Plastics Repair

[Hedgetrimmer]

Had a go at bashing the fairing brackets straight today, and just generally looking a bit closer at the damage. The left bracket that holds the reg/rect definitely wants replacing, a bit too awkward to straighten properly. As to the fairing itself, I could just leave things as they are as it's only cosmetics, but am wondering about trying my hand at a little bit of rough repairing.

Here's what I'm looking at:





Now, it's not going to wind up looking perfect, I know that. But I wondered if anyone had any suggestions on how to tidy it up a bit, inexpensively?

Cheers.

[Exupnut]

Get it up to deefer's. He sorted mine fer a good price.

[BIG MAC]

Take it off the subframe twist the subframe until it holds the fairing straight and the cracks closed as best they can...abrade the inside surface of the fairing and lay in some glassfibre tissue painting it into position with resin/gel from a kit. do this a couple of times, leaving to set up each time and don't worry too much about filling the cracks on the outside make sure any material doesn't run through. From the front use a powerfile or dremel to abrade the edges of the cracks to a chamfer then fill with glassfibre resin. replace all parts on the bike making sure no stress cracks - once happy flat the area with 400 wet and dry (wet with a tiny amount of washing up liquid in the water) Fill the area with a thin film of flexible car body filler and rub down once set = same 400 idea again. Gently abrade the paintwork in the immediate vicinity with a grey scotchbrite pad then TCut the entire panel. Mask out the bike using plastic sheets and paper blow in a little primer in thin coats over the repairs and wet flat it once dry...Paint in solid colour then lacquer Make sure not to paint up to masking edges where there is going to be a blending in, apply any decals required then another couple of coats of lacquer 'dusting it into toward the edges).  Once its all set up give it a good T CUT and wax to blend in. I have repaired loads this way...Not as good as Deefers plastic welding but adequate

[ChristoT]

Deefer. I've seen Exup's resprayed fairing. Apart from a very minor scar on the inside, it looks factory.

EDIT: Glass will hold, but even if you're good, it will always look rough. If you aren't good, it'll look manky.

[Hedgetrimmer]

Whaddya reckon Deefer, can you do something with this? Got a piece broken off the tail unit too, clean break, was just going to glue it back on, no distortion in the plastic here I think.

Mac, sounds good, but TBH a bit more complex than I really want to get involved with. And I probably would make a mess of it! If I was going to do that kind of repair, I'd probably want to practice on some scrap items first, which I don't think is going to happen.

[Nebuchernezzer]

There is proper plastic filler you can use. I used it on the lip of my silvia (with glass impregnated with super glue on the inside,  resin wouldn't stick to that kind of plastic).
Came up mint.

[Deefer666]

Whaddya reckon Deefer, can you do something with this? Got a piece broken off the tail unit too, clean break, was just going to glue it back on, no distortion in the plastic here I think.

Can do that in my sleep mate, Don't use glue or fibreglass as they are a non-flexing substance and the thing with fairings is that they do flex....Only a very minute amount but the do. The vibrations from a bike will cause the crack to re-open or the paint to deform, if done well a repair with glass or glue may last years but will open/split eventually.

 What I do is plastic welding (I don't mean a soldering iron and a coat hanger!). Its a proper plastic weld with matched ABS plastic that will be permanent and just as strong as the original panel, ask anyone on here who I have repaired panels for, the down side is that it is a heat process so the paint will need to be redone & there will be a slight scar on the inside of the panel BUT I have repaired both sides of the panel before (a double weld) to leave a flawless finish on the inside but most people dont tend to want this as it cost extra and not many people are bothered by a slight imperfection on the inside of the panel.

This was Exxupnuts fairing after the repair and before the paint, it was split from the corner of the headlight and the middle of the headlight to the edge of the panel. if you look carefully you can see the weld but once it is painted you are left with an invisible repair.

[Exupnut]

An after PICCY please. I ain't seen it yet. :-)

[Hedgetrimmer]

The thing is, I'm not really bothered about going to town on it to get it back to pristine, as I have this idea about going for my perfect idea of a gen 1, and this bike won't be the starting point. It'll likely donate the R6 shock, Ivanising bits, R1 fork conversion when done etc. But I've pretty much decided to try to source a low mileage, late model gen 1 with black engine and frame as my starting point, and will likely have that one sprayed in this colour scheme. Then this one will either be moved on, or used as a hack.

So I'm just curious as to whether there is an easy way to just tidy it a little without spending big bucks. Your repair looks good Deefer, but then I'm left with it needing respraying, which I really don't want to spend out on with this bike. A bit of touching up would be fine. So it's looking like I'm hoping for a solution which doesn't exist. Which is kind of what I thought to be the answer, but just threw this out there on the off-chance really.

