Fairing repair

Hi all,

I'm about to start renovating an 84 GPZ uni fairing. It will have a full repaint once prepared.

It has a few cracks that need fixing and a cracked bottom mount, which I want to do myself.

I could send it away to a pro, but here in Oz, that is likely to cost more than what the fairing is worth.

What's the best method for fixing and strengthening the cracks.

Would fibreglassing stick to it - it looks like some sort of plastic or is plastic welding the way to go.

I realise I'm going to get a few different answers but just curious as to what other folk have had success with.

Cheers!

I don’t know if all years of all bikes are the same, but in my experience Kawasaki fairings are typically made from ABS plastic. Consider this good news, because repairing cracks and breaks can be very easy. The best adhesive to use is simply acetone and more ABS plastic. Get your hands on a spare bike fairing, or virtually any other plastic object that you can verify is ABS, and use cutters/saws/scissors/your kung-fu technique to chop it up into small pieces, place those pieces into a jar or polyethylene container and pour some acetone over them. Wait for a day for the pieces to melt, stir, and add more pieces or more acetone until you have a “glue-like” consistency. Voila, you’ve just created the best glue you can use on ABS plastic. Apply as needed, wait for it to cure, sand any excess down smooth and you’re done, good as new. 

Please check out:
www.kzrider.com/articles/technical-tips/...ir-first-timeforever
The title says it all.
Bill

I've done the ABS shavings in Acetone method.....JB Weld for Plastic as well.  Both seemed to hold up ok.  I lost a lid to my saddlebag on my old Goldwing and it got smashed.  I rebuilt it with ABS cement and plastic window screen.  I only intended it to be a temporary fix until i found a replacement in the proper color for a reasonable price. That was about 2 or 3 years ago and it's still holding up.  I sanded it out better and found a closer color of paint after the last picture

Had I known I'd live this long I'd have taken better care of my Led Zeppelin albums

Great info there guys, very helpful.

Thanks for the link Bill. I hadn.t thought to use glass fibre sheets with cement other than glass fibre resin.

wrote:

Great info there guys, very helpful.

Thanks for the link Bill. I hadn.t thought to use glass fibre sheets with cement other than glass fibre resin.
 

You're welcome there WV.
Easy readily available materials and couldn't be better suited to the project.
Bill

Plastic welding with a flat tip in a soldering gun works well from the back side to save paint, or weld from both sides if you are repainting. 

I've seen ABS cement sold in the plumbing aisle at the local hardware store. Is this a suitable substitute to acetone+ABS mix? 

wrote:

I've seen ABS cement sold in the plumbing aisle at the local hardware store. Is this a suitable substitute to acetone+ABS mix? 

I tried some when I was repairing my Vetter fairing and the results were...not awesome. YMMV. 

The Vetter farings ARE NOT ABS.
Steve

kzrider.com/forum/6-paint-a-bodywork/599985-hard-box-repair