YJ Has Lost Her Identity

[YellowJacket!]

OK, a peculiar thing happened today. Either someone who lives around me has a funny sense of humor, my gremlins have woken up, or their was a distortion in the time space continuum around my house. Or...it was just a case of hot and cold not mixing.

Took YJ out for a ride today, like I do every day now and on the way home she started sputtering.  Not wanting to pay an arm and a leg for gas, I decided to head home and use the 5 gal jerry can in my garage to fill her up with.  Was a beautiful day today in the low 80's and the sun was shining.  I parked YJ in my garage and gave her a full tank and went inside.  A couple hours later I put my gear back on to head to my doctors office for my annual physical (insert rubber glove comment here :o  :o  ).  Anyway, I walked into my garage only to find both my YAMAHA tank emblems laying on the garage floor!! WTF!?  Both emblems were NOS with the OEM adhesive on the back and were firmly affixed to the tank but there they lay on the floor curved up in two little crescents!

The only explanation I could think of was was filling a hot tank with cool gas cause the expanded tank to shrink quickly and the emblems to come loose.  Usually I fill up and then ride but this time I filled it and left it parked.  Could it be that the change in temp was so sudden that it caused the tank to shrink enough to pull the backing right off the emblems?  There was no overspill either and the garage door was open.

I'm puzzled.

David

[Lucky]

yup, gremlins.... :o

[YellowJacket!]

yup, gremlins.... :o

Was one of their names "Lucky"?  Not saying you'd do anything to hurt my bike but there was the good gremlin that fixed my tank.....  ;D  ;D  ;D

David

[kiawrench]

i think relatives of those gremlins got me too--- rode black bike to work, everything was perfect, went to fire her up to get luch,,, starter clutch exploded - nothing but motor whine and a pop when bendix reseats ------(can hear the clutch gear spinning )

those lil gremlins went in there and swiped my rollers!!!

actually, that starter clutch was welded several times over ,repairing damage from who knows when ,,,was time to give up )  anyone have a spare starter clutch assy complete?

[Rick G]

I'll have to check , but i might. I'll PM you.

[inanecathode]

Did you spill fuel onto either of them?

Im thinking its just poor adhesive after the tank was repainted and this incident with the cool fuel was the last straw.

[YellowJacket!]

Did you spill fuel onto either of them?

Im thinking its just poor adhesive after the tank was repainted and this incident with the cool fuel was the last straw.

No fuel spill after filing.  I'm pretty careful about that when I fill up and I wipe any little splatters up immedately.
The adhesive was the OEM rubberized double-sided sticky rubber that comes on the emblems.  It was brand new - I removed the backing before putting them on the tank.  The guy that painted my tank DID apply a coat of wax to the tank but the emblems have been on it for quite some time without any problem except when YJ fell over into the mud and the right emblem came off.

David

[67GTO]

When I want something like that to stick, I use a little rubbing alcohol to remove the grease or wax.

[Night Vision]

When I want something like that to stick, I use a little rubbing alcohol to remove the grease or wax.

agreed.. wax and "except when" pretty much absolves the  8) gremlin  8) in this mystery story  ;)

[67GTO]

I have had some luck with restoring adhesive that's not so sticky anymore. If you wipe it off very lightly with a tissue that has alcohol on it
you will remove the contaminates. But if you rub too hard you damage the adhesive. Kind of a fine line :)

[YellowJacket!]

Well, I  went out and bought some 3M emblem adhesive to stick them back on the tank with.  I'll clean the wax off first with alcohol.
The only thing I'm afraid of is that the last time I used emblem adhesive on tank emblems - yes, they were new too but just didn't have the adhesive backing on them - they turned to goo.  I don't think it was the 3M stuff though.
Anyone have any problems with it I should know about before I destroy another set of emblems?

David

[67GTO]

I think that's what I used. It's black and on a roll, and I think the plastic tape was green. I had good luck with it.

[Rick G]

I used clear RTV to apply my brushed stainless "vision" emblems ,to my fairing.

[YellowJacket!]

I think that's what I used. It's black and on a roll, and I think the plastic tape was green. I had good luck with it.

Thats what I was looking for but could not find it.

The stuff I ended up getting comes ina little 1 ounce or so tube.  Its a clear gel adhesive. Part # 02601 3M "Plastic Emblem & Trim Adhesive".

I'd feel better if I could find the stuff GTO is talking about.  I may go to NAPA today.  Its time for an oil change and its on my way.

David

[kiawrench]

yj,,, napa sells 3m emblem tape in short rolls, and while there, ask for 3m adhesive tape primer,,, comes in a "pen " type applicator--- just stroke that on in area you want emblem to go, let dry-- apply emblems, but be aware, once tape makes contact, it will bond in a split second, and it will not let go ,,, nearly forever .

you will have to use 100 lb test fishing line to "cut " emblems off later  if you want to repaint

[jasonm.]

Yup, wax on before applying emblems is a "no no". Even WalMart and AutoZone sells that 3M tape. I have used it. It's great...

[Cdnlouie]

For emblems, I have used GOOP automotive adhesive (in the black color) very successfully over the years. It is stronger than the emblem tape and very useful when reapplying an emblem that has been removed. You can simply clean off the contact point of the old emblem with a good cleaner and then reapply the GOOP.

I was glad when they finally came out with the black  :) a few years ago here at Canadian Tire, as it blends nicely in a number of applications.  It is a strong adhesive with a bit of flexibility to allow movement which makes it work very well.  However, you do need to have something to hold the emblem in place until it dries.  The 3M adhesive is better from this point of view as it will bond faster. As mentioned, it must also be put on a clean surface (minus wax).

Cdl

[YellowJacket!]

Got the 3M rubber emblem adhesive strips and put the emblems back on today.  Man, that stuff is sticky.  Glad I got them right the first time.
Thanks to all fo rthe tips!

David