1981 GS450E Rebuild

Maybe a bigger hammer would have helped you out a bit......

nice work so far

hope you get it in there.....

Nice work. Looks great.

[pete]

My house mate came through with the goods once again, a set of 5 hacksaw blades waiting on the workbench when I got home this avo

So I finished the cutting in no time at all, amazing what a difference a new blade makes...



Then bent all the sides up but left the front mounting brackets flat for the moment:



However, that ain't going in... I thought I'd be able to put it on an angle or pivot it in or something but no way does she fit



So I cut it in half:



Still couldn't quite get it in even like that, but it looks now like I'm going to have to do without the front mounts to be able to get it in without taking the tail piece off.

So I think I'll trim the length of the mounts down rather than cutting them off completely and bend that small bit at the front up so it forms a tray on all sides.

I intend to put some rubber in there for some cushioning so I can use that to hold the two sides together as well as relying on the bolts at the rear. I'll just use the same contact glue I used for the seat foam and it should do the trick nicely there.

[pete]

Does the word "Jigsaw" mean anything to you. One of the most hand tools to have around for both wood and metal.

Paul

Haha yeah it does indeed mean something... far too noisy for 9pm at night unfortunately

There've been a lot of things I've done that would have taken many less hours had I been working on them in the daytime with power tools... alas I'm back to nights again so hand tools only except for drilling as the power drill is thankfully quite quiet...

But thanks for thinking of me again Paul

Pete thats going to be fun. I cannot imagine how you have worked out the size of the material to fit in there. Thank god mine is plastic, then again maybe not, the hinged flap to my box is already cracked and I had to do some heat welding to get it to swing again. I should have taken a pic.

Cheers Greg, fun's one word for it... actually yeah it is the word for it. I've loved doing these bits and pieces along the way, although the tail piece became somewhat of a nightmare with the body filler over the fibre glass...

The measurements are partially guesses as I can get the tape measure in there to do them, but you can't line your eye up properly to work it out. I could take the tail piece off and measure it more accurately, but I'm far too lazy for that...

And yes, you should've taken a pic

[ged]

Pete thats going to be fun. I cannot imagine how you have worked out the size of the material to fit in there. Thank god mine is plastic, then again maybe not, the hinged flap to my box is already cracked and I had to do some heat welding to get it to swing again. I should have taken a pic.

Started into the cutting tonight so I can get it down close enough to work out what I need to do about where it will go over or around the tail light bracket, but between a blunt hacksaw blade (in fact a tool drawer full of them) and sweating like a pig I didn't get as far as I'd have liked to. I really wanted to finish cutting tonight... might have to con the house mate into picking up some new blades tomorrow I think...

Does the word "Jigsaw" mean anything to you. One of the most hand tools to have around for both wood and metal.

Paul

[pete]

Started into the cutting tonight so I can get it down close enough to work out what I need to do about where it will go over or around the tail light bracket, but between a blunt hacksaw blade (in fact a tool drawer full of them) and sweating like a pig I didn't get as far as I'd have liked to. I really wanted to finish cutting tonight... might have to con the house mate into picking up some new blades tomorrow I think...

[pete]

3M Weatherstrip adhesive, glues just about anything to anything else.

Daniel

Checked the JB Weld packet tonight and it says aluminium also

However, thinking about it some more, I don't want to permanently attach it to the tail piece at all, I just want it held in by the four bolts so it can be removed separately, otherwise I'll never be able to get the tail piece off again if I need to...

I'll just stick to folded up sides and rear to stop things falling out, but I think whatever I put in there I'll put in a bag or something anyway as it probably won't be 100% protected from water either given the seat doesn't seal 100% against the tail piece.

So I pretty much finished the design tonight although I'm undecided how I'm going to mold/bend/fold it over the front of the tail light bracket:



And except for that undecided bit, I've got it all mapped out on a sheet of aluminium ready to start cutting:



What'd be real neat is if I could find a way to hook up a rubber strap across the opening to stop stuff coming forwards as well... I do still have the rubber strap from the stock tool kit holder...

Cheers Daniel, I was thinking about folding some sides up like that but hadn't thought about the rear or glueing... but yes definitely a good idea there!

Not sure I've got anything that will glue aluminium to the galvanised steel rods and steel mesh that formed the tail piece under the fibreglass but I'll have a look. I wonder if JB Weld would do that? Will have to check the tubes...

3M Weatherstrip adhesive, glues just about anything to anything else.

Daniel

[pete]

Havy you thought about using wire mesh again and doing some more fibrglassing. Just a thought.

Paul

Noooooo!

Sorry, instant reaction there... hahaha

Fibreglassing is something I don't want to do too much of again... effective and handy but very sticky and messy... although it could perhaps form to the weird shapes in there a little easier...

I think I'll stick with the alu. and resort to fibreglass if the need arises... thanks for the suggestion Paul

Havy you thought about using wire mesh again and doing some more fibrglassing. Just a thought.

Paul

[pete]

While you are at it, might as well extend the "ears" on the sides and rear so as to have enough material to fold up
and glue to the sides and rear for more strength and to assist in keeping smaller parts that you will eventually transport in there from falling out.

Daniel

Cheers Daniel, I was thinking about folding some sides up like that but hadn't thought about the rear or glueing... but yes definitely a good idea there!

Not sure I've got anything that will glue aluminium to the galvanised steel rods and steel mesh that formed the tail piece under the fibreglass but I'll have a look. I wonder if JB Weld would do that? Will have to check the tubes...

While you are at it, might as well extend the "ears" on the sides and rear so as to have enough material to fold up
and glue to the sides and rear for more strength and to assist in keeping smaller parts that you will eventually transport in there from falling out.

Daniel

[pete]

Well I'm sick and tired of having to drag my tank bag everywhere just so I get to take some tools with me... so I'm gonna do something about it.

There's room in the tail piece to fit a tool kit, but the bottom is hollow so it's not exactly an ideal location and anything I put in there will just slip out either side of the tail light bracket never to be seen again...



So, the obvious answer is to get my sheet of 1mm aluminium and cut out a base to put in there. Should be reasonably simple if not a bit fiddly because of the odd shapes that are in there and the tail light and indicator wiring.

Drew up a plan on the whiteboard:



Now I just need to get it drawn on the alu. and cut out... not sure if I'll be finished in time for the run on Sunday but it should be started at least.

I'll simply bolt it down with the tail light bracket bolts and the two bolts that hold the rear guard into the frame, should be plenty sturdy enough for what I need.

While I'm at it I really should cut out another bit to neaten the exposed front of the tail piece that you can see with the seat on... another eye sore that's annoying me...

[pete]

Just ironing out the bugs, eh Pete?

Mate, you should see the weather we've turned on down here for Simon.

Oh, was that insensitive?
hehehe

Yeah yeah you and your bloody weather and the bloody Island

Yes I'm jealous ok? Haha

I hope you're taking lots of pic's!

Simon, steal the nice sunny weather for the trip back will ya? We want it up here for next weekend