Custom fiberglass rear fender for M800

Hi.

Even before I bought the M800, I started looking for options to change the rear fender, as I would like a more slender look and lines which flows from the bars towards the rear.

I have nearly completed the fender, just waiting for the rear and turn signal lights.

The fabrication consist of three stages.

First the male plug was designed and tweaked until I was satisfied with the form of it, and it was smooth enough to cast the female mold on.
Then the female mold was made and wet sanded and waxed.

And finally the fender was cast in the female mold.

The fender has a black gel coat, and it will be polished and used until I´ll get the correct paint and paint it at a later stage.

The license plate will be mounted below the fender, but I need the rear light before I can design the plate holder.

Excellent piece of work Kim well done.

Your a talented man Kim! Very nice job    

Excellent job, very clever man.

Looking good Kim, true dedication there. Are you trained as a body shop man by any chance? 

     

O wow what a great bit of work, ace to see a craftsman at work. You have done an ace job and should be so proud of what you have done, its amazing. Gotta agree with the others  
The world is your oyster with skills like that, fiber glassing is an art and your an artist  

Thx for your replies, and no I´m not trained in a body shop    but an Electronic technician by education, although I have always worked with IT.

I just like to modify and build stuff, and to do that I have had to learn many skills.

And that's how I shall approach my custom taildragger.
No clue so far though how to fabricate these brilliant pieces of wood to start with...
Needs tools...POWER TOOLS!!! POWEEEEERRR!!!!


ekhm...what was I..oh yes...brilliant job mate  

Very nice, many hours of hard work, well done.    
Excellent job 

love it

You have done an amazing job Kim, I am very impressed with the result. It firstly has a great felling to be a little different from other but with a huge amount of satisfaction to of done that yourself. Well done Kim, what an excellent job.  

Wow, you've got some serious skills there!

Kim, any chance on a detailed write up?
What products, what materials, how, etc

I'd appreciate it a lot.

I bet the hard part is actually getting the wooden plug bang on.... Any discrepancies, blemishes, etc in that, are just going to get replicated.

MarcinG wrote:

Kim, any chance on a detailed write up?
What products, what materials, how, etc

I'd appreciate it a lot.

I'll try to write a small guide.

Cut the two side panels out of cheap thin plywood using a jigsaw.
Then cut the small "bridge" pieces that go in between the sides.

Now mount it on the bike and glue it up using whatever glue you prefer, I used ordinary white glue. You need to be a little precise here, and place them in the same plane relative to the curve on your side panels, or you will spend even more time sanding.

This fender needed to be a bit narrower under the seat, so I glued another small piece of plywood here, making sure the seat would still fit.

When the wood structure is complete and the glue is cured, you place some kind of stretch fabric over the wood and staple it to the edges. I used a cheap fleece blanket from IKEA.

Then you coat the fabric with polyester resin, remember only to use 2% catalyst/hardener to give you enough time for working. Make sure you soak the fabric with resin.

When the resin is cured the fabric is hardened, and you can now use polyester filler to work up to the desired shape.

It usually takes many times of filler and sanding to get a proper shape.

When you a satisfied with the shape, you need to make the mould as smooth as possible, because when you cast the next mould on top of this one, it will grip every little hole and scratch and could make it hard to pull away from the mould.

Another reason is that all the defects will show up in the next mould.

So spend some time wet sanding it smooth.

When it is smooth you need to wax it to prevent it from sticking to the next mould.
I also use a release agent called PVA, which is either sprayed or brushed on thin with a foam brush.

When this is dry you can start making the next mould, and you start with a coat of gelcoat. This is then allowed the cure for 30-120min, or until it is hard but still sticky.

Then you start laying up fiberglass with polyester resin, making sure the pieces overlap and that there are no air bubbles in between.
It's a good idea to buy plenty of cheap brushes for this, as you will only use them once.

Take care not to put too many layers too thick at the same time, as the first layers will start to cure and generate heat, causing the next layers to cure too. If you are not careful, it will turn brown and start to smoke, and it could catch on fire.

