Plastics

[gpounce]

Well Fudge.

I was moving the KLR around the garage and bumped it pretty good against the garage door and got this:

It's very brittle.

I looked on eBay for a used one but they were stupid expensive and most of them were just as bad as mine. So my journey of plastic repair education looks like it will have another chapter. I'll let y'all know how it goes, stay tuned.

Is not the standard repair on a KLR to put duct tape over the crack, and a premium repair, the tape's color is matched to the plastic?


But yeah that plastic looks more than a bit dead. I ran into similar trouble with an aftermarket windscreen on a friend's CB750 which lived outdoors for getting on 20 yrs- the screen was OK but the plastic mounting knobs and clamps mostly crumbled when I worked with them. I had to machine and fit new mounting points, at which point he decided he liked the bike better without the screen

I don't like the odds for adhesives there- the plastic looks significantly degraded. I'd go for a mechanical repair; I'd start by drilling a small hole at the apex of the crack to hopefully relieve stress and stop it propagating. Then fit a plastic fishplate spanning the crack, molded by heat for best fit, then screwed thru the fairing- the idea being to avoid adding more stress to the fairing but also hold the crack where it is. Sheet PVC perhaps- thin, maybe 1/8"; something not too rigid that can be easily warmed by a heat gun so its soft and molded to the fairing's contours, trimmed for appearance, drilled for fasteners and painted. Even better if the crack can be pulled closed when the plate is fit. If the plate is more of a strip or series of strips fit on the back side of the fairing it might not look too horrible.

 

[Ausfahrt]

It was actually worse than the original pictures showed. I'm selling this bike as soon as I can get it ready and it's only got 3700 miles on it so I'm sure that someone will buy it. This will definitely be a KLR worthy repair!

During the repair process...

Ready for paint with Max helping out!

 

[Ausfahrt]

Thanks for the replies and suggestions. In the end I cheaped out and just used a bit of 2 part plastic epoxy and then sprayed it with the same paint that I used on the old Honda.

It's far from perfect and the bike runs better than it looks.

What would you guys set for an asking price on a 3700 mile first gen KLR?

 

[matty]

Guess you sold your KLR650 by now it being many months ago by now, But in case you have not sold it had a change of heart... Whatever...
Here are a few Tricks i learned in 50 years of Running buying and selling trials bikes for what that's worth.
The Plastic oxidization is best cleaned up IMO by one of two methods which i will explain now.
Main way i like is Paint stripper heat gun or even a plumbers propane gun but not as forgiving but slightly quicker.
First Clean the panel / part with warm water and a soft nylon nail brush, Wipe panel dray, then get vinegar and apply neat rubbing vigorously with a flannel cloth.
Once its cleaned like that get your heat gun move in on the panel until you see the Matt go gloss the color jumps out and keep the gun moving keeping the color sheen uniform the more evenly you spread that heat the better the uniformity of color will be . The gas gun or paraffin torch wont be as uniform but you can still do it just the same, and where i started before the electric paint stripper guns.
Do not be overwhelmed its not a race you can do areas just try and keep the heat the same. And a note regarding this, remember where there are reinforcing sections or thicker edge bands you will need to put that bit more heat into the job basically show down and if its say a mudguard thicker edge section come at it from off the panel you can see the sheen exactly the same then on the edge.
Now if your pannel was not damaged or repaired or been compromised by abrasion you should be looking at a pretty awesome rejuvenation if you did your part right.
Now There is another way i only use this if the gloss is flawed or a repaired or welded area i need to try and match in perfectly, Standard Cellulose thinners typical gun wash is just fine mix this with 65% Boiled Linseed oil and go steady get the color up then vinegar to quench it, i use vinegar in a squirt bottle or garden pneumatic sprayer .
Works great for me on trials bikes and no reason i can tell on anything else i cleaned up a super faded Husqvarna chainsaw top cover to like new only this last week. give it a try your KLR will look better with that faded pink back to red again.

.

