1984 Katana 7/11

[gsrick]

You can pretty much ignore the colour coding for the moment, but here's the (still messy) revised wiring draft. I think I need to edit the relay shape to get the coil driver connector away from the switched feed connector so they're a little easier on the eyes.


I might have to see if I can thin down the wire lines a bit too while still keeping the colouring obvious enough.

Looks good to me Pete, but I'm wondering why you are using to different symbols for ground. You would get a passing grade at ITT and MMI.

[pete]

Hahaha me overthink things? Never!

Cheers guys!

The different symbols for ground are for if it's grounded directly to the chassis (battery, ignitor, starter relay) or via something else such as the motor (starter motor, spark plugs, oil pressure switch).

[pete]

I managed to get the mould released from the seat yesterday.

The stickiness that persisted wasn't resin at all, it was definitely the duct tape.

Whoever suggested I use some other sort of tape was spot on, the release agent didn't seem to stand a chance against the heat reacting with the duct tape and it had stuck pretty well, so I had to get a big screw driver in to pry it off as gently as I could.

No damage to the seat thankfully and no resin had gotten under the tape, so at least it served its purpose in that regard.





Looks like the tape had come away from the seat pan in a couple of spots so I have some low spots to fill, and I've marked out the shape to trim it down also.

I'll leave extra at the rear to stick the foam to which will form the pillion part of the mould.



It looks like I won't need to build it up any higher on top as the seat pan fits into it pretty well, so I'll just fill those low spots, trim it up, and give it a sand.

I will still add a 5th layer underneath though just to ensure it has some real strength so I can reuse it.

[pete]

I started building up the low areas of the mould yesterday, gonna take a bit more work yet. I didn't realise quite how low those spots were circled in the previous photo. Gotta get that right as I'm pretty sure that's where the rubber will need to go to get the pan sitting right on the frame rail.

I may need to resort to some body filler there yet. Either that or start again which I really don't want to do...

Then I got done with stealing another fella's idea with the fuse box. I scored some 3mm brass rod a couple of weeks ago and finally got it done today.

I need two switched circuits and six always on.

Remove one side of the blade holders, drill a 3mm hole for the brass rod to pass through, trim the connector off all except two, reassemble, and solder.

Once all together and with a fuse inserted I measure 0.7ohms with my cheapo multimeter between the input and output terminals on each circuit so it looks like it's good to go.

[pete]

Started sanding the mould last night... forgot how painful that was... literally! No matter how careful you are you will inevitably slip and stick your fingers with some fibres that go through the gloves...

Anyway, the low spots are pretty bad so I think the best way to deal with that is to take another mould of that side of the seat pan, cut that section out of the already done part, and stick em together. I'll just do 2 layers of the patch and then bulk it up once it's in place.

Once that's done hopefully it's mostly there and I can look at starting to finish it up. If I can get to that point by the weekend when I can make some noise I can break out the orbital sander and that will go much quicker.

[pete]

Got the patch done last night, managed to not overload it so much with resin.

Looks like it's maintaining the shape of the edge of the seat much better.

[pete]

So I had a bit of a fail with my patch... I'm pretty sure I got the MEKP % right but maybe didn't mix it enough as after 48 hours it hadn't even looked like hardening, so I ripped it off and started again. I ran out of duct tape and after digging around in the garage came across some packing tape I didn't know I had.

The packing tape definitely worked a ton better. The duct tape not only reacted and made it a nightmare to release despite the PVA, but it also masked a lot of the shape of the pan due to being so thick.

Here's the new patch sitting on the first attempt at the mould:



You can see clearly how much better it conformed to the shape of the seat with the packing tape compared to the opposite side using duct tape.

I've decided that I'm going to scrap the first one altogether and start a new one using packing tape instead.

The main reason for this is I think I've gone about it the wrong way... I think I need to mould the whole pan especially including the seat latch area and then build the foam on top of the pillion area, rather than try to make the foam match the mould.

I can also build up the hollow areas in the front of the seat pan with cardboard to get a smoother finish which will make releasing the seat pan from the mould that much easier.



