Heat Shielding Fairings

[Tirpitz]

Has anyone else had a problem with the lower fairing panels being affected by heat from the exhausts in the collector box / link pipe area? I was surprised to see this week that I had a slight warp in the RH panel, just on the lip where it is cut-away under the bike around the collector box. The inner surface of the fairing shows signs of melting and bubbling over an area about an inch wide. As the bike has now done approx 12.5k without previous problems like this the only thing I can think is that the more free-flowing exhaust gases, as a result of fitting an aftermarket can, are heating the exhaust up more than before and it is now an issue with the proximity of the fairing. Note that the bike has had its fuelling checked on a dyno and is not running lean. I decided to nip the problem in the bud and I'll show here what I did in case anyone else finds it useful.

I decided to add extra heat shielding to the fairing inner in the affected area. There are two main options for shielding material - self-adhesive silver-coated foam, and silver-coated glass-fibre matting. The benefits of the former are ease of application but note that it is relatively thick. The thinnest is 4mm, which is a lot thicker than the shielding applied in the factory around the link pipe area, which is fibre matting. It's maximum temperature is also lower than matting. I decided to go with what was applied as OEM and ordered matting from JLP Heatzone off Ebay (cheapest I could find of good quality). You can get various sizes of sheet and they do small enough pieces for this job without leaving you with loads left http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/220666536069? ... 1439.l2648 You will need to stick this on with an adhesive that sticks well to waxy plastic and is heat resistant - note that the matting will protect it from exhaust heat but your fairings may get hot in sunshine. Most contact adhesives might not give good long-term results. The car modding lot, who use heat shielding in bonnets, seem to be universal in recommending No Nails type instant grab adhesives (you want external stuff as it needs to be waterproof) so I bought Wickes' version.

Trim off the foam which is fitted to the fairings to leave the area clear for shielding to be applied and clean the panel thoroughly -

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Then just cut to shape and stick it on. I also took the opportunity to re-affix the OEM shielding in the link pipe area which was coming adrift, and add a bit more new shielding to exposed areas here. This is the finished job -

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[cargo]

This is an ongoing problem on my race bikes..............race fairings dont just fit a nicely as stock and have to have an enclosed belly pan


Also my Beet copy pipes hang a little lower.

I have the exhaust wrapped with stuff ? that seem to help and have heat shield on the fairings but it still burns the fibreglass and bubbles paint from time to time.

I also use heat shielding to try and keep heat away from the airbox...........the box is covered in sticky alley foil tape

[R P Corse]

i certainly have this problem with my bike, both left and right have warped and melted the lugs at the bottom, not so much by the link pipe, i never thought about heat shielding - will certainly do this when i get some new fairing

[Tirpitz]

Just to update this - I rode the bike 'enthusiastically' to the races at Scarborough and back yesterday and it got plenty hot enough. The shielding hasn't budged and a feel of the outer surface of the fairing showed it didn't feel hot at all, even next to the link pipe, and it hasn't warped any more. So looks like a result. For the record the adhesive I used is Wickes Ultimate Instant Grab Adhesive (Clear). You want the 'Ultimate' as the other (much cheaper) stuff is for internal use only. It also comes in white - I doubt it makes any practical difference which you use but clear was £2 a tube cheaper.