Restoring 650L Side Covers

[exzachtly1]

It only lets me post 10 images per post - so I'll be splitting this into a few posts...

I took a couple days off of work for my birthday, and finally got around to starting a project I've been wanting to do since getting my bike a couple months ago. Side cover restoration time!! I'm pretty much copy-catting old skool's thread, so thanks to him for all the ideas! I'm hoping to document everything here that I have done so far today and will be doing tomorrow, so that I can note what worked (and what did not work) for the benefit of others trying to do the same.

First, here is my source material. The right cover, as you can see, is not too bad. Just needs a crack repaired, fabricated hook on the back side, and a paint job. The left one, however, is a beast. I'll be fabricating a large missing chunk from this one as best I can.

The first thing I had to do was scrape off the badges. PO had attached them with some red gunk (rubbery caulk consistency). Had to scrape it off with a razorblade as best I could.

Next, I started making holes near the cracks in both covers as suggested by mr. old skool for the jb-weld to grab onto, and started applying it. Note that I used the "Water-Weld" stuff, I could not find the kwik-plastic at my local hardware stores. So far it has worked VERY well and been easy to work with. I like that it it takes about 25 minutes to set up, so it gives you plenty of time to work it into the shapes you need. Once it hardens it is sandable and paintable and feels just about as strong as the surrounding plastic.

Some shots of the JB application:

 

[exzachtly1]

Meanwhile I decided to pretty up my badges. For this I just used a flat black enamel spray paint to start, then used Testor's "aluminum" color model paint. After it has dried overnight I plan to apply a clear coat (Krylon, UV resistant stuff) to protect them and give them a little more shine. Here's the before, during, and after (no clear coat yet):

 

[exzachtly1]

After giving the initial round of JB some time to cure (this only takes about an hour), it was time to get creative. I first drilled more holes, then glued a piece of stiffened black felt from the craft store to the back side of the left side cover. I used a two part epoxy to glue it to the plastic then carefully trimmed the felt to match the shape of the other good cover. Did a mirror image as best I could.

After this was all good to go I started applying JB to the big area. I had to do this in two phases - first filling some in and letting it dry then coming back to fill in the rest. It was tricky since it was such a large area and the JB did not like to stick to the felt. But the stiffened felt provided just enough backing to hold the JB in place to re fabricate this area.

Finally, both covers are missing the clips that hold them to the rear side of the bike. I decided to try to fabricate these from JB weld. I'm hoping they fit... I pretty much just eyeballed it.

Tomorrow I will sand down the finished product and clean the surface to prep it for painting. Will post pics of the paint I picked up from the auto store later - it's duplicolor, I believe a GM color. Dark metallic blue. I'm trying to match the base color first and depending how it all goes we'll see if I'm ambitious enough to do the pin stripes and accent color. It's not gonna match perfectly but I'm hoping for "close enough"! Anything is better than what I had at this point.

Total budget so far has been $40.00 - around $30 in spray paint and $10 for the JB weld. The felt sheet was about 2 bucks and the Testor's paint around $1.50/bottle.

 

[bruin]

Emblems look real good. Hopefully the JB weld works out for you.

 

[qisteve]

Emblems look real good. Hopefully the JB weld works out for you.

Mega dittos.

 

[exzachtly1]

Never seen that much jb weld used like bondo, hope it works out for you, you may want to use the ready mixed bondo that comes in little tubes after all your sanding to fill in any imperfections, will probably be easier than mixing more JB, will increase you budget a little.


http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=187297

Yeah - this JB stuff seems solid though. It really does harden like a rock; I think it will be sturdy. If not... then I guess I'll have to do it again with something better!

I may pick up some bondo. For the small imperfections I bought some special primer that is supposed to fill those in, and is sandable. We'll see how it goes. I'm hoping to get my sanding and priming done today. Wish me luck!

 

[Agemax]

looking good so far mate, those emblems will look really cool once you get them clear coated. you can buy super strength double sided tape to refit them with. that is what i always use and they will NOT fall off!

 

[exzachtly1]

looking good so far mate, those emblems will look really cool once you get them clear coated. you can buy super strength double sided tape to refit them with. that is what i always use and they will NOT fall off!

Awesome! I was wondering what to reattach them with, I will look for that stuff. Are you talking about the 3M stuff that comes in a roll, or should I look for something stronger at the automotive store?

I'll be clear-coating the emblems today, will post pics later.

Edit: Maybe not. It's raining and looks to be raining allllll day

 

[Agemax]

yeah the 3m stuff. works great. or you can use the "pads" they use to stick rear view mirrors onto car windscreens, they are super strong as well

 

[MisterCinders]

Yes. Bondo Glazing putty is awesome for the tiny divots and scratches. There are two versions, the "Professional" which comes with separate hardener, and the regular, which comes in a single tube.

