Fixing a Seat Pan That is Garbage

[Guest]

I have been working up the courage to get back to work on my seat pan so that I can finally mount my brand new cover (PitReplica) on it.
Its way out of my league, but I want to do it. Bear in mind that I have no metal working experience or equipment nor do I have access to a welder. All I have for this is an angle grinder, a vice, a hammer and an old air conditioner housing.

Here you see the issue, the edge of the pan is completely corroded and as a result the edge of the seat would look wavy if I put the cover on now.




My solution was to cut out a piece of the AC housing and bang the *&$# out of it until if was the correct shape to take the place of the corroded edge. This is what I came up with. I'm more then a little proud.

In this one you can see that I ground the edges sharp so that it would lie flush with the original material.

The fitment...



(Not quite long enough, I'll bridge that gap with edging)


(Pay no attention to the potty)

All thats left is to mix up a batch of epoxy or JBWeld and slather it on, then POP rivet it down.

Then there are a few other holes that I should really patch up.

[Octain]

I think it looks great. Although a welder would be ideal I think rivits will work fine.
Use auto car door edging.

I'm interested in knowing how you're gonna do the little prongs that poke into the cover to hold it in place.

[Adler]

I'm interested in knowing how you're gonna do the little prongs that poke into the cover to hold it in place.

Ah, good question!





They're designed to fasten sun screens to wood.
I'll pop rivet them to the edge. Got the idea from another member.

[JEEPRUSTY]

Nice work Adler.
You should see CT for some sponsorship.

[Octain]

Ah, good question!
They're designed to fasten sun screens to wood.
I'll pop rivet them to the edge. Got the idea from another member.

Ahh, great idea.. I was thinkin maybe the pointy end of a bottle opener.
Not sure that would work though.

[Adler]

Ahh, great idea.. I was thinkin maybe the pointy end of a bottle opener.
Not sure that would work though.

Haha, I thought of that! I'm pretty sure the metal is way too strong for that.

[Nessism]

I think your plan is fine but before you attach any metal I strongly suggest you derust all the pieces 100% before attaching anything together. No sense in riveting rusty metal together.

[Adler]

I think your plan is fine but before you attach any metal I strongly suggest you derust all the pieces 100% before attaching anything together. No sense in riveting rusty metal together.

Couldn't agree more. That white stuff on the top is "Rust Killer" its supposed to convert rust into some kind of primer, I doubted it would work but I wire brushed some of it off the edge and there was only gunk and metal under it. The orange paint is rust paint, "for metal and rusted surfaces" whatever that means.

Even so, I kind of wish I hadn't painted it so I could try out the oxalic acid I got.

The new metal I'm putting on doesn't seem to be capable of rusting. It's been next to my house since last winter. Looks galvanized to me.

EDIT: Oh, also, I put the pan in an electrolysis tub before all this but my power supply wasn't really powerful enough so I didn't feel it quite cleared up all the rust.