Mini fridge into kegerator with spare car parts!

Hello,

Here's my current project that some friends and I started one beer filled Saturday afternoon.

We dismantled an old mini fridge I had laying around and made two corny kegs fit inside. Concept for the tap tower is an intake manifold off a Saturn I had laying around.



The fridge was then painted...the door is chalkboard paint, the rest is a hammered gunmetal texture paint.



Door seal re-installed (big pain!) door also re-installed. Still fits!


Test fitting the faucets:

Back to the garage....

shifter out of an RX-7 I cut, drilled and tapped to make a tap handle out of. Next I'll be drilling and tapping something interesting to use as a "shift" knob...probably a pool ball.



Another tap handle: Had some transmission gearsets lying around that I cut up and cleaned up:



This is case hardened alloy, and much too hard to drill using conventional methods. I will be sending it to the machine shop along with a cylinder head this week.

And...tonight...beer tower assembled and attached to fridge!





So, gotta get the inside of the kegerator cleaned up, mount the CO2 manifold and run the lines for that, and then transfer beer from fermenter to keg

Additionally, for the fridge, I plan on finding all the car parts that bolt to that manifold and attaching them....throttle body, map sensor, vacuum lines, fuel rail, etc. I'm also considering some LED lighting under the taps....probably would have to mount a 110 to 12v converter on the fridge somewhere to do this though.

I like it.

Is the intake manifold insulated at all so that it doesn't let in a lot of heat/sweat like crazy?

I'm not sure how to do that yet. I was thinking of shooting the two runners that carry the beer lines full of great stuff, but then I was concerned about never being able to change those lines.

Then again, as long as I can clean the lines, I shouldn't really ever have to change the lines, right?

Still considering it.

Get some copper tubing (not the rigid stuff) and run it from the inside of the fridge into the intake. They'll act as a passage way for your vinyl tubing to reach the taps as well as help keep the tubing and beer cold. Then foam all the inside of the intake.

After that the foam will hold the tubing in place and you'll be able to change your vinyl tubing whenever necessary.

I'm waiting for the christmas tree to drop green and seeing the first pour.

That is seriously awesome.

Very cool!

Thanks guys!

mmurray said:

Get some copper tubing (not the rigid stuff) and run it from the inside of the fridge into the intake. They'll act as a passage way for your vinyl tubing to reach the taps as well as help keep the tubing and beer cold. Then foam all the inside of the intake.

After that the foam will hold the tubing in place and you'll be able to change your vinyl tubing whenever necessary.

Click to expand...

This is a great idea. However, I don't think it will work with the way I have the lines routed...too many bends. I guess I could just use it on the straight part and insulate that....hmmmmmm....

Otherwise, maybe I'll just shoot right stuff around the lines, but not go crazy with it....maybe half an inch at the bottom so I can pick it out if I have to eventually.

Very awesome best tower idea I have seen!

I presume the faucets go into the manifold and the tubing goes from the shank down one of the passages into the fridge.

What if....
You bent the correct size stainless tubing so that you could slide it in from the top. After you make sure you can install it and remove it fairly easily, weld it to your shank. Slide the tubing in place and fill the manifold up with foam. This should do away with the concerns about replacing the lines that run through the header. With the understanding that if you have to replace any of the internals, it will be a biotch. Let us know what you do. Luck - Dwain

Killer!
Pictures?

AHHH!!

I helped you build this!! Thanks for taking my advise and posting it here.

I will be home this weekend, and hopefully I can stop by for a celebratory birthday tap...

Did you pick up any chalk yet to label that door?

I won't be around unless you want to stop by on Sunday when I'm kegging.

No chalk yet

Looks cool man...diggin it.

That is SWEET.

I assume the manifold is AL. Have you considered anodising it? A Big pot, kitchen stove and some RIT dye should do it. That would look sweet black or dark blue.

Love the input shaft tap handle! I have a bunch of spare / broken / damaged transaxle parts laying around, I may consider doing the same!

that is really cool. being a gear head myself, i really like it. although when i made mine, it has to be nice enough that i could keep it in the kitchen without pissing off the SWMBO. I ended up with a brushed aluminum kegerator with a custom brushed tap tower and base.

Although it's hard to drill the gear shafts, you can weld to them pretty easily. I cranked my mig up and have welded cams and gears/ shafts to make sculptures. You should be able to weld a 3/8 nut on one to make it a handle.

That looks sweet!