Body filler on aluminum side covers

hey guys do you think that normal bondo would fill in the kawasaki name on the clutch cover"? if not what are my options i just want the engine to be plain and simple black with no name

I would not recommend it. Bondo will not hold up well to heat. It will crack off eventually. On top of that, "Bondo" products are not very recommended for any serious body work, it is not the best of quality.

what are my other options

It's metal; take it to a machinist and have them machine it smooth. Then maybe have them machine a custom logo into; something like "KZ-2000" would be nice.

What bike do you have?

It might be possible (if it is stamped in the cover) to just lightly grind it smooth. Possibly lead filling, I have no experience in that, but I would think that lead and aluminum expand at different rates and would not be very effective.

Grinding it might be the only option, if you are wanting to paint it, it would be probably take less work than polishing. Either that or live with your Kawasaki saying Kawasaki on it lol.

Another possibility might be another bike with the same cover made without the emblem. I dont know if there are any or not though.

i have a kz400 its pretty deep to grind out, guess ill just have to paint it all black and leave it as it

Well even trying to grind it out may leave you little metal left to the cover. You can probably have it machined pretty easily I would think as said above. Same process that are used for heads could probably be done for this. If you are willing to cough up 20-30 bucks for it.

i have machined the logos off of 900 and 1000 covers.they are not just milled flat they have some curve to them.some are to thin to remove all the logo.if you have your covers off look at the backside(inside) and see if you can see a raised area on the back where the logo is.if so it is probably to thin to remove.
i have machined the logo off from a kz900 points cover that had the boss on the inside and it made it so thin that it would sing.
for real my buddy came by a few days later and said his bike was making a wierd noise.i said "start it up"when he did i could here this ringing/singing sound i walked over and touched the points cover and it stopped.i have found some covers that have the boss on the inside and some that don't and don't know if it is different years or what.
i do know some can be machined and some can't you gotta look on the back for the boss or figure out a way to measure the thickness.

hth,pm me if you need more info.

leon

If you are planning on painting the covers, why not use JB Weld in place of body filler? It should stand the heat, and can be sanded smooth to accept the paint.

Could you run some aluminum beads over the logo, then machine it off guys?

porchev914 wrote: Could you run some aluminum beads over the logo, then machine it off guys?

yes,
i have seen triumph and xs650 guys weld em up and smooth em out.

leon

p.s.that might be a good use of them low heat aluminum rods that you see the guys welding aluminum cans together with at the fair.

Since you're painting it I would just sandblast then JB Weld it. You dont need to "machine" it smooth. A decent metal file makes quick work of aluminum.