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Fairing Repair / Missing Chunks of Bodywork

Posted: Tue Oct 26, 2010 8:11 pm
by Tambo
Here's a break down of the repair I've done on the bottom part of the upper fairing. I'm sure the basics can be used to repair / replace / modify most areas of bodywork - especially as they become older and rarer :cry:

Offending corner with a pretty comprehensive (and very heavy) fibreglass repair.
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It's rougher than it looks in the photo, plus it constantly cracks at the junctions with the plastic, and the overlap onto the plastic makes a poor fit to lower section.
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Template shape is marked onto a piece of cls timber, and cut. Note - taken from good original side !
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Shaped timber former next to portion to be repaired. See how out of shape the fibreglass is !!
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Required shape is cut from new sheet of ABS
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Dressed ABS is placed on curved timber former, and heated with hot air gun until it 'falls' into profile.
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Similar smaller section if cut and shaped on former to give the inner lip, and overlap to fix to remaining fairing.
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Inner section is glued to outer section using plumbing solvent, and plastic welded through holes when space allows.
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Ready for insertion !!
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Offending portion of fairing removed, and overlap portions skimmed so that outer finish lines up well.
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Patch glued in place, and plastic welded.
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I've used the same process to replace burst holes on the lower portion of the fairing as well 8)
Time consuming, but worth it :mrgreen:

Some more photos of repairs
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Just the paint to do now. Was going to try Bike Colours aerosols after speaking to them as Stafford - will let you know how it goes.

This is a good man to use for decals sales@signs-services.co.uk
Fast, well priced, and he'll do any combination you like. I've changed the yellow 's' in kr1-s to red 8)

Posted: Tue Oct 26, 2010 8:56 pm
by kwackman12
Great job there Tambo, think you could make yourself a few bob if you could get damaged fairings & repair them?

Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2010 12:00 am
by 500bernie
Hi Tambo,
Fantastic job...well done!
Where did you get the sheet of abs from?
My plastic looks very much like your "before pictures".
Bernie. =D>

Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2010 2:26 am
by Jnaus
I have a fairing that looks almost exactly like this one.
After reading this I thought I might give it a go.... Soon.
But anyone who is looking for cheap (read free) ABS plastic might try car dealers selling 4wd. Anything that has a bull bar will have had a bumper removed. I grabbed a bar off a 200 series Sahara very uniform 6mm plastic, in crystal pearl which is very close to the original white.

Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2010 6:18 am
by scooble
what tools did you se to create a clean edged cut on such a thick piece of ABS?
What kind of plastic welder are you using?

Very resourceful and a lovely looking job btw

Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2010 11:38 am
by pablo
Genius.Thats a top drawer repair Tambo.

You could have a queque of folk clutching various pieces of busted plastic if your not carefull.Well done.

Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2010 11:51 am
by Jnaus
How long did it take you to make the timber "mould"?
If you had a good fairing, could you make a clay mould?
By the look of it the position of the breaks is common, you could be turning out replacement sections!

Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2010 2:13 pm
by 500bernie
I would certainly buy one, mine is broke in exactly the same place, did you make any spares Tambo?
Bernie

Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2010 3:24 pm
by alimorg
Excellent this is now a sticky
Cheers
Al

Posted: Sat Oct 30, 2010 10:14 am
by Tambo
Thanks for the comments folks 8)
I brought in from the shed, plonked it down in front of my nearest and dearest for them to see what I've been doing, and I get 'Hmmmm. What is it ? What is it you've done ? Could you move it out the way of coronation street please ?' [-(

To answer the questions;
Got it from http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0442712291 Could probably get it cheaper shopping about. Was impressed by the range this bloke had.

I cut some of it with a hacksaw, and the inner bits with a dremel, then just filed it down to the line. I left the masking tape on to protect it, and see the lines. You can get a really clean edge using gradually 'softer' files. Clamping it in the vice between 2 longer bits of wood is also a help.

I just used an old soldering iron with a more rounded tip - this is an area I could do with improving certainly. Using proper plastic welding rods seems to aid a good joint. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0427747793

The former is just a piece of timber with the correct curve, and a couple of 'extensions' to hold the wider bits. The plastic is quite 'fluid' in its warm state, so I put an edge along the bottom, and up the outer edge so that I didn't change the shape too much - other than the curve. The curve is subtle at this end of the fairing, but still important for a good fit to the lower fairing - don't be tempted to leave it flat, It won't fit too well.
Cutting the curve with a jigsaw wasn't really good enough - the blade goes away at an angle after a while, so managed to use my dads table fretsaw (think that's what it is !!), but a bandsaw would have the same effect. Probably make it in an hour or so.

Bernie, I've got just about enough plastic left to 'run you one up', but it would need a join on the inner lip. How much do you need replaced ? I could do about 350mm long, by 165mm up the raking end – would that be enough ? What sizes do you need ? It would give me a chance to put the shape drawings into the computer for future reference.

Cheers,

Tommy