Tweaker's Rehab

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Seat Base Rear Mount

The mounting tabs required an in-vice hammer adjustment to match the seat angle.

01_rearMountPieces.jpg


02_tabBent.jpg


03_clampedReady4Tack.jpg
 
Fender Skirts

I've been waiting to sink my teeth into these forever. Finally getting the chance. Started by refining the template.

01_templateRefine01.jpg


02_templateRefine02.jpg


Traced the template onto 20 ga sheet and cut the pieces out with a cutoff wheel and refined the shape with a flap disc.
03_templateTrace.jpg


04_skirtsCut.jpg


The time messing with the template seemed to really pay off when forming the sides to the top. They bent and fit in place pretty painlessly. Forming the shape around the tail light opening was definitely harder to get what I wanted but I'm happy with the way they turned out.
05_formed01.jpg


06_formed02.jpg


07_formed03.jpg


08_sideBySide.jpg


Next I rolled the edges along the wheel openings. Top is after, bottom before edge roll.
09_edgeRoll01.jpg


For nearly all of the roll I used mostly the circular base of a vise clamped into a work table to hammer against.
10_edgeRoll02.jpg
 
Seat Pan

New template, more 20 ga sheet, some cutoff wheel and flap disc work and, a bit of bending.

01_template.jpg


02_templateTrace.jpg


03_seatPanCut.jpg


04_seatPanShaped.jpg


Seat Profile

I needed to determine a better approximation of the seat profile so I could build up the seat pan. I'll be using 3/4" neoprene for the seat cushion. Using the seat profile template I made earlier as a reference, I cut a 1" wide strip and messed with it till I had something I liked. I then made a template to fill the space below the neoprene strip.

05_seatProfile02.jpg


06_seatProfile.jpg


07_templateFromProfile.jpg
 
Seat Pan Continued

The bottom of the seat pan is really easy to bend out of shape. I'm pretty sure if I had a bead roller a nice bead along the center would add some much needed rigidity without adding weight. Thought I could be clever and try to get similar results with some doctored vice grips. Was worth a try but... didn't work out. Ultimately I ended up adding some 3/8" solid rod for strength at the front and rear of the pan.

01_beadAttempt.jpg


Additional pieces to finish it off.
02_panPiecesParts.jpg


Pan inprocess.
03_panInprocess.jpg


One last template and top piece.
04_topTemplate.jpg


05_panComplete.jpg


06_overviewDriveSide.jpg
 
The hump on the seat looks odd to me. Is the idea for function, a perch for your posterior? Visually, it feels like it should be uniform thickness from one end to the other.
 
WOW again! So much to take in when I was 1.5 pages behind on your build. Hard to believe how much work and coolness you have squeezed into just 3 pages. Another masterpiece!
 
The hump on the seat looks odd to me. Is the idea for function, a perch for your posterior? Visually, it feels like it should be uniform thickness from one end to the other.

Thanks for your thoughts, much appreciated.

Ah that hump! Actually, I kind of like the oddness of it... or maybe the idea of the oddness. In the same sense that my first pass at the wheel openings pretty much followed the radius of the tire and looked good but, I chose to push the opening forward. Trying to avoid blindly accepting my instinctual first choices with this build in the hopes of creating something more interesting. A fine line ripe for disaster... not that my instinctual first choices are that good!

But back to the hump... basically it keeps you from sliding forward on the seat. That's the purpose anyway. The design came from those funky king/queen seats from the late sixties or early seventies. I do want to try to retain some of that funkyness. I think I've come to the conclusion that it might be that the proportions are off and the seat area is just too big? I tried a digital seat thinning. Still haven't made any final decisions yet though.

01_preDigitalReshape.jpg


02_postDigitalReshape.jpg
 
I also like the Before digital trimming pic better too. The seat section flows just fine with the build. Just the right amount of ODDNESS
 

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