But at least now I know a bit more about the options, so have learned a little, and for that at least, I'm grateful to Deefer and Big Mac 

[Deefer666]

That wouldn't happen to be Dream Machine paintwork would it?

[Hedgetrimmer]

So I'm told. What was the give-away? The bike was originally a red one (shut up red98  ).

[Deefer666]

The big give away is how thick the paint is!     I think they use a 8" roller to slap it on. I have seen enough their work to spot it a mile off. when you have accident on a bike they have painted the paint always cracks like an egg shell!

[Hedgetrimmer]

I've had Dream Machine paintwork before, on a GSXR750, the red and black one in this pic:.



It bubbled up on the top of the cowling by the engine. Sent back for repair, they just did a rough overspray, so I wasn't impressed. I get the idea that they can do a decent job, but only do so when the bike is likely to be high profile and give them some advertising. Paint on mine doesn't look bad though. Or didn't til I got my hands on it 

I was taught once that to get the best finish, you spend lots of time and effort on preparing the surface, coats of primer, then paint, then lacquer, all flatted off, and all thin coats. I was told this is how you get a real depth to the shine. But then, the cost for most would be prohibitively high I guess.

[ChristoT]

I've had Dream Machine paintwork before, on a GSXR750, the red and black one in this pic:.

It bubbled up on the top of the cowling by the engine. Sent back for repair, they just did a rough overspray, so I wasn't impressed. I get the idea that they can do a decent job, but only do so when the bike is likely to be high profile and give them some advertising. Paint on mine doesn't look bad though. Or didn't til I got my hands on it 

I was taught once that to get the best finish, you spend lots of time and effort on preparing the surface, coats of primer, then paint, then lacquer, all flatted off, and all thin coats. I was told this is how you get a real depth to the shine. But then, the cost for most would be prohibitively high I guess.

Knowing how much Exupnut paid for his fairing, you should be breaking Deefer's arm off, Nick! Definitely worth it, the cost is very reasonable, especially considering the finish!

[Hedgetrimmer]

Knowing how much Exupnut paid for his fairing, you should be breaking Deefer's arm off, Nick! Definitely worth it, the cost is very reasonable, especially considering the finish!

Even considering this bike's likely future?

[Deefer666]

They used to be the byword for quality paintwork, now (and this is just my opinion) they trade on a reputation that they no longer deserve. I am sure that they are more than capable of doing good work, but as you say I think they do the job to cost now.

To be brutally honest I would not want to respray over their paintwork, Despite Christo's kind words... I would offer to do the plastic repair but as for paintwork I dont really wanna touch it.

[Hedgetrimmer]

What if I wasn't aiming for perfection though (which I'm definitely not)? Could you do a bit of paint just to tidy it a little after repair? I am curious about having you do it Deefer, but you know what the final consideration will be 

[His Dudeness]

If you want to try a cheap and cheerful fix  yourself get this stuff it works and it's so easy to use a child could do it. You just open out the crack add the filler powder and then add the glue. Let it dry for a few seconds and sand it flat. Looks like original plastic. The only thing is it does dry hard so I don't know if that's a problem or not but I've used the stuff and it works. You will obviously have to paint over it or touch it up
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Q-Bond-Repair-Kit-Small-ROCK-HARD-IN-10-Seconds-BNIB-Qbond-Q-Bond-/230400862864?pt=UK_Crafts_Cardmaking_Scrapbooking_Glue_Tape_EH&hash=item35a4f62a90

[Hedgetrimmer]

That looks more like the kind of thing I was thinking if I tackle it myself Dudeness. Cheers.

[Deefer666]

I have used Q Bond for stuff and although very very good it still does not flex and although its strong enough not to give i found what does give is the material around it.

Without seeing that fairing in the flesh it difficult to quote as you can end up chasing crackes all over the panel. I will pm ya a rough price.

[Hedgetrimmer]

Understood. Ta. 

[BIG MAC]

You can take a horse to water..

[BIG MAC]

[BIG MAC]

Give in...check the pics in the media section. One bike I had from near new and it cost £3000+ the other cost £150 if memory serves and the bodywork was hanging...if you can tell which is which...well done. And yes ..glass fibre used as suggested was employed. The original post was about a quick and cheap fix..my response was how I would approach the problem. Seems I am better at bodywork than I am at attaching pics

[Hedgetrimmer]

It just doesn't sound easy Mac. But I haven't made a decision yet. I think a lot will depend on how it looks when I take the fairing off.