Hi Adam

Well lucky this post came back to life as I missed it when it was new.

I would have those parts - I have two of those machines, both not working, I intend to make one good one out of the two.

Is the bellows in yours physically damaged or just disgusting? It is normal for them to get really horrible, we Aussies are terrible cold water washers, and the mould on these top bellows just grows and grows, you can't see it till you pull the machine apart and find this nasty little surprise. I'm not sure if hot water washing helps, as these bellows sit up above the water line and only ever get wet by a bit of splashing. I haven't done much to clean mine up except scrub it with a few cleaning products and nothing did much. I would probably put it in a garbage bag with a heap of bleach and leave it for a while to see if that helps.

I would have spare side panels, how bad are yours? Mine won't be perfect, paint is yellowed and there might be small dents. The metal is very thin on these, easily damaged. Both my machines were salvaged from scrap. I want to keep the best ones, you can have the others if you are still chasing them.

The side panels - you haven't got them lined up perfectly, I think. If you try to refit the panel when the front edge isn't seated right, they will bend like yours. It will bend back though.

It is a long while since I played with mine, but I vaguely remember that they are very fiddly to refit, you have to line them up just right and press them back into place. The metal is so thin and flimsy you should be able to bend yours back into shape with your fingers. With correct handling yours should be fine.

What about the bellows - it isn't clear in the photos, is yours torn or damaged?

Is yours the 1100 rpm spin model or the 800 rpm? Both of mine are 1100. If yours is 1100 rpm then you already have the deluxe version.

My two - the first one I got has an intermittent fault with (I think) the temperature sensor probe, the probe is weird inside, a disc of heat sensitive material inside the tube, with springy metal fingers holding it. It makes only unreliable contact with the disc inside, if it is behaving the washer works fine, if it is misbehaving, the temp sensor gives no information back to the computer board, so it aborts the wash and skips through the whole cycles in a few minutes. Very frustrating. The part is available but stupidly expensive, I'm not paying.

More modern washers use a thermistor for the same function, much more reliable, but I need to find one with the same temperature curves (ohms at each temperature.) I might have a good sensor in the spare parts machine, it has a broken bearing mount/axle where the drum axle passes through the outer drum wall. (they have a bearing on each side of the drum, very lightweight and the mounts corrode.) So one machine is irreparable, but it may provide parts to fix the other.

Yes these are great little machines.

When tested by Choice back in the day they were best tested, or second best, I can't remember.

But they cost a ridiculous $1800 AUD which meant sales were limited to people who could fit one of these and nothing else.

I think the more basic model, the drum stops wherever it lands after the final spin and you have to move the drum by hand till the flaps are at the top to open the drum. On my 1100 the drum automatically stops with the drum hatch upwards - there is a small secondary pulley on the rear side of the drum (the side that doesn't have the main drive belt pulley) with a magnet on the pulley. Next to the pulley is a reed switch sensor - so the computer knows that the hatch is upwards when the magnet triggers the reed switch. Clever.