NOS Maier Tecate Shrouds

[Jeb]

I wish they still made these. The are pulled in allot closer to the tank than the stock ones. I hate to drill these and use them. I've got an old school maeir non shiny front fender thats practically brand new and would need a nice non-shiny rear fender to make it all match.

The other parts I just took pics of because my wife bought a new camera this afternoon! :beer

[ScottZJ]

Man I love that nice headlight plastic, you dont want to sell it do you!??? :D I just bought a full set of OEM plastic except the right shroud and headlight plastic. I need the headlight to complete a new set of OEM plastic.
I bought a set of new Maier shrouds on ebay too.

[Jeb]

Scott, did you notice how flatter the Maier's are? I wan't to install mine but hate to drill them. To me, there as golden as my brand new factory right-hander. :)

[whiteman350x]

Hey I have a brand new dull finish rr maier fender. If you are interested in completing your set gimmie a shout.

[ScottZJ]

Hey Jeb I might be getting the stickers made for the rear fenders and shroud soon. I can hook you up with some if you need them and they will be alot cheaper than the 50$ for the ones on ebay. ;)

[Jeb]

I would be interested. I've been interested in good reproductions for years now!

So interested in fact that I've PAINSTAKINGLY measured and drawn the decals up in AUTOCAD from my originals that are on my original plastic. I measured them along contour and I've printed them out full size, trimmed them out and layed them over the originals I have on fenders & shrouds and made adjustments to make sure they follow the curves of the plastic like the originals. I used scanned data for the correct fonts on the Kawasaki and Tecate Logos. I measured and drew the 250 logos. I've got allot of time and work into them. They will look great and much closer than the ones on ebay which have thinner stripes and slight differences here and there.

I cant claim they are 100% accurate, but I dont mind claiming 99.5%. Which is a hell of allot closer than the ones on ebay and will make them a nice reproduction decal set. On my CAD drawings, there's a little bit of variation in the Kawasaki logo for the shrouds and the clearance for the bolt holes on them and the rear fender decals might be very slightly out of position and maybe a little smaller or larger. But the stripe widths, angles, etc. are right on the money.

What I would like now for mine is the factory correct color codes for the dark blue, green, and white. and maybe make just a few final adjustment on the left-hand shroud decal. Rear fenders are ready to go. I talked with Hanke4 and Harlan about doing them. Harlan was interested, but wouldn't give me a couple free sets so no deal. He would make a killing selling them on ebay. I was talking to the girl who does the hanke4 stuff. she sent me a color chart and I can get pretty close with it but had trouble getting a file to her she can use for printing and have since dropped the ball on the deal.

Anyway Scott, if my artwork can help, let me know. If anyone else with printing connections wants to see what I've got, let me know. If you are serious and we can cut a deal to where I get a couple free sets of decals, I can then provide electronic files on CD, if i can output the right format you need. Or I can print them out full size on a D size sheet of paper and mail them.

It's time I got these things printed anyway.

reply here or email.

[Ace Mon]

Jeezus Jeb you are either the biggest enthusiast or a man with way too much time on his hands . Either way I still love ya bro . LOL . Man if someone were to make a vacuum mold of those sidecovers they could corner the market , likewise with the stickers .

[ScottZJ]

I am already on it AceMon. :D Not sure if I am going to use the OEM ones or the Maier. I really like the Maier instead of the OEM.

[Jeb]

Jeezus Jeb you are either the biggest enthusiast or a man with way too much time on his hands . Either way I still love ya bro ...

Hey, Ace, .... I really don't think that's something one dude should say to another dude... :D


just kidding! It is tough to find the extra time for stuff like that but hey, after all ............ :TrikesOwn :Bounce

[GreenBoy]

I mailed Maier to ask if they are going to make the shrouds again
and mailed them the auction link.

Here is what they replied -->

"Dear Marco,

No we will not be making the air scoops as shown below.

Sorry for the inconvience.

Kind Regards,
Maier Mfg. Inc."

The offer custom work on their website, why don´t they use their existing molds for some shiny scoops then..........
They also offer shiny front and rear fenders for the Z, but nothing for the 86-87 T3 except some ****ing mudflaps.
Are these guys nuts ?????
CYA at TF
Hagen

[ScottZJ]

I sent them an email with my work signature(Dept of Defense). That way they wouldnt think I was just a kid asking and typed a really long page being very professional. I havent heard back from them yet but I hope they start seeing these emails and think...hmmmm maybe we should start to make them.

