The Makeover has begun........

[DragonRider]

Now that the weather is nicer, I am finally starting the makeover of my black beast, havent decided what color to go back with.......but I will have time to decide while I tear all the plastic off and start repairing all the cracks and tabs. Hopefully it will be finished before Maint. dayt at Freebirds, if not the V Star will carry me there. Wont be as comfortable as the Venture but if will be a good ride. I will post pics as per rule #1...........If anybody as any helpful tips I am open for them. So here is the start............

[MiCarl]

I've been doing some repairs on plastic. I found that the pipe solvent for PVC also works on ABS. Bonds almost instantly.

 

I've been repairing cracks by coating with the solvent then laying in a piece of fiberglass cloth. Then I put a thin coat of epoxy on to reinforce the glass, although I suspect polyester resin would be an even better choice.

 

Where I'm missing tabs I bond a piece of glass to the panel. Then I cover the mating surface with masking tape. Use epoxy to form the glass to the mating surface. Fill with epoxy putty for thickness, then another piece of glass on the other side.

 

It's working out great for me.

 

Oh, one other tip. Take your pictures in the sun instead of inside a dark building with an open door behind your subject and you'll get better results.

[DragonRider]

The more plastic I take off, the more I find that I have to fix...........this is gonna be a tedious job..........25 year old plastic is pretty brittle...........parts that werent broken or cracked suddenly decide they need to be.............:confused24:

 

Off to the parts store for more supplies..............$$$$$$$$$

[Yammer Dan]

Look ugly naked don't they?? Yes you have to be carefull how you handle it. Thae ABS or PVC glue does work pretty good as Carl said. Mostly it is taking your time and getting in your mind what you want to do with it. There are several things that work good. ABS glue, the Devcron Plastic Welder from Wally World works pretty good. Some use JB Weld. I'm sure you will get several opinions on here. Good luck with it.

[Dano]

C'mon, DragonRider, don't be chicken!!!!!! Tear it ALL the way down!!! Nothin' like a little pressure of already having reservations to motivate ya'!!!!!!

 

Dan

[DragonRider]

To get a lot uglier before it starts looking any better, thats for dang sure...................I have been putting this off for some time now....but there is not time like the present.:whistling:

[Squidley]

I have had a few Ventures that naked before...getting pretty good at doing it too now

If you run into problems Lew, give me a call and we'll make all well with the Venture world, looking forward to seeing you at Don's

[hipshot]

LEW . i sure do hope you kept track of all the screws and washers, and where each goes!

them little devils have a way of disappearing into thin air, right in front of your eyes!

well wishes from an EXPERIENCED hand!

lol

just jt:080402gudl_prv::080402gudl_prv:

[Condor]

Oh, one other tip. Take your pictures in the sun instead of inside a dark building with an open door behind your subject and you'll get better results.

 

To get a better pic with strong background light force the flash on the camera. There's no need to get the bike in the sunlight. Just turn the flash on full time.

[DragonRider]

Bunches of zip loc bags for all the small stuff, labeled where and what for.................been there, done that, aint going thru looking for the needle in the haystack, learned the hard way plus got plenty of spare screws and washers left over from previous projects.................:whistling:

 

 

LEW . i sure do hope you kept track of all the screws and washers, and where each goes!

them little devils have a way of disappearing into thin air, right in front of your eyes!

well wishes from an EXPERIENCED hand!

lol

just jt:080402gudl_prv::080402gudl_prv:

[hipshot]

Bunches of zip loc bags for all the small stuff, labeled where and what for.................been there, done that, aint going thru looking for the needle in the haystack, learned the hard way plus got plenty of spare screws and washers left over from previous projects.................:whistling:

 

somewhere down between the cylinders on my bike, there MUST be a complete set of screws nuts and bolts!

 

i swear. if you drop something ,smaller than a 12 in crescent wrench down there, you will NEVER see it again!

lol:rotf::confused24:

just jt

[DragonRider]

Yep, know what you mean, I found a pair of pliers and a screwdriver and some sort of connector when I took all the plastic off, didnt even know I was missing those tools..........:confused24:

 

somewhere down between the cylinders on my bike, there MUST be a complete set of screws nuts and bolts!

 

i swear. if you drop something ,smaller than a 12 in crescent wrench down there, you will NEVER see it again!

lol:rotf::confused24:

just jt

[Marcarl]

Be very careful not to drop any screws down in the engine area. I drilled off a pop rivet, didn't pay attention to where the leftovers went, then later went to change the plugs and the wrench wouldn't fit on the one plug, no matter how I tried and what I used, no luck to wrench the plug out. So finally I got a small pick and poked around in there and found the pop rivet end, another 15 minutes to get it out, but the problem would have been, had I been able to take the plug out it would have dropped in the cylinder and I would not have know it until it was tooo late. OH yes, I did blow out the holes first even though I thought they were clean because I just put the engine back in. Careful, careful careful!!!!!!!!!