Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Hours Spent on First Pump Restoration

I purchased a Southwest Model 72CR on June 22nd. To date, I have spent 117 hours restoring it. I am not doing the body work or the paint. I still have time remaining to put the body and doors back on and add the exterior hardware, windows, etc.

As a guestimate, where does 130 hours fall on a scale of time spent restoring a 1950 gas pump. It is somewhat of a mute point since the time is already spent, but just curious.

I thought to myself, "How could I go wrong purchasing a pump that only costs $300." The initial purchase price is going to be about 9% of the total expenditure. Not having the equipment to do the sanding, experience with body work, and painting, makes my final cost high on this pump restoration. I will keep it and enjoy it; once I find a spot for it inside our house. The project has been fun, hard work, and very expensive.

Don't be discouraged. You'll get faster/better with more practice and complete pumps more quickly (and usually do a better job too). 117 hours seems like a long time if you aren't doing body/paint though? May I ask roughly how your time was broken down? Or am I misunderstanding and you have paid someone for 117 hours labor? Either way- yes, 117 hours is a long time for a pump. But things always take longer than we think they will. Hang in there and enjoy that first pump, and the next one, and the one after that

We've been restoring pumps for over 21 years. We are always having customers comment on price versus do it yourself. My response is, "By all means give it a try. When you are done, I'll be here with completed choices." Experience is the best teacher. Paul www.severngaspumps.com

Great words of wisdom Paul

As S&N said, that seems to be a long time.

We might be able to reply more if we had a little info.

Did you remove the pump & meter?
Did you take the frame apart?
The time spent did that include restoring the V/R?
Did you send the frame to a sandblaster or did you grind all the rust off by hand?

Some suggestions, if the panels are straight consider having them sandblasted.
After you get the back, wet sand them to make them smooth.
Then send them to a powder coater.

A lot less money than what a body shop will charge you. I have found that some body shops welcome doing a gas pump but after they get it they put it off in favor or repairing some car, then still charge you a high price.

Jack Sim

Jack is right about the body shop guys they like the change. One thing I do is ask if they have an apprentice and if they mind him painting it for cash and experience. I have never been turned down and the body shop managers seem to like there apprentice getting paint time on someone else's dime so to speak.

Thanks to all for great answers. The 117 hours is my time. I hand polished all steel and brass bolts, nuts & washers I plan to reuse and that takes a very long time. The door window sills have aluminum sill plates that were pitted. I used belt sander with 280, 320, 400 belts; then hand sanded with 600 and 800;then polished each sill plate with 5 buffing wheels/compound; polished the aluminum corner of body guards, removed all pump equipment, painted the frame and base, installed casters, partial rebuild of V-R computer (it operates very smooth and numbers on wheels look good), installed variable speed drill to run the computer, installed sump pump and sump bucket with RV antifreeze to spin the spinners; installed normally off switch inside nozzle handle to activate the drill/sump pump; rewired the light circuit; used DA sander to remove rust from both doors. I paid a plater $50 to anodize the aluminum trim pieces as they were very soft.

I did not feel comfortable doing the body work as it would have been my first attempt at that and not comfortable painting the doors and body as that would have been my first attempt at that. Since the pump will remain in my home, I suppose my time is a moot point.

Forgot a couple of other time consuming task. The SW Model 72 had a front and back emblem. If you have not seen them, they are brass with red background and black backgrounds. I stripped both down to bare brass, polished the brass, masked off as much as I could, them used air brush to spray paint the emblem, then had to remove the overspray from all unpainted parts of the emblem. Removing paint from a microscopic version of the US is very time consuming.

The second time consuming task was restoring the Southwest Pump Co. ID plate. The plate is made out of aluminum with very slight relief (several 1000th of an inch)and a black painted background. I masked off as much as I could with model car micro masking tape, then used air brush to spray the entire ID plate. After paint dried, used sandpaper, toothpicks, and model car sanding sticks to remove the paint from the slightly raised areas. It turned out better than I expected. I did not take a before restoration photo.

I almost feel like saying something smart, but I will watch my tongue. You went way beyond the way it looked when it left the factory.

My advice, don't go into the pump restoration business.

Jack Sim

This is my first and last gas pump restoration. I will be the first one to admit that I purchased a plain, diesel farm pump; never had any brand signs or labels on it. But, I am going to make it look good in the end. Not one of my smarter purchases, but I am OK with it.

Sounds like you did a lot of detail work that some guys would never do. There is nothing wrong with that, if that is what you choose to do for your hobby. Lots of pump restorers take months or years to finish the job working on and off. It is doubtful that very many keep track of the actual hours they spend.

I say do it for your own enjoyment and satisfaction. Counting the hours may just lead to frustration. However, if you are restoring to resell, you do need to keep track of costs, including your labor, to know how to price the finished pump and to know if the profit is worth the effort.