Seat pan restoration

[Quilty]

Evening all.
I have a seat already on my xs2. It's original and whenever it rains yellow mud drips out from the seat pan and covers the rear end of the bike so I'm assuming that the foam is beyond repair. I have a good quality brand new seat cover and have sourced a new foam for the seat. I'm pretty confident that I can cover the seat but I haven't seen what the pan looks like without the seat attached. There are areas on the pan that look rusted through but she seems in decent shape. So my question is if I decide buy the foam but the seat pan is broken in parts is it possible to repair the area using epoxy and some sort of carbon fiber or am I better off buying a new pan??

Grateful as always phil

 

[nj1639]

Sounds like a pig in a poke....won't know for sure untill you uncover it.
If the business parts are intact and just some of the flats are eaten up I believe I'd clean up the rust and scale, primer, and then glass mat with resin.

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

Phil, mine was pretty rusted and cracked. The metal is rather thin (about like 18 gauge), and the rusting makes that thinner.

20 years ago, I stripped mine down, blasted it to bare metal, straightened it best I could, and flowed brass all over it. The brass added thickness and strength. It needs that thickness to support your weight.

I wasn't after concours quality reconstruction, just something that would hold up. You can see the distortion and crack lines in this picture.

Your XS2 seat pan is identical except for the battery clearance depression, where the XS2's depression is larger for the larger battery. There is another thread in here somewhere with XS2 seat pan pics, just can't find it.

View attachment 46799

 

[fredintoon]

Evening all.
I have a seat already on my xs2. It's original and whenever it rains yellow mud drips out from the seat pan and covers the rear end of the bike so I'm assuming that the foam is beyond repair. I have a good quality brand new seat cover and have sourced a new foam for the seat. I'm pretty confident that I can cover the seat but I haven't seen what the pan looks like without the seat attached. There are areas on the pan that look rusted through but she seems in decent shape. So my question is if I decide buy the foam but the seat pan is broken in parts is it possible to repair the area using epoxy and some sort of carbon fiber or am I better off buying a new pan??
Grateful as always phil

Hi phil,
it's easier if you can find another pan that's in good shape, perhaps a complete seat, even.
But if you can't, here's what I'd do, no matter what shape the pan is in, this'll work.
Strip the pan down to bare metal and remove all the hinges etc.
Wire brush the pan both sides until it's completely rust free.
Laminate it with 2 layers of fiberglass & resin on each side.
(I'm too stingy to use carbon fiber-epoxy, but if you have some handy - - - )
Now you have a fiberglass (or carbon fiber) seat pan with a steel core.
Drill it through and bolt the hinges etc. back on.
New foam and cover completes the job.
Note that the original cover retention teeth are now unusable.
Use pop rivets to hold the replacement cover on or use a drawstring cover.

 

[angus67]

Phil, mine was pretty rusted and cracked. The metal is rather thin (about like 18 gauge), and the rusting makes that thinner.

20 years ago, I stripped mine down, blasted it to bare metal, straightened it best I could, and flowed brass all over it. The brass added thickness and strength. It needs that thickness to support your weight.

I wasn't after concours quality reconstruction, just something that would hold up. You can see the distortion and crack lines in this picture.

Your XS2 seat pan is identical except for the battery clearance depression, where the XS2's depression is larger for the larger battery. There is another thread in here somewhere with XS2 seat pan pics, just can't find it.

View attachment 46799

two many, is that a auto gate opener battery?
I used one of those to get my chop up and running. I believe I used a .7 ah mighty mule. If it is same, is it holding up?
What is this 'flowing of brass 'you talk of? Did you brase steel sheet with brass?

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

Hey, Angus!
Those are a couple of $6 tiny 6v 4.5 amp-hour deer-feeder batteries.
Easy to get out here in deer hunt territory.
Have a look at pics #6 & #7 in this album:

http://www.xs650.com/media/albums/1623/

Yes, that's brass brazing on sheet steel. With it clean and fluxed-up, I can get the brass to flow like the '50s horror flics we've come to love...

 

[Quilty]

Thanks guys just need to get my hands on some molten brass haha. The seat pan is in decent shape but I know for a fact that at least one edge by the seat latch has fallen apart. I can buy a fibreglass replica from some lads in Australia but I'm looking at 200 bucks plus 100 for the foam. Mikes are selling a complete seat for 300 plus import duty. I was hoping I could reinforce the broken area with epoxy and Carbon fiber then rivet some spike strips around the edge and attach the cover that way I'll post some pics if I go that route

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

... one edge by the seat latch has fallen apart...

I bet that's the area just above the battery vent, the "acid fog" zone. That was the worst area on mine. See if yours is missing the rubber bumper there. Once the metal rots away enuff, it can't hold that support bumper. Bumper disappears, and seat collapses to the frame, making it worse...

 

[chizler62]

100% agree with TwoMany advice here.
I use brass or silver (use 56 its strong and fills huge gaps ) a lot in these situations. IMO just seems a respectful way of repairing and keeps the integrity of part. Cheap and easy too! Or is it two? LOL
WEAR GLASSES AND RESPIRATOR

In fact I'm flowing a little on a headlight bucket just before reading this


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