Was thinking about ordering a new chin fairing for my 93 FJ. Found out they are still available from Yamaha. Cost is about $350 (ouch) and that's with my 20% discount.
Thinking about trying to repair the one I have. Its broke on the left side at the rear bolt hole (slave clutch Cly. leak in the past - before my time) and from the bolt hole back is missing. If the faring was fiberglass it would be an easy repair but being plastic not sure how or if it is repairable.
Has anyone had any luck repairing it - don't think I can make fiberglass stick to the plastic.
Did a search on this but did not find anything.
Thanks
Mark H.
P.S. As indicated above I get a 20% discount from Yamaha on ALL parts. I am willing to pass this discount along to the members of this site if it would help someone out. Let me know and we can work out the details.
I ordered a fiberglass chin fairing from this Ebay seller:http://myworld.ebay.com/compositecrafters&ssPageName=STRK:MEFSX:SELLERID (http://myworld.ebay.com/compositecrafters&ssPageName=STRK:MEFSX:SELLERID)
I don't see that he currently has any listed, but you might check with him. They are a little different than the original and offer slightly more coverage. They are not gel coated so lots of surface pinholes to fill. Mine's still in need of what will hopefully be the final sanding after 3 coats of primer and spot putty, then I can finally paint it - maybe this weekend.
He also made fairing lowers, but they wouldn't fit the late model FJ like my '92.
My 1986 fj1200 had a big crack and a large chunk missing from the chin fairing when I bought it.I used west systems G flex to repair it. It,s about $24. It can be painted after its cured .we use G flex to repair broken kayaks made from plastic. Most marine stores have it. I got it at west marine. I used the thickend G fex, you can get the unthicknd its a little cheaper but not as easy to use,
Bobmc
I welded up several cracks using an old regular pencil type soldering iron and ABS plastic welding rod from Harbor Freight. It took a couple of tries to get the hang of it, but they looked like tig welds when I was done. Since you have most of it, why not lay up a new glass one of your own? You can get what you need at Wal-mart.
Funny I was just welding mine up last night, the PO had cracked it to crap! From the inside, sanded the paint off, used a soldering pencil, no filler rod (would have been nice to have some), then layered on some ABS plastic glue. Learned about this on the Ninja 250 site for my daughter's 250. Anyway it's not as strong as other fixes (Plastex?) and the cracks are still on the outside (I'm not going to paint it) but most of the cracks are on the bottom.
The biggest hassle was scraping the insulation off without ruining it, I'm gluing it back on.
For what it's worth...
Don't know how much you know about fiberglass but here's my experience. Fiberglass resin will stick to most clean hard surfaces, ABS plastic being one of them. I have a crack in my lower faring pretty much in the same place. I just haven't gotten around to fixing it yet. However...
A moderate get off several years ago caused a hole to be worn in the right side of the chin fairing as my bike slid down the street a ways. I repaired it with fiberglass; not a problem. I also repaired an upper fairing I got off eBay recently with fiberglass. No problems with the resin sticking.
NOTE: Use fiberglass matting on the inside for where strength is needed, not cloth. Cloth is used on outer surfaces or areas requiring smooth finishing or where strength is not a factor. (I use to work in a boat repair shop.) Hope this helps.
Its true that epoxy resin Will stick to this type plastic but it's brittle. The G flex costs about the same as epoxy. you can use it with mat and fiber glass cloth the advantage is it has a really high psi and it remains somewhat flexable
bobmcc
Thanks for all the great advice.
Decided to remove the same amount off the right side of the faring as was missing/broken off the left side. I then reshaped both sides and made tabs so I could attatch at the lower mounts. Will try and post a picture.
Used Plastex to repair a small crack - stuff works great.
Mark H.