KawasakiTrax Community
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: dr1979-340 on July 27, 2015, 01:07:58 PM
-
Since decals are not available, I thought I would try to restore a faded 340 Drifter hood without resorting to repainting.
Any suggestions on products and or techniques?? Thanks in advance for the replies!!
-
Clean well... you will need to get any wax/residue off... then clearcoat. The hood will look like new! I've done this before with excellent results! ;)
Automotive sprayer works best so you can get a wide spray pattern. 35-40 psi at the nozzle. Make sure you let things tack up before you recoat. It is easy to over apply and you will get runs. Patience will prevail! Tory
-
Any petroleum products will just fade over time. I know you are trying to avoid "spraying" but the results are well worth the effort. Just pull your vents and hood hold downs... mask your headlight and let it fly! Lol.
-
Thanks Tory!!
-
If you have a local printing shop, they can make some stickers to match the ones on your sled. get some good pictures of them and the dimensions, most of the time they can match up a font and cut them out with a stencil cutting machine. I did this with my 4/6 and was pleased with the results. cost was not too bad, cheaper then buying them online, plus you keep it local supporting a local business
I scrubbed down a metalflake hood from a Scorpion (magenta no less) and clear coated it afterwards. turned out better than new. I used soft scrub cleanser on it and it worked great. Buffing compound would probably be better.
-
This hood was primed and painted after repair. It turned out nice. It looks better in person.
-
I have a 1977 Snojet 440 sst and the hood looks terrible with the actual fiberglass showing in some places ( on the hood of course) and lichen growing in places, how can i repair the whole thing without loosing where the color changes are?
-
I had the help of a friend with my hood. He has over 25 years of bodywork experience. In my opinion, if you want to preserve the original patterns, decals etc., start by taking a lot of pictures, measurements, tracings. Whatever it takes to replicate it after you do the bodywork and paint. I'm sure you can get more support from Sno-Jet guys out there. You should be able to get replica paint and probably decals for your snowmobile.
Here are a couple more pictures of the process I went through on this hood.
-
Cool pics, dr1979-340.
Snojetsst440, it's tough to tell what you're dealing with, without pictures.
You might try some automotive polishing compound....different from " rubbing compound" ,which migh be a bit too aggressive to preserve the finish.
Not knowing how much time and money you want to devote to this...exposed fiberglass....lichen growing...doesn't sound too promising.
Perhaps the best option is looking at re-finishing the hood.
vintagesledpaint.com sells bulk paint (quarts) or spray cans of SnoJet blue....18.95 a can, plus shipping. Not cheap, but high quality stuff. Your hood may have faded over the years....so, the new paint may not match precisely, but it is a dead ringer for the original color.
Your best option might be to remove the lichen, fill in the bad spots with some "Bondo" auto filler, wet sand the entire hood, use a good primer, and re- paint the whole thing.
You could use about any decent quality gloss white paint for those areas.
I'm betting replacement decals are available.
-
Thanks rminier. I used Vintage Paints product for mine and love it!!
-
Got it back from my decal guy. He did a great job!!
-
WOW. Beautiful!
-
Looks nice dale!!!
-
Very nice!!!
-
That is looking great!! 8) 8)
-
Thanks guys!! A lot of hours. I paid my friend $100. He helped with the body work and painted it. He used to work at a Auto Body Shop. $75 to the decal guy. $49.20 to Vintage Paint. Worth it in my book!!
-
Nice work...worth all the $$ and effort !