LIME - Cowling Repair

LIME Cowling Repair

After I got LIME home, I noticed that its cowling was damaged.  There was a crack running from the part immediately over the compression chamber all the way down to the area of the cowling that protected the start capacitor.  In total, it was about 8 inches long.

I tried a couple of different methods to fix this problem.  First, I tried super glue.  I put a generous layer of super glue on the matching faces and let it set overnight, using tape to apply compression.  After that, put in a second layer of super glue, again using tape, but this time to lay a nice fat bead over where the crack was in an attempt to fill in any remaining gaps.  It looked ok, but as I was sanding down the excess glue I discovered that the repair was very fragile, and it cracked open again with even the slightest bending pressure.

At that point I knew that plastic welding was necessary, so I broke out my soldering iron and started to melt the plastic where the crack used to be.  It took about an hour with a 40W soldering iron in a well-ventilated area.  After the plastic had cooled, I used varying grits of sandpaper to blend the repair into the rest of the look of the cowling, which had a kind of pebbled texture.  Once the plastic weld was complete, I used acetone to clean the surface of the cowling and prepare it for paint.  Then I applied two coats of high gloss black paint, waiting about 30 minutes between coats.

Once the project complete, I was delighted with the results.  Yes, it took a couple of tries to get that crack repaired, but with perseverance and resourcefulness, I managed to get it done - and it's the hard stuff that are the most worth doing.  You can see the entire process in this 2-part video series:

LIME COWLING REPAIR PART 1:

LIME COWLING REPAIR PART 2:

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Bill of Materials

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