Super Happy Fun Time cl350 - Seat Build!

[boomshakalaka]

where did you find the early cb tank for 10$!!?

 

[quach]

where did you find the early cb tank for 10$!!?

It was just sitting there on ebay all alone ;D So i just threw in the only bid and took it, lucky I guess!

It took alot of work to get it cleaned up though, flushed it with muriatic acid, Kreemed, paint stripped 4 tons of paint (house paint applied with a roller) and I had to fill up lots of dents. Still, I'm not complaining after only paying 10 bucks.

 

[christensenra]

love the bike, neat seat idea

i was going to school for ceramics, so someone working in clay makes me happy.

 

[vinniefranco]

WOW. This is what I am talking about. Your attention to detail on the cowl nothing short of amazing.

It looks like it belongs on this bike and it ties the bike completely together. Not just a set of bolted on components. Brilliant man. Keep it up!

 

[slushie07]

Re: Super Happy Fun Time cl350

Picked up a set of what I believe are Rocky S12 pistons. Theyre marked ART on the side. They're 3mm oversize, which should bump my displacement to 357cc's. Interestingly, the pistons I pulled were also marked ART, not sure if that is OEM or not?

My 1976 KZ400 pistons also have that ART marking, and I am pretty sure they are stock

 

[quach]

Thanks for the kind words everyone!

WOW. This is what I am talking about. Your attention to detail on the cowl nothing short of amazing.

It looks like it belongs on this bike and it ties the bike completely together. Not just a set of bolted on components. Brilliant man. Keep it up!

Thanks Vinnie! Your comment made my day. This was exactly what I was trying to achieve with the seat cowl design. I knew bolting on an aftermarket "bullet" style seat just wouldn't look right with the rest of the bike's design, I'm glad you like it!

 

[HerrDeacon]

Very nice quach, really like the design of that tail, going to look sharp. Great clay skills too.

I was thinking about using that clay when I made my last seat but couldn't find any locally. Is there a specific name on it? Expensive?

 

[quach]

Very nice quach, really like the design of that tail, going to look sharp. Great clay skills too.

I was thinking about using that clay when I made my last seat but couldn't find any locally. Is there a specific name on it? Expensive?

I'm not sure what the name of the Industrial clay I'm using on my seat is, it's a Japanese brand that Toyota uses and the labels are all in Japanese. I have used two other brands called Chavant and Faber, our school sells Faber and it works really well. Faber is what BMW uses. I'm not sure where you can purchase some, I get my clay from school or the occasional donation from car companies. The clay is definitely pricey, about 10 dollars a billet, but for a seat you will probably only need about 3-5 billets.

If you can't find any, I can probably pick up a few billets from school and ship them out to you if you want.

Keep in mind you need to purchase some specialized tools (pricey) to work with this clay, and it's definitely got a learning curve to using it.

 

[HerrDeacon]

I'm not sure what the name of the Industrial clay I'm using on my seat is, it's a Japanese brand that Toyota uses and the labels are all in Japanese. I have used two other brands called Chavant and Faber, our school sells Faber and it works really well. Faber is what BMW uses. I'm not sure where you can purchase some, I get my clay from school or the occasional donation from car companies. The clay is definitely pricey, about 10 dollars a billet, but for a seat you will probably only need about 3-5 billets.

If you can't find any, I can probably pick up a few billets from school and ship them out to you if you want.

Keep in mind you need to purchase some specialized tools (pricey) to work with this clay, and it's definitely got a learning curve to using it.

Thanks quach for the offer, but I think the cost (clay and tools) will put it out of my reach. I think I'll go with the florist foam like I did last time. Going to be a while yet before I ready to make one for the 350 anyway. I'll just sit back and watch your progress ;D

Thanks again, appreciate the offer.

 

[arsey]

looking great, man. that clay work is just too slick.
any updates?

 

[cierrecart]

Badass man. Great job with the clay. My brother in law graduated from Art Center back in 02.

 

[BCBarker]

WOW!! Did you read my thoughts on the seat lines? I have been thinking about those same contours since I picked up my '70 cb350! If you make a mold I would most likely want a seat! I'd even take the first cast if it doesn't turn out great!

WOW.. Just WOW... nice work!

 

[quach]

Thanks guys! Gotta update this more often, been spending too much time in the garage not enough on the internet haha. BIG updates coming up.

Badass man. Great job with the clay. My brother in law graduated from Art Center back in 02.

Nice! what major did he graduate in?

 

[cierrecart]

Thanks guys! Gotta update this more often, been spending too much time in the garage not enough on the internet haha. BIG updates coming up.

Nice! what major did he graduate in?

Uhhh, I guess it would be illustration? He's a lead character artist at a major game studio now.

 

[quach]

Sooo big things have been happening in my garage. It's crunch time right now, I'm in a rush to finish the bike before my next school term starts... in two weeks. Once school starts, I will have absolutely no time to work on this bike, and it will be left to collect dust until my next break.

Since last time I posted, I finished up the seat in clay, things were looking great. Got it as symmetrical as I could with the tools I had, and it was time to throw in the final radii

Taping off the radii

I then made a base and box to hold the plaster together. (Keep in mind I'm not sure how to make a plaster mold, it will be my first time)

Here she is, looking like a Frankenstein of miscellaneous materials.

I took my setup to school and asked an instructor in our model shop to walk me through how to make a plaster mold. He suggested that I do a vacuum form styrene mold of it rather than plaster. Being that he had more experience with model making, I trusted his judgement.

Onto the vacuum former.

things were looking great, but unfortunately the model collapsed under the vaccum load around where my seat was gonna go, as I hadn't built the structure to be vacuum formed. ...I was dissapointed to say the very least.

The instructor (feeling guilty I assume) proceeded to help try and mend the broken part and pull a second mold over the first one.

The end result was... not good. The mold came out terrible, I'd lost all the fine detail and carefully controlled proportions of my original model. The night ended with alot of cursing, swearing, and complaining. My spirits were low.

But luckly I have a great group of buddies who insisted that I rebuild it, not to give up. I salvaged what I could of the clay that melted in the vacuum former and rebuild the seat area this time out of Laser cut MDF like I had initially planned to do.

fresh out of the laser cutter.

Meanwhile I'd finished installing my tapered steering stem bearings. Which went pleasantly smooth for a change ;D

THEN I put together my rolling chassis. First time I got a taste of what all those piles of parts would like together. Very satisfied.

What you see on there are 13.5" Molhulland CB750 shocks. Super beefy compared to stockers. Also some misc. 33mm clip ons.

Teaser shots ;D

Stay tuned, these updates are about 3 weeks late haha.

 

[alpinaclone]

Sorry to hear about your seat. I am sure the second will come out better than the first.

Keep the updates coming. I like the direction you are taking this.

 

[cafePete]

Very cool! I'll be watching this build. ;D

 

[HerrDeacon]

Sorry to hear about your seat, but keep at it. Based on the mockup pics this is going to be one sweet bike.

 

[CresentSon]

Man, you know a bike is gonna look killer when the rolling chassis has a mean stance. I like the wheels too. Overall looking really tough.

 

[djelliott]

Vacuum Forming, laser cut MDF, to say you're not fucking around would be an understatement. The bike is looking great. Nice job so far.