Any suggestions for the restorative process

Submitted by Freedman on Wed, 05/06/2020 - 10:50

Hi , new to the vintage world.

Looking forward to getting my newly acquired 1965 Imperial Mark IV back on the road.

I have a few questions to ask if anybody is feeling patient with me.

1) Any tips on getting wheel bearings and headset back into shape? just a deep clean and regrease and tighten up? 

2) Any tips on maintenance of the integrated 3 speed rear hub?

3) Should I try and keep the existing white brake and gear housings? do they clean up well or are they now too old and brittle to work with?

4) Is there any cleaning product you would recommend  to get the seat colours back and in shape?

5) Also what would you recommend to get the chrome back into shape?

6) Lastly is there a colour code for a touch up paint for this blue colour?

 

thanks 

7 Comments

Submitted by jdwillia on Wed, 05/06/2020 - 12:05.

It should be fairly easy to clean this bike up.

With regards to the paint, this blue was originally a two process paint (like candy apple). A fine silver base coat was initially sprayed , followed by a blue-tinted clear. It is just about impossible to touch this up with a colour matched paint out of a can. For large areas that are to be completely redone, they should be masked off at frame joints, sanded, cleaned, and resprayed using a two part process. If this is to be done, the best available paint in spray cans is Dupli Color "Metalcast" in Blue, which can be purchase at most Canadian Tire stores. When spraying, the number of coats determines the depth of the blue colour.

If you can live with a bike that has some flaws, I would just clean it up, polish any plated surfaces with SOS pads, and strive to make the mechanical aspects as good as possible.

John Williamson

Submitted by Cbgimse on Thu, 05/07/2020 - 01:00.

For chrome I use a crumpled ball of aluminum foil,  just wet the foil and scrub. Some prefer steel wool but I believe the chrome will rust faster bc it will have bits of steel left in it. 

Submitted by simonkarl on Thu, 05/07/2020 - 11:05.

I too use the aluminum foil folded, I use it with an Orange Zep cleaner and it works crazy good.!

Submitted by Freedman on Thu, 05/07/2020 - 14:42.

Great. I will give that a go. 

What about the vynl seat? It is quite heavily textured and the dirt embedded in. Anything to recommend to clean this ? Thanks

Submitted by bleedingfingers on Thu, 05/07/2020 - 17:06.

Hi for the seat I would try citrus hand cleaner from Canadian tire I have used this for a lot of things other than hand cleaning it is safe on most surfaces .

Rub it in and leave it on for a while then rince it off with water .

It gets into the grooves and texture and loosens up the dirt.

Submitted by Freedman on Thu, 05/07/2020 - 19:22.

That’s great info.  Thx

Submitted by DUOMATIC on Thu, 05/07/2020 - 19:50.

I would recommend using a hand held electric steamer on the seat. It is a blast of heated water that takes the dirt right off.

I have used it on my car vinyl inside after storing it for a few years. It got a little moldy and the steamer cleaned it right off super easy while cleaners like fantastic wouldn't.

Highly recommended for a huge variety of cleaning jobs. If you want to see tile grout come clean, use a steamer on it.

Usually a decent one is about 50.00.  Just steam and wipe dry.