R6 rebirth - Seat cap progress

Left off at the seat cap, so let’s get right to it.

After getting the body work finished up on the tank and fairings, it was time to start making some headway on the seat cap. 

The foam piece had a large indent from a seat strap and needed to be filled before fiberglassing.  

Originally I planned on just filling it with fiberglass, but as you can see it was pretty deep, so I opted to go another route.

Picked up some Great Stuff spray foam and filled up the recessed area.

Once it had time to expand and dry there was a lot of extra that needed to be cut away and smoothed out. 

After some trimming. 

After some sanding. 

Messy work, but it smoothed out really nicely and completely filled the gap.

Now that the foam was all the same height it was time to get it secured to the plastic shell. First I laid some resin onto the plastic.

Then did the same on the bottom side of the foam and taped it in place for it to dry. 

After it had some time to dry I removed the taped and threw it on the bike for a quick mockup. 

Now that the foam was mated to the core, it was time to start laying some fiberglass. 

The first layer just went over the top and sides to seal in the foam.  

The next layers would start to wrap the edges around to the underside. 

After some sanding, it was ready for another layer of glass.

I prepped a sheet to size then loaded it up with resin.

More messy work. 

As you can see, this layer wrapped around to the underside as I previously mentioned.

Next up was more sanding, then quick mockup to check fit.

Each layer started to get cleaner and cleaner as they went on, looking like glass.

Between each layer was more sanding, my favorite part, just kidding..

After repeating the process, again.

Starting to look like a seat cap. 

Underside getting the same treatment.  

After layer upon layer, sanding and more sanding, the cap was really starting to take shape.

Now that the fiberglass work was nearing completion, it was time to start working on the foam piece that would attach to the front.

Used some temporary hardware to gauge what would need to be done before it could start being assembled.

The foam would need to be secured to the metal mounting plate before we could go any further. 

Before the foam could be secured, some aluminum hardware needed to be welded in place to prevent spinning in place when being bolted to the fiberglass portion of the cap.

My good buddy Eli, who painted the engine bay on my Integra over a decade ago and has helped me countless times, came through once again and got the hardware welded into place for me. 

Now that the hardware was in place the foam could be secured using some contact cement. 

Laid a bit on the aluminum plate as well as the inside of the foam, then taped it in place for it to dry.

Once it had time to dry the next step was to fill the gapped area with spray foam. Great Stuff is really great stuff when it comes to filling gaps.

Taped off the fiberglass portion to avoid overspray, then sprayed enough to fill the gap all the way around.

After it had time to dry it was time to trim off the excess and start smoothing it out.

Here you see how the foam filled the gap all the way around the metal plate, which will make each side line up nicely when mated with the fiberglass portion of the cap.

Now that we had the gap filled it was time to mate to the fiberglass portion of the cap.

Couldn’t be happier with how it came out. The fit and alignment are look straight professional.

One more angle. So dang good!

Mocked up on the bike. 

One more angle. So hyped on how it’s looking!

Now that the foam piece is secured to the aluminum plate and screws, the next step will be wrapping it with the original seat fabric.

A majority of the unneeded fabric will be cut off leaving just the front portion wrapped. Still working out the last details with an upholstery shop to finish it up, but this is what it should be looking after it’s all sealed up.

 

I’ll leave you guys here with a little before and after.

From a factory seat, to a custom seat cap. Just needs paint and upholstery.

That’s all for now. More to come soon.

Thanks for reading!

- C