Bit of a waste of time I guess but it's been a good learning experience... now I can get it right!

[pete]

This is what I got done on Sunday... plastercene in the various hollows to get a smooth shape.



Covered up in packing tape.



And the various shapes cut out of the matting. The shape at the rear isn't important, just so long as I get the location of the seat latch that's all that matters.



Then last night I got all six layers cut out.



First three layers on, some bits still too wet but I'm using a 2% MEKP mix now so hopefully it cures nice and quick and hopefully it's all good this time.



I'll see how it looks tonight and if I can separate them from the seat.

[pete]

I got it separated successfully last night and all looks good. Just need some extra layers for strength then I can tidy it up and start adding the foam on top.


I think it's kept enough of the ridges moulded in to the stock seat pan to give it some structure too.

[pete]

Got three more layers on Sunday morning and fixed up the week spot towards the rear that I didn't overlap enough on, so it seems to all be nice and strong now.





So, yesterday I drilled the holes at the rear where the studs need to go through and did another test fit. It fits so well it's tricky to get the seat off again!





There's a little gap at the front there but once the mould is prepared properly and cleaned and tidied up that shouldn't be an issue, and I don't think it's big enough to worry about anyway. Some proper support under the mould should help as well.





The location for the seat latch looks pretty much perfect.





Marked the mould out for trimming, but I'll still be leaving some extra material around the edges there.





And trimmed pretty much to size.





Doesn't show up well in the photo but I have some little gaps to fill up the front in some of the grooves where I obviously didn't get some of the butt joined bits to seal together too well. It's an easy fix.





Now it's on to clean up and fixing those little spots, then I can start on the foam for the pillion area.


I'll probably screw some timber to the base to raise it up off the bench to use as a mould and give it a solid base.


I had to take a break from it after that as I managed like a fool to not wear gloves during the trimming down bit, so my hands were itching like buggery!


No pic's yet but I moved on to making the ignition switch housing and mounts. I was thinking a fibreglass housing and embedding steel mounts into it but it's way too small a diameter and too fiddly, so I'm going to try making it from some thin steel sheet instead.

[pete]

Again it's a bit hard to see but I filled the little gaps in the front where some of the butt joins didn't quite join properly.



Wetted down all the edges where I'd trimmed the excess off to ensure it's all nice and solid.



Next up I'll sand and tidy the rider's seat area, then look at getting the foam on the pillion area and starting to shape it.

I've had some good progress on the ignition switch and I'll show some proper photos once I've had a chance to do a bit more grinding (I've been welding).

Just sorting out the mounting brackets at the moment. This is the one that will attach to the side cover mount, and there will be another that will bolt to a P clamp on the vertical frame rail in front of it.

[CrawlingForward]

You can pretty much ignore the colour coding for the moment, but here's the (still messy) revised wiring draft. I think I need to edit the relay shape to get the coil driver connector away from the switched feed connector so they're a little easier on the eyes.


I might have to see if I can thin down the wire lines a bit too while still keeping the colouring obvious enough.

This is brilliant! What did you make this in? Indesign or a circuit specific program?

[pete]

Cheers mate, it's done in Microsoft Visio. I use it a fair amount for network diagrams at work so it's really just what I had handy.

Nothing seemed to have suitable switches etc. so I had to make a stencil with shapes in it but that does mean I can re-use them now or pass them around if anyone wants a copy.

I'm not all that artistic so anything like this is a chore for me.

[Carter Turk]

Wow Pete! That's a lot of work to get the Kat on the road.
I'm sure it'll be rewarding to go on your Kat rides to that fine looking place high on the hill overlooking the valley.
What's that place called?
Mine's a total ratbike, but it's served me well for many years, as long as I wrench on it a bit.

[pete]

Cheers mate! I'm not going for a show bike but mainly looking for neat and tidy and just a little custom... just how I like it

The place on the hill is the Pitstop Cafe, and it's on Mount Mee in Queensland here. Perfect destination for a Kat ride https://www.google.com.au/maps/place...2.762295?hl=en

There's absolutely nothing wrong with a ratbike!