Repairing cracks in fairing

[jimb1]

I have a few cracks in the fairing of my 012 R1150RT. What is the best way to repair these? These cracks are located just below the valve cover/exhaust on the right side. Looks like someone could have gotten a little carried away with trying to take the right side fairing off. I have read about "Plastex" and "Plastaid", but thought I would ask here before making a decision. I appreciate your response and input.

 

Jimb1

[greiffster]

Looks like someone could have gotten a little carried away with trying to take the right side fairing off.

 

Jimb1

 

Yup. I understand that the fairing is made from ABS plastic (like the black pipe stuff). I don't know that I've ever seen proof of this. However, I repaired mine very successfully with ABS cement you'll find in the plumbing isle at your favorite hardware store. It's pretty much a chemical weld.

[Twinsig]

Ive had good results using Loctite Plastic Epoxy NOT the fast dry though. Also use an old sidecase inner as donor reinforcement.

Works on my JD mower too. Cheapskates, make the hood AND hinge assy AND attaches to the frame bolted through ABS. Cheap Cheap Cheap. Its why most of the used ones have NO HOOD!

[Will46r]

I'll be following this since its on my list of crap I gotta do.

[joeb]

Hi all. Thought I'd weigh in on plastic repair. Since both plastics and electrons seem to hate me,I find myself fixing a lot of these components. On my cracked fairing, the first thing I did was to drill a small hole at the end of the crack. This relieves the stress and should prevent the crack from spreading. Next, I go to the back side and rough up the surface over and around the crack with a heavy grit sand paper in preparation for a fiberglass patch. Mix some resin and hardener, lay on a sheet of fiberglass and soak with the glue. Repeat a few times and it always seems to work for me. I also put a piece of tape on the finished side of fairing over the crack and hole so the resin doesn't leak thru and mess up the finish. Hope this helps. Jb

[Will46r]

How well does the fiberglass patching work? I've read the plumbers glue works as well with less work. I've got resin and stuff here.

[roger 04 rt]

I have had to repair both attachment tabs near the cylinder heads. Both times I used JB Weld epoxy and fiberglass cloth. I think that epoxy and cloth is better than adhesive only.

[joeb]

Using fiberglass doesn't prevent you from using other method of repair as the glass goes on the back . The key is to really rough the surface so the resin has something to grip. The glass adds structural strength. Overlay with progressively larger glass mats till you are satisfied with strength. 3 layers of glass is very strong. Good luck.

[Crackenback]

On my fairing, the part that wraps behind the exhaust pipes snapped off completely on both sides due to improper storage.

 

The way I fixed it was to go out and get a sheet of ABS plastic from my local hobby store. It was about $10 for two sheets that were about 4 X 8 inches or so. I used a utility knife to score and then snap off two pieces that were about an inch wide and long enough to cover the length of both of the cracks. Next I took a Scotchbrite pad and cleaned up the area on the back of the crack to remove the paint and crap that has accumulated over the last 90k miles. I also used it to cut the gloss off the ABS strips i cut for the repair.

 

For the next step I used a heat gun to soften the strips so I can mold them to the contour of each of the cracks. Once the pieces cooled I cleaned up both surfaces with some acetone. Then I used plumbers glue for ABS pipes to make the repair. I put some on the edges of the crack as well as the surfaces on the back and the repair strip and then placed the strips over the crack to straddle it. I used tape on the front to keep the glue from seeping through and on the back to hold the pieces in position.

 

It doesn't take long for the glue to set up, but i gave it a couple of hours anyway. I then removed the tape and reinstalled the fairings and the repair has held up for the last two years without any problems. And that includes removing and reinstalling multiple times.

 

All in all an easy repair.