Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums Showcase and Stories, Petroliana F40LM's Tokheim Short 39.

Hello all. 2 days ago I was down at my grandmother's house inventoring some wood we will using to build our house next year and found an old gas pump. My research says it is a Tokheim 39 short. Am a car guy (944s, Mustangs and rebuilding a '77 Vette) and always thought old pumps were very cool just never thought I would have the chance to own one. It obviously had been there for many years and has plenty of issues.

nice pump restoration pump.

So got it loaded up today and washed the old thing down to see how bad things are. In short...pretty bad. But I alwasy like a challenge and I don't plan on it being museum perfect. It turns out it belong to my grandfatehr who passed away several years ago so it will be a cool item for my shop to remember him by.

Keep looking that other door might be covered w/ leaves/weeds.
Check w/ Ryan Underthun & Tbuckles for parts. Post parts wanted in the WANT TO BUY Forum.

Will be removing the insides. If anyone needs them am open to trades, but make no mistake there is littel to no chance anything will work. It is missing one door. Will either buy a replacement or simply make a glass door for that side and maybe put shelves etc inside. Am thinking of a red/white paint with a texaco decal and a corvette globe on top. I know NOTHING about this stuff, any advice will be great guys. Keep in mind this will be a long process. Got a house and a Corvette in the works that have priority, but am very excited to have the chance to make this something great.

What's there look's pretty straight & solid. It will also work well with 60' & 70's cars.
What part of MS.?

Cliff

Central MS, about 60 miles north of Jackson.

I kind of kicked around a little and didn't see it but will check again you never know. Thanks for heads up on the WTB section.

Michael

Michael,
I'm from Madison & go back to visit a few times a year. If I have something you need I could it bring with me. Should have a computer & maybe a face plate.

Cliff

Great! I am full time National Guard stationed in Jackson. Drop me a line sometime when you know your coming this way. Again am in no rush, but when you get a chance take a look and let me know what you have and we can discuss pricing.

black77vette at gmail.com

Thanks again,

Michael

Michael, be careful when you pick your door, i know of three different style doors. Many of them do not use hinges, they lift off. Make sure the hinges are on the correct side too. Brady

Short Tokheim 39's are a good first pump. Original and reproduction parts are readily available.

Will do and thanks for advice. There is one hinge on the missing door side. Guess the other hinge fell off years past.

Would like to find a diagram of some sort that would show a breakdown of all the parts so I would know exactly what I am missing.

Michael

Yes have found a couple of sites selling replacement parts. Am a DIY type of person and will try to find used parts first, budget will be tight this year building a house.

Have seen both 15 and 13" globes I am guessing the 13" is the size for a short 39 is that correct guys???

Again any and all advice much appreciated. What is common sense to a lot of you is new info me with this stuff.

Michael

Period correct for that pump would be 13.5" capco (plastic) body.

Thanks for the confirmation.

Been looking around with no luck yet, can anyone give me a good rebuild thread here or a site where one of you guys shows how you rebuilt your pump kind of step by step. Want to do my homework and do it right the first time.

Going by grandmothers again today to wish her happy New Year. She is 94, hope I make it that far down the road. Will look again for the missing door in the leaves etc.

Happy New Years to everyone.

Michael

Well did another search....no door. But I may have a line on a replacement. As long as it measures up, literally, and we can meet on price.

Going to try to begin removing the unwanted inside parts this week. Maybe by chance I can get a few $$ for them to help buy the exterior parts I will need.

Very lucky to have located a 'local' source for a short 39 door with glass in it for $100. A real blessing. Will post a pic when it arrives on Jan 17th. It is a lift off door type I am told, but is correct size. Can't wait to see it in person.

Michael

You are probably going to have some issues making a liftoff door work on a hinged pump. I have never tried converting one but you will need lockplates on the base and I believe the sight glasses are different on the two pumps but I don't know if that will give problems or not. May be other issues?? Also the doors are not going to match visually.

I agree that visually the doors are different. Lift off door has a louvered vent opening and a key lock cylinder at the bottom. Hinged door is smooth at the bottom with no vent or lock.

I suppose, it will work as you won`t be looking at both doors at the same time. But, if you are anything like the rest of us...it will drive you nuts knowing that it`s not correct.

Sightglass manifold and pump face plates will should not be an issue.

I`ve attached photo`s of both styles of pumps that I have restored in the past. You will be able to note the differences.

Put the door you don't like up against wall till ya find the correct one. Mismatched is still better than No Door on back side.