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Thread: Advice on making a seat pan for 82 185S

  1. #1
    JGW3 is offline New to the board Arm chair racerNew to the board
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    Sep 2012
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    Cordova, TN
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    Advice on making a seat pan for 82 185S

    I am having one hek of a time finding a seat pan for this bike and the one I have looks like its been on the bottom of the ocean. So I have been kicking around the idea of making one from fiber glass. I am pretty sure that I have the whole concept down as far as actually making the fiberglass pan. My question is more on the end of how to cover it once I am done. This pan is different then all the others it seems. The way the metal sweeps over the top of the raised portion of the fender makes me wonder how I am going to attach my material and get it to look right in the end. Really excited to give this a try but really hesitant to do so until I know I have a fighting chance of making it look respectable. Anybody out there ever made one for this bike?

    I even found a link to a thread on the "other" 3 wheeler guys site and the thread stopped after the pan was made, it did not go into putting the cover on.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
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    Choctaw, OK
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    Have you tried ATC Heaven? they are in Australia but they are members here I believe and at 3WO. I know several guys who have bought from them. Shipping takes about two weeks and the prices are fair. According to their web site, there is one available.

    Part Number SP-9518-81
    $66.40 USD
    $64.00 AUS
    1 Available

    http://www.atcheaven.com/Seats.php?p...talRows_Sea=36

    These guys are A-OK to deal with. Can you wait two weeks for it to arrive?

  3. #3
    JGW3 is offline New to the board Arm chair racerNew to the board
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    Hey thanks for that, that looks like the one that I would need. The two weeks isnt too big of deal if they treat me right. But it looks like I would have the same issue attaching the cover as a fiber glass pan. I think that one is made of some type of plastic isnt it? Mine is so deteriorated I cant tell how the cover was attached but doesnt this style pan use upolstrey hooks or some sort of metal barb to hold the fabric in place? I have seen some guys rivet material on but that's not what I am after.

  4. #4
    Join Date
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    I bought a plastic pan for mine I found locally a few years ago. Stapling the cover on was no issue. The plastic pan is soft enough to accept staples. The original pans were steel with barbs to hood the covers. Not a good way of doing it and thats why Honda switched over to plastic pans. Any Upholoster can install a cover with staples or if you have a crown stapler, do it yourself but a fine wire Upholostery stapler is preferred. I say get the pan while its available.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
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    MN
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    The only problem is dealing with the fiberglass pan... I helped with one of the other versions of their seatpan, its nearly impossible to get the cover to stay on the darn thing. We ended up getting some straps of steel and drilling the strap and the fiberglass and putting the cover edge inbetween and then riveting it all together, looks messy but it worked. Not sure how else it could be done.

    I think if they were going to make them out of fiberglass they should have used some plastic around the edge in the molding process to give a place to staple to. The fiberglass is smooth and slick and it was a pain, we ended up duct taping it all in place to make the pieces and drill holes and then rivet.
    ---------------------------------------------------------
    1984 Honda ATC200ES "Big Red"
    1982 ATC200E "Hondie"
    1988 TRX300FW "Project Quad" Still in progress....

  6. #6
    Join Date
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    If you haven't found a solution, I have a newly recovered 83 seat with good pan that is complete. It was recovered at an upholstery shop so its nicely done.
    R.I.P. John Swinehart
    TRIKEFEST 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19
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  7. #7
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Location
    Newcastle NSW Australia
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    HI Guys

    Thanks for giving me a sales lead on the Seat Pan. The ones I make are in fibreglass. I know it can be a pain to attach the seat cover to the pan but if you give the inside a scuff up with coarse sand paper and apply a good quality contact cement, plus back up with some large head rivets it should do the job just fine.
    I would like to be able to offer a better solution. Plastic is one option. However once you start looking at getting things custom made it gets real expensive. I sell maybe 10 of those 185 pans a year and I just don't have the funds, or can justify the cost to get them made.
    Speaking of having things made. I recently had some ATC70 exhaust systems custom made. My minimum order was 100 units. The special tooling required to stamp out the different components cost approx $3k. I've had the systems now for 6 months and sold maybe 6. Its a lot of money tied up and quite a while til I actually break even. This is the problem I face, but at the end of the day I still love doing what I do. Thanks for all your support, it means a lot to me.
    Cheers
    Ric

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
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    Manitoba Canada
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    98
    Doesn't a 200s seat fit with no modification? (they are plastic!)

  9. #9
    Howdy's Avatar
    Howdy is offline Putting Priorities in Order, Busier than ever. Catch me if you can
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    Quote Originally Posted by Thunder God View Post
    Doesn't a 200s seat fit with no modification? (they are plastic!)
    They are different seats and don't fit.
    Howdy

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