Topic: painting project: my girlfriends ninja 250. need fairing repair tips anyone?

[greasy j]

i haven't been on the forum much lately. I've been working on another project, my gfriends ninja. I'm painting it, changing out some cosmetic stuff. it was beat to #$%* when I started. lots of cracks, broken tabs, etc. I'm finishing up spraying the clear coat today.

I'm a painter by trade, but I mostly restore homes. bikes is a side thing. anyways I am using the new PPG waterborne stuff for the base coat and using a 2 part urethane clear (Omni 2.1 mc262/mc267). love the waterbase paint, it's the best auto paint I've ever used.

for the plastic repairs I used this stuff: 3M 05895, Automix EZ Sand Flexible Parts Repair Kit. it is amazing stuff. I learned a lot about plastic repair.  and some evercoat polyflex plastic filler, for gouges and whatnot. that stuff is great, too. very strong, but you can bend it in half without it cracking once dry.

I even made my own peg/mounting boss thing(not sure what the proper term is) out of random materials and jb weld and attached it using the automix stuff. it's super strong!

so if you guys want more info or pics or whatnot let me know. it's coming out really nice so far, but I had some learning curve type hiccups along the way. I learned some great techniques for repairing cracks so that they won't keep coming back and fixing broken tabs. and I took lots of photos.

before:


after:


my bike is a 71 750-4, I'm doin a bunch of work to her including painting work, so I wanted to get my girls bike done first. this is a new painting system for me so I wanted to get the kinks ironed out, so to speak. but I plan on having the mighty 750 back on the road by June.(x fingers) there will be a project page when I do all the work.

[Frankenkit]

oooooh. that girl must love you. or she ought to. Beautiful plan there

[hoodellyhoo]

Do you think this automix stuff would be good for repairing a sidecover?

[HavocTurbo]

That body style ran for YEARS!!!!

Might be easier for you just to scour ebay for a good one and replace it.

Otherwise.... best thing I have found for repairing covers is fine "kitty hair" fiberglass paste.

Might be a professional only thing, I'll have to check, but it comes premixed in a tube and you just squirt it on and spread and smooth later.

On secondhand.... I should have read.  Sounds to me like you found a great way to repair.

Bike mockup looks cool. 

[greasy j]

oooooh. that girl must love you. or she ought to. Beautiful plan there

yeah, she does. thanks.

here's a pic between clear coats to give an idea:


and here's my homemade peg next to an original, from the sidecovers:

[greasy j]

Do you think this automix stuff would be good for repairing a sidecover?

dude, this stuff is awesome. I think you could build a sidecover out of it. and it sands beautifully.

seriously it's the perfect thing for fixing sidecovers. I want some original 69-70 styles for my 71 and might just find junk ones and fix em.

you have to know how to use it though, not too hard. let me know, if you want I'll post a step by step thing w/ pics from this project. I fixed cracks in the corners, right in the middle and broken tabs. at one point while about to paint I dropped the fairing! broke another tab and made another crack, but the previously repaired areas held up the best! the fixed tab took the brunt of it and didn't come off.

[greasy j]

here's what the bike looked like before:


here's one of the newest pics from the last clearcoat still in the spraybooth:


an example of the damage:

both sides are split at these corners




an example of a small crack, it ends where the drill hole is


the stuff:


both sides of the fairing had cracks in the top corners of the fairing where it curves around. to fix I drill holes and grind in grooves like stitches for the filler to sink into. so on top when it is sanded flush you are left with a good amount of product holding it together. on the back side it can be built up so this is unnecessary. on the crack on the flat section in the middle I grind in a v-shaped channel over the crack for the filler to sink in. drilling a small hole in the end of the crack stops the crack from spreading further.

fixin:












primed:




I also used the 'ding king' to pull a dent in the gas tank. I love this tool! it works great.


I fixed a tab first using the automix by digging channels, filling, etc. it held up great and even took a fall without snapping. after the fall I had to reattach another tab, which I did using another technique I learned about. I plastic welded it together w/ a soldering iron and then melted a piece of squiggly mechanic's wire into it for strength. this seems to have created a pretty strong bond. we'll see down the road if either fails...

the wire method:


here's both tabs, bottom one attached w/ automix.


I also attached that peg I made out of random stuff and jb weld w/ the automix. I stuck it on there with a bit of wire, then ground in grooves in the peg for the filler to sink in and hold it on better. I used a dremel sanding drum, filled it with the automix then wrapped it around the peg to make a base. it ended up being very strong, I can't pull it off.









hope this can be helpful to people doing plastic repairs. any ?'s just ask.

[greasy j]

so , she's finally done. kinda. I still have to do the 'ninja' kanji on the sides and put on the bar-end mirrors. we got some really cool block offs from JDA custom. they are polished aluminum and say ex. cool! I just got leds for the asian cycle flush mounts in the front. cool because you can't see the bulbs. the signals have clear lenses so it looks nice and clean this way. I'll post a couple more pics after I put on the leds and the bar ends. and when I do the kanji bit.

here's some pics for now:

[Frankenkit]

RAWR!!!! Beautiful!!!

[greasy j]

RAWR!!!! Beautiful!!!

thanks. glad you like it. Bre (my gf) thinks it's great as well. she's really happy.

I'm psyched about how well my photoshopped design translated to the actual finished product. I'm def gonna use pshop to plan all my projects for now on. and I'm really happy about the design itself. I think it works well with this bike. I saw something similar on a suzuki race bike and adapted it.

thanks for the input!

and the cb750 rebuild has started finally! I'll start a proj thread when I get a bit more into it.