Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Archives of the best of past topics Best of Shop Talk Restoration Nightmares

This should be fun, send in your BAD Experiences in restoring pumps or other stuff. Three subcategories come to mind Chromers & Chrome-shops Painters & Painting
Sandblasters & Sandblasting. also mabe we should have Cast Iron repair & Welding
Most of these stories will probably include confidence inspiring gems like; they said "it shouldnt be a problem " when they first saw it, and "it will only take a week" and the worst, " we looked everywhere but we cant find it..it's here somewhere"
Let the tales of WOE & MISERY roll................LOL ....DoDoGaS

Mine is probably pretty common.....

I took a Wayne Cut 615 visible to a local body shop. I had hand sanded the whole pump as good as I could get it. The sheet metal was mint, other than one small dent, NO rust out. The pump had been stored in a barn since the second World War.

Anyway, the body shop owner said "I want to take it to my buddy that runs a sand blasting business to really get it cleaned up good." I thought 'well, O.K., you know what you're doing.' He painted the pump for me, did a beautiful job, but I got it all back in pieces. No big deal I thought, I'll just put it all back together. Those sheet metal skins were so warped I had a heck of a time. They were curled in on themselves real bad. I got it back together finally, but put a small scratch on the pump doing it......I had had the skins on and off many times so I knew how they fit BEFORE the sand blaster got em'!!!!

i restored my first pump in june 1988. a wayne #60 wide. (its the first 60 i ever saw!) i pulled it all apart, dumped the pump & motor, sandblasted it all, straightened it all out. block sanded for daaaaays, i had the nozzle holder & light switch door chrome plated & i polished the site glass nuts, globe holder & allllllll the exposed brass bolts 1 at a time & cleared em. i then fit it all back together, pulled it back apart & painted it inside & out. RED/WHITE then sanded & buffed it. i brought it insde the house for assembly where it would live. Well the top fits the shoulders so PRECISE on a 60 that if theres paint on shoulders where the top lays on it the bolt holes wont line up. NOWAY!!! i fought & fought so careful. i had to carefully strip paint off the edges of shoulders.(easy) then the stupid top still wouldnt fit. figured i needed to strip paint off inside of the top itself.(hard!) well i got it 2gether! the pumps still sittin right here next to me. and looks good yet. with little polished brass washers behind brass bolts that hold the top on because it was my first 60 resto, i had it together & apart so many frickin times i ended up chippin some paint around bolt holes. so i added some BOGUS lookin washers to cover it up! THEY SUCK! man i made so many trips back out to the garage puttin that guy together...... now pumps are fully assembled in the garage. THAT WAS A NIGHTMARE!!! i cant stand lookin at those washers! but i refuse to repaint her!

i say we add physical pain to the subject also. im into bench grinders, one with wire wheels one with grinding wheels one with polishing wheels etc... gotta have em! mounted on pedestals. when i restored that first pump it had 1 original stainless sunburst. (only one) i had another comin on its way. (when i ordered the second i told the guy i was gonna polish the original. he said dont let her get away from ya.) i was havin a good time carefully polishin it on a wheel.(as everyone including me. knows its dangerous) man it was gettin shinny!!! i was 1/2 done & the wheel just stole it from me at the speed of light! whipped it around, threw it back at me & hit me nice & horizontial right under the nose right above top lip at what felt like 1000 MPH! !!!!!!!!! almost knocked me out!!!!!!! hahahahahaa! it hurt like CrRrrAzY & gave me a cool lookin cut toooooo! i was sooo mad! couldnt do nothin but laugh!!! i picked the sunburst up & it was stretched BEYOND BELIEF & permanently bent like a banana! i threw it back down it was nooooooooooo good anymore! oh man! i needed at least that one on for now as it was going together that day! i ran & jumped up & stomped it with both feet! the pain wouldnt quit the sunburst was a banana. hahahaha so i opened the garage door & threw it out to the woods as hard as i could! hahahahhaaaaaa i hope some neighbors dog found it & carried it home to its new owner! HAHAHAHA

I pinched my finger pretty durned good getting the sheet metal back on my Bennett 966. i kinda saw it coming though - when I disassembled the pump the sheet metal sprang loose when I got the mounting bolts out like a clock spring. I knew then when it was time for assembly it was going to take some effort getting them back on all the while not to damage the purdy paint job and it did. I pinched my finger between the frame and sheet metal that left a pretty good blood blister - I know its not all that glorious of a story and youre probably saying OOOOH the fatboy pinched his finger - somebody call the WHAAAAmbulance - LOL - But as I do more pumps I am sure there will be more stories - :-) - Have a great day everybody - Happy Hunting.
Hubba

I was putting together a 505, everything was real nice. I was walking across my shop and dropped the newly painted hose mount, chipping the clearcoat and the color. I think I need sticky gloves for now on. OOOOPS, start over on that piece.