[cliff2302]

they wont make them again. ask NICKG about it if you want the info. i would really love a new set also though.

[FireHead]

I have a hook up for the printing of decals. If you're interested in getting them printed let me know.

[ScottZJ]

Well I talked to my neighbor last night and its a go as far as making the mold. He does molds for roadsters and said this would be a piece of cake to do. I am going to start with the right shroud first and then go with the headlight bezel. I am just not sure which right shroud I should let him use....should I let him use the Maier since they fit nicer? Once he takes an old left shroud to test and gets it right then I will post a poll on which one to use for the template.

[FireHead]

I am interested in how making injection molds are not a big deal. That is how Maier produces their parts. To make an accurate reproduction it is in the tens of thousands of dollars to have hard tooling made for such things. The no big deal way to do it would be to make thermoforming molds, but then the parts pulled from those aren't original, nor would they look it.

[ScottZJ]

Well my nieghbor does roadster bodys and made a huge mold for it and it was less than a thousand. He said thats the hard part of remaking something is the time to get the mold correct and match 100%. He seemed to think it wouldnt cost me too much money and I would probably make it back the first couple batches that were made. He also said he would do some type of injection to have to color internal and not like those ones on ebay that were painted. He also said he might not be able to make the lips that are on the inside of the shroud unless he made it a 2 piece. I told him that wouldnt matter, just the shape, strength and holes matching is the main deal. He also does 90% fiberglass. So he said he might mix it with some other agents to make it more flexible. All in all he said it could be done by him without a problem but he never gave me a total figure on cost but did say it wouldnt kill me.

[FireHead]

I didn't realize he wasn't making them from plastic. If he's making it from glass then cost around a $1000 to have a soft female mold cut. You can introduce color into the resin system, but it seems like a waste, as you would want to gel coat the part to atleast give it the look of plastic.

[ScottZJ]

Yes you are correct in the color part. I am ignorant in most of this process but he seems to know all about it. He even could add extra agents to more stressful areas that seem to crack more to make them much more flexible and stronger. I will see what he can do but he looked at the repro right shroud I had and said he could do that just as good if not better. I am pretty sure I am going with the Maier right shroud since it seems to fit so much more nicer with the same good looks of OEM.

[Jeb]

Scott your idea is great but to do it right there are expensive hurdles to make them 100% factory replicas.

Hurdle #1: you need to make an injection mold. The factory parts are usally injection molded in a mold with a highly polished cavity surface to obtain the shiny luster that we love about factory parts. But like FireHead said, your talking many thousands of dollars for a quality mold. You can build cheaper "rapid" tooling out of plasters and aluminum and such, but they won't last AND to the common household they are still thousands of dollars to have someone make them. Which is expensive, but in the industry they are considered cheap. The mold is directly responsible for how the part looks. The better the mold, the better the part. The worse the mold (cheaper) the worse the part. You'd have to have a mold built in China or something. Or you and someone could build the mold yourselves, but for the inexperienced there are lots of technical hurdles you wouldn't even think about.

Hurdle #2: You need expensive LARGE injection molding machines to mold the parts. These shrouds are big parts with lots of surface area which translates in to high pressures and clamp forces needed on your molding machine. This can be sidestepped because You can always contract a molder to run some parts. But trust me, you couldn't afford to pay a molder to run 50 parts just so you can keep 2 and sell the rest on ebay and to a few guys on a message board, even for a couple hundred bux each. 500,000 would be different story, but you'd never sell your inventory because of the lack of demand.

Hurdle #3: Color matching. You'd have to buy exact match colored plastic material. Which i'm guessing would be a custom thing to match Kawasaki lime green from 1986. custom colored materials drive up cost. Plus you really need to know the original plastic material Kawasaki used so you could get the same look.

And you could go a step beyond and make the shrouds look the same but be 100-fold better products by improving on Kawasaki's original design.

Now for vaccuum forming, which is what Maier does, it's much cheaper. You just heat plastic sheet up and suck it down onto a form or mold. Then trim what you have to. But you still need factory color matched sheets of plastic to form from. Or you could just get close enough like the aftermarket guys do. If that's a custom color, price of the sheet goes up. Sadly, vacuum forming in the only option that's remotely in the ball park for making KXT shroud. And it's still not cheap. Ask NickG.

