1978 GS1000 - Restomod

[dorkburger]

Nice. Very tastefully modded, yet still retains the spirit of the original....well done sir.

 

[russr33]

Hate to say it but I liked it with the V&H better. I thought the lines flowed much better. I love the rest of the bike very nice job.

 

[Morrison]

Im a fan. Looks and sounds good!

 

[Rob S.]

Liked your start up video.

Request for the next one: walk around back so we can get the full effect of the exhaust.

Looks beautiful, I'm going to go back to the start to reacquaint myself with the details.

 

[mattfeet]

Been awhile but Im about to kick this into high gear with some new parts, custom parts, and custom paint. All of which will be stock in style but modified enough to set itself apart. First off, I wanted to get rid of the stock briefcase of a taillight. Unfortunately, nothing available would fit into the existing space without looking terrible. I decided I wanted to find a way to make a rear cowl, close off the taillight area, and use a modern taillight.

Enter fiberglass.

And a huge mess.

So I have a friend who makes custom car audio speaker enclosures who offered his help on making a custom part for me. I told him my idea, he said it'd work, and we were off. First we were going to make a mold of the existing piece then cast the new part out of the mold. It'll be about a week process.

First step was to sculpt some foam to the shape of the cowl. This took me an entire evening to get it *just* right.

Next I taped everything up to get ready to lay fiberglass.

We had some issues with out bottle of resin. Womp womp.

And we're off! We put chop in the detail areas (reflectors and stripe indent) then mat overtop and on the flat areas for strength.

Mold is finished! Time to tape it up to basically do the inverse of what we just did.

Detail taping the inside. This is critical since what comes out of this part is the new piece. Prep is KEY.

Here we are putting chop in the detail areas for the new piece.

And here is my custom 1978 GS1000 style full cowl fresh out of the mold!

Here she is....in front of my four wheeled motorcycle.

(cont)

 

[mattfeet]

Loosely trimmed up to remove all sharp bits.

We also made the interior structural fins so I can remount my toolbox! Just have to attach these, secure the toolbox, then she'll be ready for body filler and paint!

If any of you are on the JVBC on Facebook, you may have seen this rendering of the paint scheme Im going to do.

Pair that with a custom tan Giuliari seat and cover and new leather tan grips, and it should be a pretty nice looking ride!

Thanks for looking!
Matt

 

[Mista M]

Nice solution for the tail piece, going with Led's and a custom light/tail on mine.
Look forward to how it all comes together

 

[Fjbj40]

I can't envision what you are doing with the tail cone. To me it looks way too long, sorta like a fantail boat/car.

Waiting to see the end result though, I am sure you have a plan. Nice looking 1000 overall.

cheers

 

[mattfeet]

It isn't fully trimmed and the giuliari seat will also end up covering the first 1.0" or so at the front. It'll end up looking quite a bit smaller. I only added 2.0" of length to the cowl itself.

 

[mattfeet]

New taillight came in. Had to modify the mount to fit the radius of the cowl. I think it makes the cowl look shorter. Thoughts?

 

[Fjbj40]

Doesn't work for me, sorry. I think it will look too long. IMOP the gs 750 rear cowl would look better, if you dislike the 1000 cowl that is.

 

[mattfeet]

How so? The 750 cowl won't fit and still has a big void for a huge stock taillight.

 

[Gregory]

I am subscribed to the blue skunk build.

 

[Fjbj40]

What look are you after?

If it is the cafe racer lookish then the longer tail may/will work.

I like the 750 tail because of the little up turn it takes. It is kind of hard to see where you are going with that tail.

Maybe carry on with your plan and see how it turns out. After all it is your bike and your twist on things that really count, for you.

I like the large stock tail light, people see it much easier than tiny ones!

 

[mattfeet]

Restomod/cafe style. I have a Giuliari seat that is currently at my upholsterer getting a custom seat cover completed. I do agree that the 750 cowl as a nice look to it...it's just too narrow to be a straight swap onto the 1000.

 

[Fjbj40]

Ok, well you have shown you have the skills/resources to build a mold.

So get a 750 tail, build mold then make it wider to fit the 1000! If it turns out really nice you could probably sell a few!

Just a thought for ya......however if you are going to cafe look then your current produced tail will work.

I finished my 1000 2 years ago, I will probably make a few changes this year. In other words you do not have to keep it the way you finish it, it is a continuos metamorphis.

 

[mattfeet]

Update to keep this thread rolling:

You've all seen the progress of the custom cowl section:

From this:

To the mold:

To the cowl completed:

Now, I just went and picked up my reupholstered seat and I could not be happier. One of my inspirations for this build is the Singer 911. This interior was the main resource I used to come up with the idea for my seat. I REALLY want to use the same leather that Singer uses, and I sourced the supplier, but the material alone was going to run $1,100. Nope. Marine grade vinyl it is.

And this is my new seat!!

The grips will match the seat. Not sure if Im going to use the basketweave or the regular to match.

 

[Gregory]

That is a very classy looking seat !!! Well Done. You will be happy you went with vinyl if you ever get caught out in the rain.

 

[mattfeet]

Yea, I know vinyl is the logical choice...I dont regret that one bit. The aesthetic is what was most important.

 

[mattfeet]

Today I got the cowl trimmed up and mounted to verify fit with the seat. I dry fit the taillight onto the cowl and drilled the mounting holes for it and also wrapped the grips with the matching basketweave vinyl.

Grips:

Full shot with taillight mounted.