2 TONE, always wear gloves buffing, sounds like you learned your lesson on the sunburst, that part could probably take the end of your finger off really quick, also you are pretty lucky that it didnt get you in the eye ..........YEEECCCCHHH...UUUGGGHHH.. I shudder just to think about it. Back to the gloves , them parts get pretty hot and when you drop em they dont look better!!
Gotta be careful out there...DODOGAS

oh yeah, i hear ya! your not kiddin stainless gets hot.(& right now!) ive been polishin & wire wheelin stuff since i was 12 or 13 & ive got many many years of experience. ive gone through lots of wire wheels/buffin wheels. you can never be to careful! no matter who you are these machines are DANGEROUS!!! GOOD SAFETY TIP!!! OH you better believe i had some glasses on! BE CAREFUL!!!!!!!!!

I have a story that relates here. It is pretty embarrising actually. I was moving an unrestored erie clock face pump across the garage floor one day (a couple years ago) to get it out of my way. I was using the "walking" technique and made about ten feet of progress. I was pretty close to the far wall when I tilted it up a little too far and it fell into the wall. The light shade above the face made a perfect puncture right in the dry wall. So here is my pump leaning at a 45 degree angle imbeded in the dry wall, all of a sudden the bottom starts to slide out and the whole pump goes crashing to the floor. It sounded like a 10 car pileup, with multiple people yelling obsecenities. Luckily, I was able to jump out of the way and avoided getting trapped under this death machine. The impact with the floor cracked the light shade into 3 pieces and shattered the window face, in addition to the damage to the wall. So there I sat with a busted wall, a busted pump, and a busted pride...talk about a grown man crying. I didn't touch that pump for a year after that. Everytime I would go in the garage after that day it was like the evil pump demons possessed this pump. Right now it is in about 30 pieces being blasted.

OUCH - I can almost hear the obseneties still. At least youre safe and there were no small children underneath the pump. Reminds me of when I got my 53 Chevy painted - within 3 weeks of shiny new paint some SOB keyed it from front to back fender. Man was I hot. I was so PO'd that I sold the car but the boomerang mobile came back to me about 2 years later..and now I am in the process of redoing it in flat black.
Hubba

Hello:

Last summer I decided to move my unrestored Neptune 855 out of the Grainery (where it had been stored) to the Display Room in the Coop. Since the pump is still complete with pump mechanism etc. and weighs a ton, I grabbed my two-wheeled cart and set the pump on it. I managed to muscle it down the two steps from the Grainery and across the yard to the small porch at the entrance door to the Display Room. This is about 75 yards worth of dragging the cart with the pump on it across the soft yard.

Now my wife is 'helping' me by walking alongside and making sure that I don't run into anything (nothing in the yard to run into, but she thinks she is helping none-the-less). I finally get this monster to the cement pad outside the door and I'm not paying quite enough atention and hit the edge of the cement with only one wheel. So of course the cart tips and the pump starts to go, I try to grab it and moose it back onto the cart with one hand - but it is too far gone. BAM - it hits the ground so hard it does a small bounce and roles 90 degrees. My wife takes one look at me and hot-foots it for the house.

Now being the calm person I am, I spend a few choice minutes cursing the demons in a loud voice and working up quite a bit of un-used energy. When I can see through the red mist, I stomp into the shop and grab a foot-long piece of 4" x 4" wood that is sitting around. I set the 4 x 4 on the ground at the top of the pump, grap the top with both hands (while on my knees) and heave it up off the ground. Then using one knee, I shove the 4 x 4 under the top of the pump to lift it off the ground. Standing back up, I squat at the top of the pump, get my hands under the unit and dead-lift the monster back to a standing position. finally, I manage to get it back on the cart and, paying close atention to hit the cement with both wheels at the same time, get it into the Show Room and set it where it still stands today.

The whole procedure took about a half an hour - and I did manage to add another dent that I will have to bang out when I restore the pump. Hopefully, I will remember this incident when I move the other couple of pumps that I have in the Grainery to the Display room this summer!

Later . . .

