Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Restoration question for the veterans.

So I'm getting ready to tear into my first pump restoration and still somewhat unclear of how far to take it. I've restored a few cars through the years but never anything like this. I know with vintage cars there is many different grades of restoration, Some just plain expensive and insane if you ever plan to do anything with the car besides keep it locked up in a glass dome and rush in with a feather duster every time a speck of dust falls on the hood.
My plans with this first pump is to restore it, sell it and use the $$ to fund my Habit, oops....Hobby. I want to put together a piece I would be proud to display myself but obviously not so extreme that I can't ever sell it without loosing my shorts.
Is there any such thing as a standard for pump restoration?

What parts should always be replaced and what ones are OK to repair, clean and reuse?

IM KNOW VETERAN BY ANYMEANS AT ALL ,BUT I SEEN YOUR POST, ON YOUR NEW FINDS ! THE TOKHEIM 39, I HAVE ONE AS WELL! BEING THAT YOUR MECHANICALLY INCLINED, YOU WILL HAVE NO PROBLEMS AT ALL! I HAVE TAKEN APART MY WHOLE PUMP 4 TIMES NOW ,BECAUSE THATS HOW I LEARN! "HANDS ON" THESE THINGS ARE A PIECE OF CAKE! I KNOW EVERY NUT & BOLT ON MY PUMP,,,,,BUT.................BE CAREFUL ,BECAUSE LIKE AN IDIOT,,,,,WELL, HERE IS A LIST OF THE FIRST AND ONLY PARTS I BROKE SO FAR!LOL THE HINGE "LOWER" HINGE ,WHEN YOU OPEN THE DOOR AND PULL THE LEVER TO POP THE DOOR SKINS OPEN,MINE WAS ROUGH,A LITTLE BENT AND DID NOT SWING RIGHT,WELL ANYWAYS IT BROKE! VICS 66 HELPED ME OUT ON A NEW HINGE!NEXT THE SIGHT GLASS!WHEN YOU REMOVE ALL THE SCREWS AROUND THE SIGHT GLASS,"BE CAREFUL"MINE DROPPED AND BROKE!THIS WAS A VALUABLE LESSON,I WILL NEVER DO THAT AGAIN! THIS TOKHEIM IS A PERFECT STARTER PUMP FOR SOMEONE LIKE MYSELF NEW TO PUMPS! THEY SEEM TO BE SIMPLE AND MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE IM LEARNING ALOT ABOUT MY CURRENT PROJECT!HERES THE ONLY COMPLICATED PART ,THE VEEDER ROOT COMPUTER THATS ON YOUR PUMP,I WAS TORN, BECAUSE AS MY PROJECT MOVED FORWARD,MY COMPUTER WAS STLL FILTHY,GRIMEY,AND SO ON,BEING A PERFECTIONIST I HAD TO GET MY COMPUTER OVERHAULED,TO MATCH THE REST OF MY PUMP,SO I JUMPED OUT THERE ,AND ASKED,THERE ARE SOME FELLOWS ON THIS FORUM THAT WILL AMAZE YOU WITH THERE ABILITY TO OVERHAUL COMPUTERS! JOE IS ONE OF THEM, HE HAS GIVEN ME VERY VALUABLE INFORMATION ON MY VEEDER ROOT AND HOW TO BREAK THIS BAD BOY DOWN! HE ALSO REBUILDS VR ON THE SIDE!HIS PICS ARE AMAZING,THEY LOOK BRAND NEW! ANYWAYS AS FAR AS WHAT TO REPLACE ON YOUR TOKHEIM WILL DEPEND ON THE CONDITION OF ALOT OF LITTLE PARTS,AND HOW FAR YOU WANT TO TAKE IT! WHEN I FOUND MINE IT WAS MISSING A WINDOW ON ONE SIDE!SIGHT GLASS BEZEL WAS MISSING ON ONE SIDE,SO MOISTER HAD GOTTEN THINGS A LITTLE ROUGH!ANYWAYS, I WANTED EVERYTHING TO BE AS ORIGINAL AS POSSIBLE ,SO I KEPT MY PORCELAIN PUMP FACES,THEY WERE FINE,I WILL REPLACE THE SIGHT GLASS BEZEL,IT WILL LOOK BETTER,ID TAG,RESET CRANK,ALL NEW RUBBER FOR ADD GLASS & WINDOWS!IM SURE YOURS WAS CAPPED OFF UP TOP SO YOU WILL NEED TO GET A GLOBE MOUNT,"IF YOU HAVE PLANS FOR A GLOBE" BUT FOR THE MOST PART JUST WING IT, THE BEST THING I COULD HAVE DONE IS TEARING IT DOWN AND PUTTING IT BACK TOGETHER AGAIN ,AGAIN ,,,I KNOW MY PUMP TODAY AND THAT HANDS ON EXPERIENCE HELPED ME THE MOST!WRITE SOME STUFF DOWN IF THAT HELPS,TAKE A PICTURE,OR WHATEVER HELPS YOU THE MOST TO REMEMBER WHAT YOUR DOING, ANOTHER TIP IS PREPPING FOR PAINT,MAKE SURE THAT YOUR DOORS SWING CORRECTLY AND THEY ARE NOT SCRAPING ,JUST CHECK YOURSELF ON HOW EVERYTHING FITS BACK TOGETHER,SO YOU DONT SCRAPE YOUR NEW PAINT JOB! I HOPE THIS HELPS YOU ON YOUR NEW HABIT! HAVE FUN! HERE ARE SOME BEFORE AND AFTER PICS! WHEN I FINISH THIS PUMP I'LL PROVIDE MORE PICS,IM AT THE OFFICE ,SO THESE ARE THE SAME OL PICS I HAVE HAD FOR AWHILE,GIVES YOU AN IDEA ANYWAYS I,M PAINTING ALL THE GUTS RED& GREY ,HOPE THESE HELP!

