Painting My Bodywork

Current status. Second primer coat on the side covers, first on the tail, and second coat of paint on the tank.



This humidity and my job are killing me. If I didn't have to work I could have this done already....I think I feel the flu coming on.

On the backside, it doesn't have to be pretty. On the front side, well, thats what they make spot putty and primer filler for

Looking good so far, but you gotta put your foot down already! I 'told' the old lady: "The house is going to be stunk up this weekend, just to let you know." She said "ok". lol I would STILL be waiting to paint my bodywork if I didn't bring it home to do. The weather just sucks bad this year.

IF that crack comes back I would suggest using a plastic welding kit. They cost about $25 and can be found at Harbor Freight (Chicago Electric I believe). The kit includes the ABS filler rods needed.

As an alternative, the filler rods by themselves are about $4 a pack and come in handy for reinforcing the back side and filling in the low spots on the front. You can do it with a soldering iron, but I recommend the welder.

As a side note: On a really long crack, drill a small hole at the end of the crack to prevent it from spreading. Practice on a junk piece of plastic first. Highs can be sanded with 1000-1200 grit.

Epoxies, windshield repair kits, etc. can be too hard to be compatible with ABS plastic (with the possible exception of ABS cement if applied smartly). ABS filler and reinforcing will make the area better than new with all the characteristics you expect and require.

there was a thread on this forum about using rubber cement and fiberglass hair to repair cracks and keep the flexability. Basically the rubber cement was used on the fiberglass hair as the bonding agent.


At the very least it would be a good read to see how other people have tackled this issue.

You could put a patch on the back over the crack, just like everyone is suggesting. I would use regular polyester(boaters) resin with 2 layers olf fiberglass cloth or chopped strand mat. It would still be flexible and it would be a durable patch. A drilled hole to stop the propagation of the crack is a good idea, but you're already priming

Thanks for the tips guys. I'm actually really happy with the "welding" I did. The filler rod would be nice, I might have to pick some up to add some to the back. The only place I wasn't able to completely seam the cover was right at the edge (it's thinner and there wasn't as much material to move around). Do you think the seam will be more brittle than the rest of the body? It seemed pretty solid except for under extreme torquing it looked as though it would be the weak location.

abs plumbing cement and some mat on the back

The ABS plumbing cement works, but you have to make sure its ABS and not PVC.

As for the weld being strong enough, ABS is meltable and reformable. As long as the crack melted and bonded on both sides, it will be as strong as it is thick.

Found the ABS cement...couldn't quickly find any fabric to use for a patch. I've seen the results of a fabric patch on the back side of a cover and they can get pretty ugly, so I decided to try with the soldering iron again.

Anyways, I drilled a small hole at the end of the crack as suggested and attempted to weld the the crack with the iron again. I think it worked. This time I used a lower wattage iron (a 30 watt instead of a 40 watt) and it seemed to allow me to control the melting better.

I put a second coat of paint on the tail piece, no pics yet, but it's looking better than the last time I painted, that's for sure.

I have to pick up some more paint, I was hoping to get another coat on everything today but ran out.

Sounds like you have it under control, If I may make a suggestion, there is a tech article on front of this web site about repairing plastics that I found very helpfull!!
I tried it on my cracked side cover and it worked great!!
Only feedback I gave to person who wrote the article was this..we have to..make sure to inspect for previous repair attempts and clean those away I found clear Super Glue or something like that on mine., otherwise the tech article was great and used stuff you can get at Lowes or Home Depot!! and an auto parts store was actually fairly cheap to do,Also as that same article says you want to make sure and use the Black ABS cement, the stores sell several varities colors.
Anyway, just trying to help, I am in the middle of painting my bike also and have learned much too, for example most top quality Base /Clears work better with a Urethane Primer!! Weird but the Less expensive Base Claears seem to work better with plain ol Laquer primer!
That came the hard way.
Good Luck!!
ED

The plastic welding works great as long as you use the correct rod for the plastic. Also as long as it is a rigid plastic piece you can use a spreadable fiberglass, a few names are Fiber all, duraglass, and Dolphin glaze. These spread just like body filler, but dry hard as a rock like resin and mat to but alot easier to use. Any more questions feel free to ask.