Repairing RT side dash panel with ABS-MEK

[camos]

First a bit about working with MEK and ABS plastic.

 

MEK can be absorbed through the skin and in high enough doses can cause health issues. I would not recommend working in a confined area or handling it for extended periods and I've never tried squirting it directly on my skin. These repairs don't take very long to do and don't require contact with a high concentration of MEK. I have found that handling the putty with my fingers causes me no discomfort.

 

Here is a link to the MSDS: http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9927358

 

The materials required to make this repair are some MEK (Methyl Ethyl Keytone) solvent in a syringe bottle, a previously prepared mix of ABS and MEK, a stir stick/applicator (old screwdriver), a 5/16" drift or some other flat bottomed poker thing that will fit the diameter of the bolt holes, 5/16 and 1/8 drill bits and some cello tape (Scotch Tape). MEK does not dissolve cellophane so it works well to cover areas that must not get bonded.

 

 

Use a container that seals like the small mason jar I used. Cut up some ABS scraps such as plumbing pipe cuttings or even buy it if necessary. Making smaller pieces will allow the ABS to dissolve quicker. Pour in some MEK, about 1/2" in the bottom of the jar. Put the lid on and swish it around then leave to percolate for a few days. Have a look then stir or swish around again and leave for a few more days. If there is no liquid left and there are still chunks of ABS, add a little more MEK. The object here is to reduce the ABS chunks and get a movable filler paste. If the mix gets too runny just leave the lid off until it thickens up enough. This is gooey stuff but as it drys out it gets workable...for a short period...but reasonable enough to give a not too stressful working time. Before applying the putty squirt some straight MEK on the surface to be bonded to. This filler paste will be moldable for several minutes and moveable for an hour or so and will take several days to fully cure. That said, messing with it while it is setting up hard will most likely weaken the bond.

 

 

 

Any ABS that gets on your skin can be easily peeled off.

 

The right side dash instrument panel on my 89 VR had four of the six holes missing.

Well, the holes were still there but their bases had broken away so they were too big for the bolts to hold the panel.

 

 

The bottom right hole on the primary panel was half broken out with a crack that went to the edge. There was also a crack running half the length of the right side. These were repaired a weeks prior to beginning with the instrument panel. The fairing below the primary panel in the area of the crack had cello tape applied (see below) to prevent any unwanted bonding of the panel to the fairing. The crack repair was done in place by applying MEK from the syringe bottle straight to the crack and holding pressure for a few minutes until the solvent had set. Spillage or runs of MEK on the good part of the panel will evaporate fast enough to not cause any damage to the surface.

 

 

Getting down to business.

The first step is to remove the panel to be repaired and put several strips of cello tape to cover the bolt attachment clips. This can be seen in the above pix. With the instrument panel in place, held by the two good bolts, get a gob of putty from the jar, let it set up until it can be rolled into a ball, give the sides of the hole a squirt of MEK, put the ball in the hole and use the flat bottomed drift to press it into the hole to the approximate depth needed. Use enough putty so it can mushroom out under the panel and up the sides, depending on how much of the hole has to be built up it might be necessary to completely fill the hole. Once all the holes are filled, it's time to take a break for a few days or a week to let the putty cure and complete the bond which could be fragile in some places. About that, this job took three Sundays for me to complete, working about an hour at a time.

 

 

The next step is to remove the panel and check to see how well the putty attached to the underside. As can be seen, each hole is different due to the amount of damage that had to be repaired and the amount of putty initially used.

 

 

There is now a base to work from. The first application of putty set the correct depth of the hole structure but all of them did not get sufficiently attached to the bottom of the panel to provide long term structural integrity. A second application of putty was required. Get a gob of putty, squirt some MEK around the base of the first patch and press the putty in to fill any voids and build up enough enough mass to properly support the bolt. Some putty was also added to beef up the two unbroken holes.

 

 

As can be seen, concurrent to rebuilding the panel holes there is also a switch hole that needed to be made about 1/8" narrower. To fill something that, first lay cello tape around the hole at the approximate size required which will create a base line to fill to. This was an afterthought and was done from the top so it turned out a bit messy. A knife was used to carve the sides of the filled hole straight and will probably use a dremel to smooth the underside.

 

 

The following Sunday the patched holes were reamed out using a drill bit just a bit smaller than the diameter of the panel holes. A sharp bit turned by hand was able to carve the over filled holes to a proper depth. It also provided a centreing point to drill out the hole for the bolt.

 

Here we have the repaired panel.

 

 

When I first started this project, about 3 weeks ago, I noticed a serious crack in the fairing from just below the side-panel grommet through the corners and passing beneath the pinstripe. Fortunately the pinstripe was not broken. At that time I separated the crack a bit drizzled some MEK into it, waited a couple of minutes then drizzled a bit more into the crack and held it closed until it set up.... perhaps 4 or 5 min.... which felt like an eternity. At some point the fairing should be removed and the backside reinforced an that area but for now, at least, it seems to be a reasonable repair.

 

[videoarizona]

Cool!

 

Easy to do. Thanks for write up and pictures!

