Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums Showcase and Stories, Petroliana Rust-Oleum Restoration

I was thinking about a truck I'm going to paint in the distant future, when I saw some threads about $50 Rust-Oleum paint jobs. I got to thinking about an old pump that was up in my attic. I was going to reassemble it and sell it as is, but then I thought why not try an economy restoration on it. Good or bad, we will have a result. You can follow along on this adventure.

Here's our test subject. It's an early 50s Wayne 505 that has been apart for years. It has been in pieces for close to if not over a decade. I bought it on Craigslist cheap because it was missing one upper door and a lower door. I found the replacements, took it apart and had it sandblasted. I remember trying a new sandblasting company and they charged me almost $300 to blast it. I couldn't believe it. Needless to say I'm in the hole on this one. I sprayed primer on it to keep it from rusting, then life got in the way. It ended up just kind of being around. I moved a few years ago, and just kind of piled up the parts here and there. That's where we come in now.

Here's the idea. See the sign below. I have chosen option one. I want to see if I can do a good looking basic restoration. I want to make it look GOOD, not great, not showroom new, not car show winner great. I want to do it on a budget. I want to do it down in my messy basement workshop. I can't spray paint down there, and I can't spray outside as it's late fall in Michigan.

I have been digging through my parts boxes trying to gather up all the parts. I remember everything was in a five gallon bucket at my parents house. I think my dad filled the bucket with salt by mistake at one point. All these small parts are super rusty.

There was a huge dent on the nozzle side panel. I had a photo of it, but that one didn't turn out. (My phone's camera hates led lights for some reason) The dent was so bad the front door couldn't close because it hit it. After about half an hour with a hammer, the dent is mostly gone. A little mud should take care of the rest.

At some point in the pump's life someone made this huge shackle out of flatstock to lock the nozzle into the cradle. I welded up the holes, then ground them down smooth.

Some mud over the welds and the side is done and looking good. I have this electric dual action sander and I love it. It makes this kind of work easy and fast.

The top is perfect. The reset side is nearly perfect. There is a mild dent near the reset crank, but I'm going to leave it alone. A wise man once said "Better is Good's worst enemy"

I'm test fitting everything. So far so good. With some mild tweeks here and there, the alignment of the panels is starting to look good.

On to the doors. One door is pretty nice. This is not that door. This door has been hit several times. It has a huge dent, a bunch of small dents, and is bent. I'll do my best, but the metal is really streched and there is a ton of stress in the metal already.

Thanks for sharing your project - can’t wait to see how it turns out!

There was some sign screwed to one of the doors at some point. I welded up those holes. I have a problem that needs to be addressed. These pumps have a left and a right lower door. That has to do with where the hose guards go. I have two lefts. I don't have the hose guards either. I looked all over, I don't think I ever had them. I made the decision to fill the holes for the hose gaurds. I may find a solution later. We'll see. I worked on the better door, got some small dents out, did some fill work. I still have some fill work to do, I put some mud on, and will pick this back up tomorrow.

Make it your own ! If you are satisfied that’s all that matters . Everyone of us started somewhere . Will be watching your progress .

Cool project Mike. Thanks for sharing.

It's prime time. I have some 2k surfacer primer. With support chemicals it's $225 a gallon. Not on this project. Consumer grade is the name of this game. I sprayed it out in the garage. It's 36 degrees and raining snow. No, not snowing, raining snow. It's a Michigan thing. Anyway, the paint will dry, just very slowly. I let it flash in the garage, then bring it down in the basement to fully cure.

The good door is as good as I think it will get. Remember I said this pump sat around for years? It picked up some shelf rust. I sanded it down as best I could, and covered it with rusty metal primer. That stuff does a good job of burying rust. I'll go over that with gray primer to make it all the same.