Attack of the FrankenKirby!! - for entertainment

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reo580

reo580

Well-known member
Joined
May 3, 2011
Messages
126
Location
Holland, Michigan
All across the nation, in Vac Shops almost everywhere!
It came from the bowels of the basement, deep in the parts room.......
Its is..... (50's godzilla music).... Attack of the FrankenKirby monstrosity!

I thought of this for entertainment.
Do you have pictures to add of the species of FrankenKirby monsters? I think the 80's were the peak breeding times for the FrankenKirby including this example (from Sacramento Craigslist) of an Omega/Trad/Heritage mixture, complete with a shaved down rug nozzle. I wish the seller took pictures of the sides and back of the rug nozzle. Enjoy.

Please attach pics of your species of FrankenKirby monsters for us all to see. I hope this thread keeps going with pictures and examples.

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reo580

Derek,

Very impressive hack job of a Kirby!

I can spot...
* A Heritage II long handle assembly
* A Legend II nozzle with blue-painted belt lifter and bumper
* Classic Omega/III motor group (with replacement fan!)
* An aftermarket Tradition bag

~Ben
 
Hey

Its a aftermarket black cord new oem on classic tradition heritage vacuums.
Black bag gaurd from heritage 1 i cant see topper well enough but assume its black.
The bag is the tradition replacement bag.
Im thinking omega headlight trim. Brown would be easier to paint blue than red. The red classic 3 i believe headlight trim was different I think it had 3 paralell strips.
I wanted to say they used blue tradition belt cover but its a heritage 2 painted with another model sticker on belt lufter. Its like they got tradition sticker cut out logo put on vacuum.
 
Hey

They seriously put way too much time to try to make it look right. It works shined up and it picks up dirt. Franken or not thatbis a baskin robbins 31 flavor tank.
Les
 
I've got a G5 that came to me in rough shape and I decided to fix it up with the most affordable compatible parts I could find. It already had a charcoal gray handle back and lower cord hook from a G4 and I added a complete bag assembly from an Ultimate G but I swapped the G5's burgundy bag topper onto it. The bag has flecks of burgundy in it, which helps tie it into the G5's original color scheme. The brush roll was shot so I got a generic Sentria style one to replace it. The cord was in bad shape so I found a good deal on a light gray one for a G3 to replace it. It matches the predominant light gray on the Ultimate G bag, so in a weird way, it almost looks like it was meant to go together. Aesthetically, the only thing that might make it look better is to swap the original burgundy emptor back onto it but the amount of work involved isn't worth it; besides, I'm less fond of the G5's boxier emptor. If you click my avatar, you can see this machine before the bag assembly and cord were swapped.

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Classic Jr.

A few years ago I had an extra 516 and I decided to turn it into a Classic Jr. At that time I was able to get the newer wider Wheels and the bumper trim and the belt lifter in a nice brown color. I took it out to my friend's vacuum shop and they buffed it out and went all through the motor and replaced anything that it needed. A new Kirby Classic cord and handle completed the transformation... and it works like a charm!

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There were several Franken-Kirbys I remember seeing over the years...

1. A Classic 1CR refitted to use the wide rear wheel setup from the Tradition/Legend II.
2. A 562 Sanitronic or Sanitronic VII with a Dual Sanitronic 50 headlight cap and a Tradition handle assembly.
3. Another Classic 1CR with some red Classic III trim.
4. A Classic III in blue, with the original Vis-A-Belt lifter painted blue!

~Ben
 
Just wondering

Do you find it easier to spot "changes" made cosmetically to the older Kirby's, say 5xx-LegendII than to the newer G3's to present? I do and it's probably because the bulk of mine except for one G4 fall onto the older category. I may be wrong but I think their are just more parts like trim, that can be changed out. No?
 
Almost Frank...

In addition to the 'FrankenG5' profiled above, I redid a Heritage 1HD a few months ago, converting it from its original dump bag setup to filter bags. Initially, I just slapped an entire Heritage II Legend bag assembly on it but later, a fellow member gifted me a proper orange H1 outer bag for it so I swapped that on, using the topper and bag guard band from the dump bag and the H2 mini emptor, fill tube and bag connector. The beauty of this setup is that all seven of my Kirbys use the same filter bags. To be honest, I've always considered it more of a 'resto-mod' than a frankenkirby.
 
I used to refer to mine

as "parts bin" or more accurately "parts been". It's fun when a non-collector asks what year did this model come out? I like to say something like " oh it was released at different times." @human I like your resto-mod, the changes are more suttle than some others I've seen. I'd be hard pressed to point out all the changes you've made mostly because I'm not as familiar with these newer models. I have an old Royal that would qualify as a 'Rat Rod' with borrowed parts from other brands and a few pieces I fabricated myself. Not a "looker" by any means!
 
Thanks. That G5 was pretty rough when I got it so I decided to follow the lines of least expense in replacing worn and damaged pieces. Several of the modifications aren't readily visible in that photo. The most obvious ones are the bag assembly and cord from an Ultimate G and a G3, respectively. The bag looks especially good with it. The color of the machine makes the flecks of burgundy in the bag pop out a bit more than they do on an Ultimate G but it didn't look right with the gray bag topper so I swapped the burgundy one from the G5 bag onto it. I've thought about putting the matching emptor on it as well and may still do so one day. The machine came to me with a trashed brush roll so I replaced it with a more aggressive Sentria style brush. One non-original part that was already in place when I got it was a charcoal gray G4 back plate on the handle. That last one didn't even register with me until I watched the G5 demonstration video on YouTube and realized partway through that the back plate on the demo machine was burgundy. Oh, and the foot switch for the transmission has been swapped out for a gray and orange one from a Sentria because why not?
 
Safety switch

If when you take the rear motor casing off the switch if you flip it up and the safety switch unhooks there and no wires cut.
Les
 

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