I was once pretty heavily involved in the homebuilt aviation scene, and there's an old saying with builders that the last 10% of the build is 90% of the work. I suspect that's true with lots of projects, from building airplanes to building homes. It's the finishing touches that eat up lots of time.
But, I think those little bits are important. Case in point — turn signals.
Project 19 is something of a resto-mod, with aftermarket pipes, carb tuning and performance air filter adding some punch, but the appearance remaining as close to the original red/white/blue as possible. As such, I wanted to keep the OEM signals as a nod to originality.
But, I think those little bits are important. Case in point — turn signals.
Project 19 is something of a resto-mod, with aftermarket pipes, carb tuning and performance air filter adding some punch, but the appearance remaining as close to the original red/white/blue as possible. As such, I wanted to keep the OEM signals as a nod to originality.
Turn signals tend to take a beating over the years, what with them hanging out in the airstream, bumping into garage walls, shovels, kids bikes and sometimes asphalt. Fortunately, Honda chose to make the signal housings of solid-colored plastic, meaning they can be filed, sanded and polished to whatever degree necessary to work out most any rash — no painting required.
So, off to the stash of lights to find a suitable set of front and rear signals.
Here's a typical signal housing with its scuffed, scratched and dulled finish.
First I remove the lens and bulb, and leaving the stem attached as a handhold, I begin the process of removing scratches by filing with a light metal file, then sanding with progressive grits of wet-dry paper till I have a smooth enough finish that machine buffing is able to bring back the shine. Basically the same process I use to refurbish aluminum parts. Each signal takes nearly an hour of work. And yes, I know reproduction signals are available, but what fun would that be? NOTE: This does NOT work on white colored signals & mirrors — they have a painted finish.
When I'm satisfied that the signals are presentable, the lens' are installed and a final buffing finishes up the cosmetics. I like the signals tucked closer to the body, so I install them with shorter rubber stems. The rears are 3/4" stems from a VF500 and for the fronts I use the VFR rear stems which are 1 1/4" and bring the lights nearly flush to the fairing. The stems are available aftermarket from K&S. One more item checked off the list.
I also use this technique on the mirrors and on windscreens. It ain't easy taking 3000-grit sandpaper to a plastic screen, but is often the difference between returning an original (and unavailable) windscreen to service or dropping it in the dumpster. And I prefer original parts.
First I remove the lens and bulb, and leaving the stem attached as a handhold, I begin the process of removing scratches by filing with a light metal file, then sanding with progressive grits of wet-dry paper till I have a smooth enough finish that machine buffing is able to bring back the shine. Basically the same process I use to refurbish aluminum parts. Each signal takes nearly an hour of work. And yes, I know reproduction signals are available, but what fun would that be? NOTE: This does NOT work on white colored signals & mirrors — they have a painted finish.
When I'm satisfied that the signals are presentable, the lens' are installed and a final buffing finishes up the cosmetics. I like the signals tucked closer to the body, so I install them with shorter rubber stems. The rears are 3/4" stems from a VF500 and for the fronts I use the VFR rear stems which are 1 1/4" and bring the lights nearly flush to the fairing. The stems are available aftermarket from K&S. One more item checked off the list.
I also use this technique on the mirrors and on windscreens. It ain't easy taking 3000-grit sandpaper to a plastic screen, but is often the difference between returning an original (and unavailable) windscreen to service or dropping it in the dumpster. And I prefer original parts.
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