Restoring original pizzacutter center caps
05-20-2021, 09:54 AM
Post: #11
Restoring original pizzacutter center caps
Thanks! I was planning to sand them down, use primer+filler and sand them down another time to smooth out the scratches. But it's a good idea to use plastic primer instead. Thumbs up!

1982 - TA60 Carina 4dr sedan - fun cruiser
1983 - AE86 Sprinter Trueno - import project
2013 - Honda Civic sport - daily driver
2004 - AEU86 dot ORG - daily domain

Support our forum, buy from the AEU86 shop:
[Image: AEU86 AE86 - Restoring original pizzacutter center caps]
Visit this user's website Find all posts by this user
05-21-2021, 10:54 PM (This post was last modified: 05-21-2021 10:54 PM by banpei.)
Post: #12
Restoring original pizzacutter center caps
I made an attempt with the worst of the "undamaged" center caps. I was able to remove the aluminum front but it was considerable more difficult than the one that was badly damaged. It turns out the aluminum is bonded to the plastic. So I used a hairdryer to heat up the glue and then I was able to separate the two. However that did bend the aluminum a slight bit. I tried fixing this using a hammer and a dolly. After I was satisfied with the result I sanded down the front and now it looks like this:
[Image: AEU86 AE86 - Restoring original pizzacutter center caps]
There is still a lot of pitting and I haven't even tried putting the two back together again. I'm not happy with this result. Angry

So I had a change of plans: if after painting and more sanding it still doesn't look okayish enough I'll use filler on the pitting and then paint them in a light grey colour. I'm even doubting if I actually should separate the two remaining caps and instead just use masking tape. (which is also a lot of work to do it tidy enough)


Attached File(s) Thumbnail(s)
   

1982 - TA60 Carina 4dr sedan - fun cruiser
1983 - AE86 Sprinter Trueno - import project
2013 - Honda Civic sport - daily driver
2004 - AEU86 dot ORG - daily domain

Support our forum, buy from the AEU86 shop:
[Image: AEU86 AE86 - Restoring original pizzacutter center caps]
Visit this user's website Find all posts by this user
06-09-2021, 11:05 PM (This post was last modified: 06-09-2021 11:07 PM by banpei.)
Post: #13
Restoring original pizzacutter center caps
There actually is some progress! Hurray!
Last time when I visited the garage, I actually inspected the wheels. Apparently they have been painted over by someone (they did a decent job to be honest) so also the two centercaps I got with the wheels have been painter over. So I took one for color matching and got some rattle cans plastic primer and silver (I still have some black leftovers in the basement). I'm not a 100% sure the silver is the exact same as the example (I'm actually colorblind), but it was the closest match with the color chart. It looked equally greyish and sparkly so let's hope for the best. Wink

So today I started sanding down the two "best" ones. Right one is done with 600 grit and left one untreated:
[Image: AEU86 AE86 - Restoring original pizzacutter center caps]

And both of them sanded down with 600 grit:
[Image: AEU86 AE86 - Restoring original pizzacutter center caps]
There is still a lot of pitting and scoring left on the aluminum plate.

So I filled all that up with some bog:
[Image: AEU86 AE86 - Restoring original pizzacutter center caps]
Initially I was planning to do it proper with aluminum putty filler, but I dropped that when I decided last time that I would respray them anyway.

Sanded down the filler with 180 grit paper:
[Image: AEU86 AE86 - Restoring original pizzacutter center caps]

And late night sanding down once more with 250 grit and finally with 600 grit:
[Image: AEU86 AE86 - Restoring original pizzacutter center caps]
All the surfaces are smooth now and I'll start doing some paint work tomorrow. Dodgy


Attached File(s) Thumbnail(s)
                   

1982 - TA60 Carina 4dr sedan - fun cruiser
1983 - AE86 Sprinter Trueno - import project
2013 - Honda Civic sport - daily driver
2004 - AEU86 dot ORG - daily domain

