1987 Snap-on toolbox restoration

[czechboy]

Hi everyone, just thought I would post up couple of photos from my toolbox restoration. It's a 1987 Kc515 box, which I believe is the KRA equivalent. It's made by snap on Canada (most toolboxes found in the UK appear to have been made in Canada rather than USA)

How I got it on eBay:


Unfortunately bit rusty







First I completely stripped it down and sanded it back to bare metal. That revealed the original stamp:


After that it was a case of:
2 coats of primer
3 coats of red
2 coats of clear lacquer
Wait 3 days for paint to harden and polish it up with some cutting compounds and machine polisher

That left me with the following:


Then
I made some new drawer liners
Cleaned and greased the friction sliders
Fabricated a new key and adjusted the tumbler pins inside original cam lock to fit
Polished handle
Chrome drawer pulls
Reinstalled badge

Here are the final results:






Thanks for reading



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[spencerian]

Awesome. I'm partial to these smaller top boxes because the first Snap On box I had looked like this.

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[anndel]

Awesome! Nice rebuild of a great box

 

[dodge610]

Superb job on the snappy box my second tool box was a snap on. Loved that box then the new box bug bit and traded it. To get my triple bay Matco. Wish now i would o kept it and just bought the matco outright. But not to hijack your thread that box looks fantastic. That is a keeper.

 

[Jarhead0408]

Nice! Good job sir!

Mind if I ask what brand and color-code you used for the paint?

 

[zcbauer89]

Great job! Love that era of Snap On box.

 

[zkling]

Great job! Where did you source the drawer trim?

The canadian and overseas, especially Euro, market shared many a box models that were not seen much in the USA.

 

[HCNDM]

awesome job! cleaned up really nicely.

Snap-on is one of those brands that just never really caught on in holland

Which is sad, because their stuff is awesome. Come to think of it Holland is a terrible country for vintage tools. My guess is due to over population. Its so crowded here that storage space is a premimium. Stuff that gets old or has no use simply gets sent to the scrap yard to make space for something else.

Sadly the same thing happened to a lot of historical buildings in the 70's and 80's.

 

[bsg1]

you did a great job and the piece looks beautiful. i like your drawer liners.

 

[jn50308401]

Looks great! What paint/materials did you use?

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[Mohawk Dave]

Awesome job!

Is that really a 1987 box? The stamping logo is way old school??? Maybe just never changed tooling?

 

[lowbucktruck]

Looks great! Good job bringing that toolbox back to life.

 

[zkling]

Awesome job!

Is that really a 1987 box? The stamping logo is way old school??? Maybe just never changed tooling?

For some reason snap on canada kept the cursive style for their stamping, well up into the 90s.

 

[jeffmoss26]

Wow, looks great!!

 

[Lookin4'67Galaxieconv]

Nice job. I have a similar box from Canada I need to get started on restoring.

Yours will last your lifetime easy.

 

[FJ 432]

Back from the Dead!!!

What a beautiful redhead. Nice job.

 

[czechboy]

Nice! Good job sir!

Mind if I ask what brand and color-code you used for the paint?

The paint I used is appropriately called "Toolbox Red" made by Halfords in the UK. The paint match is not exact but is very close. All the outside and drawer fronts were painted, and all the internals were left alone, and you cannot tell that much difference in paint shade

Great job! Where did you source the drawer trim?

The canadian and overseas, especially Euro, market shared many a box models that were not seen much in the USA.

I simply used some "Chrome door edge protectors". You can buy a 3meter roll for about £5 and just cut it to size

awesome job! cleaned up really nicely.

Snap-on is one of those brands that just never really caught on in holland

To be honest you dont see that many of them here in the UK either, and for one simply reason.....price. Whereas a new KRA top box can be had for about $2500 in the US, they will cost you almost $3500 in the UK

you did a great job and the piece looks beautiful. i like your drawer liners.

Thanks, I used some good quality Sealey non-slip toolbox liner. I've used some cheap stuff before but it was really thin and flimsy.

Awesome job!

Is that really a 1987 box? The stamping logo is way old school??? Maybe just never changed tooling?

Double checking the date stamp number shape, its actually 1989, but yes, looks like snap on Canada haven't updated their tooling as fast as their USA counterpart.

 

[MattVette89]

I love box resto threads. Yours turned out great!

 

[thegroundpounder99]

Wow that looks really good. Nice job. Would love to know the color you used.


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[billyjp2]

paint job looks great, but how did that really rusted area come out?

 

[tremek]

Great job looks amazing

 

[Tinner]

Excellent work.

 

[Sk8Crash69]

That looks awesome, great restoration.

 

[colin39]

Lovely job , back in 87 i had a 9 draw much the same, wish id kept it as it was a great box

 

[ChrisPace]

Ditto all the other compliments. Glad you saved this box! Outstanding work


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[PWRstroke_smoke]

great job sir! the paint turned out very good. i love these boxes
what color and paint did you use?

 

[Eric Commarato]

Damn that's one impressive job, very nice!!!

 

[TX RamRod]

Very cool, reading threads like this makes me want to tackle a project of this kind one day.

 

[Banjorear]

Very cool. Looks great.

 

[czechboy]

great job sir! the paint turned out very good. i love these boxes
what color and paint did you use?

It is just some red acrylic based spray paint out of a rattle can. It's called "Toolbox red" by Halfords

Thanks for all the positive feedback.

I already have a complete snap on chest/roll cab set, so this one is actually a Christmas present for my father. He has put up with using cheap plastic storage tool boxes his whole life, so this one is built like a tank in comparison. Hopefully he will like it

Thanks



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[GTO]

Nice job !

 

[bsg1]

It is just some red acrylic based spray paint out of a rattle can. It's called "Toolbox red" by Halfords

Thanks for all the positive feedback.

I already have a complete snap on chest/roll cab set, so this one is actually a Christmas present for my father. He has put up with using cheap plastic storage tool boxes his whole life, so this one is built like a tank in comparison. Hopefully he will like it

Thanks

he'll love it, and being a labor of love he'll cherish it even more.

 

[gjz30075]

Whereabouts on the box does the stamping exist?

 

[czechboy]

Whereabouts on the box does the stamping exist?

When looking at the box from the back, it's in the bottom right corner. About 2" in from the right and 2" from the bottom


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[spacedoutbob]

Fantastic Job! I always like looking at Restored tool boxes.

Bob

 

[930dreamer]

Nice resto work on the top box.

 

[dwysywd]

Nice work

 

[Renchi]

Very nice!

 

[captain14]

Very nice job! Thanks for sharing your work.

I hope you have a place of honor for the box to live