Reglassing a seat--- Updated with Pics

[Sean Kisselbach]

Anyone ever done this? I have a Tillett seat. I ended up in the rumble strips during a club race over the weekend and really tore away the bottom of the seat. I don't want to spend the money on a brand new seat.

[Ted Hamilton]

Done often, with varying levels of success. You can buy patch kits from some of the auto parts stores and Wally world, etc., or you can order online. If you can find a hobby shop that has bidirectional cloth instead of random unwoven, that's wht I'd use... I'd also use epoxy instead of resin, but to each their own.... Make sure you make the patch quite a bit larger than the area you wore through, and I'd rough up the surrounding area with sandpaper and then clean it all with alcohol and tack cloth prior to fixing...
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[Oscar Aguilera]

depending on how cheap you want to be....we used to put a number plate in the bottom of the seat...some would rivot it...i would duct tape it.

that was back in the day

[Chris Hurst]

[Sean Kisselbach]

Ok this is isn't unheard of. Thank you for the help. I will sand it but im going to wear a long sleeve shirt and gloves. As for the number plate, that sounds like a great quick fix but im sure my track wouldn't allow that to pass tech. I don't have to be too cheap but don't want to spend hundreds on a new seat. I might try to find someone local who has done this before. I know we drive hard and get things dirty but i like to have my stuff looking good. A clean kart is a happy kart, A happy kart is a fast kart.

[Tim Doll]

A couple notes about working with fiberglass resin.

First, it stinks - really, really stinks. Garage (with the door to the house closed) is OK, outside if the weather permits is even better (this part is really important if you're married ).

Second, it tends to get everywhere and it's hard to clean up (use acetone) so use some sort of drop cloth. Very skin unfriendly and the acetone to clean it off isn't much better - use gloves.

Third - cure time is very temperature sensitive. Ideally you want the temp cool when you're working it (to slow the cure), then warm to set up.

Tim
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[paul rees]

Surf Board Shops carry a product call Solar Patch . When exposed to sun light it goes off and hardens . Could be used in a quick fix app.

[Chris Livengood]

Clean the surfaces thoroughly with a DA type or similar sander (nothing too aggressive). Remove all loose edges and cracks. Cut fiberglass cloth (mat is the unwoven material) to fit the shape of the bottom of the seat (a good utility knife and a piece of ply-wood works great). You may want to to do two layers. Mix up resin and hardener. The cheap stuff is alway polyester resin. Epoxy resins are more expensive, but lighter for the same strength. Follow directions for mixing instructions. Rubber gloves are great, also those super cheap Harbor Freight metal handled paint brushes are great for stirring and spreading of the resin. Apply a coating of resin on to seat. Lay cloth in resin, then use additional resin to fully impregnate the the cloth. Repeat these steps for second layer if desired.

Take your time and get all materials and items full prepared before mixing resin, otherwise your results will vary. Proper ventilation for all activities is a must.

Pro-tip, apply the glass to the inside of the seat. This will raise the bottom of your seat incrementally, as you will probably have to repair it once or twice more, until it no longer wears out every weekend.
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[Walt Gifford]

How bad is the seat? Is it just scraped up, has it broken through in places, is there a big rip across it or has the whole bottom broke off for the most part?

Some repairs are easy to do, some repairs require scarf joints, multiple layers, proper strand orientation ect. Even then you're gluing something onto the lay up, it's not part of the lay up anymore. If you hit a rock it could penatrate or the bottom breaks out at speed you could be in a situation.


Gif
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[Sean Kisselbach]

Im going to give this a shot in a few days when i have the time to get out in the garage. The seat isn't cracked or broken through at any point but is very thin on the bottom. I went off track for a split second and basically grinded the rumble strips. Within 5 seconds i thought my backside was on fire and i assumed i broke all the way through. i continued to race on and it felt ok (i was in the middle of a heat race for a club event). The damage took the bottom of the seat down to about 1 layer of fiberglass and to a chunk of my brake rotor. I duct taped it for what it was worth and finished my race day without any further problems. I will post a few pictures of the damage later on today.

[Sean Kisselbach]

I just posted the pictures now to make this faster. Im not worried about the brake rotor but i thought i would post a pic anyway. This all happened at once.

[Brian Mead]

Run that bad boy as is. As Oscar said, push comes to shove duct tape a number panel on the bottom and sit on it.

[Sean Kisselbach]

[Mike Goebel]

[Sean Kisselbach]

[quote="Mike Goebel"]