Got a good amount of work pushed forward the past few weeks and found a later part of the night to chill on the PC for an update. I should have broke this update up into smaller bits, but by the time I've been done working on the bike or taken care of other things as of late I haven't had time to throw anything up. Been hell bent on getting the CB road worthy to enjoy, one last project yet to be completed (tail light) and its legal to be on the road. I did get in two tuning runs on the back roads last weekend, will touch base on that in a bit.
The cafe seat is finished and I'm happy with the result. There were a few things I might try different if I were to do it again but the results fit what I was aiming for. The CB360 gas tank was chopped at a slant and a piece of 16 gauge mild steel welded to it to form the back rest and trimmed the excess with the cutoff wheel (love that B&D angle grinder w/ cut off wheel, trimmed the excess in a minute or two). After stuffing rags under the rear tank to find its resting spot measurements were made and the seat pan cut out of the same 16 gauge mild steel and two were welded together.
A 0.5" length of steel flat bar welded onto the side of the seat pan as trim for upholstery mounting. The front of the pan received a crescent shaped tongue piece of steel to follow the profile of the tank and fill the void between it and the seat. Inside of CB360 back hump two "T" (on its side) bracket were welded to secure the rear to the mounting platform that will be discussed in a bit. Each "T" bracket got a nut welded to it in order to receive a bolt to secure it to said platform. The welding of these brackets forced some choice words as I realized my folly for welding to the inside of the tank.
I blindly welded one of the brackets on before realizing that the bleed through from the weld heat distorted the heck out of the outside of the tank...
At that point I was forced to do the same to the other side in order to complete the bracket system that I was not committed to, and took it as slow as I could stitching weld onto the bracket with as minimal heat (max wait time) as I could; welding lesson reinforced.
The end result is noticeable but not too bad. I tried my best to blend/sand the dips out, the tank has other character marks from 30+ years of life, now it has more.
A rattle can primer and stain black finished the seat and off to the upholster to get a seat pad made.
Can see the minor distortion from the weld.
Nothing new with the method of mounting the seat. The bracket that locks the pan down was simple square tubing cut into a "U" channel and welded to the frame. Nuts were welded underneath the front and back two platforms (middles skipped) and four holes were drilled into the pan so the whole works could be secured with four cheese head pan screws. I was intending to have the upholsterer make a removable pad in order to access the Philips screws to access the battery and electronics. Rubber washers buffer the pan to the brackets. On the rear of the frame another long "U" bracket was welded in order to secure the electronics mounting platform and brackets that were welded into the CB360 tank. Two holes in the middle of the platform were drilled to secure the stock plastic fender, which was nice to retain.
The biggest reason for the mount was to relocated the wide band controller as well as have a place for the fuel pump voltage regulator, tail light, and any other stow away stuff. This last fall two Innovate wide bands died on me, they just stopped working. I did have them warrantied and after receiving the last one the customer support guy mentioned that this would be my last replacement and to check my mounting location. The WB controller and sensor wires sat and ran about 4 inches from the coil pack and ran by a few plug wires. We both assumed voltage spikes were induced into the sensor wires or controller itself causing the microprocessor to loose it's marbles. The failure of both controllers was unreadable/executable firmware (processor dead in the water). With the rear mounting of the WB I also installed a 15V transorb (similar size of a surface mount diode) on both the Vin (power line) and analog out line. These guys will clamp voltage on what ever wire installed to 15VDC and not allow anything higher (the over 15V energy is consumed by the part). If the line has prolonged voltage spikes above 15V it can destroy the part. May swap with some 17-18V parts to better keep out of reach of a temperamental system voltage regulator.
Pictures of seat pan brackets and mounting platform. WB controller and fuel pump voltage regulator board mount mounted with neodymium magnets. Magnet mounting is temporary for now, but may stay that way as it works well (Vreg needs to get a weather proof case asap). Also mounted the HID ballast and controller with epoxied on neodymium magnets behind the metal head light brackets/arms/ears/holder things, works very well with a few 12lb pull strength magnets.
The thought for the tail light is to mount it onto the back side of the platform, that way the seat can be free of attached wires and come right off. This will be tricky due to the loading of the suspension and having the rear tire come into contact with the light. I would like to mount the light within the end of the seat (recess of the CB360 fuel tank, that domed cutout area). This may require a bump stop to be add to the rear shocks to limit travel (not wanting to do), it will be very close without and time will tell if needed. In any case the license plate needed a holder and couldn't be mounted under the tail light. With some left over 16 gauge sheet, steel tubes, and "U" channel a plate holder was made. A small LED board is fasten on the under side of the "U" channel with three tiny neodymium magnets (love those things, check some out here
www.kjmagnetics.com). There are two LED drivers running two LEDs each at full current. These tiny LED drivers need just a resistor to set its current. The plate holder had to slightly bent forward in order for the light to illuminate the whole plate. May also play with tucking/hiding a single high brightness LEDs under the seat and directing it at the plate. Wires run up through the hollow round tube. To make me feel better and not worry, I'm going to weld a little finger off plate holder's mounting tube (that fastens it to the end of the frame) which will prevents the plate holder from rotating into the wheel if it ever decided to loosen up on me. I don't want to hear what sounds like rocks thrown into a blender at high speed as the plate holder is twisted up into the wheel..
I got the seat back from the upholsterer last week Friday just in time to take the bike out for a quick tuning run.
I think the upholsterer did a great job of constructing the seat pad. I dropped off the seat pan a few days earlier with about 15 or so 1" long x 0.5" thick x 0.125" thick neodymium magnets. If possible I wanted a pad made like a cushion that is clamped down with the magnets around the perimeter of the pan. After talking with the upholster it came to be that the seat portion was going to be pertinently locked down and the magnets used around the curved back rest area to hold the material tight. It was going to be a two piece design in order to access the rear two screws (abandoning the front two screws, the rear bolts that secure the seat to the platform make it very sturdy with the two rear screws, fronts not needed). It ended up that the magnets were too difficult to keep apart with sewing so velcro was used to secure the curved back rest. I'm not a much a fan of velcro but it seems to do the job. The only thing I like is that he made it a one piece part, no seems, which I liked seeing that the front was glued down and moisture would be trapped if caught in the rain. All in all it turned out great and if the velcro gives grief I'll request pockets are sewn into the material before magnets are brought into the picture.
Pics of the bike with seat and few cosmetic improvements (grips, mirrors, fuel door back on, painted/polished tank emblems back on, and re-cleared the fuel tank and rear seat after 180 grit (clear was too light in some spots on the fuel tank and specs of rust started to form). Forgot to say that a pair of Avon Roadriders are gracing the wheels as well. Progressive front fork springs, seals, and oil are getting hit up this weekend. I'll have to post about where the tune sits and what becomes of the LED tail light another time as its too late
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