Car Guys Plastic Restorer

[jhayden]

The faded and blotchy composite oem Vette valve covers for the LT1 in the roadster (also standard equipment for LT1 equipped MasterCraft ski boats) have been sitting on a shelf for some time. They offer several advantages over the earlier metal covers, but my past efforts to make them presentable had produced only frustration. My most recent attempt (with one of four well-known plastic restoration products already in the garage) resulted in an hours-long scrubbing with Dawn detergent to get rid of the white gooey mess left behind.

Any new product out there worth trying? A Google search turned up “Car Guys Plastic Restorer” along with tons of positive feedback. Only a few days after placing the Amazon order, the bottle was delivered, along with very specific – but not complicated – instructions. After a thorough cleaning of the surface to be treated, only a small amount of liquid to produce a “very thin” layer should be used, followed by buffing and a second wipe down after air drying.

After seeing firsthand the amazing results produced by the initial application, it is really tempting to follow with a second, or to use more of the product than the small amount recommended. This may explain some of the disappointing results a very few reviewers have posted. And, though the product has been described by some as “pricey,” the miniscule amount used to produce the desired results should make a single bottle go a long, long way.

In one sense we are fortunate that Nissan discontinued production of our roadsters prior to the advent of the huge rubber bumpers that came later. Still, there are plenty of vinyl, rubber and plastic areas (of almost any color) that can benefit from treatment with this product.

Highly recommended.

Jon Hayden

[redroadster]

The header pipe a inch and a half away & hasn't melted the plastic vc ?

[jhayden]

An excellent question and a legitimate concern:

(1) The custom headers were ceramic coated. “Popular Hot Rodding magazine found that during testing, its set of stainless headers ran at a scorching 870 degrees Fahrenheit. A set of ceramic headers on the same engine registered a mere 258 degrees. Barely hot enough to boil water. The ceramic headers dropped to 195 degrees within a minute of shutting the engine down; after that same minute, the stainless headers were still 520 degrees.” Richard Rowe, It Still Runs (online)

(2) The engine bay has both push and pull fans operating continuously

(3) The combo of ceramic coated headers and side pipes produces the greatest amount of heat offset due to how much more air the side pipes are exposed to

It seems doubtful that the covers would be exposed to more heat than those on a stock LT1/LT4 Vette running cats plus all the parasitic stuff in a crowded engine bay, but I cannot prove that. My IR gun does seem to corroborate the quoted passage above, however, with respect to ceramic.
Jon