did the same with the paint. In hindsight, I should have spent more time with prep work and sanded between the primer and paint coats, but considering every bit of the frame would be covered, there was little need for a car show paint job.
I cleaned up the galvanized boiler mounts and other mounts and scrubbed them clean with a brass brush and gave them a good rinse and dry. I spray painted them white just to give it a little more dressed up look when the machine was open, but unfortunately couldn't remove the mount from the pressure switch, so I left it as it was and just cleaned up the grime. Happy to have something clean and restored, I found the hardware for the frame I had labeled and set aside in bags and put it back together. I screwed the big rubber adjustable feet on the bottom and got things leveled up. I also attached the white mounts with the screws and bolts and attached the plastic drain box. Now I had a foundation to build the machine back onto.
Before painting, I wanted at the very least to sand down the rust spots to the bare metal to prevent the paint from bubbling. I used 120 grit to start with and worked down to 400. I used the water hose and a brush to scrub the grime and bug crust off the rest and gave it plenty of time to dry. As I was doing this in the winter and the garage wasn't heated, I would put the frame inside to warm up, then take it out and put a coat of primer on, let it dry, and then bring it back inside to warm up again before the next coat. I did the same with the paint. In hindsight, I should have spent more time with prep work and sanded between the primer and paint coats, but considering every bit of the frame would be covered, there was little need for a car show paint job.
I cleaned up the galvanized boiler mounts and other mounts and scrubbed them clean with a brass brush and gave them a good rinse and dry. I spray painted them white just to give it a little more dressed up look when the machine was open, but unfortunately couldn't remove the mount from the pressure switch, so I left it as it was and just cleaned up the grime. Happy to have something clean and restored, I found the hardware for the frame I had labeled and set aside in bags and put it back together. I screwed the big rubber adjustable feet on the bottom and got things leveled up. I also attached the white mounts with the screws and bolts and attached the plastic drain box. Now I had a foundation to build the machine back onto.
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