Cleaning old VMX sunfaded Yellow parts !!

bevharris1938, Sep 18, 5:13am
Greetings , got an old PE got all new plastics for except the tank , tank is OK just a bit sunfaded , any TIPS on restoring to looking good !

desmodave, Sep 18, 5:16am
Have you tried armor all.

muzz67, Sep 18, 6:54am
go over it with an electric heat gun till it slightly melts the plastic, then sand it with very fine wet/dry paper. Meybe stick a car exhaust in the tank for a while to kill the petrol fumes first.

bevharris1938, Sep 18, 6:57am
how fine ! 400 grit !

muzz67, Sep 18, 8:39am
for a start, yes. i finished with 1000

cmx4eva, Sep 18, 9:03am
nice,what year and size!-i remember back in the 90s when the local shop sold off several for 300 odd dollars each!,in answer to yr question=i think the gas discolours the tank from the inside out,so other than a new tank perhaps painting it.maybe you can get a new replica tank from uk!

bevharris1938, Sep 18, 9:11am
pe175 1983 model , you must be confused about the local shop selling off several for $300 each , these bikes were discontinued in 1984. I i worked across the road from underwoods from 1989 to 1995, i would have brought one ;-)

tigertim20, Sep 18, 10:43am
+1 for applying heat. Best mate is a plastics fabricator, and that was his advice to me some time back, it worked a treat

cmx4eva, Sep 18, 11:17am
factual info bev,ask richard if you see him around

attitudedesignz, Sep 18, 11:45am
I had a basket case '80 RM400 that i restored 'bout 10 years ago and got all my plastics (new) from the states, including 1 STD tank and 1 Don Vesco enduro tank. Not even worth stuffing 'round trying to make your tank look any good mate, just get a new one, plenty of suppliers out there and that stuff isn't expensive.

cocabowla, Sep 18, 12:01pm
correct, last model brought in was 1983 pe175D, there was an E model but was not imported

http://vintagemx.org.nz/BikeHistory/PE175s/pe175.htm

cocabowla, Sep 18, 12:03pm
i was working at woods suzuki in tauranga in 1984 and we had a d model sitting for a long time on the sales floor, we finally sold it when a matakana island owner wrote off his z model

bevharris1938, Sep 18, 2:48pm
Cant find a supplier that makes a exact copy of the PE tank , any ideas !

attitudedesignz, Sep 18, 2:52pm
Tried suziparts in OZ!

bevharris1938, Sep 18, 2:56pm
just emailed them :-)

muzz67, Nov 5, 2:07am
. local motorbike shop here had aMaico Mega 2 sitting on the showroom forabout 2 years, untill someone got it for a song,,, now the bloody things are worth a fortune.