Author Topic: Seat resto. Pleeeeese help. (Read 2667 times)

PRO THUNDER · « **on:** June 13, 2016, 10:35 PM »

I know this topic has been covered before, but i'm starting to panic and think I might have balls up this good condition Elina Flyte-Tech seat. I bought it a while back and have finally got all the parts I need to build a 1983 Huffy Pro Lightning. When I got the seat it had some scratching to the front nose part, so I descrided to get some fine wet n dry paper and gently sand down the scratching. Then panic started to set in as I tried to get some sort of shine back into the nose. As you can see from the pic below, this is what it looks like now. It is nice and smooth but it is still this matt grey finish. Any help would be greatly appreciative.

deeman · « **Reply #1 on:** June 14, 2016, 03:46 AM »

T Cut and loads of elbow grease should do you fine Lee, What grade wet n dry did you use?

PRO THUNDER · « **Reply #2 on:** June 14, 2016, 06:39 PM »

Cheers Deeman. I'll give it a shot.

The only info on the rear of the paper is 3M 733 P360 OG4

factory pilot · « **Reply #3 on:** June 14, 2016, 07:19 PM »

I did the same to my shotgun 1 ... Don't panic you need a buffer on the end of a drill if possible and the correct polish ( the name escapes me ) .. It will come good mate.
Can anyone help with the name of the correct polish ?

oldschoolace · « **Reply #4 on:** June 14, 2016, 07:52 PM »

Looks like your paper was 360 grit. You should go up through the grades 100-150 at a time to at least 1200 before you try and t-cut

deeman · « **Reply #5 on:** June 14, 2016, 08:12 PM »

Quote from: oldschoolace on June 14, 2016, 07:52 PM

Looks like your paper was 360 grit. You should go up through the grades 100-150 at a time to at least 1200 before you try and t-cut

^^^ This...You will need to work up the grades before you polish. I usually go 1500 then a go with 3000 before polishing. And even then you will need a few goes with the T cut or polish. I have a 3 stage plastic polishing kit made by Novus...you can get it on ebay, but imo T cut works just as well

PRO THUNDER · « **Reply #6 on:** June 14, 2016, 08:58 PM »

Thanks again for the info Deeman. I'll get some finer W n D and give that a go. I'll let you know how I get on in a few days.

wilsey72 · « **Reply #7 on:** June 28, 2016, 12:03 PM »

How did you get on??

dancetothedrummersbeat · « **Reply #8 on:** June 28, 2016, 10:31 PM »

Quote from: deeman on June 14, 2016, 08:12 PM

Quote from: oldschoolace on June 14, 2016, 07:52 PM
Looks like your paper was 360 grit. You should go up through the grades 100-150 at a time to at least 1200 before you try and t-cut

^^^ This...You will need to work up the grades before you polish. I usually go 1500 then a go with 3000 before polishing. And even then you will need a few goes with the T cut or polish. I have a 3 stage plastic polishing kit made by Novus...you can get it on ebay, but imo T cut works just as well

I bought one of those Novus kits too. Only had a short go with it so far on my Raleigh Extra Burner seat, but it's worked already

kalex · « **Reply #9 on:** June 28, 2016, 11:39 PM »

Do some searching on YouTube for restoring motocross plastics

They use a blade to get down to cleaner plastic, which then leaves it dull like yours. I'm sure they then use a heat gun but check first as it was yonks ago I viewed them.

PRO THUNDER · « **Reply #10 on:** June 29, 2016, 07:14 PM »

Quote from: wilsey72 on June 28, 2016, 12:03 PM

How did you get on??

Just got hold of some 1500-2500 W n D paper and it's already made a BIG difference. I've also just ordered a buffing drill attachment off ebay, so should be here soon so that I can finish it off.

oldschoolace · « **Reply #11 on:** June 29, 2016, 07:27 PM »

Clamp your drill to a bench or something and pass the seat under the mop. If you try and run the drill round the seat by hand it could easily slip and drag the chuck onto the seat.... Back to square one or worse $:-\$

PRO THUNDER · « **Reply #12 on:** June 29, 2016, 10:14 PM »

Thanks for the advise oldschoolace.

Dogfish · « **Reply #13 on:** July 05, 2016, 07:49 PM »

not sure if it will help at all I have restored black plastic on some of my motorbikes in the past if the plastic if faded you can buy plastic dye from http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Autobright-Restore-2-Black-Permanent-Dye-to-plastic-vinyl-rubber-and-mouldings-/331647914927?hash=item4d37c193af:g:zbgAAOxy4~BSTBO1

I think as mentioned below you will have to polish the plastic first but if it keeps that "white" faded look this stuff works well I think it "dyes" the plastic so puts the colour back into it ...

PRO THUNDER · « **Reply #14 on:** July 11, 2016, 07:14 PM »

Well. I finally got round to sorting this seat out and getting it back to it's original shine. I received a polishing kit from China to fit on to my drill. This consisted of a buffing wheel and two foam wheel pads. From trial and error, I found by using the foam pad I could bring back the shine on to the nose. You have to be careful not to apply to much pressure as the foam gets hot and can melt the plastic, but if you do it a little at a time with light even pressure it works as you can see from the pic below. I'm well chuffed with the result, as it 100x better than before. And I removed most of the scratching. Happy days.