Side Cover Tabs

[bluec10]

Lost my left side cover last summer - of course its the hardest one to find. Really irritating because I had spent all kinds of time giving the bike a custom paint job that I was pleased with. Anyway, I found some good side covers on eBay and grabbed them. The one hitch was that the left one was missing one of the tabs that hooks over the bike’s frame. Any ideas about how to replace the tab? Materials? Glue?

[Rat]

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Gord

[tlbranth]

The cover is ABS plastic which is good. You can get some sheet ABS from Grainger or cut a piece from ABS sewer pipe. Fashion the tab with a file, knife or whatever you have and glue it to the cover with ABS glue. Then I'd reinforce it with a slurry of ABS shavings and ABS glue. The pipe and glue are available cheap from HD. You'll use it again so don't worry about over-buying.
The ABS glue is actually a solvent containing ABS. The fix is more or less a weld and is very strong.

[Whiskerfish]

I use aluminum angle. Cut and trim to fit then a bit of epoxy and a couple pop rivets put in from the top to back the glue up. The rivets heads are under the seat edge and unless you look for them are not noticeable

[pidjones]

I used aluminum channel from a piece of scrap with one side cut off to make it an angle for the Hunley. If I was to need another, I'd use wrecked Honda plastic (I now have a good supply from the local Honda service department) and ABS plumbing cement. Since ABS has been outlawed for plumbing here (no longer in stock at HD or Lowe's), I bought the cement from Amazon. Right now I'm using it to build the entire under-seat-cowl piece for a '79 CB750F. The cleaner solvent is still available at my local Ace. BTW, the cement is great for re-attaching the side cover pins that have broken off due to hardened grommets. If you need ABS to patch in areas, go to a service department and ask them to save you some. Spring is near, and the sport bikes will be shedding a lot of it!

[desertrefugee]

Replacement tabs are available on eBay. Cut them to length and either ABS glue or epoxy them in place. I repaired one on my CBX.

[Sidecar Bob]

This is what I did on Eccles: Attach a bolt to the hole where the pin normally goes (you'll have to figure out how - on Eccles I was able to use a piece of threaded rod right through the frame for both covers), then drill a hole in the cover where the pin was. Run a nut onto the bolt and adjust it until it touches the inside of the cover when it is in place on the bike and use a stainless acorn nut and a washer to hold the cover on. It doesn't look original but those covers do NOT come off without tools now.

[warhead_71]

As other have mentioned, you can "weld" ABS together using "ABS putty, glue, slurry, & juice"... which is all just varying viscosities of ABS shavings mixed with acetone.

Lego blocks are also made from ABS. You can cut the ends off a standard 1x4 or 1x6 lego block and remove the "pins" on the inside to make a sturdy ABS channel. The pieces that you remove can be ground up and added to acetone to make your "glue". Wash and rough up the contact surfaces with 60-grit first.

Dollartree has generic-brand building blocks... same material. A bag of mixed parts for $1. https://www.dollartree.com/make-it-bloc ... cks/269130

You can also get your 12-oz bottle of 100% acetone (fingernail polish remover) at Dollartree for $1. MEK works even better than acetone, but it way more toxic. Be safe.



I've made complete replacement sidecover "studs" by molding them from thick "ABS/acetone putty" then affixing them to the sidepanel with slurry/glue. When I make a stud, I create a flared base so there is more surface area fusing the panel to the stud. After it has cured you can clean up the shape with a Dremel and sanding drum if you need to.