I'm limited in my vacuum forming knowledge but injection molding is the industry I've worked in the last 10 + years as a mold and part designer. I work for a custom injection mold builder. Even with my experience and doing most of the design and fumbling through the machine work myself (and i'm no Mold Maker by any means) and spending lots of my off-time working on the parts, it's still too expensive.

Scott, does your neighbor make his hot rod bodies out of fiberglass? That's what it sounds like.

[ScottZJ]

Yes he does make them out of fiberglass. His brother has a company that makes all molds in the southeast US. That is where they are getting the molds created. As far as the price, he said it wouldnt be that big of deal but maybe it is....I am just going on what he thought. I think it would be great if he could make them 90-95% like stock, just so I wouldnt have to worry about riding the T-3 around with non OEM parts. He seemed pretty knowledgable in the molding and making process but as I stated I know nothing about it. You ask about computers/networking or firearms and I can hook you up! LOL ;) It sounds good if he can and its not really going to cost me anything for him to try.(as I am hooking him up with stickers and signs from my brothers sign company). I am just trying to find that open window of hope for us tecate guys. :Bounce

[Jeb]

Yes he does make them out of fiberglass. His brother has a company that makes all molds in the southeast US. .....

Do you know the name of this company? and is that all the fiber glass hot-rod molds in the southeast???


My post is not meant to discourage. Just to let you know some of the hurdles you face when working in plastics. some of the cheapest, everday plastic pieces in this world are molded in the millions by tooling that would blow your mind in complexity and cost.

[Billy Golightly]

This is coming from a person with a simple thought in mind...why doesn't someone just see if maier will sell their molds since they wont make anymore?

[FireHead]

Do you know the name of this company? and is that all the fiber glass hot-rod molds in the southeast???


My post is not meant to discourage. Just to let you know some of the hurdles you face when working in plastics. some of the cheapest, everday plastic pieces in this world are molded in the millions by tooling that would blow your mind in complexity and cost.

My posts were not meant to discourage either, but as I have a background in what you are trying to do I know how hard it is. Although now you can see what people call "cheap" plastic parts are anything, but cheap.

As an aside, if you get some composite molds done, you should make a set of carbon shrouds. They would look sick offset against the green.

[NICKG]

Well, since I invested a lot of time into this, I will let you guys in on why I won't be making these. in one word...... economics. I can tell you that Maier will not be making any tecate new parts(so what is out there is most likely it) i spoke at length with one of the owners. Threy will gladly do a custom mold for you...but its gonna cost you. I will not get into $ figures other than to say that you will not have the first reproduction right shroud made for less than 1500-2500 . then you need to have at least 50 made(again they are not pennies) so the time to change molds is justified. What most of you guys do not realize is that there are hardly any of these machines around anymore, certainly not many with owners willing to lay out 100-125 for a single rt shroud(and these rough figures are for the rt one only...double it for both) Then whan youve decided to make the investment, you get no response on them except" would you take 35 for one?" I do not know about you, but I can't/won't do it...trust me that guy is not making molds for entire bodies for $1000 ...he must really like working for free, he may make the body for 1000, but I would be suprised if anyone did that for the molds...I know it was more than that for 1 vacumm mold(you will need to make at least 2) If you want to know more detail email or pm me and we can talk

[FireHead]

I would like to pint out after some discussion on this topic, that the roadster bodies apparently aren't plastic. They are made of fiberglass or atleast I gather the orignal SCOTZJ may have confused some of us to that effect. 3

Aside from that confusion, all of the plastic related commentary has been accurate. You don't often see that many people in one place that know much at all about plastics processing.

