Restoring 650L Side Covers

Meanwhile I decided to pretty up my badges. For this I just used a flat black enamel spray paint to start, then used Testor's "aluminum" color model paint. After it has dried overnight I plan to apply a clear coat (Krylon, UV resistant stuff) to protect them and give them a little more shine. Here's the before, during, and after (no clear coat yet):

[exzachtly1]

It only lets me post 10 images per post - so I'll be splitting this into a few posts...

I took a couple days off of work for my birthday, and finally got around to starting a project I've been wanting to do since getting my bike a couple months ago. Side cover restoration time!! I'm pretty much copy-catting old skool's thread, so thanks to him for all the ideas! I'm hoping to document everything here that I have done so far today and will be doing tomorrow, so that I can note what worked (and what did not work) for the benefit of others trying to do the same.

First, here is my source material. The right cover, as you can see, is not too bad. Just needs a crack repaired, fabricated hook on the back side, and a paint job. The left one, however, is a beast. I'll be fabricating a large missing chunk from this one as best I can.





The first thing I had to do was scrape off the badges. PO had attached them with some red gunk (rubbery caulk consistency). Had to scrape it off with a razorblade as best I could.





Next, I started making holes near the cracks in both covers as suggested by mr. old skool for the jb-weld to grab onto, and started applying it. Note that I used the "Water-Weld" stuff, I could not find the kwik-plastic at my local hardware stores. So far it has worked VERY well and been easy to work with. I like that it it takes about 25 minutes to set up, so it gives you plenty of time to work it into the shapes you need. Once it hardens it is sandable and paintable and feels just about as strong as the surrounding plastic.







Some shots of the JB application: