Tips And Tricks To Restore Motorcycles(read Post #1 First)

[Stéphane]

The reason I'm starting this thread is because I plan on restoring a older bike. Sometimes, little tricks can save you money.

PROBLEM: Grayed plastic or faded black plastic

(handlebar switch housings, etc.)

SOLUTION: See post #2,3 and 21. Rub vaseline on the part, and remove the excess. Will look like new (Thank Sebspeed :thumbsup: ) : Pig Spit (Thanks Dallsb)

PROBLEM: Scratched engine cover

SOLUTION:Sand the cover until the deep groves are gone. Use a smaller grid and finished with emery cloth. Then polish.

PROBLEM: tarnished gauges

SOLUTION: see post #3

PROBLEM: Windscreen hazed or scratches

SOLUTION: see post #22, 29 and 30

PROBLEM: painting

SOLUTION: see post #16

PROBLEM: seat cover

SOLUTION: see post #17 to 19

PROBLEM: polished wheel high maintenance

SOLUTION: see post #5 on this thread : Wheel Polishing

PROBLEM: old paint needed to be removed

SOLUTION: see post # 33

[dallasb]

faded black plastic: Pig Spit

(handlebar switch housings, etc.)

[SEBSPEED]

Good idea Steph, been thinkin about starting a thread like this myself. Hopefully this will get pinned!

Autosol or Simichrome metal polish does a nice job on gauges:

An example of the Vaseline(petroleum jelly) trick:

The before on the right in this shot:

And the after:

(can't find it ATM, will add later)

[SEBSPEED]

Couple more:

- For chromed parts that have light to medium surface rust, soak a rag with WD-40 and wipe the part with the rag(assuming you have already cleaned the part beforehand). Let sit for an hour or so, then lightly spray a fine steel wool pad with WD-40, and scrub the rust off.

- Use a 3M Scotch-Brite pad(the green ones from the grocery store will suffice) to remove oxidation from unpainted, unpolished aluminum surfaces.

- If something gets burned on your exhaust or exhaust midpipe, your boot for example; It is easily removed with Easy-Off oven cleaner! A co-worker went out of his mind one day when his son dropped a nylon windbreaker on his brand new(and hot from a ride) Vance & Hines cruiser exhaust, I told him about the Easy-Off trick, and he now has new looking pipes again!

[gll429]

a good tip for restoring your bike...

is to drop it off and let me do it. i am inexpencive. :thumbsup:

:pissed:

shampoo to clean the any grime and grease off your bike.. it works better than the 50 buck bike cleaners out there . take pics and email mail them to yourself.. for future reference when taking things apart .. such a cable routing or wire placements.. and of course the before and after pics!

[vfrcapn]

Any tips on bringing an old, sun faded, now opaque windscreen back to life?

[dude]

I will need all the tips and tricks i can get . I picked up an 84 vfr750 that needs a ton of work for the pricely sum of zero dollars. That in itself tells you the condition.

[Rivcyko]

Any tips on bringing an old, sun faded, now opaque windscreen back to life?

Wetsand and polish? Depends on how bad it is.

As for the above,...ALL OF IT.

Only tip to add;

Hoses and tubes, in good shape, clean wipe and respray with a non silicate tire foam.

Should have seen this, when I bought it.

It was behind a barn, rotting, for 10 yrs.

[elizilla]

My V65 Sabres had these black painted engines, that were faded from age. There's this stuff called S100 Engine Brightener, that you can spray the black engine cases with. It makes that black paint look deep and dark and fresh, and it doesn't bake off. It's pretty durable for a polish, good for maybe 10,000 miles of all-weather riding, as long as you only rinse the bike and don't soap it after a rain and mud day. It's kind of expensive, $13 for a can at the local stealer, and every time I treated a bike I would use half a can. But it makes the bike look super nice.

If you are careful to just get it on the outside and not get it on the braking surfaces, S100 Engine Brightener also makes black painted brake calipers look spiffy.

You can get a similar effect by spraying those parts with WD40, but it cooks off in short order if you actually ride the bike. The S100 lasts a lot better.

