potterin

[tbone]

Yep, i`m still plodding on with this, time & weather permitting!
Made the most of todays sunshine by throwing more paint around.......
The tank is as good as i`m going to get it, needs a final coat of clear then its finished.

[tbone]

The second mudguard, soaking up the sun....

[tbone]

And i even made a start on the side panels!
24 hours for it all to harden off, so thats that till sunday now.
I haven`t looked at the front mudguard yet but thats all thats left to clean up and paint, so when i get to it, i`ll show you that too.

[tbone]

Part of the overhaul on this trike includes the seats, they are looking very shabby now.
The original seats had the backrest and seatpad in one piece, apart from being a bugger to re cover, they also retained a lot of water at the join between pad & backrest, this resulted in a very wet bottom most of the time!
The solution is simple, re-make the seats in two halfs........
The first job then is to cut your seat pan to the desired shape, i`m not goin go into detail here `cos this will depend on what your fitting your seat to.
Mine is a simple triangleish shape and i cut it from a sheet of 3mm aluminium, cos thats what i had, 2mm steel would have done just as well and the process is the same for what ever material your working with.

[tbone]

My original seat covers where glued on.....enough said.
To do the job properly they should be rivited on, so i need lots of holes.
Rather than just drill a load of random holes its easier if they are more or less in line and spaced an equal distance apart....
Spacing will depend on your choice of cover material.
 Leather is lovey to work but expensive, so i`m going with "pleather", or plastic leather or naugahyde, this comes in a variaty of names and colours and patterns, mine being black with fake leather look  .
If i had chosen leather, i would need my holes 1" in from the edge and spaced 1" apart, as mine is fake leather they need to be closer.
I need the holes 3/4" in from the edge, so i marked this by drawing a control line 3/4" in, all the way around the pan.

[tbone]

And they need to be spaced 5/8" apart. So i marked the spacing, all the way round, on the control line.

[tbone]

Then i drilled the holes on the marks. Before you go drilling your holes it`s best to have an idea of the size blind rivet you`re gonna be using.
Mine are 4mm.
Notice how i didn`t say `pop rivet`?. I`m using blind rivets, this is the type of rivet, `pop` rivets are a brand name for blind rivets. Yeah i know that wasn`t relevant, just thought you might have wanted to know! 

[tbone]

The next step is to clean away all the swarf from the drill holes and run a file around the edge of the pan to clean that up and blunt it off.

[tbone]

Hardware comes next. This is anything that is used to fix the seat in position. I`m using bolts that will act as studs and fit through holes in the frame under the seat, again this will depend on how you have chosen to fix the seat.
With the hardware in place, i would now apply a coat or two of paint, the sheet i cut my base from was already coated so that has saved me that job.
You need a layer of paint to protect the bare metal from the weather, the seat cover will not do this 100% and soon you`ll have a very rusty seat pan!

[tbone]

Next you fit the edging strip, this is to protect the cover from tearing on the sharp edge of the pan.
Those of you who read some of my other drivel informative posts, may remember i have mentioned edging strip before, and this is what i`ll be using here too.
There are a number of ways to make your own edging strip, including sliced fuel pipe, pipe insulation and even duck tape, anything that will cover the edge will do. 

[tbone]

And what you want to achieve is a nice rounded edge not a horrid sharp one.

[tbone]

So now i have summat that looks like this.........starting to resemble a seat 

[tbone]

Time to start thinking about some padding.
The picture shows the original seat foam, and i`ll be re-using this.
When it comes to the foam there are are a few things to consider......
Firstly, do not use `standard` furniture foam. The stuff you find in your sofa, couch or comfy armchair is not suitable for your average motorbike/trike seat. Its too soft and will compress too much as well as hold a lot of water.
What you want is closed cell moulded polyurethane foam. This stuff resembles oasis, the stuff they stick plants into at your local flower arranging class. Its firm, in fact it comes in 3 different densities, and will not absorb water, although it is not water proof!
So where do you get this magic product? Erm, dunno.....although it is used in those camping mats that you can buy for about a fiver 
Some companies use it as packing material too, if your after thick bits.

[tbone]

While on the subject of thickness, you`ll notice the pad on my seat is fairly thick. This is not necessary from a comfort point of view as there is little difference between a 2" thick piece and a piece of 1", due to the fact it does not compress easily.
The reason my pad is that thick is because it suits the look of the trike, and thats all.
The other thing to consider is the angle the seat fits at, mine is fairly steep, and you look cool as hell sat back like that, unfortunatly, after a few miles, it takes its toll on the old back, cos its not the most ergonomic position to sit in.
The best position, in terms of back relief, is to be sat on a level plane, so a compromise between cool and comfy will need to be found.
In my case, i may look at applying a tapered layer of foam to bring the seat level, its suprising how you can alter the level without affecting the look of the seat overall.

[tbone]

In an effort to prove the point, have a look at these.....each is a different application but all, despite apperance, are levelish where it counts.