82 550 LTD seat cut down?

Hi All,

So... I have superbike bars on my 82 550 LTD. My wife suggested I put bar end mirrors on them. Not completely sold on the looks yet, but I can actually see behind me now instead of my shoulder, which is what I saw with the stockers. I put some 94 vulcan shocks on the rear to drop it a bit. Now, I have it looking pretty decent I think, but I just feel like my seat (the passenger portion) is just way, way too high. My current seat is in very good condition (original) and has next to 0 rust on the pan. I paid a good amount for it too... , but I have an old rusty one that I tried to hack up a bit already, plus the cover is a POS.

Alright, on to my actual question. Has anyone took a LTD seat and just tried to make it almost all one level, flush with the driver portion, similar to a standard model? I'm not looking to go cafe, just lower. I think the pan itself doesn't have that much of a step, but it's more the foam. Then, once I do cut the foam down, where can I get something to cover it? Does a fabric store carry vinyl?

What you propose sounds perfectly doable. though as long as you are there, I'd suggest replacing that antique foam with some new closed-cell foam. You can get it at any decent upholstery shop. Use an electric carving knife and a small orbital sander to get the shape just right, then take it all back to the upholstery shop to get it recovered.

There is a recent thread of a guy building a cowl out of fiberglass that looks interesting. His is more cafe style... I'd like to remove the passenger foam completely and make a squarish cowl (similar to the standard model square duck bill thingys...my buddies 79 1000 ST has a sweet looking one) that fits right onto the seat pan where the passenger one sits. Then if the wife wants to come with (which isn't that often, we usually take the shadow if we go 2 up...just easier) I can throw my nice seat on.