Jim

i had a pump once that i think was possessed! i stopped to buy this wayne #70 on a farm, it had nice firestone faces & firestone ad glass. the whole pump was nice! i knocked & asked about the pump. the guy said just a minute & called someone on the phone. he yelled at me how much you payin? i just blurted out 35.bucks!!?? the guy said ok,ok,ok! to whoever was on the phone, hung up & then he came shootin out the door like he was in a hurry. ok he says to me lets get it unhooked. i was there a total of about 1 1/2 minutes by now. im thinkin alllllright this is how things should be!! i open the pump doors he goes to make sure power was off. i unhook wires. & start wrenchin. the only piece of cracked glass in the whole pump falls out of the door & down my hand! not much of a cut luckily. it coulda been bad!!! thats when i realized i could do the ol spinerooo & spin the whole pump round & round till she loose, back up to it & load! i get home with it, back up to unload it but i leave it sittin awhile in the truck. i get some visitors & BS awhile. then decide to pull the pump outta the truck. i pull it out a ways and it starts to slide to the side??? & KAWHOOOOOM! lands flat on the floor before i knew what happened!!! SHOOOOOOOOOT!!!!!! i picked it up real fast & looked at my visitors & said did you hear anything?!! WHAT was that noise? i looked around like??? LOL!!! well it didnt do much damage it landed so flat. just exploded the site glass! anyway i restored that pump. i was puttin glass in the doors & my brother stopped by & was BSin while i put in glass. he was holdin glass up then he wasnt & that glass hit the floor! i cut another piece & installed it. then the neighbor walked over to visit with his little barefooted 4 or 5 yr. old son. well JR. walked right on the broken glass & left little red blood dots everywhere he walked around the garage. JR. was one of those real TUFF devil type children & could care less if feet were cut or not! well i sold that pump. the guy i sold it to entered it in ISCA judged car show & won best display!!! i felt pretty proud of myself after that! i was glad that pump was gone. i made my own signs for that pump outta 18ga.steel, cut round that said FAT BOB GASOLINE. i cleared those signs with sticky 20/20 clear & really laid it on so it was wavey like porcelain. it was a harley davidson pump with pinstriped flames up the sides. that was in 1995 & i sold that pump for $2800.00 i delivered it to new owner & he was a really nice guy we joked around awhile & somehow he shorted me 100.00 with all these 10s & 20s & 5s & just a minute ill get some more money, hold on ive gotta get somemore money over here stuff!!!!!??? im sure he wanted me to call him or stop back sometime & say hey man im feelin about 100 short & he woulda laughed he was kind of a joker. but oh wellll. i did real good on that pump even if it was possessed!

Edit to add image as requested

[This message has been edited by Oldgas (edited 04-28-2003).]

All I have been doing on the 2 pumps I am working on it bustin' nuckles and breaking bolts! On the Wayne 500 I busted the threads(welded on, not a bolt) that holds the top ad glass skin on, that sucks! The wayne 100 is a beast. I soaked it in WD-40 for 2 weeks before working on it. It is still not going well, I broke one of the bolts that holds the sides on. Anyone have one of those little bracket things around? Mine has a screw broken off it in! I still have a few of those flat head screws to get out before I can take the side skin off. I can tell it is not going well, they are already starting to strip. Damn flat heads!
With all the crap to deal with, it is still fun! Beats working!
Jeff

Try an impact screwdriver on those rusted screws. It doesnt always work but most times.........Les

Anytime I run into rusted screws or bolts that attatch the sheetmetal that have been there for decades and arent budging - I just shear the heads off of them with a chisel and hammer - quick easy and just use new ones when you reassemble.
Hubba

Whoa Hammer Happy Hubba!!! I would try heat first(carefully), almost any screw will go easy after you heat it first. Penetrating oil and rapping it a few times with a drift would not hurt.
And Hubba, what choice language do you use when you miss and knock off a nozzle-fork or flatten out the door edge or put in a nice dent????
Oh I forgot (SEATTLE TATTOOIST) you would use purple SAILORSPEAK.......HA Ha Ha
DODOGAS

Dodogas
Geezzzz,
you don't need a 10# hammer to knock the heads off, that's what you would have to use to miss the chisel and knock off the nozzel fork !!!!
IF your going to use a big hammer, get Dwaine to hold the chisel.

Have to add my horror story. I own and run a auto shop. I used to store some pumps and pump parts in the shop. Not anymore!! I had disassembled a G&B T-176 pump and had the pump lower door stacked high on a pile of other parts in one of our service bays. I had a customer's very nice Honda Accord parked in the bay near these parts. Well I went to grab something near were these parts were stacked high and all of a sudden crash#### That door came flying down,hitting the rear quarter panel leaving a very nasty crease and dent. To make things worse the customer was on vacation in Mexico and I had to wait several days before I could tell them. I lost alot of sleep wondering what they were going to say when I told them. They ended up ok about it after I offered to pay for it. They still come in to our shop! That is my worst story.