[ScottZJ]

Well first off you are correct in saying they are fiberglass bodys. He does "make" them for 1000$ he sells them for around 4500-9000$ depending on model. I am sure that is paying for the molds that were made. Now he said he could work with fiberglass and add tons of extra agents to make it more flexible like plastic is. I am not doubting any of you guys words, I am just going by what my neighbor has said and he was ready and willing to attempt it. I am all for it just to see if it is possible. Oh Nick, I know you are the Man that has attempted everything in this entire deal. I appreciate everything you have done but I am not yet done fighting someway in another. But mind you I am new to the tecate thing....so my passion runs deep. ;) I do appreciate all the comments, I never take what someone has typed personal, I just take it with a grain of salt for future references. Thanks a million all...........peace

[NICKG]

This is coming from a person with a simple thought in mind...why doesn't someone just see if maier will sell their molds since they wont make anymore?
ok, here is the answer to that...they (maier ) immediatly destroy any and all molds as soon as they discontinue any part #. the reason is simple, they need the space in the wharehouse for molds for new items they are selling. think of the amount of part #'s they sell, they need to clear the old ones to make new ones. Oh here is the best food for thought....apparently a year or so ago, they had a guy constantly badger them for tri z plastics...I mean this guy was relentless! so they figured that there was a market for the plastic, they then invest thousands of $ to make these and sell like 3 sets....boy were they mad. So in answer to asking them for tecate stuff? forget it they are not going to become a charity.(sorry, but these are the cold hard facts)

[Billy Golightly]

So all their Tri-Z and Tecate molds or anything else is all gone instantly that they quit making them then? Hmm...that sucks.

[NICKG]

unfortunately yes, they need that space for new items

[ScottZJ]

Hey Nick my local shop took my order for a set of black Z rear fenders and said it would take 3-4wks to get made?? Wonder whats up with that? I, a week later called them and told them I sold the Z and didnt need them. He said the order was already being made. I then told him I would get them and just sell them online to someone. He told he knew someone else that would get them. Do some shops deal with different maier compaines across the US? I am just confused cuz he said he sold that pair I ordered.....is he lying or what? They stock thousands of Maier stuff, company name is J&M in Bartlett TN.

[NICKG]

there is one Maier. What happens is this, when maier makes these fenders, they do them in runs. that means that they make like 100 or more peices. they do this because to make the part they need to shut the machine down and retool it, this takes production time...(time that they can be making other parts and money) I would be willing to bet that he had a problem with stock at his local wharehouse and it was being shipped from another one. I doubt that he stocked them, he probaly called a parts distributer like tucker rocky or some thing. This a very common tactic used in the autoparts buisness(I know because that is what I do) I can tell you that Nacs does not stock any trike fenders (save 250r) and they have a huge stock on maier stuff. If you need them, best get them before they are gone

[ScottZJ]

Yeah I am currently buying stock OEM T-3 plastic whenever I get a chance to have some spare change....just for the future. Right now there is still plenty but that might not be the case in a year or so down the line..........peace

[NICKG]

on the stock plastic, I would advise you to buy as much now as you can. Kawasaki is discontinuing it (this means that what is there is it) and ther is not that many peices left(like 7 rear fenders and 15 fronts and like 30 left shrouds )last I spoke with them (i called kawasaki corprate looking to find out what it would take to buy these moulds at the end of their lifespans and found that they were already scrapped.)

[ScottZJ]

Yeah I just bought 2 rears 3 fronts and 8 left side shrouds

[NICKG]

best place to get oem kawasaki parts is definetly Bob Tracy World of Cycles call Mark, he stocks a lot of tecate parts and is very familiar with them. best of all they give a 30% discount on kawasaki, suzuki amd ktm parts.Great service too 800-860-0686

[GreenBoy]

Just two more things.....
Where did the guy on ebay (selling the white headlight shell and white right plastic) get his molds from ???
I know that the Tecate was made in Lincoln/NE, did he get the OEM molds ???
If so why does he not make the parts in green, instead of making them white and painting them green (hard to find a matching material) ???

Some of you guys know that I have access to CNC machines and a little knowledge in making technical drawings.My buddy is a technical engineer and has a postprocessor, so making the programm for milling the molds is not the problem.
I might even know a company that could make the parts, biggest problem
might be the matching green color and I think that at least the first 50-100 covers are crap before you get usable parts out of the machine.
I will try a little more and maybe find a way to make my own parts.....

I told Jeb about the guy from Greek, I did never hear from this guy again.But he sent me pics of white right+left shrouds,rear fenders,front fenders and headlight shells that he bought for a top notch price in Greek.
I think 260$ for the whole set !!!!
See the sample pics......

It´s really sad that he doesn´t reply to my emails anymore............
cya guys
Hagen