KTM265
04-17-2007, 10:32 PM
A friend of mine posted this up on another forum...basically a way to change the color of your plastic to any color or pattern you want....good info and an option to those who don't want to pay for new plastic but rather repair the old...
Pretty much NOTHING sticks to ATV bodywork. Not paint (even fusion) not fiberglass. There are some processes that you can use that will also work, but are not very cheap...or scratch resistant (you can have them film dipped...but it's pricey...or use a plastic solvent before painting). The contours of the bodywork will hold the fabric your applying in place. IF you have flat surfaces, you may need to rivet the fabric to the bodywork after it hardens (looks cool with camo LOL)
BASICALLY, the first thing you need to do is fix any breaks or cracks.
I prefer to use light gauge sheet metal with pop-rivets. MOST breaks are not perfectly straight, so you might need to cut serveral bit of sheet metal to follow the break.
NOTE: Use 4 rivets MINIMUM per piece of sheet metal.
Put the sheet metal on the underside of the plastic, drill a hole in the corner, then rivet into place. drill another hole into the sheet metal on the same side as the first and rivet. Now you should have 1 piece of plastic with sheet metal riveted in place, and can not turn. Hold the bodywork together (a friend helps) and do the same to the other side. You should have 4 rivets, and 2 pieces of plastic joined together.
NOTE: Most ATV bodywork has lots of contours...use a small ball peen hammer to make the sheet metal conform to the plastic. Now the fun part...This is done once the bodywork is physically sound.
1) Scuff bodywork. I use a "scotchbrite" wheel on a power drill. Don't worry about gouging the plastic...you won't see any errors later.
2) Select a VERY stretchy fabric in a color or pattern you want the quad to be (I used camo...you can use anything...RANDOM patterns will work better to hide repairs..zebra stripes could be cool. You will see a little of the original color though the fabric once finished.)
3) cut fabric MUCH larger than needed to cover bodywork.
4) use hot glue to hold the fabric down on low areas.
5) STRETCH the fabric over the rest of the bodywork. This sounds easier than it is. You may need to use more than 1 piece of fabric to cover the bodywork if it is very intricate (My front fender needed 3..the rear only 1 piece). Wrap the fabric around the fender well areas to the underside...again, using hot glue to hold in place.
6) Cut flutes around any large holes...most vents, you can get away with cutting the fabric around the hole after laying resin. Wrap and glue flute ends to underside of bodywork.
7) Lay resin. Now you should have what looks like a skin tight cover over your bodywork. Mix fiberglass resin (polyester or vinyl-ester resin) according to instructions, and "paint the fabric ". the fabric will soak up a lot of resin...be generous.
let sit overnight. It will get hard inside of 1/2 hour...but let it sit longer
8) Sand. There will be a LOT of small air bubbles, and you should have a VERY rough surface. LIGHTLY sand these down with the scotchbrite wheel...picture #1 Sand as smooth as you like. For Camo, I suggest leaving SOME texture in. IF you go through the resin and into your fabric, you can touch up with a magic marker...picture #2. When done, it will look like this...picture #3. WASH the dust off before going to step 9!
9) 2nd coat of resin. NOW you have a NON porous material. Use a LOT less resin on this coat. This is MOSTLY to fill the air bubbles you broke open while sanding the first coat...let sit over night.
10)Sand. this time we are VERY lightly sanding with 600-800 grit wet sand paper. Just enough to give the clear coat something to stick to.
11) Clear coat. I used a clear coat for epoxy based paint (cuz we had some laying around ) What ever you use , make sure it is a QUALITY automotive/marine clear coat (No, Krylon clear doesn't count!)
Thats it. Here's a close up of the surface texture I chose. NOTE: You CAN make it as smooth as you like. but for camo, I prefer a bit of texture....picture #4.
http://thumb16.webshots.net/t/59/559/0/77/65/2555077650057707896HhtWOA_th.jpg (http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2555077650057707896HhtWOA)
http://thumb16.webshots.net/t/57/757/3/99/9/2065399090057707896jTvXNb_th.jpg (http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2065399090057707896jTvXNb)
http://thumb16.webshots.net/t/59/559/7/12/44/2022712440057707896lojTaw_th.jpg (http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2022712440057707896lojTaw)
http://thumb16.webshots.net/t/57/557/1/32/41/2271132410057707896azcPud_th.jpg (http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2271132410057707896azcPud)
Pretty much NOTHING sticks to ATV bodywork. Not paint (even fusion) not fiberglass. There are some processes that you can use that will also work, but are not very cheap...or scratch resistant (you can have them film dipped...but it's pricey...or use a plastic solvent before painting). The contours of the bodywork will hold the fabric your applying in place. IF you have flat surfaces, you may need to rivet the fabric to the bodywork after it hardens (looks cool with camo LOL)
BASICALLY, the first thing you need to do is fix any breaks or cracks.
