Lower cowl material

Hi,

As I posted earlier I am repairing my fairing on my 3rd gen vfr. The middle and top fairing are no problem, they are made of ABS and are 'glued' with acetone and some some Lego donor ABS chemically melted in the acetone.

But the lower cowl is made of a different material. Does somebody know what kind of material? And whats the best way to glue it?

Under the paint it is white, instead of the black ABS. It looks a bit like chalk when I grind it, but as a whole it feels like normal plastic.

Here there is a picture where I try to glue it with acetone, but it will not stick:

 

I thought all VFR fairings were ABS?

Larry

 

No it is definitely not ABS. First because it does not dissolves in acetone. And another clue is that on the inside of the middle and upper cowl there is a stamp with -HONDA ABS-. On the lower cowl there is no such stamp.

 

I might be polyethylene.

Try some PVC cement and see how it responds?

Or epoxy?

Larry

 

Yesterday I removed the front fender to repair the scratches on it. I already concluded it also isn't ABS. Now I can see that on the inside -HONDA PP- is stamped, so this part is made of polyethylene (PP).

So I will need another method to repair this as most glues don't work with polyethylene. I think I will melt donor material in the scratches with a soldering iron.

 

OK, researched briefly, and here's the technique.

http://www.tech-bond.net/How_to_bond_the_poly_s_3.html

Evidently, its a 2 step process, kinda like gluing PVC. Cleaner and bonder.

Lets see results.

I personally like heat bonding, if done completely.

Larry

 

I know that front fenders on gen2s are PP. ig: