DIY Fairing Repair

"¿Habla usted español?"

At moteros.net we have a complete guide for doing so...

 

As mentioned in another post, a couple of recent gravel trap encounters have
left my fairing looking a bit past its prime. No point in getting the job
done properly, given my track record (no pun intended) of minor bins, but
I'd like to have a bash at tidying it up a bit myself.

I know the tip about drilling a small hole at the end of a crack to stop it
spreading, but has anyone got any tips for doing a more long-term repair?
It's only for cracks - not holes. Any glues that will permanently stick a
fairing, and could be sanded-down to give a reasonably smooth (preferably
paintable) finish?

Thanks in advance.

 

Domhnec bored us all completely to death with wittery prose along the
lines of:

^^^^^^^

Is that like a Spanish spaghetti?

--
Cab :^) - almost as fast as G.i.n.g.e.
GSX 1400 - 'Tarts Handbag' (tm) Bike, dead 550/4 Rat
UKRMMA#10 (KoTL), IbW#015, Bob#4, POTM#3

email addy : cab_at_ukrm_dot_org

 

Monkey says...

Send it to me and I'll plastic weld it for you. My work has been seen by
other ukrmers and I think they'll vouch for the quaity of the finished
job.

 

Glue won't work because it will have only the material thickness to
adhere to.

For non-glassfibre stuff try this:
Provided the material is thick enough you can use a soldering iron with
a screwdriver-shaped tip at the inner side of the fairing and push/melt
little wedges of material over and into the crack, say every 1/5". This
thins out the surrounding areas a tad but will result in a somewhat
homogenous material thickness over a wider area (which is better from a
stress point of view, as is important for vibrations).

For glassfibre parts the repair is dead easy albeit a bit of work - sand
down the inside and the outside around the crack to approx. half the
original thickness (about 1-2 inches wide each side) and layer up with
glassfibre mat and resin. Sand down to original thickness and shape,
filler, paint. Done.

Remember, glassfibre patching does not work too well on other plastic
materials - the resin won't bond.

--
Tom :{)
BOTAFOT#105 COFF#02/ OSOS#15 KwaSoH#2
SR500(.de), SRX-4(.jp)
Make it idiot-proof and someone invents a better idiot...

Hiroshima pics: http://makeashorterlink.com/?C12E12B97

 

Just welding? Do you use epoxy resine and fiber glass on the inner side for
greater strength?

 

I dunnou, but your newsreader has a certainly creative use of
Spanish/Catalan characters.

Could you reply including this line?

áà éè íï óò úü ñÑ çÇ ¡¿ ·

Thanks.

 

That would be fucking excellent, cheers - would certainly throw some beer
tokens in your direction. Whereabouts are you? I seem to remember West
London somewhere, but that was a while ago. Would prefer to bring them over,
'cos courier'ing something that big and fragile would be a bit pricey (plus
I'd have to do without the bike for longer).

Will be a while before I get a chance to strip off the plastics and get them
to you - although I'm not in any rush.

 

I've had a temporary repair put in one crack, where the guy cut a 'v' shape
into the material, to give more contact area for the glue, then used some
sort of quick-drying resin to stick over the top. Hopefully that won't
preclude plastic-welding it at a later date, although I suspect it might.

Magic, ta - will give that a go if the Lozzo route doesn't work out.

 

Domènec says...

Just welding, with proper material used as a filler rod which does the
reinforcing. Glass fibre resin won't adhere properly to the surface of
thermoplastics.

 

Monkey says...

I'm in Mid Bedfordshire, near Flitwick. Not a million miles away from
you.

 

Domhnec bored us all completely to death with wittery prose along the
lines of:

Hmmm...

--
Cab :^) - almost as fast as G.i.n.g.e.
GSX 1400 - 'Tarts Handbag' (tm) Bike, dead 550/4 Rat
UKRMMA#10 (KoTL), IbW#015, Bob#4, POTM#3

email addy : cab_at_ukrm_dot_org

 

Domènec bored us all completely to death with wittery prose along the
lines of:

I'm only using the wrong character set. D'oh.

--
Cab :^) - almost as fast as G.i.n.g.e.
GSX 1400 - 'Tarts Handbag' (tm) Bike, dead 550/4 Rat
UKRMMA#10 (KoTL), IbW#015, Bob#4, POTM#3

email addy : cab_at_ukrm_dot_org

 

Seems to work for me....

I use the same Newsreader as Cab (XanaNews/1.16.3.1). I have the
character set to "Western European"

 

Cool - I'm away for the weekend, but I'll try and remember to drop you a
line next week and sort something out for a convenient weekend.

Some nice roads up that way too, so I can trash the fairing again on my way
home.

 

My father, as an employee now retired of 3m abrasives, has done a few
repairs for me (that included a fiesta mirror join to the bodywork some dork
knocked off at a pub) with plastics, although its not really his area which
is more abrasives but hes quite handy all round.

It was held on purely by a special 3m epoxy that they use to mend bumpers he
has told me. (although the mirror was then non-moveable!).
He tells me thats what he also used on a completely knackered cb5 fairing,
by the way. That was very badly cracked after a similar jaunt and was near
useless, the epoxy I managed to screw up by sanding it down too much by
being a bit too vein, but it did do the job of holiding it alright
otherwise.
That way you wont have to do any nasty home attempts at burning up your
fairing, or chances of cyanide poisoning. Nasty things them plastics.
Maybe you can get the abrasive from the 3m shop or through some other
factor, or if you know any friends working at a car factory.

By the way I have a modern CB500 footpeg that is destined for tip, any use
for you ( I'm assuming front and rears are same but I really cant remember)
? Top rubber is a bit worn but otherwise alright. I cant quite work out
which side its for though.

Tone

 

When I tried to see your reply Outlook tried to install the Japanese
Language Package. Amazing.

 

Now it works, Cab-san.

 

Domenec bored us all completely to death with wittery prose along the
lines of:

Heh. I blame the writer of XanaNews. It's good when Colin ain't around
to see the post.

--
Cab :^) - almost as fast as G.i.n.g.e.
GSX 1400 - 'Tarts Handbag' (tm) Bike, dead 550/4 Rat
UKRMMA#10 (KoTL), IbW#015, Bob#4, POTM#3

email addy : cab_at_ukrm_dot_org

 

What Cab was trying to say was...

"¿Habla usted español?"