Have 5 109's need to pick the best 2

[Morphenox]

As the title suggests I have 5 109's in various conditions and i would like to get 2 in working order for a singles setup on a Mk17. Took them to my LDs earlier today and came back with a really positive feeling. The older tech told me that 3 of them were in Good-Excellent condition and shouldnt be a problem to service. The other 2 were in fairly rough shape and should be kept as spare parts. Im thinking of taking 2 of them along with my first stage to him to check and service and disassembling 1 myself just to tinker with and get familiar with its internal operation.

heres pics! the pics are taken in order of best - worst shape
*note*in photos with 2 regulators the best ones(imo) are on the right.

 

[ams511]

What do you mean by shape? Cosmetic condition? If so, even the "bad" ones can be made to perform better than new. Also some of the guys in the DIY forum has had them re-chromed and they look like new. Also remember you can upgrade them to Balanced Adjustables if you want.

 

[elan]

You could restore all of those 109s. The biggest deal for me was the rubber parts but vintage double hose was selling all of the rubber parts I needed. The levers pop up on ebay, you can place the s-wing popet and the spring from G250. I restored all my 109s - I think I have around 4 of them and converted 3 to balanced adjustable.
the current mouthpiece from scubapro works great too

I'm not sure if they are really considered vintage, you can bring the reg pretty much to the level of G250V which was still in production a year ago.

 

[Morphenox]

the last set of regs the rubber is near worn out on the purge cover the exhaust tee on one is are pretty stiff with a good bit of cracks (compared to the others).I know they can be cleaned up and re-chromed but how expensive would that be?
Im planning on upgrading my primary to BA and my keeping octo as 109.

 

[rhwestfall]

Im planning on upgrading my primary to BA and my keeping octo as 109.

Sorry if this is a hijack, but why would you want a "lesser performing" regulator for a back-up? Keep in mind, it is employed at a time of stress.... While it is true that the differences, when tuned properly are likely only slightly perceptible, it still seems "silly"....

Okay, back to the question: Those are hardly "rough". I have one with a dented face. Keeps on working smoothly. I also have a few with little chrome left on them. They too are working fine. Replace the rubber components, and dive, dive, dive! If you want to do a restoration, a re-chrome job would likely cost as much as the reg costs. If they have sentimental value, perhaps it is worth it. I know I am looking into it for some of mine. I have also been toying with seeing if I can find someone to anodize one. Think some color would be really "cool".... maybe just a face plate, but the whole piece might be over the top.

They are outstanding regs, and combined with a modern (MK-17) first, are tremendous for cold water. Keep in mind, the MK-17 can have a significant pressure swing of IP, so balanced may be a better choice for both regs.

 

[Morphenox]

took the best looking reg apart never seen this poppet assembly before. I have 2 regs with the old poppet in the second picture but i have never seen one like the first picture.

 

[rhwestfall]

 

[halocline]

There's nothing wrong at all with having a balanced primary and unbalanced alternate. In fact, with a good first stage, you'll have a hard time telling them apart. As rhwestfall mentioned, the MK17 does have an IP swing but it will still perform great with both the balanced and unbalanced 2nds. The advantage of the balanced (IMO) is that they hold a tune better and just seem to be a little overall smoother. The advantage of unbalanced is, once they're converted to the new duro poppet (on the right in your 2nd photo) you can use very low cost seats or even stamp your own for about a penny/seat. Just think, you could live to be a hundred, rebuild every year, and only spend a dollar on seats! Kind of puts the whole 'free parts' scam into perspective, doesn't it?

It's hard to see the poppet in the first photo, but it doesn't look familiar to me either.

You can get rubber purge covers and tees at vintagedoublehose, at least he had some for a while. I'm not sure if he still does.