Kirby Genefranken 3

[alkirbyguy]

I was at my favorite thrift store today and spotted a crazy looking Kirby out of the corner of my eye. It was a G3 with a G4 bag and a G6 nozzle bumper! It also had the worse handle droop I have ever encountered. I looked it over and I was about to walk away from it, but something drew me to the crazy looking thing for some reason. At this thrift store, nothing is priced. You make offers if you are interested in something. They don't test anything either. Well I went and found the owner who I have dealt with many times. I asked how much he wanted for it and he said, well let's go plug it up first. It fired right up. Motor sounded decent, but the tech drive was frozen. He said $20. I pointed out the tech drive problem, and he let me have it for $5. I needed another G series Kirby like a hole in the head, but for 5 bucks I thought it would be a fun project to see how good I could make it look without spending another dime. haha Though the G4 bag was in good shape, I'm going to put an extra bag from a heritage II that I have on it. I'm going to sew the bag clip from the G4 bag onto it. I'm going to attempt to paint the nozzle bumper off-white like the G3 color and cut a red piece of electrical tape to in place of the yellow stripe on the G6 bumper. But I got to get that tech drive going first!

I will post pics of the progress as I work through the Genefranken 3!

Peace,
alkirbyguy

 

[alkirbyguy]

so far...

Disassembled it, washed all parts, lubricated tech drive. The rollers on the tech drive handle control were corroded. Cleaned everything up with some steel wool and lubricated it and it works like a charm! I am actually really liking the tech drive without the return spring. It seems much more responsive than the newer design. The picture shows the Kirby reassembled for testing. The aluminum parts will be removed again shortly and are heading to the buffing wheel. What do you guys think of that Heritage II bag on it? Though not an exact match... I think the colors complement each other pretty nicely. I've still got to come up with a solution to make the nozzle bumper blend in.

It's turning out to be a nice little $5 find!

Peace,
alkirbyguy

 

[rainbowjoel]

actually I like it. It looks much better than G4 bag!

 

[kirbykid]

ya i like the heratige bag on it

 

[jodan3399]

Cool!

I'd change the yellow stripe on the bumper to red probably. To me that's the only thing that looks "off". Still looks great though!!

 

[alkirbyguy]

update

Well all the aluminum has been buffed to a beautiful shine! It turned out great. But upon disassembling the machine the second time for buffing, I noticed that the tech drive belt was very dried and cracking. Upon removing it, it actually broke. I did not notice this the first time I took it apart. I will be getting a new belt tomorrow and I will post a picture of the completed project. Stay tuned!