My XJ 550 glass cafe

hehe I grew up there so that would've been kinda funny....
The one (well 3 ...lower, center & upper) are small communities outside of the town of Windsor....

Oh well, guess I'll have to settle for pics of the finished product

 

Glass supplies are here. If I never post again, I messed up bad. I have never tried this before, but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express® last night.

Meanwhile, here's a headlight bracket being test fit.

 

Yeah, didn't really like the drilled headlight thing, and the whole affair was a lot less attractive in reality than in my head.

So I stole this design from a cafe Vincent in a book I have. A little polishing and black paint, it will look awesome.

The headlight arrived today, It looked so nice I didn't want anything in the way.
I think I'm going to get those flexible LED's and wrap one around each fork leg for front turn signals.






I have the fiberglass supplies, I need a whole day to put into the layup, and I had a whole weekend of patching, sanding, patching, sanding,




painting, sanding, painting, patching, sanding, polishing, waxing, waxing, waxing, waxing...

to get to this:





I'll mold up the bottom part first to practice.

 

Looking good ......

Been thinking of trying to glass myself a small windscreen .....

&

Is that a Ryobi bit set I see in that pic?

 

Ryobi set yes.
It's almost cheaper than buying a couple of good single bits.

Glass is pretty easy, but it requires a lot of prep.

 

Hehe, I bought that set when I started my kitchen reno a few years back, great value.... that long extension saved a lot of hassles there..

Your seat project has me thinking a few things now......
Looks great.... may try a custom seat set-up...

 

Ok, here I go with the glass.
I need a parting board all around where the top and bottom separate. I will cast the part in two pieces and glue them together to make the final hollow seat nacelle. The top of the mold will be two parts and the bottom a single.
In the design, you have to think about how the mold will come apart, and how you will cast the parts. I'll fill you in on my plans as I go along.
Here's the underside of the parting board. Held on with tape and staples.
The plug has had 7 good coats of carnauba wax, but the tape still sticks.


The top.
I have filled all around the parting board with children's modeling clay, the oily kind that doesn't dry out and never hardens. The glass will not stick to this. I made the edges all nice and clean with a sharpened popsicle stick and a box cutter. The bits around the outside don't have to be neat, just try and get it sort of smooth.


In addition to the wax, we are going to put on a layer of parting compound, mold release, PVA.. it has all these names. Get it from a fiberglass supplier. I think the pros use a product called "Partall".



The mold release will bead up at first, I find it needs to be massaged in with a rag. You don't need much.



All coated with release



It needs to completely dry. I think this might be the single hardest part.. Waiting between steps.

Mixed up white gelcoat with a bit of black pigment. The grey colour will help me tell if the white gelcoat is on thick enough in the final part molding process



Gelcoat applied. It's like thin pudding in consistency. Don't make too many bubbles when you stir it up, they make voids in the mold. I'm carrying the gelcoat out to the flange. I want a good solid flange to pry the mold apart later.


I needed to make a duplicate rubber end cap for the fork tubes. Modeling clay makes a great mold... I'll post a picture of the part later. Gelcoat dries really hard and tough, makes a great casting compound.
While it's setting up, it's just like rubber, so you can trim and rough out shapes in it and sand it smooth after it's hardened.


Gratuitous right side shot of the project. I fitted this shorty muffler, looks nice I think. I fashioned the long silver hanger from a bit of scrap.
Hydraulic hose tee clamp in stainless makes a great muffler clamp.



Old dusty. I need another CLEAN shop to keep my stuff clean.
Next weekend I'll give it a wash, and get it some fresh gas and a battery charging.

 

Looking good Gunk, I can't wait to see the end result. keep posting those photos.

 

Thanks.
I have to get some action shots of the glass going on. May have to draft my wife for that(not enough hands). Good thing she doesn't mind the smell. She says it reminds her of her childhood. Her Dad and I fixed up old cars every weekend. In those days I usually ended up covered in itchy fuzz and goo from a$$hole to appetite.

 

Hey gunk, how's the seat coming along? Any updates?

 

Tax season keeps me pretty busy...
I was hoping to get back to it this weekend.
I'll post the instant I have more, there have been some interesting developments.

 

Gunk,
I am amazed at your work. I wish I had the patience, skill, tools and work area to do what you are doing.

Pardon my ignorance, but what is a "glass cafe"?

 

Just a cafe racer made from fiberglass.
I guess it is a bit cryptic.
I have a confession, my hobby is really about trying my hand at anything and everything. I spend a lot of time with really amazing people involved in industrial research, and I learn very quickly.
Tools come with time. Best advice there is BUY GOOD TOOLS it took me about 50 years to learn that one. If you need a small compressor, buy a good small compressor. That way it will never let you down and any work you do with that machine will be a joy, and the work will be easy.
I spent about 25 years raising my kids and supporting my family, during which time I practiced patience and skill on plastic airplane models. I must have built well over 50 of those things. I guess it was good practice for building other things.
My old Dad, (my wife's father really) he hired me right out of high school when I quit going, and he taught me a few things about doing things myself. Built some houses with him. We fixed all our own cars, he had this big old Chilton book of auto repairs, and we would stay up till midnight reading about how to change a timing gear, or a camshaft, and we would start in before daylight the next day, outside in the middle of winter, tearing these hulks down and getting them back together to go to work on Monday.

And my garage is SUPER tiny. I can barely swing a cat in there. I just spent the last three nights cleaning it up because the city takes all our junk two days a year and the first day is Monday, (or Tuesday, whatever)
You know, there is no labels on any of my tool drawers, or cabinets, or the dozen plastic bins on the shelves above my bench, but I know exactly where everything is. I have little system I guess.

Thanks for the ego massage, much appreciated.

Gunk

 

Things are looking good on this project, I'm in the middle of cleaning up, repainting and rebuilding my 550 right now as well. I should probably start a thread one of these days!

Any updates? Curious to see how the seat mold came out.

 

im not muc into the cafe stle, but i gotta give it to you, this bike is turning out very nice, good job

 

Would love a update of the cafe racer if possible