Deacon's KZ650 Cafe Seat Build

HerrDeacon

Over 1,000 Posts
I wasn't going to start a thread on this yet, as I was going to wait until it was totally finished. However, I got dragged away on business so I may as well do something bike related while I'm away from my baby :)

First off here is a pic of the bike as it was when I bought it. Check out the "custom" seat! No matter how mine turns out it
can't be that bad...can it? No where to go but up :)

beforeLeft.jpg


Underneath the seat cushion was a really rusty seat pan. The top was fine, but the edges were totally gone. I wasn't
planning on using it anyway, so no loss. After that was tossed aside, I just had to grind off a few things: seat hinges, seat lock and helmet hook had to go.

stockPan.jpg
 
To get the shape I wanted I used a combination of green florist foam bricks and Great Stuff expanding foam. If I had to do it again I wouldn't have used the expanding foam, as I didn't like shaping it at all. In contrast, the florist foam is a dream to shape, it cuts and sands easy.

seat-1.jpg


seat3.jpg


After cutting and shaping I ended up with something that I was happy with:

seatShaping1.jpg


seatShaping2.jpg
 
Next step is getting ready to fibreglass. Before applying the fibreglass I needed to seal up the foam. I used a combination of foil and painter's tape. Since the strength of fibreglass is in the curves, I built in some curves to the seat section. Problem is that I forgot about the battery box that would be underneath the seat. So I later had to change this section to accommodate. You'll see this in later pics.

seatPreFibreglass1.jpg


seatPreFibreglass2.jpg
 
Time to get messy...lay some fibreglass. Not much to say just make sure you have everything ready before you start: fibreglass mat all pre-cut and layed out, anything you don't want resin on covered up, gloves on, and most importantly put your mask on, you don't want to be breathing these fumes. I know I can't afford to lose anymore brain cells ;D You can see in the last pic the modification I needed to make to the seat section for the battery box.

fibreglass1.jpg


fibreglass2.jpg


fibreglass5.jpg
 
Now comes the dusty stage...body filler. I first gave the seat a nice coat of body filler just to fill in the unevenness of the fibreglass. Then once I had this smoothed out somewhat, I mixed up a milkshake (combination of body filler, fibreglass resin, mekp and body filler hardener) to coat the seat with. This mixture is a lot more fluid then ordinary body filler and so creates a nice smoother finish. Regardless, still needs to be sanded...and sanded...and sanded and then sanded again. ;D Finally I'm happy with the look and spray a coat of primer.

Milkshake pic:
milkShake2.jpg


After sanding:
prePrimer1.jpg


Couple of pics post primer and on bike:
primer2.jpg


primer1.jpg
 
Wow - next to shaping metal, being able to do that is something I'd love to be able to do. Nice work.
 
Thanks Tintin, so far this has been the best part of my project so far, I've had a great time. The smell of fibreglass throughout the house is not the best but that's all you can do. :D
 
As I said earlier I had to go on a business trip this week, so this past weekend I did the last of the fibreglass work needed for the seat so that its all ready for me to finish when I get back.

I wanted/needed to have somewhere on the bike to store some things: tool kit, camera, phone, lunch when going to work, etc., so I decided to build a glovebox into the seat. This area wouldn't be secure, I will just need to lift the seat cushion to gain access. I just marked the underneath of the cowl to clear the frame and the cross brace, and also clear the hole I have made for the light (more on the light later). I then filled in this marked off area with green foam and glassed over it. This is the way I left it. I'll cut a hole in the seat part when I get home and remove the foam. I'll post more pics when I complete this part.

Florist Foam:
gloveBox4.jpg


Fibreglass:
gloveBox2.jpg


gloveBox1.jpg
 
The last bit of glass work necessary is for the seat pan needed for the cushion.

I really have to thank Scarcat for his post on making a seat pan as I would have never had thought to use wood to enable you to staple the fabric to the pan. Thanks for the great post Scarcat. We need a thumbs up emoticon Oh, just found it, here you go Scarcat ;D
thumbup.gif


Here is a pic of the wood laid out the way I wanted.

wood1.jpg


A couple of pics after some fibreglass has been laid under and above the wood.

pretrim1.jpg


pretrim2.jpg


I then did a rough trim to see how it looked on the bike. I'm mostly pleased with the pan except for the vertical part (i.e. seat back). I never got the fibreglass mat to sit down very good over the wood so its a bit high. I'll probably have to sand this down a bit and maybe lay a bit more glass. I'll finish trimming this and then start covering it when I get home next week. Still need to determine what I'm going to use to cover it, have to go out looking.

trim2.jpg


trim1.jpg
 
Lookin great!

You plan on doing the Upholstry yourself too?
... I lost the name / number of the guy who did my seat ... But as far as I know there are a few decent guys around doin it.
 
Thanks Evan. Yeah, I always like to try it myself first, so I'm going to give the upholstery a go. I'm going to use the old seat cover that was on the seat when I bought it to see how I do. If it turns out alright I'll then do it with some better material. If not, I'll probably be asking you who's around town that can help me out. The only guy I know of has left for Alberta.
 
Hey Man!!.. That is amazing...Ihave to say, you guys make it look so easy that Im almost.. ( I said almost), tempted to give it a try!!..

YOu should make a mold form and just pump those out!!..
I think Im gonna sticky this one if its OK with you
 
Thanks Noel. It's not really that hard but I must say I've learned a lot through the process. This is the first big object I've done in fibreglass and if I had to do it again I would have done some things different, but this is just part of the learning process. Next winter I'll be doing a two up seat so I'll try to apply what I learned to that one.

After seeing oldog's post on making molds I'd love to try that one day.

Feel free to sticky it.
 
HerrDeacon said:
To get the shape I wanted I used a combination of green florist foam bricks and Great Stuff expanding foam. If I had to do it again I wouldn't have used the expanding foam, as I didn't like shaping it at all. In contrast, the florist foam is a dream to shape, it cuts and sands easy.

seat-1.jpg


seat3.jpg
Holy shit, I thought you were building an igloo. 8)
 
Once you cut the glove box hole you might be able to get rid of the florist foam real quick by pouring in some acetone.
 
zixxerboy said:
Once you cut the glove box hole you might be able to get rid of the florist foam real quick by pouring in some acetone.

Yeah, that's what I heard. I'll scoop most of it out by hand and then get the remainder with the acetone. Hopefully it will work. I'll be cutting the hole once I have the cushion part done.
 
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