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I would like your methods and materials you would use to clean and restore the tamiya yellow cva shocks .

simple green ?
alcohol ?
degreaser ?
dish soap ?


thanks : )

ps : i am restoring a tamiya falcon , so i will post a restore thread soon .

Simple green ought to fill the bill.

Liquid JIF ( cream cleanser) works great with an old tooth brush and warm water.

Then spray with WD40 to replenish the plastic.

Soapy steel wool pads to polish the shock shafts up and bring the springs up shiny if not too far gone.

Taken me yrs too get this formula down pat. Lol...

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here is the finished product .

nothin special , but this is goin got be a runner , so i don't need 'sheld queen' results .

i used simple green and a stiff brush and just scrubbed .

thanks for the replies , I didn't want to use something that would have ruined the plastic .

WD 40 doesnt affect nylon.

Being doing it to all my vintage Runners for over 10yrs .

IT has never attacked any plastics for that matter.

Steel wool polishes when done lightly . Much smoother action.

Go one step further and you can fit in AE gold shock shafts with kyosho pistons.

I

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I did this not long ago.
I just used hot water and dishwashing liquid with a soft toothbrush.
Worked fine.
I didnt touch the shock shafts or springs though.

1500 grit sand paper on the shock shafts. Chuck the shafts gently into an electric drill, thread side in the chuck. Spin it till it looks pretty.

I have seen SO many yellow CVA shocks built poorly. I guess since most of the builders were of a younger age group. If you take the time to remove the flashing off of all the parts, they are actually very smooth. With new orings and a new or a polished shaft, they don't leak either.

Brandon G wrote:1500 grit sand paper on the shock shafts. Chuck the shafts gently into an electric drill, thread side in the chuck. Spin it till it looks pretty.

I have seen SO many yellow CVA shocks built poorly. I guess since most of the builders were of a younger age group. If you take the time to remove the flashing off of all the parts, they are actually very smooth. With new orings and a new or a polished shaft, they don't leak either.

It's been ages since I've been a teenager the last set of yellow CVA's I built were for a FireDragon rere. I like to think I know all the tricks to make good shocks, aerated or not... trimming... polishing... piston assembling... bleeding... greensliming... mip blue ringing... reducing washer thickness and so on so forth... and there's NO WAY I could get the FD yellow CVA's no to stick like crazy, for a very simple reason: the shaft holes weren't line up between the body and the bottom cap

Paul

Hmm, that's odd. I have been through quite a few of them. 2 Falcons, a Hilux, a KingCab, a Fox, a Boomerang... I have not had any problems with them after I had gone through them.

tamiyadan wrote:Been doing this 30 years, and beg to differ on wd40, while wd 40 itself is basically fish oil, the propellant used can crazy plastic I have fogged plastic and melted tamiya cva shock bodies using wd 40 in the past

Unless WD40 is a different compound in your country, it's a petroleum based product. I have no idea what fish oil is, but wikipedia says "There is a popular urban legend that the key ingredient in WD-40 is fish oil"

It does not attack all plastics, in fact I have yet to see any it's damaged. Mine came with a plastic tube and cap, which are fine on my 8yr old can of lube.....what it does do is attack rubber, so don't get it on tyres etc. I guess it might fog clear plastic but I've never had a problem with it and often use it to remove decal residue etc.

An old racers trick is to spray it on the plastic parts of a buggy after cleaning to give it that "new" look.


Also from Wikipedia:

WD-40's formula is a trade secret. The product is not patented to avoid completely disclosing its ingredients.[2] WD-40's main ingredients, according to U.S. Material Safety Data Sheet information, are:

* 50%: Stoddard solvent (i.e., mineral spirits – primarily hexane, somewhat similar to kerosene)
* 25%: Liquefied petroleum gas (presumably as a propellant; carbon dioxide is now used instead to reduce WD-40's considerable flammability)
* 15+%: Mineral oil (light lubricating oil)
* 10-%: Inert ingredients

The German version of the mandatory EU safety sheet lists the following safety-relevant ingredients:

* 60-80%: Heavy Naphtha (petroleum product), hydrogen treated
* 1-5%: Carbon dioxide

.

Fair enough on the Wikipedia comment, I know entries can be abused and incorrect. This is what it says on WD40's own website about different materials:

What surfaces or materials are OK to use WD-40 on?

WD-40 can be used on just about everything. It is safe for metal, rubber, wood and plastic. WD-40 can be applied to painted metal surfaces without harming the paint. Polycarbonate and clear polystyrene plastic are among the few surfaces on which to avoid using a petroleum-based product like WD-40.

So apparently OK on rubber too....!?! This "myth that WD-40 will stretch your bicycle chain" - if people believe it stretches your chain simply by spraying the stuff on, they need a better education. If the myth came about because WD40 leaves a residue that causes dust / fine grit to stick to your chain and wear it out prematurely (i.e. stretch it) , then that would be 100% right. It's the reason no serious cyclist uses it - I use GT85 on my Kona.