Then just work you way up to the desired thickness.

Another thing to remember is not mixing up more resin than you can use in about 20 min, as it will start to turn to gel, and it is useless.

You can pull the two moulds apart when the fiberglass is cured and hard.

Now you should have a nice and smooth female mould, which should require little to no wet sanding. You repeat the above process for making the final fender.

That is: Polish, wax, release agent, gelcoat and fiberglass.

bigmal wrote:

I bet the hard part is actually getting the wooden plug bang on.... Any discrepancies, blemishes, etc in that, are just going to get replicated.

Exactly, but as you have the gelcoat of the female mould you can wet sand and polish the last of the sanding scratches away.

But you are correct, everything get replicated.

Thanks for that... that's a keeper for when I get around doing mine :)
   

Excellent write up Kim.  

 on the write up Kim,well explained.

I have received the rear/brake light and the signals, but I think the rear light is too small, and I have got the idea that it would look cool with a dual rear light, when I want a dual head light.

So I ordered another rear light of ebay.

More waiting..........

I think it will look good as is, the light may be small but remember they are LEDs so the are bright. It's size has nothing to do bright it is compared to normal light bulb lights. I think less is more and less is the way to go with your rear fender. I like the size of the indicators as well. I know its all down to personal choice and I have no doubt how you choose to do it will look spot on cause you have the vision and can see how it will look in place by holding it against you rear guard

I haven't decided anything yet, and will wait for the new tail lights to do so.

This is the dual light I have ordered.


And here is a quick photoshop mockup. Imagine the license plate below the light and I think it will look nice.

Very nice indeed.

Are they combined indicators too? I might be dreaming, but I recollect someone here having issues with led indicators because they draw nowhere near the same load as ordinary bulbs. 

Hopefully someone who knows their arse from their elbow will chime in!

That is going to look sound Kim,as Mal stated about the draw power of LED but I have a feeling with you having the background in electrics it should not cause a problem.Always nice for people to talk about the problems that might arise,for it gives you a better insight before you tackle the job.Nice one Mal.

O yes now that double rear light setup looks friggin ace the way you have shown it in the pic  

I believe your bike will look fabulous, love the dual use lights anyway but especially when used in the way you have planned. Well thought out.  

Looking good!

That will look very nice indeed sir!  

Very nice indeed.

Great posting Kim,

I've done some fibreglass laminating in the past & always had to work from 'first principles' and your information should really help anyone who wants to try out some custom fabrication.

I've used timber, cardboard & ureathene type foams as base materials for some rough bucks, then built them up with chopped strand, then applied filler & sanded back to the profile I wanted. This can be trial fitted etc. - then make the female mould.

 Ureathene type foams are generally beige in colour (e.g. Kingspan insulation boards - the core foam Not the backing material). The generally/commonly available Ploystyrene type foams dissolve in the polyester resin so cannot be used as a base without a protective skin.

You always have to be wary that there is no reverse taper in your chosen shape if you intend to do a 'one-piece' female mould ..... (or you get a mechanical lock with your moulded component & the mould & would find it difficult/impossible to release without damage to one or the other. You can cope with reverse tapers - but you then have to make a 'two-piece' mould. I used to build a false fence on the buck and lay up the first part of the female mould, then when cured, remove the false fence and lay up the second part of the mould against the first one.

Fibre glass work is not difficult, but it does need patience. I mastered the basic skills as a schoolboy & have dabbled a bit over the years. I have found that when I've given fibreglass products to friends for repair work, then about 50% of people mange OK - the rest tend to get frustrated & loose patience.

If you did fancy a go, I would suggest you practice on doing a small moulding first (Preferably not related to your bike - as you don't want to spoil any of your existing components if you make a mistake.  By practicing on something small, you will find out if you have the patience for a bigger project .... but I would urge people to have a go if they think it is their bag, as it is very satisfying to make a mould the produce a special item.

