DIY: Fairing crack repair

[Havok]

Originally Posted by spooph

Sorry to hear about the fall, glad you're able to fix it fairly easily. I used fiberglass on mine: http://www.newninja.com/how-to/i-nee...ction-dammit!/

I see the abs cement and pretty much followed the op's diy and it worked like a charm. BecAuse of where the crack was on mine (the fairing bends there) I could not pop it back and get it to be tight with out a ton of pressure an I would have just broke it. I got it as tight as I could and used the cement on it. It did exactly what I was hoping for it made it strong and gave it hack it's structure. I'll look for graphics or decals that can cover tue crack but at least it won't be getting bigger.

Thanks for the diy on this.

[anomolli]

Originally Posted by noche_caliente

Andrew, let us know how that holds up for you As for the bolt, I think that's the mysterious packing bolt that folks seem to find from time to time.. if you look at my past posts, I think there's one from a month or so ago addressing the same thing, but I don't know what the key word to search for it would be...

Hi noche_caliente,

I tried looking through your past posts for the mysterious screw, but considering you "post a lot", it was down right impossible. Do you happen to remember what this bolt was for? I'm not sure I understand what "packing bolt" really means. It's been driving me crazy for over a year now! Thanks!

[kkim]

That mysterious bolt seems to pop up in threads every so often. It seems it's a packing bolt from the crate that the bike is shipped in and somehow gets lodged into the bike when it's uncrated at the dealer, is my best guess. A bolt that large would be quite obvious if it were missing on the bike.

In any case, no one has crashed (that I've heard about) from it missing on their bike, so I think you're safe.

[adouglas]

Bike hasn't fallen apart yet, and the repair is holding up fine.

[Choter]

The bolt looks exactly like the rear brake reservoir bolt(only bolt on bike that looks like that) So if you still have that one in your fine and it is extra.

[DBentley415]

I just fixed the crack in my fairing just like this one today I used a plastic weld from O'Reilly's though. Time will tell if it holds up, but I had to remove the turn signal and step on the fairing to get it to snap back into the original position so I think its there for good. Thanks for this write up!

[sLick415]

Couple questions:

1. So the cement is supposed to fuse the ABS chemically. But does it actually do that if you don't sand it down to the actual plastic?

2. I have a "missing piece" ~2" in diameter. Can I make the piece with just the cement? I saw the video of PlastiFix on missing pieces and was gonna go that route instead. Any comments?

Link to original page on YouTube.

[CZroe]

I can see it being much harder to build the piece with ABS cement but it should be possible. I'm betting that powdered ABS in a bottle and Acetone with a needle applicator would work very similarly, but it's probably pretty hard to make into a fine powder without melting.

[Jesper Hedegaard]

Now - CZroe is on to something there; over here, hadcore DIY guys don't buy cement to fix cracked fairings - the make it at home...and here's what they use: Lego blocks !
Soak them in a little thinner (could very well be acetone AFAIR) and U'll end up with - ABS cement ;o)
As the thinner will make this "cement" eat into the fairing - I would not recommend using too much thinner. On the other hand I don't what's enough and what's too much.
Could encourage U guys to google this, but so far I have on seen desctiptions in danish, so ehhh ;o)

[LNasty]

Originally Posted by spooph

Sorry to hear about the fall, glad you're able to fix it fairly easily. I used fiberglass on mine: http://www.newninja.com/how-to/i-nee...ction-dammit!/

Sorry, fat fingers on small phone caused me to dislike your post. Tried taking it back but it looks like it's set in stone, covered in Kevlar and in front of 4 inches of polycarbonate glass. Can't change it

[LNasty]

So I have barely riden my bike in the last year and half since moving up here to the land of corn and cow ****. I have owned my bike from mile 0 to now mile 27,000, and never let my baby touch the ground. That is until Christmas Day 2016, where instead of snowflakes, Christmas carols and Aunt Betty lit off of the egg nog; we have a freak windstorm with 70-80 mph gusts. I was at a family members house at the time of the storm, and knew that my girl had more than likely gone down, all the while I sat there staring out the window, helpless and sick to my stomach. Got home later that evening to find that my instinct was correct and found her strewn upon the concrete, not moving. Her cover shredded and fluttering in the now light breeze, like the torn feathers of bird squashed on the road. The damage was bad, but not what I was expecting once I had picked her up. Right handle bar is bent past point of repair, but the bulk of the damage is to the right fairing and the front cowling, where the two meet by the turn signal. I have bikemaster flush mounts installed, which incredibly didn't even crack. Other than that, just some minor scratches on crankcase, bar end, etc. I already knew, without even looking it up, that an estimate would be around $2,000 in damages, but I took a chance and put in a claim. Surprisingly they did not total it and I will be repairing myself on the cheap. New handlebar was most I will have to put into at $100. The plastics are why I am posting this lengthy, drawn out, dramatic story of the day my baby went down. I will be doing some test fixes on pieces of ABS using the cement like the OP as well as what I learned on this little gem of a video I found. Still trying to figure out how I will go about filling a 1x2" triangle section that was lost to the howling screams of Mother Nature. I will post before, during and after pics of the repair as I attempt it.

Link to original page on YouTube.

[Aggrotech]

I realllly need to do this myself. Ive got a crack on the right fairing thats basically identically to OP's. Plan on getting my bike painted so of course the crack will need to be dealt with. Just hope its as easy to fix as op's!

