Early Swingarm Seat Pan Restoration Project.

[RichardL]

It seems original early seat pans are hard to come by, at least over here. About a year ago, when a pair of early and late (late being the wider comfy couch) rusty seat pans came up on eBay in a single sale, I passed on buying them at auction. After the sale I contacted the seller and made a not-great-but-OK deal for the early model. It was quite rusty and I knew it would be a project. Anyway, today I finally started the restoration by making a paper pattern for the repair areas, then cutting out 16 GA. steel sheet that I can weld in place with oxyacetylene. The rest of the pan is quite solid and just needs sandblasting. 

One of the pictures shows my sheet metal shape-cutting shear that I bought in 1978 to make furniture for discotheques. Heck, I must have used it at least twice since then.


Richard L.

[Greybeard]

Well done. Let's see the finished pan.

[muskrat]

G'day Richard.
I'm sure it will give you a lot of satisfaction bring it back from the dead. Two things I dislike working with. Sheetmetal and rust.
Cheers

[RichardL]

Profess in little bites.

[kiwipom]

Profess in little bites.

You probably mean progress, well done, cheers

[RichardL]

Yes, i think I just confessed a few minutes ago to terrible thumb typing. I profess to confess, now rhat's progress.

Richard L.

[RichardL]

It would be very dishonest to not show my hideous tack welds before grinding, so the photos are before and after rough grinding. Not done, of course.

Richard L.

[Greybeard]

Nice tidy workshop. Rather like my own.

[BigJim]

Indeed. Plenty of room. to put tools down on that bench and then struggle to find them. Just like mine aswell. Well done Richard with the seat, way beyond anything i can do.
 

[jachenbach]

That is looking good. I'm really impressed with the nose piece. How did you form that?

[RichardL]

Jachenbach,

Talk about a slow reply! it's been long enough now that I have to reconstruct my memory of how I did it. I believe I wedged the blank between my vice jaws and a body dolly and worked my way around with a body hammer.

Richard L.

[RichardL]

Well, I think I'm done welding and grinding as much as I care to. It's all oxyacetylene welded, and I believe I've made it clear (in confession and works) that I'm a terrible welder. It's structurally sound, so what's a few pinholes? It is, after all, a seat pan where everything will be concealed. Nevertheless, it will get sand blasted and I might throw a bondo skimcoat on it to make myself feel good. I think it's going to look good when done and represent the "1955" on the title much better.

Richard L.

[RichardL]

I just said I was done welding, but I've decided otherwise. I don't like the looks of the vertcal seams midway back along the sides. Those have to be quite good for structural integrity. Also, I predicted one of you would be telling me the same thing and wanted to get in front of it.

Richard L.

[coater87]

 Richard,

 That looks good, and as you say as long as its strong its fine.

 Instead of a coat of bondo, that would be a great place to practice body solder if its a skill you ever wanted to try.

 It actually becomes part of the seat pan, and will be much stronger than bondo.

 And if the leading does not go as planned, nothing lost.

 

 Lee

[duTch]

 Looking good Richard, kudos for the effort....The seat pan of my Gutzzi completely rusted away under me, so I had to remake it bestI could using stainless sheet...worked out ok, but challenging...then I did it again using a bit cut from my old van rear door, but that's not so flash and still a work in progress..

 Oxy is good for many things, but these days, gasless MIG's are fairly cheap(and cheap), but still well worth the investment, and much better for sheet work