Chapter 2 - RADS!

As I mentioned in an earlier post as you all know, if everything is equally covered in grease, shit and dirt then the overall impression is at least uniform. When you clean up one bit then put it back on it makes everything else look worse. Hence the radiators. After 20 years of abuse and mistreatment they looked like this.









At this point I realised why I was running a leeeetle bit hot last summer...

Wirebrush, degrease, lots of masking and lots of working through EVERY fin with a sewing needle and compressed air keyboard cleaner. Ill post up the finished items later.

would an electric toothbrush with soft bristle head be ok to do the rad fins with?
im thinking would make the job a little easier and perhaps quicker.

hardnutdvd wrote:would an electric toothbrush with soft bristle head be ok to do the rad fins with?
im thinking would make the job a little easier and perhaps quicker.

Good idea, but the mud is clogging all the way through the fins front to back so I need to loosen all the way through and then blast it... Its slow, but working. I don't mind taking ages to do something, I just only want to have to do it once! lol.

a hose from the back, and just keep it soaked over night hose again the day after and keep doing it for a few days then sit down, watch eastenders corrie hollyoaks emerdale with the wife while you spend the rest of eternity plunging each fin with a cut up bit of credit card on one of her finest trays from the kitchen!

good luck

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I was scouring the web for decent pictures of NC30s and came across this example:

http://www.motor-talk.de/bilder/honda-v ... 30295.html

Hating on the drilled rear sets and different indicators but apart from that its super clean. Worth a look.

I hose my rads then use small cable ties to push through the fins or slice an old credit card up and use that!

Its an arduous task which ever way but it n eeds to be done!

Kris

Chapter 2. DONE!

So after much poking and prodding with a variety of implements (the sewing needle and zip tie being the best if you're asking) the rads are about as clear as they are going to get. Masked, primed, and sprayed top rad back to silver and decided to go with black for the stoneguard as I though it would look cool (I think I was right) and the lower one with matt black VHT paint. Fan and mount wirebrushed, Kurusted, degreased, masked, primed and painted with more black gloss enamel. Lovely job. All in all I am pretty pleased with them especially the upper one considering what they looked like before. Hopefully this will translate into cooler running as well!









All this for something you never even bloody see. If only fairings were this easy to sort out...

If you guys are still following my progress then I apologise for the break between my posts. I have been cracking on with things, but not had the time to get it all done AND post it all up in between work. Seeing as I am going away for a week on Wednesday I thought it a good time to get this thread up to date.

After finishing the rads I wanted to do a few other little bits and pieces including the stand which was duly stripped off and degreased to take off 20 years of crap.





Quick strip and a rub over to smooth everything out, degrease and prep and then on with the red oxide and then the topcoat.





Next thing was on to the rearsets. I had read a few bits and pieces about restoring them and decided that the less invasive and abrasive the better on these as the finish underneath all the crap was still pretty good. (Gotta love Honda engineering and finish quality from this era)

Before:

Degrease. 00 Wire Wool. Autosol. Elbow Grease. Polishing mop. Buff. Repeat.

Blue Peter: Here's one I prepared earlier.









The quality of the photos doesn't do them justice really but for ease of uploading direct to photobucket I am shooting on my iPhone and they aren't too bad.

nice work