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PostPosted: Tue May 17, 2016 6:28 pm 
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Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2011 10:09 am
Posts: 74
Location: Tucson, Arizona, USA
jcsnook wrote:
Have you tried blasting old plastic parts yet? I hear that it brings old sun dried and faded plastic parts back to life.

I've got a set of old RG400/500 mirrors that are weather beaten and faded, and would love to see them restored to their former beauty so I could use them. They look sad now.

PM me if you think you can help.



OK Jim, thank you for sending those, that was an interesting thing to experiment on. For those of you playing at home, Jim sent me two mirrors from a Suzuki Gamma, not quite unobtanium, but scarce. They looked like 30+ year old plastic mirrors sometimes do: faded, crusty in spots, etc.

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I ran some tests first using a set of old Napoleon mirrors from my hoard, played around with a few techniques, arrived at a good gentle process that would peel off the cruddy stuff without screwing up the surface or obliterating the lettering (not present on the Suzuki mirrors). The "done" mirror of my Napoleons is to the right.

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Masked Jim's lenses and the threads...

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Ran them through the blaster, then a treatment of peanut oil (really!)

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...and tomorrow they will be on their way back home to Jim.

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Conclusion?

This works well, I'd say these are a solid B+. Tons better for sure. Using the vapor blaster gently I can resurface the plastic and remove the greyish oxidization and crud effectively without distorting or changing the texture if I work slowly and carefully.

It still needs some type of dressing when finished. I used peanut oil because I think it's the best, many guys love Mother's Back to Black.

I think these are also a candidate for a light broiling with a heat gun to flash the dyes and plasticizers and restore the black color that way, but I wasn't feeling like I ought to use that particular technique with these :-).

I'll probably do this when I need to. It's a good alternative when paint isn't going to do enough with the crud. Thanks for the suggestion Jim, and look for these in your mailbox in a few days.

Best,

Nils

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Nils Menten
Tucson, Arizona, USA

I do vapor blasting! http://www.restocycle.com
Ikon Shocks: http://www.ikonshocksusa.com


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PostPosted: Sun Jun 26, 2016 7:35 pm 
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Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2011 10:09 am
Posts: 74
Location: Tucson, Arizona, USA
Hey look, it's done! (almost):

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That H1 is getting closer to the top of the queue...

:-)

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Nils Menten
Tucson, Arizona, USA

I do vapor blasting! http://www.restocycle.com
Ikon Shocks: http://www.ikonshocksusa.com


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PostPosted: Sat Jul 09, 2016 11:19 am 
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Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2011 10:09 am
Posts: 74
Location: Tucson, Arizona, USA
Noblehops wrote:
Jim wrote:
Those first heads look like they were blasted with sharp, coarse aluminum oxide. Anyway, your results are amazing.

You're not going to be at the meet next week, are you? If you are, I'll bring a home brew or two for you to try.



Ya, I agree - far too coarse of an abrasive. Many thanks - I did what I could on those and it sure looked a lot better, but it would have been 15% nicer if he had left it all to me :-).

Are you guys doing the Deals Gap thing? Super fun. I will not be there, I am in mad preparation mode trying to finish a Z1 I am restoring, plus prepping three street bikes for a tour in early June. NobleHops loves him some craft beer, hope to sample one of yours one day.

Here's the Z1 project for those of you that go both ways :-)

http://kzrider.com/forum/11-projects/60 ... mitstart=0

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N.


Hey for those of you that like the 4-stroke Kawasakis, that Z1 project is nearly complete.

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Nils Menten
Tucson, Arizona, USA

I do vapor blasting! http://www.restocycle.com
Ikon Shocks: http://www.ikonshocksusa.com


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PostPosted: Sun Jul 10, 2016 2:20 pm 

Joined: Sat Oct 04, 2014 3:45 am
Posts: 796
Location: Cen Tex
I love the 4 stroke 900 Kaw's! Looks great, Nils...

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H2B..... H1E..... Z1B ..... RD350...... X6 Hustler..... TS250.... CB750 ..... CB550...... and a Bomber!!


