R100 GS seat pan

[Sibbo]

What kind of plastic is the R100GS seat pan made from ? It looks like HDPE .

I have a butchered one that came with my R80ST when I bought her ,someone has attempted to make a single seat out of a standard seat and chopped it in half .I use the would 'attempted' kindly .It's a horrible job ! But it came with a single seat cover and a bit of TLC and a welded up subframe should get me a single that might be good for camping trips as it would leave a bit more room for gear .

The reason for the question is that the R100GS seat pan will need bit of plastic welding to make thing fit ,basically a tunnel over the rear mudguard .I have a bit of black HDPE scrap in the shop but before cutting it all out it would be good to know if the pan plastic and the HDPE will be compatible to weld .

[ontic]

Gday Peter,
it was a long shot, but I just tested my 80G/S plastic seat pan to see if it was ABS plastic. Put a shaving of plastic in some ABS solvent and nothing happened. So, unlike my panniers on the 90/6, the seat pan is NOT ABS.
Whatever it is it seems totally impervious to solvent.
That may narrow it down?

[Sibbo]

Mate ! A sign of true friendship ,cutting up your G/S for me !
Thanks , mine seat pan is black ,hard and looks like the stuff 20 litre plastic oil drums are made from ,which I think is HDPE .
But looking it up ,that's the same description as ABS .Black, shiny,faint greasy feel ,flexible.

I think it could probably be welded (thermally not solvent ) to HDPE.

[ontic]

Hehe, no problem mate, it was just a small shaving, and this seat aint pretty to start with
yeah, I don't know much about plastics. I only know about ABS because I had to repair my busted panniers and that is what they are made of.
So not being ABS, I would assume that you could most probably heat weld the seat pan.

Is Tilly running properly again yet?

[Sibbo]

She's better but not right .I suspect some demonic and tricky carb problem as has been suggested .She runs beautifully once she's actually going .

Enricher ? Probably but I don't really feel competent to try to sort it .Michael Schneering has a spare set of carbs to swap and try so that might be the easiest way to find out if that is the go .

[ontic]

As an experiment maybe you should try the little cold starting trick Charlie and I figured out on the winter Jindy-Talbingo run.
Squirt a tiny bit of fuel (1/4-1/2 a teaspoon maybe?) into your airbox. Onto the filter element would be ideal. Let it percolate for 5-10 seconds and then crank her over. On our clamshell alloy airboxs we were just squirting it through the joins. On mine and your (G/S, ST etc) black placci ones you would probably have to take the top partially off or squirt it through the front of those air scoop things.
We were using those little lead replacement valve saver fluid bottles to do the squirting.
This dramatically helped get our bikes started in the cold after they had been sitting for many days when bunkered down at the hut.
Charlie had a small battery and it may have been on its decline. His engine was turning over so slow on the these cold mornings that mine doing the same NEVER would have got started without at least some ether starting spray.
But, the squirt of petrol in the airbox popped them over every time with a minimum of battery use.
We were never quite sure if this was the wisest thing to do (with visions of exploding clamshells) but it certainly worked.
Not a cure to your problems, but it might just get you started. And if it does, it might point to where your carby problems lie.

[Sibbo]

I might give that a try ,hope I don't see a big flash .Maybe some StartYaBastard ?

Not having a kick start is a strange feeling ! Tilly is my first bike ever without one .I feel naked !

I've been winding it , if it doesn't bite ,wind again with 1/2 choke for a few seconds,it won't start on choke in warm weather but leave it 5 minutes then try again .For some reason this seems to work ...usually .I have suspicions as to why .

[SteveD]

She's better but not right .I suspect some demonic and tricky carb problem as has been suggested .She runs beautifully once she's actually going .

Enricher ? Probably but I don't really feel competent to try to sort it .Michael Schneering has a spare set of carbs to swap and try so that might be the easiest way to find out if that is the go .

It's not the gaskets letting too much air in is it? When they do that, the symptom is cold starting.

[Sibbo]

Thanks Steve , one more thing to check .