Dzus Fasteners

Hi all, I started to fit my DZUS quarter turn fasteners at the weekend. I bought 14mm long ones with a riveted female part. I chose the riveted type because the holes in the fairing are not all at the right distance from the edge of the fairing to be able to use the clip-on type. Using the riveted type you can have the choice of either sliding them over the edge of the fairing or placing where you like on the fairing so that both “female” parts are on one side of the fairing.

I wanted to try to use the same holes as my old screw in fasteners, so this required that I removed the captive screw-in female part. These are kind of crimped to the fairing, I imagine that when they are installed they go through a fixed size hole and then some tool is used to squash them so that they can no longer escape through the hole. So to remove them you have to cut off the oversized part so the remainder will go through the hole. First off I thought I would simply drill the large diameter part off, but this proved difficult because as soon as the drill bit caught on the brass fitting it simple started turning in the fairing, and wearing away the fairing, so I eventually used the cutting wheel on the dremel to cut away the  “head” of the female part, this worked OK, but I made a few marks on the fairing which will need touching up with black paint – I started on purpose on the lower part of the fairing where the fasteners are hidden from view!

With the old female screw part removed, I needed to line up the female DZUS part, and drill 2 small holes the same diameter as the pop rivets supplied with the fittings.  After drilling one hole I pop riveted the fastener on so that I could use it as a guide for the second hole, this worked pretty well, and the female part of the DZUS fitting is securely fastened to the fairing. In order to fit the male part, I simply used a 7 mm drill to bring out the hole size to fit the male part through. It’s very difficult to stop the paint and top gel coat splintering with a new drill (I didn’t have a 7mm drill), so next time I will try enlarging the diameter with a file, or stick some tape on the area to hold things together. You need to fit the first nylon washer then push the part through the newly enlarged hole, and then fit the second washer, this keeps the male part in place even when undone. I fastened the two fairing halves together using the three fasteners I had completed, and off the bike they seem to hold the fairing halved together pretty well. Next I have to attack the upper halves, and it will show if I bugger it up so I will take it carefully.

I also received in the post today two SteadyStands which I will be using in the van to hold the front wheels of the bikes. They came from a company AKXION in France near Ales (circuit) who distribute all sorts of interesting stuff to hold bikes. They gave me a small discount for racers, and the products were exactly as they said they would be. I have already put them together as you can see from the 2 photos, which was pretty easy.