G16 Cowl Repair

[Chilly]

My cart took a wallop to the front cowl during its glorious service st golf course. The drivers side front had been shoved back behind the bumper, and the cowl had cracked at the center support behind the Yamaha badge. Today I pulled the cowl and used a heat gun to move things around until its no longer crooked. Now I'd like to fix the crack.

I received a Plast-Aid kit, but the instructional video says to dab a bit of the liquid component on the plastic to see if it makes it tacky. The cowl did not get tacky so seems like it won't bond with the cowl.

What has worked for crack repair? This is in somewhat of a structural area so not sufficient to just make a defect smooth, it has to be strong and a bit flexible.

Anyone know for sure what kind of plastic it is?

Thanks
Chilly

[CP241]

I would plastic weld it. Plastic welding is perfect for that type of crack. All you need is a low watt $7 soldering iron (cheap pencil type, not a trigger style most of those are too hit) with a chisel tip. If you can't find a chisel tip to fit you can cut the end off a flat head pocket screwdriver (the kind the tool guys and auto parts stores hand out). Those fit and work great!

It will be as strong as the original plastic was. And with a little practice you can blend it in so it's almost invisible. If your rig is painted you can touch up the area and never even notice. If not, you can send, wet sand, and buff it so that it only looks like a faint scratch.

[CP241]

Not many people know the right technique to get a solid strong plastic weld. This guy does a pretty good job of explaining it. The idea is to melt the plastic and push it back into itself in the crack. Then it hardens and is like new. He's got the right technique and idea, just not the cleanest job

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRCMIDILfEI

[Chilly]

That plastic welding does seem like the perfect repair for this crack! Thanks. I assumed plastic welding required special filler sticks and equipment. That looks too easy.

[CP241]

Nope. Metal welding is accomplished by the same principle. The stick/wire/etc is basically just to conduct the electricity. It does add some fill but the strongest part of the bond is the 2 pieces of metal reaching their melting point and melding together. Plastic welding is no different. You're melting the plastic back to a liquid pliable stage, and melding it back together with itself. So really doesn't matter what "kind" of plastic so much. I've done it with soft plastic like atvtdirt like fenders, bumpers, and all the way up to the super hard brittle kind of plastic like refrigerator shelves are made from (the white surround around the glass).

Clear plastic is tricky, you can fix that just like anything else but it clouds where the crack is/was.

If you do have filler work to do, zip ties work well. If it is colored plastic you can take a razor blade and "shave" off a bit inside wheel wells, under the seat, etc where it's not noticeable and use that plastic to fill the low spots. Once the weld is complete, use a bigger chisel tip and "smooth" the area sort of like laying grout or masonry. The idea is to make it smooth and level but not perfect. Then you can go in with some 400 grit and work your way finer up to 1000 grit sand paper to blend it well. Then the finish will be hazy but shouldn't be able to see where the repair was made. Then you can use some plastic polishing compound to buff it out and it will be like it never happened.

It takes some practice but once you do it once you'll have it down :) sounds difficult and really time consuming but it's really not too bad. Once you get the hang of it, a crack usually doesn't take more than 20-30 minutes to repair at most (including the sanding and finishing). And a 6" crack really doesn't take any more time than a 1" crack as long as the 2 broken parts and jagged edges line up relatively well and flush.

[Chilly]

Some photos of the work

[CP241]

Looks great for first attempt! You'll be a pro in no time :)

Looks like it had some white paint, so you could fill in the little pin holes with some plastic shavings, sand it smooth and once you paint over it you'll never even be able to tell. Nice job!

[Chilly]

Burrito Cinco has a c-section scar. Was easy!