Support our forum, buy from the AEU86 shop:
[Image: AEU86 AE86 - Restoring original pizzacutter center caps]
Visit this user's website Find all posts by this user
06-10-2021, 08:51 AM
Post: #14
Restoring original pizzacutter center caps
Looks good!
Find all posts by this user
06-23-2021, 01:28 PM
Post: #15
Restoring original pizzacutter center caps
Continuing where I left off last time...
Masked up the aluminum cross, primed and painted the black plastic:
[Image: AEU86 AE86 - Restoring original pizzacutter center caps][Image: AEU86 AE86 - Restoring original pizzacutter center caps]
The result looks good, but there are some flaws:
[Image: AEU86 AE86 - Restoring original pizzacutter center caps]
Then I let the paint cure for a week, masked up the black painted parts and painted the aluminum in silver:
[Image: AEU86 AE86 - Restoring original pizzacutter center caps]
After removing the masking it actually looks pretty decent. There are still some (shallow) dents in the aluminum and there are some small ridges where I didn't sand down the filler flat enough, but I'm happy with the result.
[Image: AEU86 AE86 - Restoring original pizzacutter center caps]
It actually is better than the paint the original:
[Image: AEU86 AE86 - Restoring original pizzacutter center caps]
Close up you can see there is a difference in sparkle of the silver paint and the black is a bit more shiny, but it's close enough.
[Image: AEU86 AE86 - Restoring original pizzacutter center caps]

The end goal wasn't to get them in perfect condition, but to get them good enough to put these wheels on my Carina. I mean, my Carina looks way worse than these wheels! So what's the use of having prefect wheels on it? Big Grin


Attached File(s) Thumbnail(s)
                           

1982 - TA60 Carina 4dr sedan - fun cruiser
1983 - AE86 Sprinter Trueno - import project
2013 - Honda Civic sport - daily driver
2004 - AEU86 dot ORG - daily domain

Support our forum, buy from the AEU86 shop:
[Image: AEU86 AE86 - Restoring original pizzacutter center caps]
Visit this user's website Find all posts by this user
06-23-2021, 02:33 PM (This post was last modified: 06-23-2021 02:33 PM by r.ave.)
Post: #16
Restoring original pizzacutter center caps
Seems good enough to me.
And nobody will notice while driving or from fa away Wink
Find all posts by this user
06-23-2021, 02:40 PM
Post: #17
Restoring original pizzacutter center caps
Looks decent. They'll never look new again unless you want to spend a shitload of money though. At least you saved a set of wheels and caps.
Find all posts by this user
06-24-2021, 10:58 PM (This post was last modified: 06-24-2021 11:00 PM by banpei.)
Post: #18
Restoring original pizzacutter center caps
Thanks and yes they're good enough as a temporary measure. This is what they look like on a Carina:
[Image: AEU86 AE86 - Restoring original pizzacutter center caps]
Looking at this picture I suspect the ones I cleaned up actually used to have the same paint scheme as the ones on the red Carina. Big Grin
I'm not sure if I like them on a white Carina and like them over the 15 inch Celica Supra L-type rims, but if I do I'll search for a proper set of centercaps. Tongue

1982 - TA60 Carina 4dr sedan - fun cruiser
1983 - AE86 Sprinter Trueno - import project
2013 - Honda Civic sport - daily driver
2004 - AEU86 dot ORG - daily domain

Support our forum, buy from the AEU86 shop:
[Image: AEU86 AE86 - Restoring original pizzacutter center caps]
Visit this user's website Find all posts by this user


Possibly Related Threads...
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  Can you convert your 86 back too the original state? gh0st 7 2,072 04-25-2022 04:25 PM
Last Post: gh0st
  AE86 roll center adjusters for Carina nyberrg 9 11,349 06-16-2015 02:45 AM
Last Post: roman
  Camber adjustment vs original struts Lt86 9 8,567 05-07-2015 09:45 PM
Last Post: zenki
  Original gauge with universal fuel sender Komba 4 5,738 01-05-2015 03:27 PM
Last Post: Komba
  driveshaft center bearing issue chenfon 8 11,524 11-30-2012 12:06 PM
Last Post: chenfon

Forum Jump:


User(s) browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)

Contact Us | AEU86 | Return to Top | Return to Content | Lite (Archive) Mode | RSS Syndication