Repairing headlight mounting lugs?
 

If you've taken your pointy S front fairing apart you'll know that the rear of the headlight assembly has two locating lugs. The lugs on my pointy were broken off when some sheepgazer hit me in a queue of traffic and pushed the bike into the car in front.

It doesn't appear to be causing a problem as the lugs only seem to help with assembly. It's the mirror mounts that take the weight but...

Has anyone successfully glued/welded the broken lugs back on the headlight assembly? Anyone hazard a guess as to what would work?

I've tried ordinary superglue and that doesn't work.

Like I say it's not a problem for now but I will be taking the fairing off over winter for cleaning so it would be the perfect opportunity to get the job done.

Is it a coincidence that the second hand assemblies I've seen all have broken lugs? ;)

Mark

Re: Pointy S Headlight plastic
 

I drilled a small hole through the mounting for the lug, then screwed a bolt through it. I think I may have rounded off the end by covering it in insulation tape just to make it easier to get it to seat through the holes on the bracket.

Re: Pointy S Headlight plastic
 

Hmm. Clever.

I'd guess that would ultimately be a more successful long term fix. It does seem to be a weakness when it comes to crashability.

Mark

The thing with crashability is that you'll find most parts don't crash well.... not even the organic ones.

Re: Repairing headlight mounting lugs?
 

I used the bolt trick as well, using a stainless bolt. I don't think the plastic they use glues well unless maybe so solvent or exotic type I don't have.

Re: Repairing headlight mounting lugs?
 

I rivetted plates with ground off bolts attached to headlamp on my srad gsxr. I didn't bother at first as I thought the mirror support was holding the fairing. But after a while on potholed roads the bracket broke due to the vibes and flexing.

Re: Repairing headlight mounting lugs?
 

Ive tried different glues & they dont work. My one is back on with nothing done. It seems that all the other fixing points that hold the nose cone unit on are enough to keep it on for me. Although i feel another tutorial/fix project coming on!

Re: Repairing headlight mounting lugs?
 

Eek!

This is what I was (am?) afraid of...

I shall check out if there's any embossed recycling info on the headlight shell when I next drag it out into the light. If I know what sort of plastic it is I should be able to get the right glue.

Are there any plastics which will never stick well? Dies it depend on thermosetting or thermoplastic? Why the hell didn't I go to uni and get paid for knowing this stuff?

I could run a book on this but all signd point to the bolt fix right now.

Thanks,

Mark