Dia Compe Tech 7 restoration

I've a second set of Tech 7 levers that I'll use on the Haro build which had one hell of an adventure coming to me from the USA. They took a vacation in the Brazilian Postal Service for over 3 months before arriving on my door in Sweden.

The first set I was really happy with the restoration. They were in a rough shape and white but those became black/silver. You can see the restoration job here: Original condition, Raw finish, Painted, Completed.

Anyway, the levers were black/silver and in an average survivor condition with a little rash but I wanted then white/silver.

First thing was to strip the black paint off them (yep, it is paint, not anno):

This is how they look built up raw:

The tricky part when painting the bodies is the locking pin... it can't be removed. I did the same technique this time as with the previous set. But this time I took a few photos on how to tape of the locking pin.

First move the pin to the unlocked position and put two single layers of masking tape around the pin. It's important that it's a single layer as this tap will travel with the pin inside the lever:

 Push the pin so the tape is inside the lever like this:

Now simply tape of the rest on the locking pin, so it looks something like this:

Simple, all ready for paint! :)

Next stage I use a primer that's specifically for aluminium. It's fast drying and is dust dry after 10 minutes or so:

Front:

Rear:

All primed:

First coast of white gloss:

Final coat done and tape removed before fully dried:

Loosely built up. I'll replace the spring when the paint is fully dried:

 

Hardware polished up (left before, right after):

And all built up: