repairing side spanels?

[Anonymous]

are most motorcycle fascia panels made of fiberglass or plastic? how hard would it be to repair cracks?

[Billy Ricks]

Plastic. You can get plastic welding kits. Some people use super glue and baking soda.

[Anonymous]

I've had great luck with testors model glue. Works great.

[Anonymous]

Plastic. You can get plastic welding kits. Some people use super glue and baking soda.

Explain further please, this sounds interesting.

[earlfor]

Baking soda is an accelerator and gap filler for cyanoacrylate (super glue). Take your finger and push baking soda into the cracks, clean away any excess on the surface, saturate with superglue. The glue will almost instantly get hot enough to smoke and will fuse the baking soda to the plastic. The best superglue to use for this purpose is the very thin instant variety sold at hobby shops. Instant Jet is one brand. Dont use the tiny tubes of instant glue found in K mart etc. as it is too thick, sets slowly and doesnt work very well in this application.

Earl

Plastic. You can get plastic welding kits. Some people use super glue and baking soda.

Explain further please, this sounds interesting.

[Anonymous]

A friend of mine swears by PVC pipe cement from the hardware store. He broke one of the attachment pints off and he jusy slapped some of the glue on the broke ends and held togther with tape. The bext day the two pieces were melted strongly together, fused solid!
GY

[Anonymous]

side panels

Has anyone really successfully repaired side panels? The posts and tabs are broken from mine but on the outside they look brand new.

I was thinking of putting them on with dzus fasteners and just putting a snoopy tool in my tool kit. Granted you would see the fastener but you could play it up by painting your bike like military equipment or something else creative.

[moto_dan]

Re: side panels

Has anyone really successfully repaired side panels? The posts and tabs are broken from mine but on the outside they look brand new.

I was thinking of putting them on with dzus fasteners and just putting a snoopy tool in my tool kit. Granted you would see the fastener but you could play it up by painting your bike like military equipment or something else creative.

I've been successful using heavy duty adhesive backed velcro to attach my side covers. Dzus fasteners and snoopy tool...now they bring back memories.

[Anonymous]

I've repaired a cracked side panel and replaced a mount using The West System Marine Epoxy and fiberglass reinforcement tape. The mount is very sturdy. After the epoxy firmed up somewhat I finished the cure with the side panel on the motorcycle to make sure everything lined up properly. When I had my tank repainted I had the side panels done; they look perfect and original.

[terry]

Have a go at this stuff, it works. http://www.plastex.net.au/ Even comes with a little molding bar thing so that you can take a mold off an existing mounting tab and make a whole new tab when yours has broken off. It's a powder and adhesive type thing, but not baking soda, some kind of plastic powder, is very strong and is a lot more flexible than the superglue/baking soda mix. (but that trick works very well too) Good stuff! :twisted:

[Macmatic]

The middle tabs on both of my side panels wre broken off so what I did was get a couple of magnets from the hardware store, each about 1in x 5/8in with a hole in the center.

I zip tied one to the tab bushing on the bike and used epoxy to hold the other to the panel. Seems like it works fine.

/\/\ac

[RabbidRetard]

the plastic welding kits are basically like a soldering iron with a larger tip on it... depending on the type of crack or tear your planning on fixing... they also come with plastic strips... so you melt the plastic strip into the crack and whatnot... if you want more info just ask... i know 3m also makes some very good products for fixing plastic... it's pretty easy... not 2 difficult...

[Planecrazy]

You guys are all overcomplicating a fairly simple repair...

If you have both the panel and the broken "stud", you can easily reattach them with JB Kwik (or equivalent) fast setting epoxy. The repair, if done properly, will hold better than original. Here's what I typically do:

1. If you have a clean break, DON'T rough up the mating surfaces or you'll lose that "perfect" match between the two pieces. Just make sure the contact points and surrounding area are properly cleaned. You can (and should) rough up the surrounding area, though, to promote a better bond, but even if you don't you should be just fine...

2. Drill several small holes through the posts just above the mating area on the stud, as well as drilling several small depressions (don't go through!) on the surface of the side cover.

3. Mix up the epoxy and apply to both mating surfaces. Then press them together and use the remaining epoxy to build up a solid base around the entire stud (like a tree trunk). make sure you get the epoxy through the holes on the stud and into the depressions on the side cover. These holes will securely anchor the stud to the epoxy, and on the side cover the depressions provide additional surface area for the epoxy to securely anchor itself.

The preparation process takes less than fifteen minutes, and provides a repair that should never fail. I've fixed several side covers this way over the years, and have NEVER seen one break again in the same place. Lately I've taken unbroken side covers and used the epoxy to build up the base of each stud so that they won't break in the first place!

One last thing ... epoxy is a wonderful thing!! If you're missing a stud, use clay (or play doh) to make a mold of another stud ... then you can fill the mold with epoxy and custom fabricate a new stud. Once it's made, simply adjust the length and shape of the base until it fits the location where the broken one originated and follow the steps above to attach ... and presto! -- you will have rebuilt your broken sidecover!

Epoxy does a great job of filling cracks as well!

Hope this is helpful!!
Steve 8)

[terry]

Good one Steve, I always love a post that starts with "You guys are over complicating a fairly simple repair" then goes on for 6 or 7 paragraphs with the "fairly simple" fix, ha ha!

I just repaired a cracked sidecover for a Honda CB750, with the "super glue and baking soda" method, took a minute and dried hard in 10 seconds, brilliant! Cheers, Terry. :twisted:

[retrex]

Rpair broken side covers, missing parts part I

I have repaired side covers and other body parts with missing or brokern off pieces, other than the posts, with Resto Grip body filler from the POR store. This stuff is a fiberglass filled resin that bites into roughened up plastic and allows you to build or layer on whatever broke off. It is very strong and easy to work with. Only drawback = $$. I have built on the frame grommet section of those little thin body pieces that go between the side and tailight bodywork with the stuff. It is amazingly strong even when you have to rebuild on an 1/8" thick edge peice of the sidecover with no backing support. It looks stronger that the original. Takes time, but when you don't have a replacement part you have to take the time.