Rehauling Kiev: suggestions?

V

varjag

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After a dozen of rolls, my trusty Kiev-4a (late model) started to develop a light leak, exposing nasty vertical strips on the negs up to the sprockets. My understanding is that light comes through the area near the takeup spool, and that replacing the baffles would take a rather thorough camera disassembly. So while I'm at it I'd like to perform a decent CLA, as the camera was used straight after purchase at a flea market without any maintenance work. Hence I'd welcome any tips from experienced Kiev/Contax users, and in particular:

- Which parts could benifit from lubrication? I have some silicon grease, is that an acceptable camera lubricant?

- I'd like to replace the vinyl finish with reassuring black leather. How do you cleanse the old glue spots from the hull once the vinyl is stripped?

- The rangefinder appears to have slight vertical misadjustment: when looking at a distant point light i can see that it doesn't match quite perfectly. Can anything be done with that or should I not bother?

- The infamous focusing wheel is a bit loose: it can be nudged slightly forward/backward. OK, really slightly, call me perfectionist. Can that be fixed anyhow?

- What kind of material you use for the light seals along the back slip-in groove?

Any other suggestions are appreciated as well.
 
OK, I finally done with twiddling the Kiev. Didn't get to fixing that slight vertical RF misalignment as it didn't seem worth the effort. I re-lubricated the lens mount helical, patched the light leaks (hopefully) and gave chrome a good scrubbing.

I spent half a day trying to put the helical back in the perfect infinity alignment with rangefinder. Good thing I've scratched the infinity mark on the RF gear prior to disassembly: would be totally fiendish work otherwise. The other moment that made me sweat was when after partial assembly (the film advance limb wasn't fully assembled) the shutter was firing along with the slowdown mechanism (that pzzzt sound) on all speeds. Fortunately after finishing the limb and firing the shutter a few times everything went back in order.

Also, the worn vinyl finish was replaced with brown leather. It still has glue spots on the edges and the cut looks amateurish upon close inspection, but it feels soo good in hands :) The camera also now looks more expensive than it really is.

So, meet my 1976 Kiev-4A reborn!
 
Nice! That brown leather looks quite elegant. Now that it's working better, you'll want to post some pics! :)
 
Doug, there are some pre-repair shots taken with the thing in my gallery. It was working fairly well except the nasty light leak developed lately. We'll see how the current roll will pan out :)
 
great job, varjag:) Also on my former Contax i have seen that the rf cogwheel had a scratch marking the infinity position, it came very handy indeed.
My kiev, even after replacing the dead shutter ribbon, is very noisy and somewhat slow on the slow speeds. The delaying mechanism rattles like a chainsaw!:eek: Is that "normal"
Did you use that silicone grease after all? Did you lubricate any part of the shutter?Where, if you did?
 
The slowdown mechanism is very noticeable at speeds 1/50 and below; it is a quiet brief "thud" on the shorter speeds, more felt through the camera than audible.

Yes I used the grease on the lens mount helical and the rewind knob axis. I figured that silicone is fine as it doesn't separate and is heat- and cold-resistant. The helical was smooth enough before that, but made scratching sound when rotated to the closest distances: now it's quiet and smooth all through. The rewind button is silky smooth now too. I didn't disassemble the sutter (stopped at removing the film plane casting as it was sufficient to fix the leaks) so no lubricant went there.
 
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