Aftermarket Plastics

Where did it go? Hopefully not up in flames from that heat gun.

 

What do you mean? Where did what go? If you're talking about that ugly carbon fiber I took that off. It just peels right off. I'm wrapping the bike in matte white.

 

The link was not there when I responded. I hope it comes out well.

 

Thanks, With enough time i should be alright. The seat cowl took 2+ hours to get done.

 

What may have happened is that the ad box covered your link. Gotta tell ya that that cowl if sprayed out would be about 30 seconds worth.. A little more than that is obvious. Just raggin ya a little.

For those curves and openings you are going to be dealing with take a look at some fancy wallpapering "how to" sites or a book for where to make those cut to do the overlaps..

What is interesting when you are all done, would be a rough cost analysis for informational purposes..

 

If I don't spend anymore on I will have spent 250. If I can make due with the 60x120 sheet I can return the 48x60 sheet and save 60 bucks. And true the putting a coat of paint on would take 30 seconds but factor in sanding the original paint off, from coarse to fine grit sandpaper. Putting at least 3-4 color coats wet sanding that and 3-4 clear coats and wet sanding that. That all is not done in 2 hours.

 

And don't forget letting the paint cure a day or so. I guess it all depends on the paint you use but I have mainly just used rattle can stuff in the past.

I did a rattle can job on my 01 R6 with decent results but man do I hate all the sanding.

r6 - Imgur <- Link to R6

 

Love those Eastla candyapple paintjobs.

 

Update: The tail is wrapped. Man was it a pain. The first attempt didn't go well. The first try I cut slightly too little material for the whole piece. When I tried to make it fit I got lots of bunched up spots from all the stretching. I gave up and decided to try again. I think the key is to start from the cent and work out. Meaning I got all the top edges done then worked down evenly all the way around. If you do one spot all the way then move to the next spot you will have to deal with excess material which can be handled with heat but not always in my case. I was able to wrap it in one entire piece, which I was adamant about doing. Next will be the side fairings but honestly I think the only hard part about those will be the openings.

Here is the link again Wrapping the VFR - Imgur

 

As comprehensive a product line as is available from 3M they might have an opaque film that is like the clear shrink wrap. Ya might try talking to them.

 

I know that avery makes a semi-gloss clear wrap that comes in various lengths but only two height dimensions 12" and 24"

Paint Protection

I'm considering buy some and putting it on the area near the bellypan and on top of the seat cowl. I would hate to drag a black line down it when putting my leg over.

 

Never used the Avery. Heres what 3M has. This stuff, aside from what the vid implies is available in sheets. It's glossy and crystal clear and more expensive than the Avery. As I recall it's maybe 10 mils.

Tough stuff. I even use it on the 15" plasma TV mounted on my bike for watching Oprah re-runs instead of doing stupid shit like texting and BSing with a WalMart associate.

3M Scotchgard Paint Protection Film Introduction - YouTube

 

10 mils that is tough stuff! I am almost halfway with wrapping. I have the front cowl, side fairings and tank left. I did the front fender tonight and that was a bit harder than I had originally thought it was going to be. It came out ok, pics are in the album. At this point I can't imagine wrapping it again let alone with a thicker material. But some spots will definitely need more protection than others. We shall see, The tank and front cowling are going to be hard I am expecting that. I will probably need another set of hands on those pieces. I'll try a side fairing tomorrow and see how that goes.

 

The 3M film is mostly for protection of leading edges. I have some on the lower front cowl and just the edge of my front fenders. The stuff used as wrap, I don't think would work. There are outfits that use the film and sell it pre-cut for mostly cars. Another use is over the headlight lens. I have a Lexan shield on my 91 from Ventura. that has been on the bike for years. Very cheap insurance.

I hope with all that work this wrapping works out. Keep us up on it..

 

That tail wrap turned out great, Ken. Can't wait to see how the rest of it finished up.

Jose

 

Thanks for the encouragement! It's going slowly because I basically only have enough time and patience to do one piece a day. Today I did the right side fairing, I updated my album with pics of it. It came out really well and I thiiiink i'm getting better at this. You have to plan ahead as your wrapping so you don't mess up and end up with too much or too little material. For instance on those air duct places for the side fairings. When you wrap over it make sure theres some extra so you can come back later and heat it up and then smooth it in. Too much material is just as bad, it almost guarantees a wrinkle if the spot is too far from an edge and you cant pull the material over it.


On a side not when I took off the front fairings I was almost unable to get the half cowl off from one of the fairings because the screw and the rubber nut thing in the fairing had rusted together. I had to pull the rubber nut out from the fairing and then let the screw and the nut sit in wd-40. I was then able to get it off with vice grips. I need a replacement rubber nut thing though and a screw. Does anyone know where I can find one of those things. (More of an explanation, the rubber nut thing I am talking about is considered part of the fender when I look at oem diagrams. It has a metal nut in the middle.)

 

Your local friendly Honda dealer can order one for you if you bow and scrape, have infinite patience and are worth at least $742.00 or somebody here has one they will give you.

 

This was by far the hardest piece so far. It was extremely helpful to have an extra pair of hands on this one. I did probably the first half alone and then asked for a friend to help. Just someone to hold the piece down or to heat up the vinyl while you stretch can make this go exponentially faster. Almost done! one side fairing and the tank and im done. I hope to have it done this weekend. Does anyone know where I can find decals for the fth gen vfr800's, specifically the decal on the side fairing near the bottom that says vfr800 and interceptor below it. All I can find are decals that say v-tec which mine is not...

 

I'm really impressed with what you have done so far. I don't even see any red bleeding through. That is pretty kewl. BTW I like the Carbon Fiber look. I saw that your test strip was that on your seat cowling. I wouldn't mind doing abit of that on my bike. Just need to figure out where.