Are your Cyclops engine covers sun baked? Try this!

[Valleyvfdfirefighter]

Alright Ladies and Gentleman,

I know im new here and I appreciate ya'll welcoming me to the OCC forum. So I thought it would only be appropriate to try and give a little helpful tip to anyone wanting to get their plastic engine covers a second life!

**Do at your own risk, I am not responsible for any mishaps or unwanted results**

So, are your engine side covers, hood, and grill badly faded or baked from the sun? I have a technique that will more than likely help you out.

I recently bought a 2082 and the plastics were sun baked very bad. Now I cleaned them and the color never changed and running your hands across it it felt like sandpaper!

Well, as I was thinking tonight I thought to myself what about buffing the panels. After all, I buff my fiberglass on my boat all the time. But would it work considering it was plastic and not fiberglass. So I headed to the garage, pulled out my 7" buffer and a good old jar of "Buff Magic". I fell in love with this product about 5 years ago when I was breathing a second life into a boat restoration. The nice thing about it compared to other buffing compound is that the more you buff with it, the more it itself breaks down and eventually turns into a polish!

The trick, as when buffing anything, is correct speed and keep moving. You don't want to stay in the exact same spot to long or you can actually burn through it.

I used two very light layers of buff magic, spread on lightly with an old paint brush and turned the buffer on 2 and headed to town. Withing 5 short min. this was the result.

Note, I'm not finished as it got dark but I just wanted to show you, you can make these thinks look new again! Best of all, it's as smooth as a baby's bottom!

Rob

[darkminion_17]

Mothers aluminum wheel polish works for me, all done by my little hands, hehehehe

Are there swirls in it, and did it remove the dried adhesive?

[Valleyvfdfirefighter]

Originally Posted by darkminion_17

Mothers aluminum wheel polish works for me, all done by my little hands, hehehehe

Are there swirls in it, and did it remove the dried adhesive?

Swirls are very minimal and I'm positive they'll come out once I polish it more. I really spent less than 10 min start and finish. It did take off the adhesive, too.

[bugeye]

Meguiars Plastx is a similar product generally available at an auto parts store. I used a dual action (DA) polisher and a white Lake Country pad. Don't go too fast and overheat the plastic. Works on the headlight cover also.

[redduece07]

Wet sanding works wonders on plastic. I do it all the time on faded and yellowed plastic dirt bike tanks. If you have the time and patience you can eventually get it to as new shine as well. I recently did it to the plastics on my 1882. I didn't put the time in to get the shine back but just a once over gives a clean matte look. Also a lot cheaper than new plastics.

[Valleyvfdfirefighter]

Originally Posted by redduece07

Wet sanding works wonders on plastic. I do it all the time on faded and yellowed plastic dirt bike tanks. If you have the time and patience you can eventually get it to as new shine as well. I recently did it to the plastics on my 1882. I didn't put the time in to get the shine back but just a once over gives a clean matte look. Also a lot cheaper than new plastics.

I contemplated wet sanding but I wanted to see what my compound polish would do. It took every bit of yellowing out of the plastic and the longer I worked it, the more the compound broke down to a polish.

In the attached picture, although not great, I'm squatted about 5' away from the tractor. You can see my reflection pretty well.

[shumway072]

just my 2 cents but i found that a degreaser from Tractor Supply call 505 degreaser ( in a 1 gallon blue jug for i believe 8 of 10 dollars) works miracles. i bought it to degrease the usual motor and hydro areas but sprayed it on the plastic and the yellow, faded brown hood and panels began to litteraly drip off brown crud and returned to new shine again. just spry on and rinse away with garden hose

[SGragg]

Thanks for posting the tip, Valleyvfdfirefighter. If nothing else, your thread is now the source for several different techniques of plastic restoration.

Thanks again.

[Rescue11]

Originally Posted by shumway072

just my 2 cents but i found that a degreaser from Tractor Supply call 505 degreaser ( in a 1 gallon blue jug for i believe 8 of 10 dollars) works miracles. i bought it to degrease the usual motor and hydro areas but sprayed it on the plastic and the yellow, faded brown hood and panels began to litteraly drip off brown crud and returned to new shine again. just spry on and rinse away with garden hose

Hope that works. Im gunna try it

[Mike McKown]

Originally Posted by Rescue11

Hope that works. Im gunna try it

I've never used that stuff but I'd be careful. Some degreasers will streak the plastic, especially if you don't rinse it off right away.