warning-light-panel-repair

WINGOVATIONS

PARTS AND ADVICE FOR YOUR 'OLDEN GOLDIE'

An online source dedicated to Honda's amazing four cylinder Goldwings!

REPAIRING THE GL1000 LIGHT PANEL

click images for bigger pictures

J G Evans

1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 GoldWing 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987

A customer requested a GL1000 warning light panel. No problem, I thought, as I had three of them on the shelf.

Think again! All three were broken in the same manner you see in the pictures. All this damage is caused by over-tightening the holding screws.

The first problem is the rear legs. This is a very poor design, with next to no material on the one side and not much more anywhere else.

The bad design continues with the use of countersink head screws. There is not enough material in the legs to permit the use of shouldered screws, which would stop the over-tightening. Consequently the countersink head acts as a wedge as it's screwed down, easily splitting the plastic.

The same sort of thing happens to the front legs. They become either split or 'mushroomed' at the bottom, just as you can see, due to overtightening.

Let's tackle this first. Clean the part thoroughly to remove any grease and dirt.

I used the sort of epoxy resin that comes as a two part 'sausage'. Cut a slice and nead it between your fingers (you can remove any residue from your fingers with paint thinners).

Then work it into the crevices in the crack and fill the crack and the top leaving enough to make the top flat.

Carefully drill up from the bottom, using a 4mm drill.

File the excess epoxy down to the correct shape and finish off with abrasive paper.

File the top flat. You will be using pan head screws in future!

( I usually keep pan head screws in stock. Email me if you need a pair.)

For the front legs, cut two 10mm lengths of about 5mm bore tube, carefully file away the legs all round just enough to be a tight fit in the tubes, leaving a shoulder for the tube to bear against. Run some heavy duty glue around the legs and press the tubes on.

The legs should be 35mm long from the panel side to the top of them

A couple of coats of black satin paint on the repairs makes the part look like new!

The original worn lettering was carefully rubbed off and replaced with one of Bob Howell's kits.

Do this in a dust free atmosphere! Plastic holds static electricity which attracts dust like a magnet!

TIP: When trimming the edges, use a scalpel or similar VERY sharp blade and cut from underneath the plastic. Sounds crazy but believe me, cutting down from the top will end in disaster.

The trim plate may need fileing to fit, due to the manufacturing tolerances of the panel. Go slowly with a needle file as the panel is alloy and easily bent.

And here we have the finished piece! Looks real good, although I say it myself!