Anyone have sucess building their own seat pan fro Aluminum or Steel?

[oshanac]

I saw a post or two were people started their own seat pan, but I haven't heard any feed back on whether aluminum was "too soft" or what.

I bought another seat and pan of Ebay since mine was rusted beyond belief. It looked good from the bottom and the cover was in really good shape, so I gave the guy a great rating (I was going to use it as it). Several months later (after my good feedback) I decided to take the cover off and put on a new cover and paint the pan. Upon further inspection of the pan, this on is crap too. I don't want to buy another dud.

If I can make my own (I'm re-learning the welding thing. I did a little in high school) and can/will weld a new one up if needed using the one I have as a guide. If you guys think it's not worth the effort, I appreciate any ideas.

I'm now deep in a full restoration (not a factory original resto per say, I am willing to make mods if needed and are not concerned with having all Suzuki GS only parts on it)

 

[tone]

Its far easier to use one of you old pans as a mold to make a glassfibre one off

tone

 

[spyug]

As Tone says using it to produce one in F/G would be easier. Having said that however, really how bad is the pan? Could you not weld in some patches or reinforcements since it will not be a concours resto.

I've seen a couple done that way and they weren't too shabby.

Can you post a pic for more analysis?

Cheers,
Spyug

 

[posplayr]

As Tone says using it to produce one in F/G would be easier. Having said that however, really how bad is the pan? Could you not weld in some patches or reinforcements since it will not be a concours resto.

I've seen a couple done that way and they weren't too shabby.

Can you post a pic for more analysis?

Cheers,
Spyug

Especially since it looks good from the bottom; sound like you might need to just need to get rid of surface rust

 

[ronin1166]

I Agree. Just grind or blast all the crust off, and see how much steel is left.

Another possible option: grind/blast the cruddy side down to shiny bare metal, then laminate it with 1 or 2 plies of fiberglass "boat cloth"; epoxy resin would bond to the metal far better than the polyester "general-purpose" crap you find at the big orange box store.

.

 

[oshanac]

Sorry to respond so late. I had a busy weekend. The factory seat covering hid the rust crumbled sides, I thought I had struck gold. I don't want to add patch panels on a seat pan this bad. Even though no one will see it once it's covered, I will know it there. I'm a perfectionist like that. I'm not doing a concourse restoration, but I am going to know some bodies socks off with this once I'm done. The fiberglass thing is a good idea. Can it safely support my 240lb butt?

This is what the pan looks like.

<a href="http://s178.photobucket.com/albums/w268/oshanac/?action=view&current=S2010143.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w268/oshanac/S2010143.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s178.photobucket.com/albums/w268/oshanac/?action=view&current=S2010144.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w268/oshanac/S2010144.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s178.photobucket.com/albums/w268/oshanac/?action=view&current=S2010144.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w268/oshanac/S2010144.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

 

[spyug]

Man you are a perfectionist if that's stopped you. Weld in a panel or two, rust paint, foam and recover..........then ride!

Funny how each of us is different. That wouldn't bother me in the slightest.

Fiberglass if done right will work but IMHO metal is better. Fiberglass will hold your weight but just remember you are joining two dissimilar materials and that is sometimes not the best approach for a long lasting and successful fix.

Let us know what you end up doing.

Cheers,
spyug

 

[Spyderman]

The fiberglass thing is a good idea. Can it safely support my 240lb butt?

well my friend and original owner of my GS replaced the seat pan on mine before i bought it with one he made from fiberglass i don't know how he made it but i'm betting that he used the original seat pan as the mold as it's a perfect fit in every way i'll see if i can get some pics up of it for you tomorrow so you can see what it looks like
as for the weight thing i'm 6'4" 220 and he's 5'11" 235 and it has supported us just fine
in fact it has supported me for the 17 years that i have had the bike and looks like new and i often ride 2 up with the wife who is 5'10" 145 and it has never failed us yet
we did a 3 day trip this summer covering 2000 KM's with ease and comfort

 

[kochic]

I have a fiberglass seat pan on my GS1000.With gear i weight 175-180Lbs.
I have one or two pics in my album on my profile that you see me laminate the cloth on the frame.
You can make a mould off the one you have or made a new one like i did.
Marc

 

[oshanac]

SPYUG-"Funny how each of us is different. That wouldn't bother me in the slightest."-That is true brother. I'm OCD like that . Good thing for me (and others one day), I'm studying to be a painter (first bikes, then maybe cars) so the world need more detailed, OCD bike/auto painters.

POSEPLAYER-The bottom looks good, until you see it in person, the cracks is what's having me upset. I don't want to weld any patch panels. I'm going through so much work as it is, I don't want to take the easy way out now. I'm all in already.

SPYDERMAN-Thanks for your detailed post. I can't believe a fiberglass pan lasted that long! Maybe it will would my large cry azz. I wonder if I would have to make some sort of DIY vaccum mold system to get the air out. I couldn't imagine just laying it up would be a long lasting set-up. Maybe I ought to consider an airtech pan since they are already done and faily inexpensive? I would LOVE to build one in stainless though. I have to teach myself again how to weld (been about 12 years, did it only a few times in my trade high school). Is stainless harder to weld than regular steel?

 

[Macguyver]

Seat Pan refurbish

Seat Pan refurbish

Here's a link to a write-up I did when I refurbished the rusted seat pan for my 650. It's about half-way down the page, with pictures to boot!

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=131135

Hope this helps,

 

[Spyderman]

here is the info i said i would get for you
ok so the seat cover is 1.5 MM thick and my seat pan is 7 MM thick here area few pics

 

[oshanac]

Great pics guys. I may either buy a fiberglass pan predone (through air-tech) or build a pan from scratch. I'm not sure I want to reinforce the metal pan with fiberglass. I'd rather have it be ALL fiberglass, or ALL steel (home built). I'll let you know what I decide to do. I have to blast and paint my engine cases first, then on to the seat pan. I'll keep you posted.