It never rains in SoCal - Time to ABS weld

[FJmonkey]

Last Sunday really squashed my plans to do some yard work in the front and get a few "honey-dos" off the list. Darn it! Its raining... Sorry love, I guess I will work in the garage today.

Time to start cleaning up the ABS on the 89' before parts break off and I have to rebuild plastic in stead of just welding it back on. Nothing big, just cracks and a broken piece that holds a grommet.


I did some grinding to V out the crack and clear back the paint. There are 3 cracks, the last one is opposite of the crack in the hole for the grommet.



Since the parts are so small I chose to use the soldering iron method and melt the parts back in place with filler ABS rod. Then sanded smooth with the Dremal. Good as new now.



Bigger welding projects are coming up. Lower fairing, upper faring, turn signal mount, etc....

[CutterBill]

Looks good!   

[fj johnnie]

 Good job Mark.

[FJmonkey]

Here is an update, time to fix fender tabs

I tack welded the back side before hogging out half way through the broken tab. 


A better angle of grinding out the crack... "Say No to Crack"


The welding filler doing its job.


Not pretty but back to full strength.


Maybe the lower fairing is next.

[FJmonkey]

As luck would have it, the more I looked the more I found. More cracked and half assed repairs on the upper faring.






Both sides... Some kind of epoxy putty, falling apart. I ground away one side, noting but epoxy... 

[CutterBill]

What are you using as a welder?
Bill

[FJmonkey]

What are you using as a welder?
Bill

I use the Harbor Freight welder for most of the work and the soldering iron for thinner (delicate) parts.

[FJmonkey]

Grinding out the old epoxy putty was a dirty job. My garage is covered with the dust, but I found the ABS and shaped it to fit a filler piece. I also needed to find the proper hole location by fitting the mating piece.



Drilled out the mating hole and matched it with some fasteners. Time to weld...



Both sides get the weld.



A little grinding to make the U-nuts fit and all is good.