Crack in Fairing Needs Fixing & and I'm Looking for Tips & Tricks

[FJ1100mjk]

Hello:

I just bought an '85, and I have it in pieces to go over it real well before the riding season starts. Previous owner must've crashed it because I've found scrapes on its right side. I found (well actually it stood out when I was looking at the bike before I bought it) this crack in the front fairing. Is this a crack that can be fixed by a shady tree mechanic such as myself, or should it best be handled by a professional?

I read where somebody used something call Plastex with good results. Plastex comes in colors (white, black. If anyone has used this product (or a similar one with good results) before, could you give me some tips on repairing a crack like this?

Thanks in advance.

Marty

[SkyFive]

I have the same problem. What I'm going to do is; use a pin guage drill bit to stop drill all the cracks. Then I'm going to clean, sand and fiberglass the cracks on the inside being careful not to get any fibergalss resin on the outside painted surfaces.

[junkyardroad]

The fairing is ABS plastic. (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene)  It melts around 220 deg +/-.  There were several similar cracks in my fairing, including the left upper windsheild strut cracked thru.

Go to Harbor Freight and get the white plastic welding rods, they're cheap.  Use an inexpensive pen type electric solder wand. Mine is from Radio Shack circa 1980.  Using the wedge shaped tip, press the hot iron into the plastic while pressing the ABS rod into the molten puddle. I was constantly twisting the iron to distribute the plastic and made a row of "welds" about the diameter of a pencil eraser.  They looked like the "stacked dimes" type of tig weld you have probably seen.  Finish the repair with a high speed sander like a Dremel, I used a die grinder with a scotch brite type pad.  Use a high-build primer and block till the surface is flat. SEM makes an adhesion promoter in an aerosol that makes paintwork much easier.

Let the primer cure for a couple of weeks.  Mine printed thru the paint after curing only a week, but nobody can find it until I show them.

HTH

[FJ1100mjk]

Fellas,

Thanks for the tips.

I just happen to be going to Harbor Freight tomorrow to pick up a compression tester that has an adapter to fit the smaller diameter spark plug holes on my FJ. I'll look at the plastic weld rods and cheap soldering pen.

I'm looking at closing up the crack enough, so that it isn't so noticeable, and to keep it from spreading. I was thinking of doing the weld from the inside, but I wasn't wanting to wreck the OEM paint job. Based upon your experience, do you think that it is possible to fix it from the inside, and not disturb the original paint job?

Thanks again.
Marty

[junkyardroad]

possible to fix it from the inside, and not disturb the original paint job?

Probably not.  You could try to not melt thru, but the fix would be weak.  Better to repaint with a solid repair.

Good luck with the fix.

[wraivi]

Hey,

I had a similar thing plus some broken mounting points. I used a 2 pack epoxy resin and woven fine fibre-glass cloth, which is also used for joining wings on large scale model aircraft, incredibly strong and easier to handle than fibre glass resin - I use both regularly, but the epoxy resin reinforced with this cloth is super strong and will solve your problem - it'll be stronger than original! Good Luck.

[FJ1100mjk]

wraivi:

Thanks for the tip on epoxy resin and the cloth. May need it for a back up, because....

I went and ordered the Plastex fix it (clear). I'll give it a try and report back my success, or lack thereof.

Marty

[brdprey]

  i know I'm new here but I've been doing some research on this topic.
this seems to be the best I've seen yet.
http://urethanesupply.com/howtorepair.php
hope it helps I'm waiting on some financial relief before i can try it.