I actually prefer the regular, since you can take a good spreader, dab the putty where you find a ding and work the spreader right there. Since there is no mixing, you don't have to "beat the clock" for a batch of putty.

 

[exzachtly1]

Frustrated now. I made the mistake of not making grooves in the cracks (as per old skool's post). So now whenever I sand down anywhere there were cracks, they just reappear. So I have to leave -some- of the thickness on top. Which is obviously causing a problem when trying to sand down.

I went back and applied more of the JB to the back of the panels where the cracks are to reinforce, and even that didn't seem to help a ton.

Picked up some bondo from the auto store but it is not the glazing putty, it's the body filler stuff. Should I go back and get the glazing putty? What should I do if I am unable to sand the JB down enough to get a smooth surface? Just fill the entire thing in with a thin layer of bondo? Feeling like I screwed up a bit here.

 

[exzachtly1]

Nevermind - watched a few videos of the spot putty vs. body filler, and clearly saw the difference. I already went and exchanged. Gonna try this out tonight.

 

[exzachtly1]

Re-posting from my blog, here's what I did today. Made some interesting progress with replication of the decals...
-------

Today I did not make as much progress as I hoped. I started off by clear-coating the emblems, which look nice now.

I decided to hold off on priming for a while because it was raining outside and very humid, so instead I experimented with making a template of the old decal so I can either have a vinyl decal printed or perhaps turn it into a stencil and spray an accent color on in the original shape. Just took a top-down photo of the cover and manipulated the image in paint.net to get a nice stencil. I saved the project in layers so I could either do just the pin stripes, or the whole decal. Then resized the photo until the printed size of the decal matched the original (in inches). I tried to match the color using the color selector tool. Here's how they came out:

Not sure yet if / how I will use these, but I'm thinking I might see what Kinko's can do in terms of printing vinyl decals.


Then I threw a coat of primer onto the covers just for kicks, to see how far away I was from a finished product. Turns out I have a LOT of sanding and fixing of imperfections to do. Grabbed a tube of bondo glazing putty to help with that and a pack of sandpaper. I'll have to tackle it this weekend. Looks like fun!

One of the big problems I'm running into is that I didn't reinforce the cracks enough, so if I sand down too far they just open right back up. I tried to alleviate that problem by filling in with some putty on the back side. I'll have to try to leave a layer on top and blend in the edges as smoothly as possible, or just sand all the way down and re-do the cracks with a better technique. I may need to get a dremel so I can route grooves into the cracks and then drill holes so the putty has something to bite into - actually in between the cracks rather than sitting on top.


Guess this is going to take some time...

 

[robinelwood]

I'm no expert, so should probably refrain; but I can't help it.

In my experience, JB weld and JB Qwik are much more liquid than the underwater stuff you are using.... they more or less self-level. Just my 2cents.

Excellent project, bt the way; I'm looking at something similar with my '83 maroon 650l side covers this winter. Thabks for documenting your work!

 

[exzachtly1]

Yeah my problem is that im very impatient! I went with my gut on the waterweld and it may have been the wrong choice. But at least its part way there... worst case is a bit of re work if things fall apart when I sand. Im remaining hopeful for now

And please don't refrain from giving advice, that's why Im here! even if the advice is "you're doing it wrong" I still want to hear it

 

[Agemax]

maybe a couple of layers of fibreglass matting on the rear of the panels to strengthen them and give you enough "meat" to route into the cracks before filling?
just an idea.....

 

[exzachtly1]

maybe a couple of layers of fibreglass matting on the rear of the panels to strengthen them and give you enough "meat" to route into the cracks before filling?
just an idea.....

Good idea, if it comes to that I will definitely try. But things are starting to go better now. Spent an hour or so sanding and they are looking much closer. I've been sanding and filling in with bondo glazing putty (THANK YOU for this excellent recommendation, it works wonderfully). The edges are much closer to being blended in now... and things so far are holding firmly with the reinforcement on the back of the panel.

In this pic I had just applied some glazing putty so the red surfaces have not been sanded yet.

A little more elbow grease and we'll be ready for the first "real" prime coat.

BTW, I have found it nice to work on the sanding with a coat of primer on there. Makes it easy to see where you have and have not yet sanded so you don't miss spots. Very easy to systematically get the edges this way.

 

[Steve]

And please don't refrain from giving advice, that's why Im here! even if the advice is "you're doing it wrong" I still want to hear it

I can not say with any authority that "you're doing it wrong", but, since the covers are ABS plastic, I would have made some slurry and not worried about all the JB Weld and/or Bondo.

.

 

[Steve]

The slurry would have been good for the cracks, but may have been too difficult to use in replacing large chunks of missing material that need formed to shape.

For those, you simply get some ABS plastic sheets, trim them to shape and glue them in with slurry.

.

 

[Agemax]

sorry guys but what is "slurry", in English!?