Step by Step - Fabricating a panel to transition the tank and seat on my GS850.

[Chimera Moto Works]

I haven't written a tutorial or anything like that in years, so although I will explain what i'm doing, i'm not necessarily trying to teach with this post, but maybe others will find this useful.


The majority of my bike has been finished now for a couple weeks, and now that I have a two-week break from tech school, I decided I was tired of seein the ugly gap between the tank and the seat, and the exposed tank bolts. So the only real option I had at this point, was to build a panel to cover this area.


Some will say foam is a lot easier/less work, etc., but I prefer and chose the metal frame route, so that I could see exactly what my panel was doing before preparing it for fiberglass.


tank2seat by Chimera Moto Works, on Flickr



Here is my issue and my starting point. You can see the gap and the visible tank bolts/mounts, and the somewhat ugly transition from the tank to the seat. That is a temporary seat pad for mock-up and riding until it is upholstered professionally in the end.


I started by bending 1/2" ended on a piece of dowel that fit right over the edge of the seat, then made a curved piece to match the corner of the gas tank. I then connected those to somewhat of a middle point on the base rod.




seat2pan_part2 by Chimera Moto Works, on Flickr


Here you can see the finished framing for one side of the bike. Once this was finished, I measured the distance between where my right side paneling actually started, and the actual middle of the bottom frame piece. Then I tacked one another 90 degree piece to start the left side, and then used the right side bends as a guide to make identical pieces to build the left side.




tank2seat_3 by Chimera Moto Works, on Flickr


Here's a better shot explaining what I did. You can now see both sides mocked up and the center left open. I later decided to simply box the center in to finish the piece.




seat2tank3 by Chimera Moto Works, on Flickr


Here is a shot of the piece finished, minus two crossmembers in the center section. My bike does not have a center stand, therefore it may look off a hair, but its because its leaned. I centered it by having my brother stabilize the front wheel when I needed to see the panel piece in level form.




tank2seat_4 by Chimera Moto Works, on Flickr


This is the finished frame for the panel i'm building with the temp. seat pad on to show how it'll look and how it flows the tank and seat together and closes the gaps and ugliness of the exposed tank bolts.




tank2seat_glass_ready by Chimera Moto Works, on Flickr


Now that the frame was complete, I ripped the cover off a a sales magazine that had a thick paper/Thin cardboard, not regular thick cardboard, and with masking tape, cut and tightly taped up the steel frame. I didn't use anything real thick because I'm not making a mold and pulling a final product, i'm going to glass my frame. It's a one-off, so it doesn't need to have all the work of having a mold made. I will pull the glassed piece off the frame though, I won't be just directly fiberglassing over the tape for a permanent piece. That would look nasty IMO.




All of this was done in about 6 hours yesterday of just go go go, today I'm planning to lay the first couple layers of fiberglass, and I'll update my thread.


Feel free to comment.

 

[Koestum]

Awesome... you just gave me ideas! Thanks!

 

[Chimera Moto Works]

Minor update: I was able to take a fiberglass mold off the piece, but i was unhappy with the results. with the piece having so many shapes to it, the fiberglass didn't want to adhere that well. Since I had to find another option to keep moving forward, i've started filling in the metal frame I welded up with small pieces of sheet metal. I probably won't have an update until later tonight or tomorrow, if i'm lucky i'll get another area tacked up tonight. I've only gotten an area of one side done so far.

 

[Chimera Moto Works]

Alright, here's a small update.




tank2seat_bad_glass by Chimera Moto Works, on Flickr


Again, I was unhappy with the glass results considering the awkward shape of the piece, so...




tank2seat_sheet by Chimera Moto Works, on Flickr


I got the Lincoln out, and although not the prettiest looking thing at this point of the build, a good start.




tank2seat_sheet1 by Chimera Moto Works, on Flickr


And here is where I am currently. Both the left and right side of the panel have been plated, and i've started to plate the top. A LOT of grinding and tac welding will be going on over the next day or so to complete this piece prior to body work.


*You'll also notice that the temporary seat I have is now about a 1/4" too long and won't seat correctly, so over the weekend I'll take it apart and cut off a small amount of the MDF temp pan so that it sits on the seat more flush.

 

[Chimera Moto Works]

Update:




tank2seat_topsheet by Chimera Moto Works, on Flickr


Both sides are now fully tac'd in place, and all three top pieces are tac'd in place. You'll notice that every piece or every-other piece I weld in, I go ahead and take some time to grind down the welds. This will save me some time when the final three pieces are welded in place, and also gives me a better base to weld the future pieces in.

 

[BoneDaddy]

It's gay.


That's what you told me to say, right?
Looks good dude. I like the steel frame method over foam as well.

 

[RedPlastic]

It's gay.


That's what you told me to say, right?
Looks good dude. I like the steel frame method over foam as well.

yup its gayer than teh aids..now hurry up so you can get the paint on it!

 

[Chimera Moto Works]

Update:




tank2seat_plated1 by Chimera Moto Works, on Flickr


Down to 1 piece of sheet to weld in. Once the last piece is welded in, i'll hit it with the grinder again all over, then with a surfacing wheel, or flap disk, to clean it up prior to slathering Rage on it, and begin shaping it.

 

[Chimera Moto Works]

Update:




tank2seat_surfaced by Chimera Moto Works, on Flickr


I was unhappy with how the left side lined up, it was off a little, so i added a little weld filler metal and reshaped the edge. Then I hit the entire piece with a surfacing wheel to smooth it out and have it ready for Rage body filler. If you're smoothing a piece out and working with thin sheet metal, spend the few dollars for a surfacing wheel. A grinding wheel is great for initially knocking down weld, but will put gouges in the metal and possibly grind right through it, so when finishing a piece, use a surfacing wheel, or flap disk.




tank2seat_rage1 by Chimera Moto Works, on Flickr


The lighting is bad in this picture, I had the garage open of course to help vent Rage fumes and sanding dust. This is the piece with its first layer of Rage body filler, and knocked back down with 80 grit. You'll notice my lines on the left side and around the tank are pretty damn tight now. Very happy with the piece in its current state. As others already know, it'll probably take up to 3 more rounds with body filler and knocking it back down to have it smoothed out. Also, spend the extra few dollars on body filler too. Bondo brand filler blows, and leaves air bubbles consistently. Rage body fillers by Evercoat I believe, but if not, Also Evercoat products, are a much smoother filler, with great curing time, and with MUCH less or zero air bubbles, and knocks down with sand paper much easier than Bondo brand filler.

 

[Chimera Moto Works]

Update:




tank2seat_primed by Chimera Moto Works, on Flickr


Alright, here we are for the end of the day today. I've dusted the piece with primer so I could get an idea of how the piece really looked. I know I built the piece, but i'm very pleased with how it's come out. I have another round of sanding to do, and then one more thin layer of filler in certain areas to fill any minor pits or low spots. I'll update again probably Tuesday.

 

[RedPlastic]