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Project Windjammer

  • Thread starter Thread starter Matchless
  • Start date Start date
The left side prepared for joining:



The right side prepared for joining:

 
As you will see Rustybronco cut the fairing in strategic places to hide the join under the flashers, with the inner and outer cuts offset, to retain integrity. He also separated the windshield "ears" as well as a bit on the lower side which is then overlapped and bonded together and allows for much easier alignment of the parts.

The cut apart windshield ears were layered with ABS slurry as well as the bottom corners. Then using a multitude of clamps and the bolts through the windshield mounting holes, everything was aligned properly. Small bits of ABS plastic sheeting was used to keep the hacksaw cut gap evenly apart.

Short plastic bridging strips were prepared while the pieces were apart by heating with a heat gun and forming to follow the inner cut line. These will be glued in place over the cut joint by working through the cubby holes.
 
The status as of today when I stopped for the day:
The inside of the cuts have strips of ABS sheet glued lengthwise covering the cut line and held in place with bundled shop rags insie the cubby holes.
Some of the cuts have been partially filled with ABS slurry.
This will stand for the next 3 to 4 days to allow the acetone to evaporate and the ABS bond to be strong enough for handling before any further bonding will be done:



The G clamps through the horn hole behind the flasher grill hold the inner bridging glued strip and aligns the parts as well.
 
I see you have re-painted the fairing bracket; it looks very nice as per your usual style.

now for the big question... is Georgie mad at Me for helping with this project? ;)
 
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Not a Windjammer fan per say... But I love watching you put this one back together!!!

Looks great and I can't wait to see the finished project. Keep it up :clap:
 
rustybronco said:
I see you have re-painted the fairing bracket; it looks very nice as per your usual style.

now for the big question... is Georgie mad at Me for helping with this project? ;)
Click to expand...

I messed up the excellent paintwork on it when I used the gentle persuader to straighten out the slight bend it had and thought I had to stop it rusting.

Georgie is in his element, as I am spending much more time in his domain (territory). I am sure he smelt your dogs when I unpacked the parts, as he sniffed at them from all sides! I told him this was from his cousins on the other side of the world!;)
 
spyug said:
I was not aware of acetone as a product for working with ABS and this opens up a whole slew of possibilities for repairing and fabricating.
Spyug.
Click to expand...

You will be quite surprised at the strength when using acetone only to join ABS. Holes and cracks fill out very nicely and can be sanded easily as well. The slurry can be a real lifesaver and is cost effective!

I have seen a writeup on how someone built a boat with ABS sheeting and welded all the joints with acetone. He used thin ABS sheet and just doubled up or trebled up the thickness by acetone-ing the sheets together! An eyedropper was his tool for applying the acetone and then just let it wick into the joints.

Glad it can help you!
 
Well this has been quite the undertaking. I remember volunteering the fairing back some months ago. Glad to see it will be used. It had followed me around for a few years. I will be very interested in seeing the thing actually on the bike repainted and up and running. Hope the radio housing and radio suit your needs as well..best wishes, Chuck.
 
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chuck hahn said:
Well this has been quite the undertaking. I remember volunteering the fairing back some months ago. Glad to see it will be used. It had followed me around for a few years. I will be very interested in seeing the thing actually on the bike repainted and up and running. Hope the radio housing and radio suit your needs as well..beat wishes, Chuck.
Click to expand...

Chuck,
I am glad you have seen the progress on it to date. If it was not for you this would never have been possible!
I am really enjoying resurrecting it!
I am sure that radio and the pod is going to really make it into a winner!
All I can say is, thank you, once again!
Keep well.
 
It looked so much nicer in my storage unit though..all nice paint and no surgery scars!! LOL. Enjoy and keep the pics coming,,i will check them out often.
 
