| Author | Message | ||
     Easy_rider |
I'm trying to get holes drilled on my tail piece and seat pan for a "Gowindward" mod before sending them off for paint/recover. The seat had quite a bit of play in it and I wasn't sure where to line the seat up. Helpful input from Loren got me to putting the tail piece, tank, tank cover, and seat on the frame. The front right mounting area of the tail piece is about 1/4" above the mounting tab! Right now it can rock back and forth on the frame like a chair with one leg shorter than the rest. My first thought was that the bike had been laid down and the frame was tweaked. The piece I've stripped for paint wasn't what came with the bike, so I grabbed the original and it fits just fine. The surprising thing is that this tail piece looked better than the original, and stripped/cleaned up better than any of the other pieces. This did come from Arizona (Thanks for the line on these 4dwuds!). Could it have heated up in storage and deformed? Not matter how it happened, Can I heat the piece up and form it into place? Is there something else to soften it up? I really don't want to begin to strip another tail piece at this point! | ||
| S2pengy |
I heard about saddlebag lids doing the same thing if left in the attic but never heard if it was correctable... | ||
| Gowindward |
Roger, I will take some photos tonight of my stock seat with the fiber glass pan, and how it fits on the bike. I do not think heat will let you reshape the fiberglass. | ||
| F_skinner |
Epoxy resin (and polyester too) can be bent with heat. You will need a heat source and have it mounted close to the shape you want to get it back to. Be careful not to break it because it is easy to do. | ||
| Easy_rider |
Loren, with your advice I think I've got the positioning set. The frame itself prevents the seat from moving forward, not the tailpiece. Thanks for the help! Frank, Do you think halogen shop lights will do it or do I need to go find an industrial heat gun? I picture mounting the tailpiece on the frame and pulling down the 4th screw a little at a time as the fiberglass softens up. | ||
| Easy_rider |
Just talked to the body shop to let them know why I hadn't dropped off the last piece. It sounds like even setting it out in the sun will soften it up a bit, though a heat gun is an option. I'll let you know how it goes. | ||
| F_skinner |
Roger, sorry it took so long to get back to you I have been trying to figure out a carb problem. I used a heat gun that I borrowed from a shop but I actually got it too hot. In retrospect I think a hair dryer would have worked. I wonder how many of us are in are garages working on S2s at any one time?  | ||
| Easy_rider |
I stopped at Harbor Freight today. Their $20 heat gun was on sale for $10. After about 5 minutes I could turn the screw down at the high point of the tailpiece a full turn. Before a full beer I had the high spot dropped all the way down to the frame. The gun puts out 1500 watts, no more than my hair dryer. It's a slow blower that allowed the tailpiece to get hotter than I wanted to hold on to, though!. I tried to find the thermocoupler for my VOM just to get a reading but seem to have misplaced it. It didn't pop back once it cooled down so I think I'm good. It's not near as much as I hoped to accomplish today, but I'm at least moving forward. |
