1996 Honda Fourtrax 2x4 Light Rehab

[JayB]

Just began light rehab on Fourtrax 2x4 that’s been in storage for some time. Rusty tank, paint sheeting off rims. But what pointed me to this forum was my web search for clear coating dull tan plastics! If there’s even such a thing? Anyway. I’m glad to be here, I am human. I come in peace. 

Edited May 9, 2023 by JayB
Typographical errors

[kp3004x4]

You've come to the right place and if you need any questions answered there are many good mechanics here and are ready for the job. Welcome 

[Gwbarm]

I just did that on a 2000 Big Bear, clear coat tan plastics I mean. I have some photos posted under the thread 2000 yamaha big bear no spark mikuni carb install. Im not quite finished yet, but I can tell you how I did it.

[JayB]

I am all ears. I will tell you since my original post I have experimented with one of those headlight restoration products with decent results. But I think it could be better. 

[Gwbarm]

I Can tell you what I did. Started with badly weather and faded looked like they had been sitting in the weather for years. I dont really have any before photos. I started out by spraying them down with Amour All to try and get some color back. I let it set on there for a couple of days spraying more on a couple of times a day.

I wet sanded the panels completely with finer grit as I went 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1500, 2000, 2500, and 5000. It was very smooth, couldn't do much about the discoloration from abuse . I polished it using rubbing compound, Meguires swirl remover by hand and it did shine, but I wanted more so then tried machine polish, 3m machine polish compound with a professional polishing machine, didn't work well, too powerful and burned in a couple of places. I was going to try my random orbital polisher, but I count find it .

I was fairly happy with what I has achieved, certainly looked a lot better than what I had started with, but after being in the rainy weather for a couple of days the oxidation came back in places, so I decided this wasn't going to work. I think its probably because the area it came back in were little nooks and crannies I didn't get to as well as others.

I has some clear engine enamel I decided to try that, so I sanded the whole thing again only up to 2000 grit and went over the whole thing with a paint prep solution. I sprayed with the engine enamel and liked it very much, it gave the beige a little warmer appearance with a good shine.

I sprayed it a little dry because I wasn't sure if I wanted a high gloss shine or not, you can definitely get high gloss if you prefer that. There was some discolorations of the plastic where it had been stressed from use, not much you can do about that but paint, I didn't want to paint it.

 

Im not finished yet but I have got it good enough to put back together, I may wetsand the clear coat and polish it smooth and glossy , I haven't decided yet.

 

[Gwbarm]

Update: I am also working on a red one not a priority at this point, plastic was badly faded red I was thinking I was going to have to paint it, sanded a little and sprayed Armour All on it heavy and let it sit, every time I would walk by I would notice the armor all was gone so I didn't think anything about it, thought it just evaporated, and would spray it down again. I did this for about a week and noticed the Amour all was not disappearing like it did at first, and the red was really coming back brilliant red, and I kept this up for about two weeks, my conclusion was the protectant was replacing a lot of the lost moisture from the plastic and bringing it back it just takes some time, I had never left it on one this long before. This was just the small tank cover, im going to try it on a larger panel and see how it does there. In fact I was thinking these plastics had been painted because every time I would sand my sandpaper would gum up with red color. Of course I know that no one has two weeks to wait and see if protectant helps, and I never have either, but just started working on the next projects plastics early.

[Gwbarm]

I found out the plastics im working on had actually been painted, and it was not just a rattle can job, I have tried two different paint strippers and neither one in even making a dent in this paint its going to be a tough one. This is all the paint stripper did and neither of them said safe for plastics. My only conclusion is this is an Acrylic Laquer paint job a very tough paint to remove. The next thing im going to try is Laquer Thinner 

 

I did find that 0000 steel wool will get it but very time consuming, just today I tried spraying the steel wool with carb cleaner and that worked fairly better, but you need to neutralize it quickly so i sprayed it quickly with plastic protectant.

Looking much better but a lot of work involved, so my wife was going to Walmart I said bring me some Laquer Thinner, well that went over like a brick, I knew she wasn't going to waste her time looking for useless stuff, and she said she couldn't find it, Yeah right! So I will pick some up tomorrow and update the progress.

[Gwbarm]

I got some lacquer thinner and I will have to say it works better than any paint stripper I have used, the problem with it is it evaporates extremely fast so you have to work fast, I ended up soaking a rag with it and laying the rag on it covers in saran wrap, that worked the best to slow evaporation, I don't want to leave it on for very long anyway it is a strong solvent do not want to hurt the plastic. 

[Gwbarm]

I finally got it all off, it was kind of an ordeal, I ended up using a combination of different chemicals, this was not a standard rattle can paint it was on too good, I ended up wiping the surface with lacquer thinner, it would soften the paint a bit, then I brushed on a 2 minute paint stripper thick, thick, let it sit for maybe 10 minutes, when it started to dry out I would spray it with water, that took most of it off the few problem areas that were left I used Rustoleum Aircraft remover with 00 steel wool. After I wet sanded up to 2500 grit, and finished up with 0000 steel wool, very smooth, now ready for polish.

[JayB]

On 6/6/2023 at 11:40 PM, Gwbarm said:

I finally got it all off, it was kind of an ordeal, I ended up using a combination of different chemicals, this was not a standard rattle can paint it was on too good, I ended up wiping the surface with lacquer thinner, it would soften the paint a bit, then I brushed on a 2 minute paint stripper thick, thick, let it sit for maybe 10 minutes, when it started to dry out I would spray it with water, that took most of it off the few problem areas that were left I used Rustoleum Aircraft remover with 00 steel wool. After I wet sanded up to 2500 grit, and finished up with 0000 steel wool, very smooth, now ready for polish.

Your determination is not in short supply! The tan and red both look miles better than before.
I ended up (so far) trying 60/40 paint thinner and boiled Linseed oil mixture and have applied several coats(4-6).
It did a good job of removing some of the staining and it did help to begin to bring out the original color, to an extent. I should post some pictures but certainly, the results I obtained are not as good as yours. You may want to give the thinner/oil a shot, and see if that makes it even better, several folks online have suggested. Thanks for breaking down your process, I know now what my next steps will likely be. 

[Gwbarm]

Thanks! I actually bought some boiled linseed oil, but havent tried it yet, i started tearing into the engine, and put that on hold, and about to get that wrapped up, working on getting in running now. Im looking forward to getting back to it, after i got it clean and smooth i used a lot of Amour All on it, i actually wetsanded it with Armour All, that puts moisture back in the plastic, i would just spray it on and let it soak in, i did this for several days maybe several times a day, you can tell when its good it stops soaking it up., but when i first started doing it within 5 minutes the plastic had completely soaked up the spray. I am curious as to how the lindseed oil will work. The tan i ended up spraying clear on and it really made it look much better.  

[JayB]

My guess is the clear will do it’s job, and prevent much of the oil from penetrating, maybe that’s why most folks add the paint thinner to cut through whatever protectant maybe in place. As good as yours looks, I would definitely spot test it. In what I have seen you may get best results with the red…