 

[CTG]

Guess you sold your KLR650 by now it being many months ago by now, But in case you have not sold it had a change of heart... Whatever...
Here are a few Tricks i learned in 50 years of Running buying and selling trials bikes for what that's worth.
The Plastic oxidization is best cleaned up IMO by one of two methods which i will explain now.
Main way i like is Paint stripper heat gun or even a plumbers propane gun but not as forgiving but slightly quicker.
First Clean the panel / part with warm water and a soft nylon nail brush, Wipe panel dray, then get vinegar and apply neat rubbing vigorously with a flannel cloth.
Once its cleaned like that get your heat gun move in on the panel until you see the Matt go gloss the color jumps out and keep the gun moving keeping the color sheen uniform the more evenly you spread that heat the better the uniformity of color will be . The gas gun or paraffin torch wont be as uniform but you can still do it just the same, and where i started before the electric paint stripper guns.
Do not be overwhelmed its not a race you can do areas just try and keep the heat the same. And a note regarding this, remember where there are reinforcing sections or thicker edge bands you will need to put that bit more heat into the job basically show down and if its say a mudguard thicker edge section come at it from off the panel you can see the sheen exactly the same then on the edge.
Now if your pannel was not damaged or repaired or been compromised by abrasion you should be looking at a pretty awesome rejuvenation if you did your part right.
Now There is another way i only use this if the gloss is flawed or a repaired or welded area i need to try and match in perfectly, Standard Cellulose thinners typical gun wash is just fine mix this with 65% Boiled Linseed oil and go steady get the color up then vinegar to quench it, i use vinegar in a squirt bottle or garden pneumatic sprayer .
Works great for me on trials bikes and no reason i can tell on anything else i cleaned up a super faded Husqvarna chainsaw top cover to like new only this last week. give it a try your KLR will look better with that faded pink back to red again.

.

You have described close to the same method I use on plastics. A good clean with vinegar or alcohol and a nylon pad. I think the white pads are approximately equivalent to 800 wet and dry. I am not afraid to use wet and dry either. The part needs to be as clean as possible to avoid consolidating foreign matter into the part in the next step. I have used gas torch, but a heat gun is safer - scorching the part is easier with gas. Just flash melt the surface to a gloss working quickly and evenly across the part. Fine scratches from abrasives melt into the surrounding area.

 

[matty]

You have almost described close to the same method I use on plastics. A good clean with vinegar or alcohol and a nylon pad. I think the white pads are approximately equivalent to 800 wet and dry. I am not afraid to use wet and dry either. The part needs to be as clean as possible to avoid consolidating foreign matter into the part in the next step. I have used gas torch, but a heat gun is safer - scorching the part is easier with gas. Just flash melt the surface to a gloss working quickly and evenly across the part. Fine scratches from abrasives melt into the surrounding area.

That is it and to add to all that LIGHTING! I like natural light but not too much you got to be able to see it happening without any glare ruining you reading of the job. sounds complex but AS I AM SUE YOU KNOW ITS AS SIMPLE AS DESCRIBED .

 

[Ridefreak]

I took a lesson from autobody industry when it comes to repairing damaged plastic. They often use typical 2 part epoxy from the typical double tube container for repairing plastic. I saw it used to repair an entire row of broke off mounting tabs on a plastic tacoma fender flare. They roughed up the back side of the damaged piece and used the epoxy to re-secure the parts. JB weld works but it's not the same as the conventional epoxy many in that industry use for this. The repair on the tacoma was done about 10 years ago and is holding up fine. I've since used it for a variety of similar repairs with excellent results.

 

[JimVonBaden]

Recently, on my K1200RS project:

 

[matty]

I took a lesson from autobody industry when it comes to repairing damaged plastic. They often use typical 2 part epoxy from the typical double tube container for repairing plastic. I saw it used to repair an entire row of broke off mounting tabs on a plastic tacoma fender flare. They roughed up the back side of the damaged piece and used the epoxy to re-secure the parts. JB weld works but it's not the same as the conventional epoxy many in that industry use for this. The repair on the tacoma was done about 10 years ago and is holding up fine. I've since used it for a variety of similar repairs with excellent results.

I have used such plastics to repair damage hulls on BIC boats. These(if you dont get them stateside) are a Short flat bottomed tram a kind of european colman .