Repair Headlight Mounting Tabs or Trash It? - Fifth Generation VFR's

I've seen talk of "plastic welding" and I'm a personal acquantance of Mr. JB Weld, but I'm wondering what to do about my front headlight woes.  Three of the four mounting tabs are snapped off.  There's also some significant damage to the black plastic housing as well as the lense, so I wasn't sure if it was worth trying to fix.  I hate to bite the bullet and shell out $300 plus for a new headlight.  Any advice?  If I repair the mounting tabs, will they hold up?

Thanks!

I've had good luck with ABS pipe glue. You just gotta make sure the parts are squeaky-clean before you glue 'em ( I use a bit of acetone immediately before assembly), and mounting tabs need a bit of reinforcement to last.

You may be able to polish the lens if it's just scratched, but then you have to figure how much elbow grease you're willing to expend.

Used a soldering iron and weld a tab back on....then sanded it rough and layed a piece of fiberglass and epoxy. Its holding up.

Also have had good luck with superglue and baking soda as an accelerant/filler. Might not work on poly plastic which i think is what headlight is.


For abs fairing, plumber cement and fiberglass cloth for reinforcing cracks from behind....

You can take a headlight restoration kit to the front lens as long as it's not cracked too badly. Auto parts stores sell them, and they're great for buffing down marks on old car headlights. Works great on bikes as well. My 5-series BMW was particularly bad... I had to take a dual action sander with 1200 grit to get the pits and scrapes out.... but they're clear as new now.

Thanks for the suggestions!  My big concern is the mounting tabs and whether they'd hold up after repair...  I'm starting to lean toward replacing the whole assembly and be done with it...