Hey all,

I once posted cowling repair project. I used plastic bumper repair material, however I found out the thing is not really strong enough for vibration.
So, my next try is plastic welding BY MYSELF. I found the website that is showing how to weld plastic with soldering iron. Sorry, I printed out the page, but didn't keep the link, so I had not found again. I tried with broken laundry pan (the plastic tray put under washing machine) which is fairly thick like our bikes' cowling. I tell you what!! this is easy and strong. I may need more practices to finish the surface. But this is absolutely worth to learn. I will update some pictures after good number of practices.

Yas

 

Yes it is a cheap and effective method. Bike tupperware are always incredible expensive, and may also be hard to find for the earlier models. When welding plastic I use to melt a couple of metal wires across the crack deepinto the plastic. This will make the repair very strong and isquite effective when you e.g. attach broken mounting tabs that have to take a lot of stress. In case the repair has to be done on an exposed area, like on a fairing, the welding and wire reinforcement can be done from the inside, and then the exposed side of the crack is covered by clear warnish. That will make a strong and near to invisible repair.

 

That is so cool to know man!!! I am looking forward to the pics!

 

Can you repair the panels like over the fuse box

 

Here are two examples. One isa completely broken offforward part of the rearframe coveron the Blackbird, that is a support point taking a lot stress. The corner is now welded with an iron on the backside and reinforced with metal wires. The crack can be seen on the outside, but it is well worth it since it saved a costly rear framecover and the repair is very strong.

The other pictureis a shield to an Arai helmet that was completely broke. You can se the metal wire down within the marked area. This part is now strong enough to last even though it has to take a lot of stress every time the shield is opened. From a safety point it is not to recommend, but the section is covered when the shield is closed and a new shield cost 120 dollars here in Sweden [&:]

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Yes, in fact I did exactly that on my Hurricane and a lot of other cracks since the bike was abused by previous owners. I showed the repaired points to the shop that bought the bike, they just said it looked very good and was absolutely fine.

 

Off the subject!! Can someone tell me what the different fuel settings on the side is for? ON, RES, OFF,FUEL ??? I know that OFF is to turn the fuel off and ON is to turn the fuel on But I don't know what to others is for??

 

I leave mine on res and fuel up at around 240kif you use the tap to much they leakso i don't touch mine. There shouldbe 3.50L in RES if you runON.

 

RES means reserve tank. It is for those ofus who do not look at the gas guage much. Bike starts to sputter gotoRES and you have enough gas to get to a station.In fact enough to shop around, LOL. But after what Weekendrider said and the fact that I just replaced a Petcock ($85.00 + shipping) maybe I'll look at thegas guage instead. [sm=burnout.gif]

 

Res is primarily a holdover from the old days, pre 80's or so, when most bikes didn't have fuel guages, and it served as a means to let you know you're low on fuel. The petcock's intake set in the reserve position allows fuel to flow from the bottom of the tank. The intake in the "on" position is set a little higher in the tank as thus will not allow fuel to flow from the bottom of the tank. This fuel that sits lower inthe tank than the "on" intake is said to be held in reserve. Thus, if your petcock is set to on and you feel the bike running out of gas, flip the petcock to reserve and you'll still have about a gallon of gas left.