Lower fairing repair

[tletourneau]

Ok, so I had a bit of an accident the other day. I was coming out of my driveway and I had to quick stop due to a car taking off from a parked position. Well with the combination of things that went on including the layout of my driveway and not hitting the clutch quickly enough I laid the bike down bending the engine guard and putting a three inch crack in the lower fairing. I got the engine guard straighted out and am trying to determine if the fairing can be repaired or, if repairing is not possible, if the new replacement part comes ready to be installed or needs to be painted. I'll try to post a picture of the damage a bit later but am looking for any advice beyond "don't lay your 850+ pound bike down", that one I try to avoid.

 

Thanks,

 

Tom

 

Sent from my phone.

Edited August 31, 2015 by tletourneau

[Eck]

The lower fairing half can be repaired. There are many ways to fix it.

Posting a couple good clear photos of the inner side and the out side damaged areas would be most beneficial in determining what type of repair action you could take.

[tletourneau]

I'll get some better pictures soon, I'm at work.

 

I've attached the pictures I have to far. I just have to take it off to get the pictures of the inside.

[Eck]

Tom,

Review this link on how to repair it. No use me typing the same instructions. http://www.xjrider.com/viewtopic.php?t=666

One KEY instruction: To reinforce the damage, glue a piece of ABS plastic to the backside of it. It is crucial that the ABS plastic piece used to reinforce the part is made from ABS.

Also, to build your courage up to do the repair yourself, take a few minutes and do a search on ABS crack repair and click on VIDEOS to watch how it is done.

 

 

I used a soldering iron and welded the ABS plastic back together on the underside. Then added the reinforcement piece and glued it all up. Let it set for a day or two, then sanded the top side and repainted to match best I could. No one ever knew mine was repaired.

[tletourneau]

Eck, thanks for the link and the pointers! I'll take a stab at it, what's the worst that could happen.

[YamahaLarry]

Just repainted my bike and had to repair a crack in the lower left outer. Used an ABS cement after cutting vee on both sides of crack with my dremel. All seemed pretty strong to me. My body/paint guy wasn't 100% sold and he had some type of stuff they use to repair auto bumper covers. It was a 2 part cement and also had some real fine cloth, almost fiberglass like. Anyhow, we just took down an area about 1 inch wide and maybe 1/32nd thick on the outer side of the fairing and used his stuff as well. He guaranteed that if it cracked, it would be outside that patched area.

 

You could find out from a body guy what that may have been. But honestly, I think my ABS cement was sufficient.

[vzuden]

@tletourneau,

we have a member who makes braces you can add to those crash bars to help reduce the likelihood of them bending. Look for CarbonOne in the classifieds.

[tletourneau]

Thanks vzuden! It looks like a good product, I've looked him up and sent a message.

 

Tom

 

Sent from my phone.