I prefer to use light gauge sheet metal with pop-rivets. MOST breaks are not perfectly straight, so you might need to cut serveral bit of sheet metal to follow the break.
NOTE: Use 4 rivets MINIMUM per piece of sheet metal.
Put the sheet metal on the underside of the plastic, drill a hole in the corner, then rivet into place. drill another hole into the sheet metal on the same side as the first and rivet. Now you should have 1 piece of plastic with sheet metal riveted in place, and can not turn. Hold the bodywork together (a friend helps) and do the same to the other side. You should have 4 rivets, and 2 pieces of plastic joined together.
NOTE: Most ATV bodywork has lots of contours...use a small ball peen hammer to make the sheet metal conform to the plastic. Now the fun part...This is done once the bodywork is physically sound.
1) Scuff bodywork. I use a "scotchbrite" wheel on a power drill. Don't worry about gouging the plastic...you won't see any errors later.
2) Select a VERY stretchy fabric in a color or pattern you want the quad to be (I used camo...you can use anything...RANDOM patterns will work better to hide repairs..zebra stripes could be cool. You will see a little of the original color though the fabric once finished.)
3) cut fabric MUCH larger than needed to cover bodywork.
4) use hot glue to hold the fabric down on low areas.
5) STRETCH the fabric over the rest of the bodywork. This sounds easier than it is. You may need to use more than 1 piece of fabric to cover the bodywork if it is very intricate (My front fender needed 3..the rear only 1 piece). Wrap the fabric around the fender well areas to the underside...again, using hot glue to hold in place.
6) Cut flutes around any large holes...most vents, you can get away with cutting the fabric around the hole after laying resin. Wrap and glue flute ends to underside of bodywork.
7) Lay resin. Now you should have what looks like a skin tight cover over your bodywork. Mix fiberglass resin (polyester or vinyl-ester resin) according to instructions, and "paint the fabric ". the fabric will soak up a lot of resin...be generous.
let sit overnight. It will get hard inside of 1/2 hour...but let it sit longer
8) Sand. There will be a LOT of small air bubbles, and you should have a VERY rough surface. LIGHTLY sand these down with the scotchbrite wheel...picture #1 Sand as smooth as you like. For Camo, I suggest leaving SOME texture in. IF you go through the resin and into your fabric, you can touch up with a magic marker...picture #2. When done, it will look like this...picture #3. WASH the dust off before going to step 9!
9) 2nd coat of resin. NOW you have a NON porous material. Use a LOT less resin on this coat. This is MOSTLY to fill the air bubbles you broke open while sanding the first coat...let sit over night.
10)Sand. this time we are VERY lightly sanding with 600-800 grit wet sand paper. Just enough to give the clear coat something to stick to.
11) Clear coat. I used a clear coat for epoxy based paint (cuz we had some laying around ) What ever you use , make sure it is a QUALITY automotive/marine clear coat (No, Krylon clear doesn't count!)
Thats it. Here's a close up of the surface texture I chose. NOTE: You CAN make it as smooth as you like. but for camo, I prefer a bit of texture....picture #4.
http://thumb16.webshots.net/t/59/559/0/77/65/2555077650057707896HhtWOA_th.jpg (http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2555077650057707896HhtWOA)
http://thumb16.webshots.net/t/57/757/3/99/9/2065399090057707896jTvXNb_th.jpg (http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2065399090057707896jTvXNb)
http://thumb16.webshots.net/t/59/559/7/12/44/2022712440057707896lojTaw_th.jpg (http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2022712440057707896lojTaw)
http://thumb16.webshots.net/t/57/557/1/32/41/2271132410057707896azcPud_th.jpg (http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2271132410057707896azcPud)