easy seat cowl

So I have my rashed passenger seat when I flipped my 04 RR. I don't feel like buying a new seat so I'm converting the old seat into a seat cowl. Nothing too fancy. Here's a few pics of it so far.


rashed seat. I just removed all of the staples holding the leather in place.



I fitted a fiberglass cloth over the seat leaving about 1" or 2 of play. I tucked in the excess fabric to the under side and used thumbtacks plus a hammer to hold the fiberglass in place.


I mixed about 2 tablespoons worth of resin and applied it directly over the fabric using a Wendy's Spoon ( ). I applied a bit of pressure to the liquid resin so that it penetrates the fabric for a much stronger layer. Then I evenly spread the resin, leveling the surface with my hand. Remember, resin is nasty shit. Use breathing mask and gloves. I'll check how hard the layer is and may add either another layer of resin or another layer of fiberglass + resin. In all, took about an hour to do. Very simple. But I still have bondo, primer, and paint left, but I don't get to that till I'm ready to do the rest of the body work.

yeah nice write up - but you will probbly need a couple more layers of resin if you want it to be a strong cowl.. hope to see it the process

Thats what I am trying to do, but I built up some foam in the middle to give it that bump. Where'd you get your fabric and resin? Auto part store?

I check it today, way too soft. I'll have to add at least another layer or two. You can get the standard size (6 oz) fiberglass cloth and resin at any auto parts store, walmart and what have you. I actually have a 10oz fiberglass cloth that I bought from a boat supply store when my friend and I made a custom sub box. I also got about 5 gal. worth or resin. I was going to build the seat up with foam, but I didn't feel like it. Besides, I can get rashed seats for like 10 bucks a pop.

looks good so far.....if you alternate fg cloth and the chopped type fg it'll probably be stronger....cause the chopped mat seems to be more sturdy than the cloth.....i'll be doing somewhat the same thing on my 929, but i'm gonna use some left over cf that i have left from a car project for my top layer....

I'm not really familiar with working on cf. I heard you have to use vacuum during the curing process. And that cf is like 5-15 times more expensive then fiberglass.

Where can you get rashed sets, if you dont mind sharing ... Cause I really didnt want to used a brand new seat.

quote:

ORIGINAL: JBaz

I check it today, way too soft. I'll have to add at least another layer or two. You can get the standard size (6 oz) fiberglass cloth and resin at any auto parts store, walmart and what have you. I actually have a 10oz fiberglass cloth that I bought from a boat supply store when my friend and I made a custom sub box. I also got about 5 gal. worth or resin. I was going to build the seat up with foam, but I didn't feel like it. Besides, I can get rashed seats for like 10 bucks a pop.

yeah i was about to build a custom box for my camaro - but never had a chance to.. i have about 10 hours of video on fiberglassing..

GT - there is alot of people around town parting off there bikes.. if not, go to the salavage yard or something..

quote:

I heard you have to use vacuum during the curing process.

you dont need to use a vaccuum to take out the bubbles - pretty much just resin then start placing CF on the project - layer after layer making sure you get the bubbles out (when you soak CF with resin it will show bubbles when placed on the project)

quote:

Thats what I am trying to do, but I built up some foam in the middle to give it that bump

you can always make an indent or any shape you want the cowl to look like, all you need to do is make a skeleton (out of wood or foam but i believe the foam will aheare to the resin) - place it between the fiberglass cloth and seat itself. *staple* the cloth underneath, then go thru the resin process like normal.. after you get your ideal hardeness, pull out the staples (dont resin the cloth underneath, you want that to be cloth so you can re-staple it to the seat) take out the skeleton shell and then re-staple the cowl to the seat.. now you have your cowl with your desire look.
(you still have bondo process and painting)

but in the end - your cowl should be very strong, if you got most of the bubbles out and enough layers on. (strong would be like trying to bend it, put pressure on it)


below is an example of making a custom design cowl -
yellow lines are staples that will make the bump in the middle (if you stretched the cloth over a hump, you need to staple it down to get your desire look because we all know cloth being stretched is going to get into those groves)
the red lines are staples for simple groves that will one off the look (once again, the stretched cloth wont go into the groves unless you make it go haha)


couple more tips - If your doing CF (chopped fiberglass), you can use just any kind of fabric really.. the best will be the most absorbnent - i think they say Cotton is the best to use. just stretch it like JBaz did, resin the cloth and start putting layers of CF on.
bubbles are the enemy, if you see any of them try to remove them as soon as possible because an air pocket inside a finish product is a weak point and you be sure it will break there first then anywhere else..
also you can use a heater (or a heating light) to speed up the curing process if you like.



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I used foam to do it

thought you meant carbon fiber. Resin doesn't stick to plastic or aluminum foil (I used that technique on fiberglassing a huge hole on a faring off the RR to give it shape since the chunk that was missing was curved and oddly shaped.)

this is a great write up. why spend 100+ on a cowl when making one is cheaper and fun :) im in the process of doing one myself. Jbaz do you have any pics of it completed?

ACHOOO

quite a dusty thread u revived here

any finished pics of it though?

OK its not the resin that makes it strong what you are using is finish cloth and is meant to finish the part you need a strong 2 to 4 oz matt and about 2 layers of that will suffice...oh and if you use some plastic over the top and a bondo spreader you can get a clean nice finish that is easy to work with...

I work and make fiberglass/CF/Kevlar chit all day thats my job so if you need any help drop me a line any way looks nice so far...

quote:

ORIGINAL: MrBomb

ACHOOO

quite a dusty thread u revived here

any finished pics of it though?

 
ha yeah i know... i actually searched for it- and i saved the link... kinda forgot how old it was.

quote:

ORIGINAL: tara
ha yeah i know... i actually searched for it- and i saved the link... kinda forgot how old it was.

its ok though, i want to see a finished product anyway

I have an extra '07 rear cowl from buying a set of fairings to "fix" my bike and am real tempted to do this custom mod instead of forking over the $150 for a Honda OEM cowl.  Have worked with the fiberglass a bit while repairing fairings on my ZX6R.  Would like to see pics/instructions from anyone else picking up this dusty (but incomplete) thread.

Haha, I forgot how old this thread was.  It's dead, no finished product since I put it on a month later as is and wrecked the bike at Deals gap.  

Haha, how anti-climactic!
 
We'll see how mine goes...