A65 seat

[Tjwood]

Hi. I'm building a 1970 A65 Thunderbolt from a rather incomplete set of parts. I had great difficulty finding a 'pre-owned' seat for the bike. I managed to find one on a well-known auction site but now I'm wondering what I've bought. The seat has the correct A65 hump back, as does the seat pan. The underside of the seat pan has two 5/16 inch studs fixed to large metal plates that are welded into place. When I engage the front 'hook' of the seat into its frame lug, those studs don't seem to line up with anything. Also the seat doesn't fit around the top loop of the frame but sits on top of it. That gives the seat/frame combination as the gap between the seat an frame is very narrow at the front and gets progressively wider towards the rear.
Am I missing some brackets or fixtures and/or rubber buffers.
Is this the correct seat for my bike please? If not, what the heck have I bought !!
Thanks
Regards
Tony

[cornishbob]

heres a pic of a 66-70 seat base

i dont know but doesnt it bolt up through tabs welded on the frame?

[Ian C]

Please find some pictures of my 1970 A65 Firebird seat base with added dimensions.  A humped seat was fitted to the Bantam Sports, C15 SS80 aka Sportsman, Starfire etc, so could the seat you have be off one of those models?

[cornishbob]

fekked and draganfly are listing the humpy one as oem for all a65 modals for 1970 part number 68-9330

[Tjwood]

Thanks Ian and Bob. I thought I'd done the right thing by going for an original seat but now I suspect that I have a Starfire or Bantam seat pan. I never knew that the humped seats were ever fitted to either of those models - who says that 'ignorance is bliss' :-)
Oh well it looks like I'll need to get a repro one, probably from Feked as Draganfly is out of stock.
Thanks again
Regards
Tony

[ChrisG]

The giveaway is 'TJ Wassell' label. Anything supplied by them is suspect. The original company back in the seventies was bad enough for ill fitting and poor quality, but the latest incarnation is living up to that reputation.

As I'm sure you will have specified that it was for a 1970 BSA Thunderbolt when you ordered it so therefore return it to the original supplier for a full refund.

Too many of us tend to 'put up with' poor quality and make it fit. Well, if we all chucked it straight back to the supplier, they would soon sort it out.

[ferretjuggler]

I'm in the same situation but substitute '69 Lightning for your '70 Thunderbolt.
I've bought a second hand original seat cheap, I think it's the right one, but it needs some fettling.
Maybe a new foam and cover.
Probably going to work out just as expensive as a repro one

[Tjwood]

I'm in the same situation but substitute '69 Lightning for your '70 Thunderbolt.
I've bought a second hand original seat cheap, I think it's the right one, but it needs some fettling.
Maybe a new foam and cover.
Probably going to work out just as expensive as a repro one

Hi. My plan was to send the seat base to R K Leighton to have it restored (blasted, painted, new foam, new cover and new metal trims). That was going to cost a hefty £300 plus extra for any metalwork repairs to the base. I think I might just go for the repro option.

[cornishbob]

did you get it off fleabay? base painted  CREAMY COLOUR?

[Tjwood]

did you get it off fleabay? base painted  CREAMY COLOUR?

No - I saw that one but it looked like there were a few problems with the base - cracks in the metal and captive nuts/ threaded sleeves damaged. My seat did come from eBay but it was intact and the base was in good condition (but rusty).The hunt goes on! :-)

[ferretjuggler]

I'm in the same situation but substitute '69 Lightning for your '70 Thunderbolt.
I've bought a second hand original seat cheap, I think it's the right one, but it needs some fettling.
Maybe a new foam and cover.
Probably going to work out just as expensive as a repro one

Hi. My plan was to send the seat base to R K Leighton to have it restored (blasted, painted, new foam, new cover and new metal trims). That was going to cost a hefty £300 plus extra for any metalwork repairs to the base. I think I might just go for the repro option.

I thought that Leighton actually sold complete seats for popular British models ?
Mind you,  the last time I had to deal with them their address was "Gunsmith  House" or something like.

[Tjwood]

I'm in the same situation but substitute '69 Lightning for your '70 Thunderbolt.
I've bought a second hand original seat cheap, I think it's the right one, but it needs some fettling.
Maybe a new foam and cover.
Probably going to work out just as expensive as a repro one

Hi. My plan was to send the seat base to R K Leighton to have it restored (blasted, painted, new foam, new cover and new metal trims). That was going to cost a hefty £300 plus extra for any metalwork repairs to the base. I think I might just go for the repro option.

I thought that Leighton actually sold complete seats for popular British models ?
Mind you,  the last time I had to deal with them their address was "Gunsmith  House" or something like.

Hi. Yes, Leighton do sell complete seats but he doesn't have any A65 seat pans and can't get any more as P&P Seating have shut down so now it's a case of him only doing A65 seats if you can provide a usable seat pan.

[ferretjuggler]

Without looking,  I can't remember exactly how the A65 humped seat pan was made, but probably spot welded together from pressings made on a small mechanical press.
Well I doubt if P&P Seatings tooling has been destroyed or weighed in as scrap.
Just a case of waiting to see where it pops up next I suppose.
From memory,  it's not a very complicated thing to replicate, I'd think that any reasonably competent sheet metal worker would be capable of producing an acceptable substitute,  using slightly different methods