nightmoves
New Member
Hello all,
Time to tackle my 1982 KZ440 LTD's wretched seat and try to make her something she was never intended to be. I know this topic pops up now and again, but I've decided to have a go at it myself and learned from experience that I should ask advice from you guys first before getting in over my head.
I've included a couple of photos for inspiration, can't remember where I snagged these, but they were most certainly from other kz440 builders on their respective forum threads.
This is a rockin' Kawasaki 750. Love this bike. I mean. SERIOUSLY. Love this bike.
This is what I'm dealing with now, including proposed cut points (in green) and estimated new seat height / length (red).
This is what I'm going for (image credit to NW440pdx of another forum)
And this is the rough mock up of the shape and dimensions of the seat hoop I'll need to come up with.
So, my questions would be this. What is the best way to come up with a seat hoop for this project? And, do you guys have any suggestions for the concept itself, before I start cutting?
I know I can hit up the local junk yards for an old parts bike that has a similar seat hoop profile to what I'm needing, but I figured there's gotta be a better way than that. I have little to no metal working experience but know good folks who are reputable welders. So I guess the main issue is getting my hands on a hooped piece of metal that's close to this size.
The alternative route would be to just chop the seat frame where the up slope meets the horizontal plane of the bottom of the tank and fabricating a single seat, but that gives the bike a whole different look that I'm not super sure I'm crazy about.
Time to tackle my 1982 KZ440 LTD's wretched seat and try to make her something she was never intended to be. I know this topic pops up now and again, but I've decided to have a go at it myself and learned from experience that I should ask advice from you guys first before getting in over my head.
I've included a couple of photos for inspiration, can't remember where I snagged these, but they were most certainly from other kz440 builders on their respective forum threads.
This is a rockin' Kawasaki 750. Love this bike. I mean. SERIOUSLY. Love this bike.
This is what I'm dealing with now, including proposed cut points (in green) and estimated new seat height / length (red).
This is what I'm going for (image credit to NW440pdx of another forum)
And this is the rough mock up of the shape and dimensions of the seat hoop I'll need to come up with.
So, my questions would be this. What is the best way to come up with a seat hoop for this project? And, do you guys have any suggestions for the concept itself, before I start cutting?
I know I can hit up the local junk yards for an old parts bike that has a similar seat hoop profile to what I'm needing, but I figured there's gotta be a better way than that. I have little to no metal working experience but know good folks who are reputable welders. So I guess the main issue is getting my hands on a hooped piece of metal that's close to this size.
The alternative route would be to just chop the seat frame where the up slope meets the horizontal plane of the bottom of the tank and fabricating a single seat, but that gives the bike a whole different look that I'm not super sure I'm crazy about.