Restoring dirt bike plastic

This is a side panel off a 1987 KDX 200 I am restoring. It is common for plastic on bikes this old to oxidize and fade quite a bit, I have found that lightly scraping the white oxidized plastic off (usually a soft steel brush will work) so that the original color starts to come through, then using a heat gun to lightly melt the surface plastic will both bring out a deeper more OEM looking shiny plastic. You can see my results as I'm piecing things back together here http://bit.ly/ugiXnB

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• motorcycle
• dirt bike
• plastic
• restore
• heat
• gun
• Kawasaki
• Suzuki
• Yamaha
• Honda
• motocross

[iPhoneLifevideoblog]

@TheAc2lt I've used this process on several rebuilds when getting replacement plastic was too expensive or not possible, I think the results speak for themselves. If you click on the link in my intro above, you can see my bikes progress, both side panels and tank are restored originals, the headlight is UFO and front and rear fenders are from Fredette Racing out in Beecher Illinois, but it's hard to tell from a few feet away that they're the only new plastic.

[TheAc2lt]

Top stuff mate, doing the same with my '89 KDX!