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I guess I have to add what I feel is the worst that has happened to me (or maybe to a pump of mine). A couple of years ago when I just had accuired my Ljungmans mod 50, a square type clockface, I set it up in a "secure " spot behint the house. Put up a nice oval Esso all glass globe and just felt good to see it whenever I walked by. One day it got pretty windy, and the wheater reports talked about storm. I went down to the pump checking if it was safe there and everytning seemed OK.
When I came home from work that day, I sort of felt that something wasn't right, so I immediately went back and checked the pump - or - what was left of it.
It appears that the wind had been so strong that both doors had blew open and made it to a big sail. The pump had fallen on the pistol, which was pushed quite a bit into the pump, and the globe was in a million pieces. Needless to say, I moved it inside immediately, and still is trying to gather the strength to start restoring it.
Meanwhile I bought some other pumps to comfort myself... ;-)
//Claes

If it wasnt for us guys moving these gas pumps around, Chiropractors would be out of business

Impact... hammers... come on these are dainty little gas pumps! lol! You can't get any kind of muscle on this screw, it is sunk in and there is a little bracket on the other side of the side skin. Dick, you know what I am talkin about? Dwaine? I think the Wayne 70 has the same thing. I did not try heat yet, keep hearing that these skins warp when the wind blows. I was trying to leave the torch out of this... might be the only way. I already broke one, don't mind breaking these but I DO NOT want to strip them. No room to get anything in there without messing up the skin.
Maybe I'll take a picture... when my knuckle stop bleeding.
Jeff

Drill it out Drill it out. An original gas pump doesnt have to have original bolts and screws. Awe ...what the heck do I know anyway , I'm Fat.
Hubba

You guys are missing the point, Trust me I know. Drilling a philips, pretty easy it stays centered, Slotted , wants to skate sideways, Once the head is drilled off you can usually get it apart, Now trouble with drilling, screws are usually harder than the metal so if it jumps off , you can go thru the skin. You thought the drill was dull and then it driiled into the skin?? Yea, the screw may be hard and the skin is not, most people drill faster not slower when it does not drill. Wrong.
The heat , all you need is a small hot flame(not a propane torch). Get the bolt head dull red quickly , a few seconds , let it cool, should come right out, and dont strip the head first trying. So you are not putting any heat into the skin, hopefully (no rosebuds allowed).LOL...........DODOGAS

LOL - Citizen Pain ....Rosebud.....LOL
Hubba

Hey Hubba... I'm fatter than you, where does that leave me? (in retrospect I am much sexier, guess I'm OK)
All I have is a "normal" torch... how do I get a "small hot flame"?
No idea what rosebud is...
Jeff

Rosebud tip makes a flame about the thickness of your finger, and if you brushed it across a pump panel it would probably blow a hole thru it. Can heat a chevy truck frame hot enough to bend it in about 3 min I think. In other words a "REAL MANS"Torch tip, which has no place in pump disassembly, maybe good on a cat or loader . You want a small tip, smaller the better, will get a screw head hot in about 5 seconds, with a flame the size of a matchstick.
Be worth it to load up your pump if you had to and take it to get it done. Usually it will expand and contract the fastener and then it lets go. Some call it the HOT WRENCH . If someone lit a rosebud behind you, you would know it and feel the heat from 3 ft away.............dodogas

Talk to Dick about torching out the pump guts sometime. Rob

Lets here some stories about the critters that we may have found in our pumps. One day I hauled three Tokhiems home including a double from a cement mill off route 66 in arizona. What a bargan I bought the pumps for 37.50 each. I got more than I barganed for ! After removing all heavy guts at the mill, and then driving 60+ miles on dirt roads to get home I then unloaded the pumps discovering that one of the pumps was a home of several mice.They crawled up into the computer area when I disassembled the pump guts. You should have seen me jump when these mice came running out!! It is amazing that anything could survive in that heat, most have been 108 degrees that day. Happy pumping Rob

Rob,
No problem. Beats the hell out of BUSTED KNUCKLES. I've gutted 100's with a cutting torch.
I've had packrats jump out when I opened the doors. Found a BUZZ tail inside one. Spilled old gas in a van I had, never did get rid of that smell, sold the van.

I use a cheater pipe and old vicegripes. I had Larrys pump gutted in 1 hr, angle plus leaverage, the little small bolts with screwdriver slots 2 pairs of visegripes , a point set to hold the head and a flater set to clamp the nut and start slow up& down and she'll break, now if we would liston to Tim Rohr, and youv'e got a lot of pumps to do , a 55 gollon plastic drum with a whench above so you can put half in the soda water solution and use the electrolises (not spelled right) then remove an turn upside down and do it agin , all the nuts will come off with your fingers, contacted him for that website , it will remove the old nuts & bolts and paint at the same time , all with in 24 hours , you guys are Alley ooop'en it , alley ooopp, oopp ,oop,oppooppp, ha ha ha cave men ,

EEEGAHHH - I have been called a Caveman before - gentle when I tattoo though


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Hubba the gas pump maniac of Shoreline WA

Dwaine..Alley OOP ... are you still listening to the Hollywood Argyles ??, maybe on your 8 track in your truck?? LOL ...Dodogas

Just had my wife come in the room and read the story by T-Way. She was rollin'. That was a funny story. Take care, Dean