1976 Yamaha XS500 Cafe project: October 2009

Custom fiberglass seat pan!

So I decided that a.) The project bike didn't have a seat to begin with, and b.) Even if it did have a seat, I would have to heavily modify it to work with the shortened rear end- I would make my own seat pan. After a quick search on the web, I found this site:http://www.jeffreyphipps.com/seat_pans.htm and followed the directions step by step.

I was excited to try it, and even without and fiber-glassing experience, I somehow managed to trial and error it to the finished stage.

Unfortunately, I didn't take any pics in the 'during stage' of this project, but I'll walk you through it.

1. I taped off the rear end of the bike, just as in the instructions. I used a cardboard base for the form.
2. Once I was happy with the tape, I laid down some aluminum foil, shiny side up. (cheaper than the aluminum tape, but probably not the best compromise since it is alot thinner.)
3. Once the aluminum foil was in place, smoothed out and taped down, I applied a few coats of car wax. (Which didn't work as well as the mold release wax would have)
4. I cut out several pieces of fiberglass mat, and mixed my first batch of resin. Needless to say, I put way too much hardener in the mix, and it hardened up within 5 minutes. The second batch, I used half as much hardener, and it lasted about 10 minutes. So in the successive batches, I used less and less hardener. I never really got it right, as the last batch actually took a few days to cure.
5. Once the mat was cured, I made a trip to Lowe's and picked up some bolts to glass into the pan so I don't have to worry about the seat flying off. I drilled the holes, sunk the bolts and glassed them in with another 2 coats of mat before finishing it off with fiberglass cloth.

The whole thing looked like a giant mess, and I was sure I completely messed it up, but once it was cured, and I trimmed it to fit, I am actually happy with the end result. Pics:
The seat bolts glassed in.....

Fitting the seat pan.... (Note use of gloves to keep that crud out of my hand)

More...

Bolts thru bottom of pan and into frame...

Finished seat pan. Fit is right, now it's time for foam and covering. Haven't decided on what to do with it just yet but I have time.

Primer and paint

I chose to do 2 good coats of gray primer, giving it about 2 hours to cure between coats. Let it cure overnight before applying paint first thing in the morning. Satin black is the color of choice for the frame. It's simple, and I think it gives it a nice clean finish.

As you can see, the body filler certainly cleaned up the rough spots.....

Paint prep.

Front end is off, center stand is off and the bike is cleaned up. got the body filler in place. Some last minute sanding, an Acetone bath and this baby is ready for some primer. I devised a nifty metal hanger rig to get the bike off the ground to get the purdy work going.

Gettin 'dirty'

Plenty of grime to go around. It was suggested to use some Aircraft stripper to get the paint off. I'm on a limited budget, so I'm going the old fashioned way, that- plus I really wanted to occupy my time, so the hard way it is. Sandpaper, grinding wheel and sanding wheel.

A little rough in the rear end. Cut-off the 'helmet lock' and some unused tabs.....

Gettin the old grubby paint and grime off...

As you can see, the "hoops" are now gone. (Once supported the passenger pegs- But this is my bike, and I'll be going solo)

Rear swing arm is also off. Better side view showing the progress with the paint stripping. Next to go is the center stand....

Front view.

Left side. (Sorry for the blurry pics)

Top view.

A better one of the left side. I was considering stripping it down, then shooting clear over it and go with a 'rat' look. But there are way too many imperfections to do that for my liking. So they'll all get filled and painted over.

The beginning

Got the bike torn down. Unfortunately, I never think to take pics until that certain part of the project is done. But I'm getting better.
Side view....