[Prairiehammer]

I also repaired the blown out bosses on the "Terminal Panel". All of mine on the '91 were "bottomless".

My method of repair is different from the OP, but it has been an effective repair.

First, I ground down the remains of the mounting bosses, so that the underside of the terminal panel was smooth.

Then I glued two 1/8th inch thick squares of ABS to the underside of the panel, using ABS cement.

I then used a Forstner bit, and bored from the top down into the glued ABS. I eye-balled the correct depth, leaving about an 1/8th inch under the Allen screw. More than was OEM.

I also used MEK and ABS cement to repair cracks around the CLASS housing.

Edited July 15, 2015 by Prairiehammer

[camos]

I decided the switch that had it's hole modified in the previous post was not suitable so I chose to replace it with a volt meter. That, of course, required re-patching the switch hole because the VM did not cover the complete hole. Following is a pic of the finished switch hole that is the starting point for modifying to fit the volt meter.

 

 

Using the same method as previously described, the first step was to cover the edges of the hole with cello tape to create a base line to work to. No pic was taken of that step because there was some rain and the tape got a bunch of white patches in it and looked weird. Fortunately before the rain happened the first layer of ABS-MEK putty had been applied and had set up. At that point I waited a few days while it cured. Then a 1/2" wood chisle was used to carve the excess cured putty on both the top and bottom of the panel. To flatten the cured putty the chisel is used like a knife, from side to side which makes it easy to attain a relatively flat surface that matches the original part of the panel.

 

 

The patched hole was roughly flattened before cutting the hole to fit the volt meter.

 

The patched corners of the original rectangular switch hole can be seen on the top and bottom left of the round volt meter hole before a final smoothing with the chisel.

 

 

Hopefully the photo of the finished bottom side shows there are no apparent voids in the patched areas.

 

 

Here is the completed installation. It is not perfect but does pass a casual inspection. The Horizontal line above the hole is a glue line from the original switch installation. I'm not sure if anything can be done to remove that. Matching the textured surface is problematic but leaving the filler putty a little on the rough side helps to camouflage the filled area.

 

 

So, this is the first time I have attempted such a sophisticated patch using ABS-MEK putty. While working on this, the patched part of the panel seemed to bend or flex equally with the original and is about the same thickness. It is early days but the bond of the patch material appears to be as strong as the original.

 

 

It seems, to me at least, ABS-MEK putty should be able to be used to patch fill any smooth part of the fairing prior to sanding and painting although it is definitley limited when patching a textured surface. In any case, this exercise was not about installing a volt meter but rather testing the possibilities of using ABS-MEK putty as a repair method. I did not do the accounting but suspect the repairs to the right side panel cost only a couple of dollars or less. I'm quite pleased with the results.

 

 

Just in case anyone is tempted to copy this volt meter installation, there is one very important point I want to make before finishing this off. The position of the volt meter in the panel really sucks. It is right behind the brake master cylinder and the handlebar so cannot be seen while riding without attempting some possibly unsafe contortions.

 

Unfortunately, there is no silver lining....

[jdross440]

I have been using the ABS adhesive made for gluing ABS sewer pipes together. It has worked well for me reattaching tabs and fixing cracks. I just open the crack, use a toothpick and wipe some adhesive in the crack and push the crack back together. less than a minute and it is set up and melted the faring back together. It also melts the reinforcements into the back side (the same way it melts plumbing pipes to attach them to each other).

[camos]

Made a new modification to the layout of the rt dash panel that works much better by switching the power point and the volt meter positions. I'm at a loss as to why this did not leap out at me in the beginning but anyway....

 

Due to the nature of the LED in the volt meter, it was difficult to see in the sun particularly due to reflection on the white LED lens and also due to the angle of the meter. The first part of the solution was to create a new mount that positioned the meter with a more direct viewing angle. Doing that was quite simple.

 

First thing to do was mask the meter threads and face edge using a cellophane tape such as clear Scotch tape. The translucent type may also work but I'm not certain it is actually cellophane. Also mask the dash panel around the mount hole leaving about 3/16" clear around the hole. It is a good idea to mask any of the surrounding area where an inadvertent slip might gob up other parts.

 

Once masked the meter was placed in the original hole at an angle. Give the perimeter of the hole a dribble of MEK from the needle applicator to soften. Then using a gob of ABS/MEK putty, form it around the exposed meter threads and let it set for a few hours, overnight or for a few days depending on how soft the putty mix is. When the putty has firmed up the meter can be popped out and the masking tape can be removed. Put the meter back in the hole and squirt a little MEK around the base and apply some pressure by hand, holding for 5-10 minutes just to make sure the new bezel is firmly attached to the dash panel.

 

 

 

A utility knife and a file can now be used to shape and clean up the new volt meter bezel. The bezel still needs to be polished up a bit but I'm not sure how to go about doing that yet.

 

 

This is the new panel layout. It's much more useful than before.

 

I have talked quite a bit about the method I use to do plastic repairs so I won't repeat it again here but if anyone has any questions I would be happy to answer them.