2005 GS500F | Scrambler Project

[Joester41]

Short update...

The plastic front fender came today, trimmed it up and mounted it.








Still designing the new battery box. Once that is done it will be on to the seat mounts, tail cluster, and glassing the seat pan. Hoping I can have all the parts designed before the end of the year.

[Daeouse]

That looks damn good!

[Joester41]

A few updates...

The last of my brackets are done, next thing is to get them welded on and then glassing the seat pan.



The new chain guard prior to bead blasting.



The new battery box prior to welding.

[lucas]

Nice work,  are you planning on putting the fork brace back on?  I wonder how it handles without it.

[Shepa]

That looks damn good!

+1





Sent from my toilet seat using HTC FartPhone

[Joester41]

Update:

Battery box welded and first coat painted.






Seat brackets welded and first coat of paint.






And a picture post welding through a FLIR camera...

[Daeouse]

Despite this thing being taken on a tangent that's not quite my cup of tea, I will say you're doing an absolutely incredible job and your work looks amazing!

[lucas]

I like the quality of your work.  What all are you planning to mount onto the battery box?  Looks like you got spots for bunches of things.

[Joester41]

I like the quality of your work.  What all are you planning to mount onto the battery box?  Looks like you got spots for bunches of things.

Thanks, I plan on mounting everything that was on the stock box, plus the rectifier and relays.

[Joester41]

Update:

Electrical is done, here are some of the changes...

right side view of box, before everything is connected.


Left side before connections.


Modified harnesses.


New tail connectors.


Everything connected and routed.

Left


Right

[Daeouse]

That is some beautiful wiring harness work there, and everything has come together beautifully! VERY well done indeed!

[MotoFuzzle]

That is some quality work; well done.  I'm trying to source some steel to do the same seat loop.  Did you use scrap GS500 subframe, or were you able to find the rectangular tubing fairly easily?

[Joester41]

That is some quality work; well done.  I'm trying to source some steel to do the same seat loop.  Did you use scrap GS500 subframe, or were you able to find the rectangular tubing fairly easily?

Thanks, It helps to have access to a machine shop and an uncle that welds race car frames for a living 

Its actually 1" x 3/4" bar... its a hair larger than the tubing, but it worked pretty well after the weld seams were ground.

I've seen others use smaller tubing and sleeve it inside the frame, makes for an easy weld and looks pretty clean.

[Big Rich]

Wow Joe, that is some great work for sure. Looks factory!

[Carltheproducer]

Love what you're doing buddy. Very inspiring only if I had a garage, spare time and the skill set you had, I would do everything you're doing thus far.

[lucas]

Vicarious motorcycle building

[Joester41]

Update:

Got the seat pan glassed, just need to wait for it to cure, pop it off, and trim it.

masked off


foil taped


glassed

[Daeouse]

I'm definitely keeping a sharp eye on this work! I always wanted to see a seat build done in a proper, methodical, manner.

[ShowBizWolf]

I'm with ya Daeouse, this looks so clean!! And since I just started working with fiberglass a little over a year ago, I am eager to learn from this seat process 

[Joester41]

Update....

I wasn't 100% content with the first seat pan, so I decided to do another (since I had all the materials and everything set up).

The first pan (with front wings) i did about 5 layers, in this order:

1. cloth (woven) precut for hardware
2. mat (unwoven) precut for hardware
3. mat reinforcement, down the center overlapping the hardware locations precut for hardware
4. nuts installed
5. mat precut for hardware
6. cloth precut for hardware

Close-up of the front hardware inserts from the first pan



Tank-tab made out of 3/16 kydex sheet (heat-formed)



The first seemed to get pretty messy with the unwoven fiberglass mat. I figured I could get the same amount of strength by alternating directions of the weave. So, I did the second pan (no wings) in this order:

1. cloth sheet, precut for hardware
2. cloth panels under seat locations for 2 riders
3. hardware reinforcement
4. cloth sheet, precut for hardware
5. harringbone pattern strips of cloth, entire length
6. hardware reinforcement
7. hardware installed
8. cloth sheet, precut for hardware
9. 2nd cloth panels under seat locations for 2 riders
10. last hardware reinforcement
11. final cloth sheet



I modified my Kydex tab piece for the second pan. Used 1/8 inch with the holes length-wise. I also modified the pan shape a bit, tapering it down to the frame making the shape a tad stronger.

Another note, in order to stretch my fiberglassing time (doing it solo), I put 40 drops of hardener into four 8oz cups, pre-marked at 4oz (recommended 10 drops of hardener per 1oz of resin). This way all i had to do was dump the resin in up to the line and mix with a popsicle stick. I also had some extra pairs of gloves and trimmed-down brushes standing by for when they got gummed up. All said and done, i used about 16 oz of resin, 2 brushes, and about 3 pairs of gloves per pan.