Topic: New seat on an old pan...fun project

[dilbone]

When I picked up my '75 cb550 this summer it came with a king/queen seat on it, but the PO had the original stock seat still at his parent's place.  Needless to say as soon as I got the stock seat I changed them out in short order.
I'm not really into the cafe or bobber conversions(they look great, just not for me) but I got to thinking about wanting to make a lower profile seat and thought that old pan would be a good starting point.
Here's what I started with:






Then I picked up one of these, which I had heard of someone using on this site

[Laminar]

Anticlimactic.

[the technological J]

Anticlimactic.

lol my thoughts exactly must be a work in progress

[moham]

Maybe he's at yoga class?

[dilbone]

I used a wire wheel to knock down that rust and at least get down to a usable surface.
The nuts and bolts for attaching the hinge and lock had to be replaced, so I used my not very good welding skills to slop those on.


Then I brushed on some old rust converter I had...don't know if actually does anything but thought I'd try it.

I sat the pan on the foam and traced it to get a starting point for the first layer of foam.  Then I used double side carpet tape on the pan to attach the foam.

[dilbone]

used 3M spray adhesive to attach layer two, then it was onto the vinyl...


Picked up 2/3 yard vinyl from Joann Fabrics for like 6.50.  Traced the bottom of the pan again for a starting point, then realized I didn't leave enough for the seam around the outside edge so I tried it again.


I tried to turn the seat on it's side to get some side pieces that would follow the contour a bit.


Next I broke out the singer put my 7th grade home ec skills to work and went to town...


So while my wife was watching dancing with the stars I was sewing in the dining room(and being made fun of)...it was a banner night at our house...

[dilbone]

It looked like it actually might work...once turned right side out...


I had to do something for the front and I didn't want to square it off but wasn't sure what else to do.


I put a layer of open cell foam on it to finish it off...again with 3M spray adhesive.

[mystic_1]

You're probably past this point but a good way to handle when you need to butt two pieces of foam together like that is to angle the edges so instead of meeting like this ====||=====   they meet like this =====//===== and then use some spray adhesive to tack them together.  This gives a bit more surface area to the joint.

Nice work so far, looking forward to the rest.

mystic_1

[dilbone]

thanks,  yeah, I just barely had enough to get the length of the seat covered with those 2 pieces so I couldn't afford an overlap...nor did I think about it...good idea

[dilbone]

I had seen someone else suggest these tack strips here so I tried to find them locally with no luck.  I had to make an ebay order...


Many, many pop rivets later I had them all installed


Now it was time to put the vinyl on, but I was a little nervous about how the front was going to look as the seam didn't match up with the shap of the pan, but overall I think it looks ok.

[Gorms]

That came out looking really nice.  Good job.

[dilbone]

on the bike in the dark garage...


not sure I like it.  I think it turned out ok, but I don't know if it looks right.  I guess I'm so used to seeing the stock seat on it that this just looks out of place.

As cheap as the vinyl was I may do it again and change a few things on it.  The front of the seat is so low that there's a gap between the seat and the bottom of the tank.  I supposed I should have built up the front to account for that.   Like I said though for another $6 I could try it all over again.

Anyway, let me know what you think and maybe share some ideas on how to improve it.

[j squared]

That looks really good, actually.  Came out very nice in the end.  I am doing something similar with my old K/Q seat, my pan is different than yours but it should come out pretty similar.

Got any pics of the cover from the bottom, and how you used the tack strips?

[BVCB650]

Looks good, but you took home ec???

[oldhondarider]

on the bike in the dark garage...


not sure I like it.  I think it turned out ok, but I don't know if it looks right.  I guess I'm so used to seeing the stock seat on it that this just looks out of place.

As cheap as the vinyl was I may do it again and change a few things on it.  The front of the seat is so low that there's a gap between the seat and the bottom of the tank.  I supposed I should have built up the front to account for that.   Like I said though for another $6 I could try it all over again.

Anyway, let me know what you think and maybe share some ideas on how to improve it.

Looks nice.... no wrinkles....  kinda looks like a seat from a "bratstyle" bike....  nice job.

[dilbone]

That looks really good, actually.  Came out very nice in the end.  I am doing something similar with my old K/Q seat, my pan is different than yours but it should come out pretty similar.

Got any pics of the cover from the bottom, and how you used the tack strips?

Thanks,

no i didn't take any of the bottom, but I will today sometime.  I just stretched it as best I could and shoved it down over the tacks two at a time and folded those down.  I tried to make sure I was pulling uniformily as I went but that was kinda tough to do.  I should have doubled over the vinyl and put a seam along the bottom edge so I would have had a double thickness to put the tacks through...maybe on my next attempt...

For $20 of foam, $6 of vinyl, and $8 for tack strips I can't complain I guess.

[mystic_1]

Foam, $20
Vinyl, $6
Tack strips, $8


Doing it yourself...... priceless!



Well done, looks very good.

mystic_1

[dilbone]

Looks good, but you took home ec???

Lol, everyone had to...mandantory in 7th grade in 1986.  My mom is actually quite a seamstress...made my sister's wedding dress    and it was really well done.  I only got a small fraction of her ability.

[BVCB650]

I took foods 101, mainly because I like to eat. Teacher zinged me on cleaning up the station after preparation though.

[drumgod]

That came out pretty good.  I like it.  I'm planning a similar seat whenever I find a cheap pan that will fit my '76 CB550.

[Ogri]

I think that looks pretty bloody good! Maybe for the MkII version you could do ribbing like this:
 


How hard was it to actually stitch the vinyl ? I've heard you need a beefy sewing machine to do it.

[BurtonWarpup]

The seat looks great dilbone! I'm going to try building a custom seat in the next few months. But one question... how does it feel?

[Johnny5]

Very nice job!

[dilbone]

I think that looks pretty bloody good! Maybe for the MkII version you could do ribbing like this:
 


How hard was it to actually stitch the vinyl ? I've heard you need a beefy sewing machine to do it.

Thanks for that pic of the tack strips you used...that got me searching because I wasn't sure what to do about that part of it...I've been following your build closely.

[moham]

Hey thanks for posting your work. It has helped me decide if I want to try to use a stock pan for a low profile seat.