| Author | Message | ||
     Marshbuell |
My buddy took my bolt out the other day and ended up catching a bit of bad luck with some loose gravel and went down. The right side has some decent rash, but thankfully hes paying for any repairs. Between the two of us we spent 1000 bucks at American HD & buell in Ann Arbor Mi, just for basic replacement parts at his expense http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/clipart/bigg rin.gif. But i have a few questions pertaining on how I should repair certain things. 1 My headers at dented a decent amount and scratched pretty good. Will this affect the natural flow of air through them? Can I just wrap them and not be worried about performance issues? If i am going to run into future problems does anyone have an extra header lying around I could take off your hands for some cash? Shelling out 200+ dollars for one just doesn't sound appealing. 2 My front fairing stay is cracked on the right side right where it connects to the blinker/ fairing. Is it possible to weld this material instead of buying a whole new one or is this material un-weldable? Last thing can anyone give me the expected prices for a replacement handle bar one side only, and jet-hoting a header silver? Thanks a ton in advance! | ||
| Marshbuell |
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| Iamarchangel |
Magnesium fairing frame thingy: don't try and weld or they'll be able to see you from the moon. Will ignite at a low temp and it will take a ton of sand to put it out. Highly specialized welding, if any. Ebay is your friend. | ||
| Juniorkirk |
i broke my fairing mount on the turn signal part like that as well....just go out and buy some JB Weld and mix it up and let it sit for a bit before you apply it so it will stick and not sag down from being too soft and it will hold it like a champ. | ||
| Froggy |
You can't use anything that has heat to fix that fairing bracket.  As for the header, it looks like yours was ceramic coated, a new header will turn gold unless you get it coated. If it was my bike and I was fixing it, I would JBweld the fairing bracket and wrap the header. | ||
| Pogue_mahone |
VW air cooled engines have magnesium cases,and it CAN be welded.find a VW engine machine shop,and i know michigan has a LOT of sandrail/dune buggy crazies up there to get you fixed and running. ALSO 3M panel bond #8115 will repair anything.plastic or metal.will fix plastic fairings and bond steel to aluminium. let me know if u need more precise instructions on how to use the adhesive for repairs. i'd also wrap the header and run with it. scott | ||
| Iamarchangel |
Didn't say it couldn't be done. Said it required special care (TIG). It's not a job for Joe Handy. Check around. | ||
| Slaughter |
Mag welding is do-able but you'll have to do the research on who in your area can do it and get an estimage. Also, sent you a PM - I might have a set of headers but they LOOK like they have been ridden hard and put away wet. I took them off when building the race motors. | ||
| Pogue_mahone |
i sanded a small pile of magnesium powder from a ford truck radiator support. lit it with a butane torch..it glowed and sparked a bit and nothing.like in the start of the vid. same thing time after time. weird. | ||
| Marshbuell |
Thanks for the Input guys, as soon as I saw the Jd weld/3M adhesive idea it made me think of Mighty putty. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_4a4O7kXQo One of the people whom my father works with Is a welder by profession and told me he can Tig weld magnesium so I think Im going to see how it turns out and if doesn't pan out ill use Jd weld. As for the header I'm working something out with slaughter, but when I do get the new header should I use 1in or 2in wrap? | ||
| Macdiver |
The jb weld or putty is a nice short term fix. My bracket was repaired that way but is starting to crack in a spot due to vibrations. My repair was on the upper finger that supports the mirrors. I priced a new bracket from the dealer at 135. If you are removing yours to weld why not just replace it and be done with it. | ||
| Slaughter |
Heck Marsh, I'll even throw in a roll of 2-inch natural color header wrap (you gotta use 2-inch). I don't have any of the clamps any more. Gotta get my lazy butt to find out in WHICH box of crap I have that old header stored... and I'm pretty sure I've got some header wrap around - probably enough to do the headers. Not a pretty color - natural is just dirty looking but if you want a utilitarian look, I kinda like it. | ||
| 1_mike |
To you people that don't think welding magnesium is desirable or even possible.. Think again. Not so at all. I watched a guy years ago weld .015" thick magnesium. As a matter of "fact", he welded 6 pieces of 1.50" x 1.50" x .015" flat stock to form a cube. It was so light..you'da figured it was full of helium. Though...as far as the bracket...best to buy new if you can't do it yourself. Mike | ||
| Aldaytona |
Marshbuell, I have done that bracket repair before and it can be strong with JB Weld. How I did it: Take off the plastic. Use 5 minute JB Weld at the fracture/break and hold it together. Cut and bend coat hanger pieces to fit along inside (unseen part) of bracket. Cover "rebar" and surrounding inside areas with lots of regular JB Weld and in 24 hours, almost as good as new and all for around $10.  | ||
| Slaughter |
Bret, Did you get the pics of the header? Turns out that it does have a dent so it won't do you any good and if you're wrapping, you can save yourself the hassle of the wrenching and just wrap your existing pipes. My other (second) header is really a LOT worse than yours but the picture link I PM'd you has the better of the 2 pipes pictured. Let me know. | ||
| Marshbuell |
Things are looking better, decided to make the bike yellow and black. In the process of getting some black ceramic headers and a new swing arm. The front fairing stay is going to be welded for free by a guy who works at the university. Still need to get graphics and change out a few more parts ill post pictures when i'm done with everything. here it is in its current state.   |
