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seat pan repairs ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter rckrzy1
  • Start date Start date
R

rckrzy1

Guest
I have been on a quest to replace my rusted seat pan so I can get it recovered. I just got one off ebay and it was in worse shape than mine, some real good camera shots to hide it too.

Can you tack weld in some pieces to repair ? Is there any other sources other than ebay ? Mine seems to be rare, the 82/83 750T pan looks
different that all the rest as it uses the clip on the seat pan that goes around a bar at the front on the frame.

Is there something elses I can do ? I'm not able to do much more than
pop rivets when it comes to metal repairs.

Adam
 
seatpan

seatpan

in my quest for a new seat pan patience was not on my side as everyone was riding on weds night.After a month of cross country searches I took matters into my own hands and did what I do best.Fiberglass repair.Go to a local dealer and pick up some heavy mat and talk to them.They will set you up with what you need.Use aluminum duct tape to recreate your pan where you have eliminated the rot.*make sure you ask for sand ease as some slight grinding may be in order.Remember,when working with glass don't mix it hot unless you know what you're doing and be patient.
Aloha Mr.Hand
 
My pan was heavily rusted on the upper surface and along the edge. Seems standard wear on bikes stored outdoors for any length of time. I began by removing all the loose rust with both a handheld and bench brass wheel brush. This left a few gaps in the metal along the edge. Especially around the forward end of the pan. Here I picked up some light galvanized sheet stock and cut out some overlapping parts. To these I applied JB Weld and pop rivets. I put the pan in a nice warm area to lef the epoxy set. In my case I also had to improvise a way of anchoring the cover in the areas where the hooks had rusted off but I managed. I cut the heads off the pop rivets and filed them down so they didn't stick out on the inside of the pan. I then applied a primer and some black pro grade paint. When I put the cushion back I cut a piece of polyvynil plastic and layed in around the pan (tucking in around the edges). I believe that when the bike is outdoors, moisture gets into the cushion foam and is trapped between the foam and the pan. This the cause of the rust. I'm hoping the vynil will provide a barrier.

BTW, the cover I bought from JC Whitney was dissapointing. It fit poorly and I should've sent it back. Mine is just one testimonial, though.
 
Yeah, the 750T was the only bike with that pan. And they were only made for 2 years. They are kinda rare... :wink:

If one of your seat pans is almost structurally sound (ie still holds the hardware in the right places no matter how many holes are in it) then good news, there's something you can do.

This is what I did to my 750E's seat pan.

First thing is to strip off any hardware and rubber parts that will come off. Also flatten out all the little teeth that held the cover on before. Your not going to use them anymore.

Next, have it sandblasted down to raw steel. You could also have it acid dipped by a radiator shop. Basically you want all the cancer and paint gone from your pan. This will leave you with alot less than you started with, don't be surprised because the sand blaster or acid will take away what you thought was good metal before, it was simply too thin.

Next step is to prime it with "Ospho" or similar. It's basically phosphoric acid with some type of wetting agent.

Then go down to the parts store or walmart and buy some fiberglass mat and some fiberglass weave (one package of each) and about a pint of resin. Don't forget to get some disposable buckets of some kind AND some butyl nitrile gloves (the blue ones).

I found that the disposable paint roller tray liners worked well for the mixing of resin because you can dunk your glass in it and then spread it out on the "ramp" and squeegee most of the resin out before you lay it on the pan.

Start with the topside of the pan (where the foam will rest). For this we are using the heavier glass mat. this stuff is a pain to work with because it strings out and gets everywhere and sticks to everything. I'll let you read up on fiberglassing elsewhere, it's just to much to type here. Trim the mat to a little over size of the top of the pan. Mix up some resin. Dunk the trimmed mat into the resin and swirl it around to get it nice and wet. Then try to squeeze out as much resin as you can (this is where the paint roller tray comes in handy). Spread the mat over the topside taking extra care to make it fit all the nooks and crannies. It doesn't have to look perfect because nobody will ever see this part, and the foam will squish over any irregularities. A small roller of some kind can help here. Let the edges extend past the edge of the pan a little in all directions. Let dry.

You will now notice that the pan is quite strong. Now lets finish the sandwich so it'll last 100 years or so...

Flip the pan over. Grab the glass weave, and repeat the process. The weave is much easier to work with, but the bottom side of the pan will have to be contoured much more carefully. You can't have the weave sticking up somewhere that will mess up the hardware or prevent latching. This is why you practiced on the top first! You will probably have to do this side in several parts in order to work around the seat latch towers and whatnot. Work from the center out and let the weave join the mat on the outside edges. Let dry.

Drill out any holes you need for reattaching hardware and rubbers.

Now the pan is really strong and thick too!

Now to reattach the cover we have to trim down the edges. I used an angle grinder to flush the glass back up with the original steel pan (or where it used to be before the sandblasting). This method works well, but make sure you are wearing a respirator and old clothes with long sleeves and pants. Those glass fibers will go all over and you especially don't want to breathe them!

I trimmed the glass down basically by "sharpening" the edges. This will sontour the edge so you can wrap the cover around nicely. Then I sprayed the whole pan with truck bed liner from a spray can. This ain't nearly as tough as the real stuff, but it does a pretty good job.I used a whole can on the seatpan. The trick to a nice texture is to spray light coats from about two feet away.

To protect the cover from the sharp edge I placed some door edge guard all the way around the pan. This made stretching the vinyl easy.

I then drilled holes for pop rivets around the perimeter of the pan about every two inches. Stretch the cover back on and start riveting!

This is also a good time to have a new seat cover made by the upholstery shop using your old one as a guide. And, you could carve out some of your foam and replace it with memory foam, since you have it all apart anyway....

Read up about fiberglassing on the web. Especially those guys that build sub boxes for the boom car crowd. They have some good techniques. Also, I found that the polyesther resin was plenty strong (that's the stuff you can buy locally) so there's no need to spend alot of money on the really good resin.

Let me know if you have any questions!

-=TIm=-
 
Plastic pan

Plastic pan

You guys are lucky enough to have a metal pan to work with. I picked up my GS and it had one of those King Queen double bucket seats on it. The pan on it is plastic and broken down the middle.
I've been looking for a seat for the past few months...not having much luck. I'd be happy with just a good pan.
 
Listen to kahuna and Tim! I've redone two seatpans with fiberglass and epoxy, it works a treat. A nice trick is to lay on the fiberglass on what is the "inside" of the pan, this way the foam will cover most of the fiber, and you end up with a nice finish underneath. Be sure to to prepear the seatpan well before adding fiberglass, or the rust will come back to haunt you.
 
My bike has a plastic pan, so I don't know exactly what yours looks like, but couldn't you take your pan to a metal shop and have them fabricate a new one for you out of sheet steel or aluminum? We do that with the sheet metal off of machinery all the time. Usually I try to do that kind of repair when I have a lot of time so I can leave it at the shop and tell them no rush, gets me a bit of a deal usually.
 
STATUS

STATUS

SO far I spent a week wire brushing and scrubing and acid cleaning to get it ready for glass. Got the top mat of glass on last night, did a vacuum bagging and it worked better than expected. Tonight I clean up the rough edges and weave glass the bottom.

Even though the pan feels good enough now to recover. I'm happy it's going so well. But I do have a back up plan as I found a good used pan
online.
 
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