Any Best Practice or recommendations for putting on bodywork?

Bought some aftermarket bodywork (unfinished) and to put it on I'll need to drill holes (naturally). I work alone (pretty much) and was wondering if there are any tricks or best practices or recommendations on how to go about this that other people have used.

 

2 specific questions I have or think of are:
- Best to do the upper or the lower first?
- How to make sure drill holes line up with bike attachment points?

 

To cut the holes for sliders, I usually chop a sharpie off, stick it in the bolt hole to mark the center

 

I use a laser pointer on a tripod I got from harbor freight. Aim it at the bolt hole, directly, and then mount the body. Drill on the red dot.

 

I mount lower and upper to each other off the bike first. Make sure they mate up right that way. Then mount upper at fairing stay/mirror bracket then mount lower at back mounting points by rear wheel orwhatever. Then I zip tie the middle are to frame if no good mounts there.

I don't use frame sliders anymore but when I did I took them off and used a laser pointer to mark holes and hole saw to drill.

Easy peasy

 

Sillyputty on the inside of the bodywork on the general area where the mounting points are. Press the bodywork up to the screw points and it should give a good impression of where to drill.

 

Install the windscreen before drilling/mounting the upper to the fairing stay.

 

After the step above, put bodywork on the bike and attach upper to lower using the fasteners you've chosen.

Now you can slide the body work around to find the best fit. Lift nose up or down, or belly pan up or down.

The exhaust on some bikes will be in the way, and you'll have to account for that, before mounting to the actual frame itself.

The collector on my exhaust is so big, with my belly pan touching it, I still can not line up the upper and lower evenly. It's a little crooked from the previous owner who mounted the upper first.

P.S. You might need some heat shielding material to stick on the inside of the bodywork in certain places where the exhaust gets close.

http://www.amazon.com/Thermo-Tec-13575-Adhesive-Backed-Barrier/dp/B00029KC2K

 

:up:

 

Unibit is a must. Also, using rubber grommets (OEM/aftermarket) can help with clearance issues and prolong the life of the plastics.

 

Also I use the little squeeze spring clamps to hold the body work together while drilling it up. They sell em at harbor freight for like $.75

 

Yes. Absolutely. I should have said that. This way you make sure they always mate up together. And mount windacreen off the bike first too.

 

Great thread! I'm putting on new body work in ~ a month (whenever I get off my dead ass to do it) and these tips are much better than "wing'n" it.

Love the silly putty idea.

 

Thanks Guys - This is exactly the kind of info that I was looking for - lots of great tips that'll save me a lot of cussing later!