Another trick I know, is to use Mother's Back to Black polish on the gauge lenses. If they've gotten cloudy with age, this clears them up considerably. It has to be re-applied every couple weeks, but it's easy to do and works well for the short term. I've seen all kind of permanent repair tricks like using polishing wheels and whatnot, but that's a lot of work, and really I don't mind reapplying the polish to the gauges regularly, it's an enjoyable way to bond with the bike.

What I'm wondering, is if anyone has a trick to spiff up the matte black Givi cases. Mine are faded and dingy looking and I haven't found anything that helps.

[vfrcapn]

What I'm wondering, is if anyone has a trick to spiff up the matte black Givi cases. Mine are faded and dingy looking and I haven't found anything that helps.

:warranty: on that too, mine are starting to look downright tacky.

[SEBSPEED]

What I'm wondering, is if anyone has a trick to spiff up the matte black Givi cases. Mine are faded and dingy looking and I haven't found anything that helps.

:warranty: on that too, mine are starting to look downright tacky.

Vaseline! Might make it look a bit glossy, so test it out on the underside to see if you like the result.

For the windscreen, you might need to get medieval on its azz if it's real bad. For less than the cost of new, you can set up a 3400rpm bench grinder with a loose cotton buff wheel, and polish it. Wet sand the whole thing with 2000 grit 3M paper first. If that sounds daunting, well, it can be. Novus sells a plastic polishing system that may work for you if it's not too horrible. Come to think of it, they sell sanding pads in 4000, 6000, and 8000 grit also.

If it's anything like my stock screen on my 700, it has spiderweb hazing/cracking that appears to pass through the material completely. If that's the case, and you polish it, you'll just have a shiny spiderwebbed screen...

In case it doesn't work out for ya, you can get a new one from Gustaffson plastics in various colors and tints for $129. Type 'vf1000r' into the search bar here: Search Gustaffson Plastics

[Guest]

I wonder if the polishes that sebspeed and elizilla mentioned for the gauges might do a good job for windshields also. I've heard of using lemon pledge for those kind of things, but I've never tried it. Those Givi cases might revive with the vaseline trick too or maybe some armor-all.

[SEBSPEED]

I will need all the tips and tricks i can get . I picked up an 84 vfr750 that needs a ton of work for the pricely sum of zero dollars. That in itself tells you the condition.

Dude, doesn't look too horrible! I've seen less sell for more! :lol:

- Got any more pics of it?

- What seat is that?

- What are your plans for it?

Keep your eyes on this thread... :thumbsup:

Can we please have this thread pinned??

[SEBSPEED]

I wonder if the polishes that sebspeed and elizilla mentioned for the gauges might do a good job for windshields also. I've heard of using lemon pledge for those kind of things, but I've never tried it. Those Givi cases might revive with the vaseline trick too or maybe some armor-all.

Trouble with Armor-All, is that it fades back out after a few days/weeks. The petroleum jelly has a better result, and lasts longer(and costs a whole lot less if you buy it in the baby section at the dollar store!)

To polish, you need something with a fine abrasive in it, like an automotive buffing compound, metal polish, or even toothpaste. Liquid "shiners" like Pledge and Honda Polish, and Armor All, will shine the surface, but won't cut down into the material to remove the faded layer and reveal fresh material.

[pres589]

Any tips on bringing an old, sun faded, now opaque windscreen back to life?

Grain of salt, I've never used this stuff, but I trust the brand quite a bit;

http://www.superiorcarcare.net/megplascar.html

If it's safe for plastic windows in the back of convertibles, I'd give it a shot on a VFR 'screen.

[Guest]

My Biggest tip i can give is use as much of the house as you can:) DON'T take any S**T from the wife.

this is me doing up my 1987 VFR

Its my first bike and i have never done any spraying ever before.

or even attempted doing a bike up.

1) as you can see the farings were a bit worse for where

2) after a lot of filling and sanding and more filling and more sanding,

then putting on quite a few undercoats and more sanding with wet and dry

3) now i have done the same to all bits of the bike and i have put aprox 6 coats of white spray and 4 clear

i left to dry and set for a long while 2 weeks to be honest Wife had the raving hump

4) Decals arrived and i had put all parts back on the bike and finished job.

5) 3 weeks after that park in a nice clear space where people can see your bike and have some White van man reverse into your hard work almost writing the bike off

smashed both sides of faring broken clutch and smashed top faring around front light.

