My first Honda Aero: 1984 NH80

[Fainspawn]

Yeah, I can't imagine removing and re-applying. I meant you might be able to tape over them.

Good Point! I may do just that and see what it looks like.

You might try some Mother's "Back to Black" on the paint before you repaint. The stuff is amazing.

Thanks Bear for this. I had not heard of this before, but I've been scratching my head trying to figure out what to do with the other plastics aside from the frame. (IE: the glove box compartment, panel under seat, etc...) You can see from the initial pics I sent that the plastics are fading from sun. I'm not expecting perfection, but if this stuff can return some black-sheen to the finish, I'd be ecstatic.

[Fainspawn]

My seat lock recently became attached only by the cable today Fain, the guy before me had it jb welded to the plastic handgrip, but that was broke off too. Gonna have to figure something out for that later on. Love the scooter though, looks great, and I'm super jealous all your decals are there, not to mention your plastics look in good shape, mine need to be replaced. Enjoy your Aero, these things are fun to work on, and it's quite the learning experience.

Thanks ragtop. The plastics have some pretty decent cracks in them. Someone did some pretty shoddy repairs to the side panels. They're far from perfect, but I can manage. I'm grateful to have them though!

I'm a little bummed about the decals though. They weren't in as good of condition as I had hoped, and it's going to be next to impossible to save them. Even if I taped them and just painted around them, the color won't match and it'll look faded.

My seat lock recently became attached only by the cable today Fain, the guy before me had it jb welded to the plastic handgrip, but that was broke off too. Gonna have to figure something out for that later on. Love the scooter though, looks great, and I'm super jealous all your decals are there, not to mention your plastics look in good shape, mine need to be replaced. Enjoy your Aero, these things are fun to work on, and it's quite the learning experience.

My seat lock for months was a nylon tie, looped then attached to the release cable with another tie.

Well at least I know I'm not alone on this issue. I'd like to restore it to it's original working condition if possible. Clear knobs aren't my idea of a good look.

[Dio89Elite]

Fainspawn you've made considerable progress.
Yeah, I'd like to keep things original too if I could. When I can't, then I'll think of a nice color scheme and go with that.
Just go with what you like and what will give you a smile whenever you see your scooter. =)

How are you getting those stickers off? just wondering...
I use a heat gun to take stickers off but it's a bit tricky since if it's on too long, it'll start melting and warping the plastic as well. .

If there are cracks on your panels, you could use jb weld, or a quick carbon fiber/ fiberglass with all purpose cement for repairs.
here's a excellent link to body repairs http://www.hondaspree.net/phpBB3/viewto ... ber+repair

[Fainspawn]

How are you getting those stickers off? just wondering...
I use a heat gun to take stickers off but it's a bit tricky since if it's on too long, it'll start melting and warping the plastic as well. .

Thanks for the encouragement.

The stickers are SOL. There was no good way to salvage them, and I ended up scraping them off with a paint scraping tool. It worked really well, and I didn't do any damage to the plastic.

I've removed all the panels, sanded everything down as best I could by hand, and I'm pretty much done with the painting process.

Now, I'm waiting on my clear coat to dry, and then I'll be buffing and polishing. Then, I'll put all the panels back on, and use Bear's suggestion of the Mother's Back to Black to restore some life to the black plastics. I'll post some pics later this week, including a before and after. I'm using employing a local motorcycle shop run by a guy I trust to help me with the mechanical parts. There's a few things I'm not comfortable with removing/ replacing on my own, and I like to have someone who I can lay the blame on other than myself if something is wrong.

[Dio89Elite]

always great to have a trustworthy mechanic. =)

a before and after shot would be awesome!