1980 911sc Rear Reflector Restoration

[cjo64]

Sometime ago after neglecting my loose rear center "Porsche" reflector, I unfortunately lost her on the road never to be found.

Thanks to your guys' advice here on Pelican, I waited around until I found an original replacement in decent condition as opposed to buying one of the new non-original replacements such as the Hexcel Texalium reflector.



I was hoping you guys could provide some tips to restore some of the rough spots to help me get this thing looking as close to new as I can. I've heard some things about painting the edge black, painting the backside primer-grey and polishing the outside. (Picture below for reference).



Thanks, guys!

[TJJSC]

Here's what I did:

Blast the entire rear using bakingsoda:



Taped of the Porsche lettering and sprayed paint using crome effect paint (wiith back backing paint layer) used the black after taking off the tape from the lettering:



and:




finnished it of with a matte grey primer (i guess any paint will do, or even without) for the original effect.

hope this helpes, good luck

[boss11]

TJJSC, that looks great, any pics of the end result from the business side of the reflector? cheers

[Bill Douglas]

TJ, that last pic. The one with the tail light housing in it. So you can pull them apart? The reason I ask is the bit where the bulb screws in and there are the electrical connections and a spring in it, well the spring seems to have broken and I don't want to pay huge money for a new housing. So pulling it apart and fixing it would be a pleasure.

[porwolf]

Originally Posted by boss11

TJJSC, that looks great, any pics of the end result from the business side of the reflector? cheers

Yes, I would also be interested how the rear side of the reworked reflector looks like. I did some touch up work on mine also. The black paint on perfect luck with the silver paint. Somehow the reflection effect was not too good, only reasonably so. I guess the original silver was applied by a vacuum deposit process that puts a perfect mirror like metallic finish on the red plastic surface in the rear. The reflection effect with my touched-up silver paint job did not quite compare.

[TJJSC]

I've started out on a partly touch-up as well discovering this indeed always showed the "repaired" areas. Thus decied to go all the way and blasting the entire back.
I remeber (forgot to mention) I've put a clear plastic primer on before applying the chrome effect paint.
I don't have a picture on the "good" side at hand now, (don' t think it will show the right effect on a picture anyway) but in my opninion it looks original as the text is verry sharp and the refective area looks even and sort of the same as before.


As for the tail light housing I've found a solution using new inserts for bulbs (ebay).



I must say in the end I bought another housing though, as I found the housing to be too corroded (got verry thin in some places). But i figure this a good dyi repair for the bulb fittings. (if you want i can make some better picture on the fittings used..even may have a few lying around)

[TJJSC]

OK took some pictures:



close up:



Will need some extra polishing on the outside, but i'm happy with the overall result

[TheSt|G]

Wow, that looks good.

[catuck]

Looks new! Did you polish it at all? I'm restoring mine as well and am planning on trying Mother's lens polish. Where did you get the soda blaster? Cheap or expensive? Also, you masked letters, then the black was both for the letters and to enhance Chrome paint correct?

[will hung]

TJJSC, fantastic first 3 posts! Awesome work. As somebody who recently rebuilt his taillight assemblies, I'd love to know more about your replacement bulb holders. Despite refurbishing mine, the LED bulbs I've installed still fit loose. My solution involved pulling the spring contacts out using a dental pic into the bulb holes and then adding some solder onto the bulb contacts to get them to fit more snug.

But any way of getting rid of the contact boards that are there currently would be appreciated, especially if they involve using the stock bulbs.

[TJJSC]

Cris, Thanks, baking soda/powder (is if i'm correct natrium bicarbonate)
you can buy it cheap in a 25KG bag (10-15 EURO or 20USD?) or insanely expesive a a small pakkige to use in baking cakes! You can use it with the same kit (blasting gun/compressor) which you would use with any other blasting materials..but is far more gentle for the material used upon.
correct; masked letters, then the black was both for the letters and to enhance Chrome paint.
the crome spay was done in verry light layers giving time in between to dry.

Will, (also thanks!) below another pic on the sockets used.
You will have to take out the little circuit boards and drill/widen up de existing holes to fit the new replacement sockets. I've glued them in hence the earthing wires to the chassis connecting.


example: BA15s Bayonet Car Boat Light Bulb Socket 1073 1156 q | eBay

[Bill Douglas]

Thanks TJ, I'll have a go at opening mine up and seeing exactly what the problem is.

[TJJSC]

Bill, I've posted some answers and pictures but put a ebay link in it for an example of the part, got the message it must be reviewed by a moderator first. If it won't get trough, i'll try again.

[Bill Douglas]

Thanks! Much appreciated TJ.

[cjo64]

Thanks everyone for the great advice/ideas. And thank you, TJ for the great pictures- I'd be thrilled to get my reflector looking as good as yours!

Over the next few days (as I find time) I'll be starting and finishing (hopefully) this restoration. I think I'll first try my luck removing the old paint from the back with plain pressured water and going over it with a toothbrush. That is, before I'm daring enough to try any abrasives on the plastic.

I just picked-up this silver/chrome metallic spray paint at Lowe's and I'm pretty pleased with how it shines after testing it on a piece of cardboard.





Note that it was 12 o'clock noon, bright and sunshiny when the photo above was taken. My smartphone camera had to dim the background just to properly capture the bright paint on the cardboard.

Lastly, I can't decide whether it'd be better to meticulously tape-off the "porsche" lettering like you did, TJ, and then spray black once the chrome coat has already been applied. Or if it'd be better to hand-brush the black lettering and spray chrome after. Ideas?

[jeffs9146]

I hand painted the letters then sprayed the chrome paint over it when I did mine!

The key is to try to get as much of the old paint off before you repaint it! If you don't you will have blotches.

[bhmkv]

Looks great. I need to polish mine as well.

[cjo64]

Also, maybe a dumb question, but is there a way to remove these plastic plates that the metal clips mount to with out breaking them? With the intention of then placing them back on the reflector after painting.

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by catuck

I'm restoring mine as well and am planning on trying Mother's lens polish. Where did you get the soda blaster?

I have had fantastic results with Meguiar's PLASTX. I have used three or four different types of plastic headlight restoration kits but none have been a simple polish.

With this stuff, I use 1500 wet sand, then use a wool buffer with a mild cleaner type compound. Then use the Meguiar's stuff to bring it to clear. This if for just a general "spiff-up". For serious clarity, I use finer grit paper after the 1500, maybe 2000/2500 or so and use a finish pad after the rough cut. Similar to car paint that is tired.

Regarding the baking soda blaster, I have an original reflector that needs the works but is intact. I am going to use my $30-ish dollar el-cheapo sandblaster from the Freight and just fill it with baking soda after a wash out.

Something like this:

Portable Abrasive Blaster Kit

Check this unit out:

Gravity Feed Blaster Gun

PS: Thanks cjo64! Nice thread.

[catuck]

Bob, thanks for the tip on polishing, I think I'll work my way up to 2500 then polish - sounds like a good plan.