6) Go Mental at the guy and get a full respray done on your bike

like this

I hope this has helped in any way

stevo

[SEBSPEED]

Another tip:

- Seat recovering is actually quite easy. If you're not picky about the look of the material, you can pick up a marine grade 4-way stretch vinyl at your local upholstery shop for about $20/yd. Remove the old staples and cover, then plan your size/cut accordingly, and staple the new one on. Have some spring loaded clamps handy($1 ea at Home Depot), and plan out how to stretch it on and what order to staple in.

I have re-covered an F4i passenger seat this way and more recently a huge banana seat from a Vulcan cruiser.

That said, my VF750F seat is currently in Ohio (at theoxmole's Mom's shop!) getting a custom cover made. :D

[elizilla]

- Seat recovering is actually quite easy. If you're not picky about the look of the material, you can pick up a marine grade 4-way stretch vinyl at your local upholstery shop for about $20/yd. Remove the old staples and cover, then plan your size/cut accordingly, and staple the new one on. Have some spring loaded clamps handy($1 ea at Home Depot), and plan out how to stretch it on and what order to staple in.

Before you start stapling, lay the cover out in the sun on a hot summer day. It will get nice and soft and stretchy. Pull it tight when you put it on. This makes it much less likely to wrinkle up later.

I will try the vaseline trick on my Givis, thanks!

[SEBSPEED]

Before you start stapling, lay the cover out in the sun on a hot summer day. It will get nice and soft and stretchy. Pull it tight when you put it on. This makes it much less likely to wrinkle up later.

I will try the vaseline trick on my Givis, thanks!

Good luck w/ your Givi's, make sure to report back here with your results! :thumbsup:

As for heating the vinyl, I would use that trick on a case-by-case basis. If you stretch it too much, or should I say, if it shrinks back too much, it will pull more on the staples and may tear at the staple location. A hair dryer may help to get some corners smoothed out though. :thumbsup:

[vfrcapn]

For the windscreen, you might need to get medieval on its azz if it's real bad. For less than the cost of new, you can set up a 3400rpm bench grinder with a loose cotton buff wheel, and polish it. Wet sand the whole thing with 2000 grit 3M paper first. If that sounds daunting, well, it can be. Novus sells a plastic polishing system that may work for you if it's not too horrible. Come to think of it, they sell sanding pads in 4000, 6000, and 8000 grit also.

If it's anything like my stock screen on my 700, it has spiderweb hazing/cracking that appears to pass through the material completely. If that's the case, and you polish it, you'll just have a shiny spiderwebbed screen...

In case it doesn't work out for ya, you can get a new one from Gustaffson plastics in various colors and tints for $129. Type 'vf1000r' into the search bar here: Search Gustaffson Plastics

Cool, I didn't think they would be available anymore. (Running out to pick more $$ off my backyard money tree....)

For the record, I've got two like this:

[Stéphane]

The vaseline work even on orange plastic. Just did the tank on my 84 XR250 before I put it for sale. It was all white and ugly. No it's orange with a nice shine to it.

[Guest]

To restore the screen, use the Novus system. I've used it for years on motorcycles and airplanes to keep the screen alive. I've only once ever needed all three steps. Most of the time the medium and fine are all you need. Even if it is crazed and scratched.

This also works on guage faces, just keep it off the flat black housing.

[SEBSPEED]

Thanks for the backup Gatekeeper. I've used it at work to refine teensy tiny scratches out of $4000 tinted Blackhawk helicopter window material; it works well with time and patience, it's just not the cheapest thing to try first.

The good news is, once you have it, you've got enough to last you a while. It should work nicely on helmet visors also.

[cruzinaz]

Great ideas here,,,, hope this gets pinned,,, hint hint :warranty: :thumbsup:

Just started to take my 82 CBX thru a frame off restoration, oh wait thats cars,, engine off restoration :lol:

[SEBSPEED]

Great ideas here,,,, hope this gets pinned,,, hint hint :warranty: :thumbsup:

Just started to take my 82 CBX thru a frame off restoration, oh wait thats cars,, engine off restoration :lol:

Depends on the level of restoration, could be both! :blink: