I could be wrong, but I don't think that JB weld will be able to be powder coated....I would take it back to the welder and have him fill the holes.
Thanks. The tail is ready to be powder coated.
Open the welding seam bubbles with small drill and prepare surfaces for putting.
Prepare high temperature putty and fill all welding holes. I used JB Weld Steel Reinforced putty.
Sand the surfaces once putty is cured
If you are going to mount license plate under the tail buy a couple of light-bolts http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ilpage_o00_s00
Drill a hole 5/16" diameter in the center of the bottom 16 mm against the front edge of the tail
The hole is for license plate light-bolts wires. You will need silicone grommet http://www.mcmaster.com/#1061t24/=yqrrgb and extended screws 1/4"-20 thread 1" length to mount the license plate using the stock tail holes http://www.mcmaster.com/#90600a130/=yqst47 .
Prepare templates for LED stripe bracket. I am going to use 3 mm thickness aluminum stripe for the LED bracket.
I could be wrong, but I don't think that JB weld will be able to be powder coated....I would take it back to the welder and have him fill the holes.
Porosity when welding aluminum is hard enough to get rid of, then add in that it is cast AL and you are kinda screwed. Welds looked good to me.
JB weld should be ok to powdercoat. I'd prebake the tail to let it outgas and see if the JB Weld shrinks or anything. If its still smooth, then PC away. Looks like TPEHAK only used a little bit of JB Weld so the shrinkage should be nonexistant. And excellent job documenting this and sharing it. I've been wanting to do this exact same thing for a while, but have been hesitant to cut my cheesegrater. I've been looking up ways to duplicate the tail piece (3d printing, fiberglassing, etc) and seems like its just easier to hack the original and buy a second one if it gets screwed up. I can't wait to see the finished product!
One question though, why did you go with the premium kit over the z-flex? Thanks!
Premium kit has two colors LEDs, red and yellow, so I can make turn signal over the red light and each turn signal takes half of the strip. At the same time red light takes whole strip. Here is an example
Z-flex has only one color, red or yellow, and each signal will take only a part of the strip. You need to order Z-flex combining particular amount of yellow and red sections. Here is an example
Last edited by TPEHAK; 09-05-2015 at 04:22 AM.
Ah! Where's my lightbulb emoji?
Awesome fab work!
Thanks. Here is the progress for today.
Take a 3 mm (1/8 in) thickness aluminum bar and cut the bracket according the template
Bend the bracket using the second template. A used a piece of wood and a couple nails as bending tool. The same way as in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XU7yLe0s7QM
Once bracket is ready drill mounting holes and holes for the LED strip wires.
The local powdercoating shop near me is not going to take work near few weeks, so I decided to paint the tail using spray paint. 2009 Buell XB subframe color is "Designer Black", I ordered this spray paint here http://www.americansportbike.com/sho...how/17371.html
For the primer layer I use Dupli-Color Scratch Filler Primer
Sand and prepare the tail surfaces according the manual on the Dupli-Color Primer spraycan and put first few layers
Last edited by TPEHAK; 09-03-2015 at 05:59 AM.