[LNasty]

Pics of some of the damage

IMG_0582.jpg

IMG_0583.jpg

IMG_0585.jpg

IMG_0589.jpg

IMG_0591.jpg

[LNasty]

First I used ABS cement like the OP used to join and seal all of the cracks. Only takes seconds to set, so you have to be quick when joining pieces. The missing piece, that I thought I would have to fill with cement or a donor piece, was found inside of the faring and wheel well cover when I took the fairing off. Just had to cement it back in. With the amount of damage and cracks that I had, the cement was not enough to make the repair secure, so I used my soldering iron, black zip ties and reinforcement wire to complete the repair.
IMG_0592.jpg

IMG_0593.jpg

Reinforcement wires that I bent into rectangular and square shapes for added strength as shown in the video I posted earlier.
IMG_0594.jpg

First wire has been melted into backside and covered with excess melted plastic
IMG_0595.jpg
Second reinforcement wire in process of being heated and melted into crack.
IMG_0596.jpg

[LNasty]

Cracks stitched/welded together
IMG_0598.jpg

IMG_0599.jpg

IMG_0600.jpg
Reinforcement wire melted in along cracks every half inch to an inch and stitches smoothed out.
IMG_0597.jpg

[LNasty]

All wires melted in and covered using excess plastic or melted black zip ties.
IMG_0601.jpg
Repair is incredibly strong now, possibly stronger than the I damaged parts surrounding it. Very happy with the results and was not very difficult, just a little tedious and took decent amount of time to do.
IMG_0602.jpg
I had to partially melt along the cracks on the front side due to all of the cracks having thin strips of the top layer missing when fairing impacted the ground. I will need to sand these smooth and use a little touch up paint to complete the front. For me, the repair process and the final outcome was definitely better than spending $500 on a whole new fairing. Hopes this helps anyone wanting to attempt a fix on their own
IMG_0603.jpg

[highvoltj]

I also use ABS cement for plastic repairs!! It works great when you apply it evenly and use the proper tools for your application. It also works great as a "Filler" when mixed with shaving's of ABS pipe mixed into the cement and left for at leeast 2 hours before use as to dissolve and create a dense paste.
When I got my '86 Ninja 250R, sadly there were several random holes drilled into the panels...some of them at 1/2" in diameter! So I lined the outer surface of the panels with clear plastic sheeting and tape to provide a smooth backing for the paste. Fill and let puddle. Dry over night maybe? When cured it even has a glossy sheen!

[Bluberryrain]

I also did this!

Check out this thread here w/ pictures:

https://www.ninjette.org/forums/showthread.php?t=286873

And, a few pics of my bike completed:

http://imgur.com/a/zI7p6

[LNasty]

Originally Posted by Bluberryrain

I also did this!

Check out this thread here w/ pictures:

https://www.ninjette.org/forums/showthread.php?t=286873

And, a few pics of my bike completed:

http://imgur.com/a/zI7p6

That turned out nice! I'm in the sanding process right now, will only be an area about 5" square, but still same process

[redonninrf]

Thanks adouglas, that info helped me fix my own bike.

Bought my bike "pre-dropped" to save some money. And since it would be used for post-BRC riding classes figure there'd be a chance I would drop it myself anyways.

The damage was more extensive than I realized with every panel except the gas tank scratched to some degree. The worst damage was the right front fairing which was broken into multiple pieces. The previous repair attempt involved epoxy glue and metallic tape on the inside of the panel. The first thing I did was to remove the tape, then clean off the old epoxy using a Dremel tool and wire wheel. The local hardware store had the Oatay ABS cement. Tap Plastics (www.tapplastics.com) has a brick-and-mortar store not too far from me and turns out they also have an ABS cement. Tap Plastic's is just straight methyl-ethyl ketone (MEK) which is the active ingredient in the Oatay cement. Did some experiments on some scrap ABS and found the straight MEK seemed to create a stronger joint if the two pieces fit perfectly and were held together with some pressure. Since the edges of my pieces were chewed on from removing the epoxy the Oatay cement actually worked better.

Reassembling the panel took some work and I wound up having to do some filling and sanding. Turns out the Oatay cement is also a great filler. The joints weren't strong by themselves as I discovered when two cracked again during sanding. Reinforced the joints by applying fiberglass to the inside. First, the paint around the cracks on the inside of the panel was removed with a wire wheel to yield bare plastic. Then created the fiberglass reinforcement by first smearing some Oatay on the area, applying a small piece of fiberglass cloth, then applying some more Oatay on top. Used 2-3 layers of fiberglass. In hindsight would not recommend doing more than 2 layers at a time since if it gets too thick it could compromise curing. If going with 3-4 layers of fiberglass I'd recommend doing 2 layers first, let it cure overnight, then apply the final layers. Fiberglass cloth is available at any Home Depot or automotive parts store.

For paint I went with Colorrite. First time using their product. Not bad actually. For metallic and/or tri-layer systems like the Candy Plasma Blue I really recommend practicing first. I used some old cardboard from some soda-pop containers. What seemed to work was 2 layers of base coat and 3-4 layers of color coat, then the clear. I went with three layers of color and thought it was dark enough but it turned out to be too light. But by then I had applied the final clear so the mistake as made. Also, rather than repaint the entire panel I just painted the repair area and blended it in with the rest of the panel.

Here's the bike after the paint had cured for about two days.