making light

discussions specific to the 750 Paso

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paso750
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making light

Post by paso750 »

just would like to show what difference it can make when you clean the inner side of a headlight (using some chopsticks and a cottonball). Do not touch the chrome reflector and if at all only use very little distilled water to wet the cottonball. (don`t completely soak it).
Put your headlight on a towel, lens downwards and throw in the cottonball. Move it around with the chopsticks. If you want to turn the headlight around to see if you cleaned it all remove the cottonball before that.

beginning
Image
while (one half done)
Image
at the end
Image

Actually the old beam of my Paso was even more dirty inside. A good indicator is when you can`t see the bulb inside clearly. A dusty headlight looks quite normal until you start cleaning it and see the difference ...
I recently bought a brandnew headlight for my Vespa scooter and it was the same.

G.
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Desmo_Demon
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Re: making light

Post by Desmo_Demon »

I've done something similar with the headlight of the ST2. For it, I put some glass cleaner in the headlight housing and just swirled it around. I then flushed it out with lots of water and then dried it really well before reinstalling. The one time I used a hair drier to dry it a bit quicker and a lot more thoroughly.
2002 Ducati 748 monoposto
1998 Ducati ST2
1996 Suzuki GSXR-1100
1994 Bimota DB2
1988 MegaPaso 916 project
1987 Ducati Paso 750
1985 Harley FXEF
2001 Ducati M900ie (wife's)
2000 Yamaha YZF-R1 (wife's)
1998 Ducati ST2 (wife's)
1994 Suzuki GSX-750R (wife's)
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paso750
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Re: making light

Post by paso750 »

Quite radical. That`s something I would not do. The reflector is usually only chrome steamed plastic and glass cleaners or other detergents that are only minimally abrasive or even create abrasive gases can attack the chrome and make it dull.
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Desmo_Demon
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Re: making light

Post by Desmo_Demon »

paso750 wrote:Quite radical. That`s something I would not do. The reflector is usually only chrome steamed plastic and glass cleaners or other detergents that are only minimally abrasive or even create abrasive gases can attack the chrome and make it dull.
It's been a fairly common practice with the ST2/ST4 headlights for at least eight years because I first heard of it and did in back in 2000 when I bought my bike. I've never heard of it damaging an ST2 or ST4 headlight, but you are correct. A person would not want to use an aggressive cleaner or it could eat the chrome finish right off of the reflector.
2002 Ducati 748 monoposto
1998 Ducati ST2
1996 Suzuki GSXR-1100
1994 Bimota DB2
1988 MegaPaso 916 project
1987 Ducati Paso 750
1985 Harley FXEF
2001 Ducati M900ie (wife's)
2000 Yamaha YZF-R1 (wife's)
1998 Ducati ST2 (wife's)
1994 Suzuki GSX-750R (wife's)
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paso750
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Re: making light

Post by paso750 »

don`t know how good the quality of the reflectors nowadays is. I had some old fog lights once and you got a silver finger only by touching the reflector just like from cheap chrome spray paints.
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Desmo_Demon
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Re: making light

Post by Desmo_Demon »

paso750 wrote:I had some old fog lights once and you got a silver finger only by touching the reflector just like from cheap chrome sprays.
I had a light bulb blow out on my ST2 and somehow it discolored the chrome reflector. I had the bright (pun intended) idea to try to buff it out and used an automotive wax to try to clean it up.....that was a HUGE mistake. About two little swirls with my finger and the cloth and I lifted the reflective coating right off the reflector. :banghead:
2002 Ducati 748 monoposto
1998 Ducati ST2
1996 Suzuki GSXR-1100
1994 Bimota DB2
1988 MegaPaso 916 project
1987 Ducati Paso 750
1985 Harley FXEF
2001 Ducati M900ie (wife's)
2000 Yamaha YZF-R1 (wife's)
1998 Ducati ST2 (wife's)
1994 Suzuki GSX-750R (wife's)
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Finnpaso
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Re: making light

Post by Finnpaso »

That "foggy" headlight is common problem in STs and i have opened my sisters husbands 1999 ST2 headlight and cleaaned it totally, he have been since happy with it. Its easy to open totally in ST, cause light is made from 2 pieces and its only "welded" together with some silicone, or similar stuff. I used only very sharp knife to open it from middle, then totatty cleaning and parts back again with something similar, like silicone. Very simply in ST. :smoke:
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nnnnnnorman
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Re: making light

Post by nnnnnnorman »

im going in. im gonna clean with great care the internal parts of my supa dim 906 haedlight. its a european one so its got an orange filter on it for uk roads. this does not help on my preference for minor country roads! im gonna check the volts to the bulb as well. and im gonna hunt down a uk unit if anyone has a spare one :thumbup: give me a call on 07919037083 anytime. and also im going to source a yammy fz koito unit and give that a go.
1990 906 paso red and white
1991 906 paso black and gold
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paso750
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Re: making light

Post by paso750 »

I had sent you a pm
nnnnnnorman
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Re: making light

Post by nnnnnnorman »

nice one gerhard. that is a good price too! ive bought it so now i wait for it to arrive and i can save the original unit(which i will clean) for when i visit europe! perfect and thanks again.
1990 906 paso red and white
1991 906 paso black and gold
1997 ST2 red
2004 ccm r30 with 710 conversion
175 moto morini road race replica
a box of bits r100 bmw scrambler project
1962 rover 95 p4
1997 iveco daily
a non running xt600...stator needed
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paso750
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Joined: Sun Jul 18, 2004 12:00 am
model: 750 Paso
year: 1987
Location: southern Germany

Re: making light

Post by paso750 »

10 quid was a bargain :thumbup:
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