Fairing Grills, what the heck are those? I fabricated and installed grills behind the ventilation holes in the fairing. They serve no function except for show factor. This mod cost me about 25 dollars. I already had most of the stuff except for epoxy and screens lying around my shop. It is not difficult but a little time consuming.
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A common question is what to use to hold the screens on. I tried Hot Glue for a while but it started to melt. I moved to a 2 part plastic epoxy and have had no problems with it.
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I have heard of guys using "Gorilla Glue" but I don't know how well that holds up.
What you will need:
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6 tubes of 2 part Epoxy
- Gutter screens available at Home Depot or other hardware type stores
- Tin Snips
- A piece Wood or a rounded tool like a screwdriver handle or crescent wrench handle (Used for shaping screens)
- Lacquer Primer
- Lacquer Paint in the color of choice (I chose Chrome)
- Gloves (The screens are pretty sharp)
- Masking Tape
- If you have a hot glue gun it may help during installation but it is not necessary.
Place your fairing nice side down on something soft. I used an old blanket. This will perform two functions. One to protect the finish and two to support the fairing when you are bending the screen.
Start by overlaying the screen over the backside of the hole and cutting it to the right length. Leave about an 1-1/2 of extra on all sides.
Repeat this for all holes which you intend to screen.
The lower holes will actually protrude from the front side. Definitely adds to the finish look.
If you make a mistake, There is plenty of extra in the pack so no problem.
I used a piece of wood as a jig to make the longest bend. Then I laid the screen over the hole and just started pushing the flaps over the edges with my shaping tool.
On some of the corners you will need to make relief cuts to prevent the screen from buckling.
You also may need to trim off some of the edge to allow it to bend over.
It is during this process that I did my final cutting to get the screens to the right size. It is important to leave enough flap after cutting for the epoxy to hold to the fairing.
If you used Chrome paint the finished product should look like this prior to installation.
If you are really paranoid you could do more or use plastic to cover up more of the fairing.
Once this stuff sets up it is not fun (If you can do it at all) to get off of a nice finish.
This will prevent you having to hold the grills tight while the epoxy hardens (The hot glue hardens very quickly).
You can see from the picture to the right that I just used little "dots" of hot glue in a few spots.
Attach both the upper and lower grills.
The next step is to use some masking tape and tape off the screen opening. The epoxy is pretty messy and you want to prevent it from getting to the finished side of the fairings at all costs.
This step is not required but it can save your fairing.
The white stuff on the screens in the picture at the right is masking tape.
That's ok you can sand it some and no-one sees it anyway.
It usually takes me just under 3 tubes of epoxy to do 1 fairing.
Let the epoxy dry overnight then you will definitely want to sand it to get any high spots and sharp edges.
Good Luck!
Feedback is always appreciated.