Well, Saturday was time to get cracking.
First cuts were decent, but I came to find out that the frame had a second layer of piping inside of it as bracing.
Several measurements and a few cuts later, the hoop was ground down at the straight ends and tapped into the original frame. I had ordered frame slugs from DCC, but both ends were WAY too big to be used.
A little bit of welding and grinding later....
I figured since the hoop was on, I should go ahead and make a template for a seat pan
After a bit more cutting, it's looking just right!
Then I realized, I can't weld aluminum to steel, so I'd have to make something on the frame to bole the aluminum pan to. So I added a recessed crossbar near the hoop, (the other two at the transition from flat to curve we actually added later).
I also cut off and filled the bolt holes forward of the upper shock mount, near the rear corner of the triangle. Then I made an electronics plate to tuck most of the sparky bits up under the seat.
and a view of the electronics tray from above (this pic was taken before the two additional seat pan brackets were added)...
So progress was slow today, spent the end of the day pulling the header off, the stainless 4-1 was "clearanced" to go around the oil drain bolt, and over the years of neglect by the previous owner, the drain plug has been rounded off, and appears to have welded itself to the pan. I'm trying to decide if I want to yank the engine at this point just to extricate that bolt, or try tilting the bike forward, and draining the rest of the oil from the filter mount, suggestions?