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PostPosted: Mon Jul 11, 2016 4:28 pm 
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Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2011 10:09 am
Posts: 74
Location: Tucson, Arizona, USA
Stev-o wrote:
I love the 4 stroke 900 Kaw's! Looks great, Nils...


Haha! Thanks Steve!

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Nils Menten
Tucson, Arizona, USA

I do vapor blasting! http://www.restocycle.com
Ikon Shocks: http://www.ikonshocksusa.com


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PostPosted: Tue Jul 12, 2016 3:27 am 
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Joined: Thu Jun 09, 2011 3:06 am
Posts: 4364
Location: PARIS FRANCE
your RG Mirrors are japan market only better looking than wordline ones :mrgreen:


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PostPosted: Thu Sep 01, 2016 11:25 am 
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Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2011 10:09 am
Posts: 74
Location: Tucson, Arizona, USA
Update time from RestoCycle! So on the other side of the shop we restore and build vintage and custom motorcycles, which is what led us into the vapor blasting work in the first place.

We recently finished a nut-and-bolt restoration of a 75 Kawasaki Z1-900 that was a total blast. This bike went down to itty bits, and was completely restored - including new transmission parts, bearings, clutch, honed for the high compression big-bore pistons it wears, and a brand new head with Kibblewhite valves, springs, keepers. Carbs were also rebuilt. The fork has RaceTech internals and new tubes, the rear some nice Ikon shocks and roller swingarm bearings, and everything else in between is new or was totally refurbished to as-new condition. There is fantastic reproduction parts support for these bikes, and that is where the signature 4-into-4 exhaust came from, along with the gorgeous bodywork, faithfully reproduced by craftsmen in Japan.

It was so fun to build this bike I bought another and it is awaiting its turn :-).


Where we started. It was a lot worse than it looked at this point.
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Torn down, frame powdercoated, up on its stand and about to get reassembled.
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Fork apart, waiting for parts from RaceTech, and installation of new springs and gold valves.
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Wheels about to be relaced, new spokes, strips, and bearings. Hubs freshly vapor blasted.
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New wiring harness, into replated brackets. All the wiring was carefully renewed, cleaned, retaped, made perfect.
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Engine torn down to little bits: We found pitting and worn valve guides so the head got totally redone, cylinders honed. Also found bad transmission parts and bearings, all repaired or replaced. Oil pump rebuilt, clutch hub bearing, springs, discs replaced. Many new cam chain tensioner parts. This beast is actually a 1075 and has high-compression pistons to boot. It boogies :-).
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My brother could not resist the urge to port it, "just a little". Ok, ok. :-)
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We replated and reused all the original fasteners.
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The entire engine was of course vapor blasted and looks new.
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The build - so many details!
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And done. Took it out for a maiden cruise a week or so ago, and it is running great, is a total blast to ride. Will deliver this to my friend/customer in Switzerland in the spring, just as their riding season gets started. This bike will be ridden and loved.

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We have more projects and news to share, coming soon. Thanks for checking in.

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Nils Menten
Tucson, Arizona, USA

I do vapor blasting! http://www.restocycle.com
Ikon Shocks: http://www.ikonshocksusa.com


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PostPosted: Fri Sep 02, 2016 1:41 pm 

Joined: Mon Aug 19, 2013 10:03 pm
Posts: 147
Location: USA
X


Last edited by warehouse1001 on Mon May 15, 2017 9:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Fri Sep 02, 2016 1:44 pm 
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Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2011 10:09 am
Posts: 74
Location: Tucson, Arizona, USA
warehouse1001 wrote:
You do very nice work indeed! I'm sure your friend will enjoy that beauty very much.


Thank you very kindly man!

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Nils Menten
Tucson, Arizona, USA

I do vapor blasting! http://www.restocycle.com
Ikon Shocks: http://www.ikonshocksusa.com


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PostPosted: Fri Sep 02, 2016 1:53 pm 
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Joined: Tue Jun 07, 2011 6:37 am
Posts: 10460
Location: Rio Rancho, New Mexico
Beautiful job. It's funny to me how times changes opinions, as I hated this paint job for many years. But for some reason, now I like it! :wtf:

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Twist the throttle, tilt the horizon, and have a great time. What triples are all about...........


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