Cracked Fairing

[Lloydo]

I posted a while back about maybe getting a Vetter Quicksilver fairing, I decided I want to keep my windjammer. Well, maybe.........It cracked, or broke again. There's a crack that runs from the inside edge, just in front of the left front mounting bolt, to the left, & then down about 4". It looks like it's been repaired once, there's some smeared on kind of epoxy looking stuff on the area. Has anyone had any luck with anything that perhaps actually "welds", or binds the crack together, to form a bond as strong as no crack at all? It is a stress area, as I found when I had the mounting bracket welded. All of a sudden, that's sturdy, no give, then the fairing (re)breaks. Thanks.

[wgfrie]

vetter fix

I've repaired my vetter with a plastic weld kit, or a low wattage solder iron with a plastic weld tip. I can't recall what plastic I used for filler, but it's held for 5 years. The crack was around the front bolt and reflector area.

[mro]

If there is space to put in a backing plate, a few extra screws and weld/glue might hold.


mro

[Lloydo]

Mmmm, plastic, I was thinking fiberglass. I'll see what I can find as far as plastic welding stuff. I do have a soldering iron, don't know how low it goes though. Maybe I can find some info on plastic welding on the web. Thanks.

[Pat Kelly]

Fiberglass wont stick. The fairing is plastic. They can be 'welded'. Harbor Freight sells plastic welding kits. You have to use the right kind of plastic for the repair (ABS or PVC).
I've had three fairings repaired but our streets are so lousy the 30 year-old plastic breaks again in another spot.

[planedick]

ABS

I think the fairings are made of ABS plastic, like black plastic pipe. I have welded them with a Weller 140 watt solder gun and a flat tip. (Pounded a regular tip flat) I worked very well. I would cover the whole area around the mount with a steel backing peice that went the whole length of the mount area from front to back and screw that to the fairing between the mount bolts, worked real well for one I had that had the holes broken out.

[jeffe]

Go to the Vetter Web site. http://www.craigvetter.com/ and look at the online store section. They have repair kits for the fairings.

[webbcraft2150]

Heres a fix that has worked for me. First off, fiberglass, and most epoxies will not stick to the ABS plastic for very long, been there, done that.

Clean ALL the old stuff off the damaged area. Try to pull the crack together with some kind of fixture. Get some fiberglass mat and a can of ABS/PVC glue. Make sure it says it will work on ABS. Cut some pieces of mat to fit over the cracked area with good overlap. Slather the glue down and lay the mat over it, slather the mat till it is soaked and smooth it out if necessary. Let dry. Once this dries, you can sand and paint as desired. I used this method on a cracked saddle bag (low stress) and on the fairing (high stress) with excellent results so far. Another member has used heat and stainless steel screening to make patches also. The Vetter kit, "hotcha" will work to but is pricey. My $ outlay was less than $10 for all the materials.

BTW, the "chrome" trim along the edges of the fairing can be had from JC Whitney.

[lorenc]

I used some JB Weld awhile back and its still doing the job for me.

[DiverRay]

Webbcraft has the right idea. I've tried epoxy and fiberglass resins on my fairings. I did the glass cloth with ABS glue, and it's still holding. This is after six months and 10,000 miles, give or take.
You can also get some ABS pipe, and use a rasp to "grate" some of the plastic into the glue. This will make it thicker, so it fills better.

[John]

A trick I did on Wildkat's FJ's cracked fairing was to use a soldering iron with a broad tip and kinda melt the plastic at the cracks and sort of 'weld' it together. Next I used some Stainless Steel screen I had removed from a water strainer, cut some one inch strips, and laid the strips of screen over the 'welded' crack, using the soldering iron to heat the screen, and the melt the plastic under it. The soft plastic would ooze through the screen, and when it cooled, it formed a very solid repair that hasn't cracked in over 7 years.

[Do Lee]

I bought my 79 XSSF in 80 or 81 from the 2nd PO who wrecked it and decided to make a chopper out of it, then he lost interest and decided to sell it. I also got one of the pacifico fairings for the standard XS11 that was off a wrecked 78 XS11 that we were repairing at the shop (insurance job) the fairing had some major cracks along the seams, around the headlight and where the brackets held the fairing in place. I used the hotcha repair kit from Yamaha and 25+++ years later fairing is still holding strong.

Now that I've said this oh well,,,,,, murphys law will be meeting me around the corner.

[Lloydo]

Thanks for all the ingenious ideas, at least I have some kind of an idea of what to do. I'll post with the results, ( whenever I get time to work on it). I like the glue/glass idea, I assume I can get that glue from any auto or good hardware store?

[railroad]

vetter repair kit

Go with the vetter repair kit. quick, easy. my repairs have lasted 3 years and through 1 crash.

[webbcraft2150]

Originally posted by Lloydo
of I assume I can get that glue from any auto or good hardware store?

Yeah you can. Make sure it says it is for ABS plastic. Should be able to score the fiberglass mat there also.