I use 'Glassplies' in Southport for my supplier - they used to be really good on price, especially if you called at the depot. They remain competitively priced and they do operate mail order. The sell everything you will need including resins, Chopped Strand Mat (aka CSM), woven rovings, cloths (Glass, dyneema, Kevlar & Carbon if you are flush !), tapes, release agents, protective gloves, barrier creams, etc. They also used to be keen with their wet & dry paper prices. Worth a look !
Cheers folks    Yam

thats the way the rear fender should have been done by suzuki :)

great job there  

I agree that looks friggin ace. Best rear guard I have ever seen on an M

Thx for your kind words.

I have received the dual rearlights, but have not had time to continue with the project, due to working on getting my boat ready for the vacation, and battling the flu for nearly two weeks now.

Hi Kim.

I had a these lights as a stop-gap till I finished the job how I wanted it to be < https://www.suzuki800.com/t3298-stripped-down-look-wanted-2001-vl800-now-done > .  If you have the same set I had, you'll find there are no seals in the lens, which concerned me that water would work it's way in.  I used copious amounts of silicone grease, which seemed to work.  I may be telling how to suck eggs here, but you're going to need either in-line resistors or a new indicator relay as they'll flash at twice the normal rate.  I went for a relay as you can just swap the original one for it.  I also found out that they're illegal in the UK as you have to have a 180 mm gap between the indicators - never got pulled for it though.

Looking good so far  !!!!

That a great idea with the silicone grease.... Keeps the moisture out but lens can still be removed  

katsd wrote:

Hi Kim.

I had a these lights as a stop-gap till I finished the job how I wanted it to be < https://www.suzuki800.com/t3298-stripped-down-look-wanted-2001-vl800-now-done > .  If you have the same set I had, you'll find there are no seals in the lens, which concerned me that water would work it's way in.  I used copious amounts of silicone grease, which seemed to work.  I may be telling how to suck eggs here, but you're going to need either in-line resistors or a new indicator relay as they'll flash at twice the normal rate.  I went for a relay as you can just swap the original one for it.  I also found out that they're illegal in the UK as you have to have a 180 mm gap between the indicators - never got pulled for it though.

Looking good so far  !!!!

Hi Dave.

These are not "E" marked, so not legal in DK either, but I´m gonna replace the yellow leds with red ones, for more rear and stop light output, and then use some seperate turn signal lights.

I think it has a small seal around the lens, but I make sure to check it when I mount it.

Good idea - I found them bright enough, but I knew I wasn't going to be keeping that set up.  And I'm not competent enough to start trying to swap LEDs - I'd end up melting the whole thing !!

I have finally made a bit of progress on the fender.

A small plate was glassed in place and holes made for the lights. Then the rear light assembly was plastered to the fender.
But I did not like the idea it was plastered together, and thought the end would be too bulky. So I removed everything again and started over.

This time I placed a small plate further in from the back of the fender, and made holes for the rear of the lights instead. This means the rear light assembly will be screwed in from the outside instead.

But I´m not sure if the lights are a bit too close together, and made a paint mockup to try and decide if I should move the lights away from each other.

What do you guys think, I need some more eyes on this ?

Bottom left photo for me - they fill the space out better

Really like what you have now done. I like the second from last photo mock-up,with the larger gap and an equal gap between the lights & the fender sides.

Yep - that's the one I meant

Yep - bottom left looks best option to me too ..... nice work Kim ... we can see you've been busy !
  Yam

great, thx guys, you have confirmed I need to spread them out a bit.

Again more work as I can´t reuse the license plate mount, and have to make a new one.

Much better looking with the lights spaced out evenly.

I added some black duct tape to make it closer to the finished idea.

Looking good! 

you've got some real skills Kim!

Yep i like bottom left one,  have some serious skills

As the rest Kim bottom left one mate!

Yesterday I got the fender tidied up a bit by adding two more layers of fiberglass at the rear light plate, and sanded everything to make it ready for the topcoat.

Today the license plate bracket was modified to fit the spaced out lights.

I'm very pleased by the results   

That's looking good l have a spare set of the same lightsyou're welcome to if you want totry something different