Member Contributer Ziffer Posted November 9, 2024 Member Contributer Posted November 9, 2024 I crashed my 2000 VFR awhile back. In the crash, the upper cowl stay got bent. I now have a stock Honda upper cowl to replace my smashed one, but try as I may, I haven't been able to find a way to straighten the upper cowl stay well enough for all the plastics to fit together properly. I don't have a drawing with dimensions for it, and even if I did, the thing is made mostly out of curved steel tubing, making it difficult to find a way to measure it to get it just right. So, I started searching online to potentially buy one. I found a couple used ones (that could be bent, who knows?), and a few new ones. But I found that the original part, 64500-MBG-000, was superseded by 64500-MBG-D00. So... The questions... Does anyone have an upper cowl stay that they'd sell for a reasonable price that's NOT BENT? Anyone know the difference between the 64500-MBG-000 and the 64500-MBG-D00? Anyone know when the change from 64500-MBG-000 to 64500-MBG-D00 happened? Thanks for your help. Quote
Gaz66 Posted November 9, 2024 Posted November 9, 2024 Hi Ziffer. Bad the bikes damaged, good you're ok. Usually see a fair few used front upper cowl stays on eBay. (Cheap) Worth a punt if yours is too badly mangled. If you're having alignment issues, I'd suggest working from the bottom up. Loosely fit side fairing panels mount the upper cowl stay in place, keep trying on upper cowl & make the required tweeks to get a good all round fit. Unless your upper cowl stay is really badly wrecked, I don't see the need to replace it. You can take measurements from the good side to the bar / yoke etc, bend the bad side to match, all trial & error, I've been successful using this method more than once. New cowl stays are crazy expensive for what is essentially a bit of bent tubing. Quote
Member Contributer Ziffer Posted November 10, 2024 Author Member Contributer Posted November 10, 2024 8 hours ago, Gaz66 said: Hi Ziffer. Bad the bikes damaged, good you're ok. Usually see a fair few used front upper cowl stays on eBay. (Cheap) Worth a punt if yours is too badly mangled. If you're having alignment issues, I'd suggest working from the bottom up. Loosely fit side fairing panels mount the upper cowl stay in place, keep trying on upper cowl & make the required tweeks to get a good all round fit. Unless your upper cowl stay is really badly wrecked, I don't see the need to replace it. You can take measurements from the good side to the bar / yoke etc, bend the bad side to match, all trial & error, I've been successful using this method more than once. New cowl stays are crazy expensive for what is essentially a bit of bent tubing. The problem is fitting the stay to the upper cowl, the dash, and the dash surround, and getting them all to mesh together properly. At this point, I've removed the stay from the bike and am trying to fit those parts together off the bike. My stay doesn't seem to be bent badly (just the right side support strut), and I figured I'd be able to measure and bend it until it fit, but it's just not happening. I have now fit the cowl, dash, and surround together without the support, and they do fit together properly, so it does seem to be just the support. I found a brand new Honda part for about $300, but it's the older 64500-MBG-000, versus the updated 64500-MBG-D00, and I don't know the difference between the two parts. Quote
Member Contributer Ziffer Posted January 2 Author Member Contributer Posted January 2 Here's a late update on this... It turns out, looking through my VFR stuff for something entirely unrelated, I found another upper cowl stay. It's used. I don't know where it came from. I don't remember buying it, and I can't find any record of buying it. 🤷♂️ I tried it out, and everything fits much better. After comparing, I found that my old stay had both left and right uprights bent, making it impossible to measure one to straighten the other. So, I straightened the bent stay based on the dimensions of the already straight stay, just to have as a backup, or to sell, or because my OCD forced me to. Anyway, that was the cure to that headache. On to the next! 1 Quote
Member Contributer JZH Posted January 2 Member Contributer Posted January 2 The 000 to D00 change could signify a change, but maybe not a noticeable one. It could be something like different paint or primer. But, the 000 should still fit, if that's the original part number (and 000 usually is). Ciao, JZH Quote
Member Contributer maxredline Posted January 13 Member Contributer Posted January 13 If you are lucky enough to know someone close by that has a good stay you could build a jig with the good stay. Clamp it down where and build the jig to the stays anchor points. Remove the good stay and bend and fit the bad stay to the jig. A tech option, if someone could scan a good one and have it 3d printed to make you jig. Some bike restore shops my have the scanner but not the part and vice versa. Wish you luck just fitting and bending. Quote
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