MORE PICS

If you are going to sell it do not restore it. Sell it as is. You will have better luck. Let the person buying it restore it as they want it.

Keith

Thanks for the info. and heads up Dies.! send me some more pics as you have them and I'll do the same.

sure i will, i have alot of current pics i'll forward you later,pics always help me! anyways ttyl

I agree with Keithia, sell the pump as is, if you are not going to keep it. Why put all that money and time into restoring a pump and make $200.00 when you can make a $100.00 now for doing nothing.
Plus, what are you going to restore it to. Guaranteed, if you restore it to Texaco, the first guy to see it will say, "Ide buy that pump if it was Mobil."
There are plenty of buyers for a unrestored pump, but you really narrow down your market when you restore it.

Jack Sim

Chris,
You better trial fit those 39 doors & top before you paint!!!!
The trim on top is notorious for stripping the paint off as the door slides up into position if not fitting correctly.

oh believe me Joe ,i take heed to your comments! you had mentioned that awhile back,and after vics 66 sent my hinge ,i got right on that!it took me awhile,i had to bang out some imperfections but they swing & slide like silk now! and belive me they were rough! our bodyshop guy lent me some tools that i did not have, to work with the metal on the skins, to get it right! oh and has any one else used bondo & filler for imperfections on there pumps? long term dose it hold allright or is there another method used to smooth out blemishes on the skins?

Hmm...I guess I never looked at it that way. Maybe I'd better rethink my strategy, huh?
So as for the other part of my question. How far do you take it to have it considered a good restoration in most eyes. Is there a standard or do you just do the best you can and do it to your personal liking?

Thanks for the tip but believe me a car door, hood, or trunk can make life just as miserable and destroy a very expensive paint job real fast! One thing I've learned to do on anything that is getting a finish is to mock-up and adjust all the parts before any paint goes on. then break everything down again and make ready for paint.

Come on guys.A lot of you have looked at the post but no one has answered his question: "is there any such thing as a standard pump restoration?"

Well Kid,IMHO,no,there is not.You are working with a 39,a common pump.I've seen them sell with a "rattle can" restoration for $600 to $800 while I've turned down $1,800 on mine twice.Any and all in between above and below.I think there is no way any of us can explain all the variables in those ranges;I'm not even going to try.

I think Jack and Keith just gave you some really good advice.Oh,by the way,I stopped restoring pumps for sale years ago because I got tired of working for $5 an hour!LOL.

Just my experience,nothing more.

You want opinions..okay.

First, it's a Tok 39, don't spend much money on it, period. You restore cars...how much time and money would you spend restoring an entry level car??

The more rare and valuable the pump...the more intricate and detailed the resto in my opinion.

Secondly...if you're restoring it with the intention of selling it...don't spend much money on it because you probably won't get it back. I agree with the opinions above...sometimes you're better off selling an entry level pump unrestored vs. trying to restore it and make out ok.

Thirdly...if you do restore it...make it a Texaco, Shell, or Sinclair. They seem to sell the quickest.

But..above all...have fun and do what you want. Everybody's got an opinion of what constitutes a restoration. My gosh..we've seen enough sparring about that over the years.

Un-restored, Daily Driver, Rat Rod, Show, Museum! It's yours, do as YOU please, you'll never please everyone.

I vote PAINT BRUSH!!