Help for repair of fairing.

Has anybody successfully managed to repair/weld a late 1970s fairing part? I have what I believe is probably an original MK1 Le Mans fairing, but there is some damage to it on the top edge where one of the frame mounting points was on the lip below the screen. Here there is a piece completely missing about 5cm X 2cm, and there is some “elongation” around one of the stantion “holes” that could do with tidying up. I have taken it to a specialist plastic repairer who plastic welds a lot of modern Jap stuff, and when he has tried to “weld” a piece into the original plastic, but it just burnt and it would not melt/weld, and he says that he cannot use the heat/weld method to repair it. He went on to say that possibly cold fusion might work, which I assume is araldite or similar. Modern plastics since ?? about the 1990s have codes stamped that allow you to know what type of plastic you are dealing with, and then make the appropriate choice of repair medium, but there are no codes on the fairing. I and my repairer doesn’t know what type of plastic was used in manufacture. Can anybody shed any light? Or does anybody know of any geniuses who might be able to help? Incidently, I have had a side panel repaired using the heat/weld method. Whether it was of later date of manufacture I don’t know, but it was made of a different material to the fairing


ReggieV2012-06-10 21:37:02

Is it not made of fibre glass, the fairings and front mudguard on my 1978 Spada certainly are. Couldn’t you could repair it with fibre glass resin and matting, then finish it off with body filler to get the end smooth finish?

You know that’s what I was thinking?

Fibreglass is a possibility. One reason I haven’t gone ahead and started to try a fibreglass repair is that I am rubbish at neat quality fibreglassing, and it will probably look a mess.I have heard that the fibreglass fairings on the market at the moment are not of great quality, don’t fit very well and the inside shows all of the matting as if it hasn’t been finished off properly, and that’s put me off buying one.It’s just frustrating that somewhere out there will be a man who will be able to repair what I’ve got…maybe in fibreglass?? But what I have got is definately some form of plastic and not fibreglass. Thanks for your suggestions,
ReggieV2012-06-13 08:51:33

Didn’t want to be negative but so far I have had no success with Guzzi plastic.

Isn’t there another topic somewhere about someone getting one made in aluminium?

I used to repair BMW fairings same problem
I purchased glass fibre bonding paste from a boat shop
its a green colour and comes with chopped strand mat mixed in.
roughen up the inside of the fairing and mix a small amount then apply it
if you have a hole put polythene on the outside held with tape
then fil from the back
when its dry remove the polythene and bond from the front but leave it a little low to allow you to grind it down with a surform and apply body filler

Thanks for the advice. I might look into that. The aluminium fairing sounds quite interesting though.

Trouble is the guy at the Tank shop works to his own timetable and you can get old waiting. To be fair fibre glass is not that difficult to work with look up the “How to” on the net that is fantastic for help saved me no end of time when painting the candy coat on the rear fairing of the V11.

I would reccomend it to anyone they have answers on just about every subject …even showed me how to fix a VW Passat window lifter they are controlled with a bowden cable. brilliant.

One point worth considering - fibreglass can be made with different types of resin. Sometimes it is epoxy, sometimes polyester, and sometimes (although not often) other stuff. This might have a bearing on what type of repair material to use - but I’m not an expert…

IanB wrote; One point worth considering - fibreglass can be made with different types of resin. Sometimes it is epoxyody who works at Mortons publishers who do a few classic bike mags, sometimes polyester, and sometimes (although not often) other stuff. This might have a bearing on what type of repair material to use - but I’m not an expert…I’ve found a couple of fibreglass suppliers that will freely “give advice,” but I also know someone who works for Mortons who publish several classic bike mags. I’m going to contact him and see if he can get any leads for me as they have lots of contacts in the bike industry, and if not I’ll probably go down the (attempt to) fibreglass route. Thanks again to all for your help.

This is the front mudguard of my 78 Spada which was the same fitment on le-Mans at the time and it seems to be made from some sort of fibrous resin material. Not the sort of thing you could do a heat weld type of repairThe main fairings are made of a much coarser material and left rough on the inside

thats the stuff Renault used on the first people carrier
lots of cars are made with that citroen bonnets for example
I always found if you scarfed away the panel with a small rough sanding disc on a pad fitted to a cordless drill it keyes better
the chopped stand matt ( green colour) also gives a strong repair and you can use a spatula to smooth it
afterwards I used to paint the inside of the fairings with matt black paint you could never see the repair then
BMW full fairings sued to suffer from the insert pullingout after an accident in one case the owner had used self tapping screw to re fix it ( BIG IDIOT)
i also used the same repair paste to bond new inserts in I used to buy a box of of threaded expansion bolts fromt he electrical wholesaler
they are used to fix threaded rods into concrete
for that mudguard I would be inclined to make a repair section to go inside of stainless steel of thick alloy and bond that in after grinding it down a bitrapheal glynn2012-06-17 11:02:31

Used to be able to just buy a new one for not a lot of dosh!

Don’t think an inside plate will work, might foul the tyre, those guards are very close. Had to sand down the insides of mine a bit to stop the sidewalls rubbing at last tyre renewal

I have a V50 one on at the moment, I am on the hunt for a pair of T4 stays or a second 1000S stay (I have one) and will then fit the stainless T3 guard I have sitting in the garage.