Vetter

Vetter

Interesting, I thought the fairings were fiberglass. As I had a very old one on a KZ650 I gave to my friend with a KZ1000. It had cracked in the back from the pocket openings on top to the bottom of the pockets. I got some seriousglassing done then. When did they go to the plastic?
Tanx
G
 
gmansyz said:
Interesting, I thought the fairings were fiberglass. As I had a very old one on a KZ650 I gave to my friend with a KZ1000. It had cracked in the back from the pocket openings on top to the bottom of the pockets. I got some seriousglassing done then. When did they go to the plastic?
Tanx
G
Click to expand...

As far as I know the very first fairings Craig Vetter built in the mid 70's may have been fiberglass, thereafter they were all ABS plastic.
 
Some more progress today. The parts are joined together, lapped and bridged on the inside with ABS strips and beads of slurry over the cuts.
I have started sanding the join and adding more layers of slurry where required to fill the cuts:



 
That is really outstanding! Hypothetically, if the acetone slurry truly melds everything together, there shouldn't even be a seam left when you've sanded smooth... What a fantastic way to have gotten around the prohibitive cost of shipping that monster! :clap::clap::clap:;)

Regards,
 
By the way, on a side note ... In that last picture I was reminded (from looking at the headlight plug) that if you want to fit an "H4" bulb (preferably Silverstar because they are AWESOME!) to the Vetter fairing you will need to chop that original plug off and replace it with a shorter alternative. The Vetters used a very deep OEM plug, but most auto parts stores sell a much shorter "standard" replacement plug that will allow for the better bulbs and deeper housings required to use them.

I mention this because the H4 conversion from a standard sealed beam is one of the best safety upgrades you can make to the Vetter (and any bike that doesn't already use the H4's)...

...and now, back to our regularly scheduled resurrection!!!

Regards,
 
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Planecrazy said:
That is really outstanding! Hypothetically, if the acetone slurry truly melds everything together, there shouldn't even be a seam left when you've sanded smooth... What a fantastic way to have gotten around the prohibitive cost of shipping that monster!
Click to expand...

It sands quite well and yes there should be no seam as you can see. Its just a bit of a slep having to wait a day or two for the slurry to dry before sanding.

By the way, on a side note ... In that last picture I was reminded (from looking at the headlight plug) that if you want to fit an "H4" bulb (preferably Silverstar because they are AWESOME!) to the Vetter fairing you will need to chop that original plug off and replace it with a shorter alternative. The Vetters used a very deep OEM plug, but most auto parts stores sell a much shorter "standard" replacement plug that will allow for the better bulbs and deeper housings required to use them.
Click to expand...
I am planning to use my bikes OEM headlight which already has a H4 Silverstar in it. I have not tried to fit it with the Windjammer V type headlight shroud. Hope it will fit though! I will check that out, thanks.
I must actually remove that cable for the painting and will pop the spade connectors from the H4 plug anyway.
 
Matchless said:
I am planning to use my bikes OEM headlight which already has a H4 Silverstar in it. I have not tried to fit it with the Windjammer V type headlight shroud. Hope it will fit though! I will check that out, thanks.
I must actually remove that cable for the painting and will pop the spade connectors from the H4 plug anyway.
Click to expand...

With all that ABS you could probably mold your own H4 Plug around the spade connectors, hehe! The other possibility is that once you remove the connectors from the OEM plug you might simply be able to cut/grind off the back so that it becomes the shorter plug you're most likely going to need. Either way, at least you now know to watch for the clearance problem...

Regards,
 
Planecrazy said:
With all that ABS you could probably mold your own H4 Plug around the spade connectors, hehe! The other possibility is that once you remove the connectors from the OEM plug you might simply be able to cut/grind off the back so that it becomes the shorter plug you're most likely going to need. Either way, at least you now know to watch for the clearance problem...

Regards,
Click to expand...

Steve,
I just came back from pulling that plug, the grommet was hard and brittle, so I need to get another one. I have a H4 socket which is more of a side entry for the wires and is much shorter that the one I just pulled out. I can even see the mark where the wires were pushed against the back.
Thanks for the tip!

I am leaving a raised bead of ABS over the cut under the flashers and headlight shroud and only smoothing off the short visible bits. That slurry fuses very well with the base plastic.
 
Andre,

How does the repair look when peering through the cubby openings?
 
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