Cut, Grind, (fix wire), cut, shape, bolt and smile...

My Father-in-law came around today, who is a champ at all things cutting, welding, beating, painting, etc, which doesn't surprise me after the thousands of hours he has put in to restoring his FJ Sedan and FJ Ute (from literally rusty shells). When he's around I have more confidence to attack things 'head on', so after some discussions, planning and looking at photos of what some other people have done, we:

1) Cut off the metal bar that the original seat rested on
2) Cut off the excess plastic section at the back of the battery box
3) Ground down the remaining welds that held the metal bar on (then fixed the one wire I cut half way through, lol)
4) Got some light sheet metal and made a 'skin' for the top of battery box to protect the electronics from any wayward water that might get in while riding - shaped it to have a lip at the back, then bolted it in using the existing holes that the original battery support mounted to.

 

After cutting  

  

Excess Parts

 

After Grinding

 

The 'skin' (won't be seen in the end, so I won't paint it)

The plan is to now get some heavy sheet metal and make the top cover that will run from under the tank, along the top of the (now flush) frame, right down to near the rear fender - where it will then fold down so that it can be bolted to the existing bolt holes (where the rear fender was attached to) and bolt in. It will be mounted at the front by the same bolt holding the front of the seat down.

There will be two bolts coming from the bottom, up that the seat springs will mount to. We will most likely strengthen the metal by folding it into a triangular shape at the back. Height at the back of the seat will be controlled by the having two lengthy bolts, with sheaths and washers over them, so depending on the length of the sheath, the springs will be raised/lowered. But of course, I need to wait for the rear fender to arrive before I can do any of this, given I don't yet know it's exact dimensions.

I think the existing bracket at the front of the seat sits too high - I have some plans to lower it, which will also raise the back of the seat a bit, which will also help me not slide off the back while riding :)

We also made some plans for the passenger attachment - using the original struts that held the rear fender on, and a section of the rear fender, these will the have a seat on top (and handle) that can simply bolt on over the top of the bobber fender, tail light etc, so that it's just a 5 minute job to attach it.
Again, I need to know the size of the rear fender that's coming, to make sure this attachment clears it safely. If it doesn't, rather than using a section of the original rear fender to join the two original struts, I'll use some steel rods or sheet metal to fold up and over the height required, and then make a handle at the back.

I'll try to draw all this up to show what I'm trying to say! :)

-Hayds