Grinchia

"I have seen Bubbua...and Bubba is me!"

...great quote from one of you guys a while back.

Like most, my guage bezel was trashed, so rather than spend a fortune on a new one that would probably break the first time I hade to remove it again, I did the following:

1. Snagged a "nice but broken in the usual place" bezel from E-bay.

2. Cut the blades off of two old stainless steel table knives and roughed 'em up a little with some 320 grit sandpaper

3. Carefully aligned the two broken sections, and clamped & J B welded the blades along the lateral edges of the breaks. I used those black metal spring clamps for holding stacks of paper together with and some wax paper to prevent them from becoming permanent fixtures.

4. Used my dremmel to clean up and bevel the stainless steel "splints".

5. Cleaned and painted the whole unit


End result: The repair is invisible when installed, and as far as I'm concerned probably stronger than the original. Just call me bubba :D


[Modified by Grinchia, 9:58 AM 3/23/2004]


[Modified by Grinchia, 12:03 PM 3/23/2004]

LOTAHP

YO BUBBA!!! How about some step by step pics like the magazines do. :lol: :lol:

verskel

:iagree: ...c'mon, even nowdays Bubba has a digital camera ! :jester

comp

that put's you way UP on bubba, that's :cool: pic's :cheers:

76greg

I got a broken one too! Snaped clean at the thinest part of the bezel. I was thinking of having it aluminum welded or soldered and build that section up a little for strength. I believe they were designed weak that way to break in an crash. What kind of metal are they made of? Aluminum, pot metal??

Greg

Grinchia

Yeah, Bubba has a digital camera, but Bubba doesn't have a convenient place to host pics. Someday I'll get around to it...we oughtta be able to post directly here!

I don't know what the metal is, but it's not very sturdy. Welding or soldering won't make it near strong enough to hold up. The approach I worked out seems VERY strong compared to the original, I'm confident it won't give at that point again.

-Roy

70BBvert

:lol: That sounds like a great idea to me. Did you epoxy the splints to the inside or the outside?

Jim

gerry72

You be Bubba! It's pot metal. It would cost far more to have it professionally repaired than it would be worth. You chose a wise path.

Brint_B

That's :cool:
Right now I have 2 bezels laying around that are broken in the same spot.

I need pictures
Thanks for the post :thumbs:

Grinchia

I epoxyed (is that really a legal verb?) the splints to the outside. I'll have to post a pic somewhere...those knife blades are thin enough to be invisible when touched up with the Dremel, and extremely rigid in the plane of stress that normally breaks the bezel.

-Roy

LOTAHP

Send it to the BUBBA REPAIR CENTER :
1 Bubba's St.
Bubba's City, Idano *^:">

LOTAHP

[QUOTE]That's :cool:
Right now I have 2 bezels laying around that are broken in the same spot.

I Hear through the "bubba vine" the moderators are starting a BUBBA FORUM and you may post BUBBA PARTS FOR SALE :D :D :thumbs: