Trike; take 2

I'm trying a trike build again; my first attempt fizzled and I ended up selling off all the parts. Maybe this one will get farther. This was my daily work driver for a few years and then my youngest son used it for a few years while he was finishing pharmacy school. He just graduated with a doctor of pharmacy degree so He bought himself a new car and I inherited this back. The front wheel drive and engine assembly will be the rear of the trike and I'm shooting for something similar to The Trimuter plans from RQ Riley or another one called the Tryon Viper. We'll see how it ends up.

Here is a pic I took at a rally, the guy kept the firewall and engine and made a trike. You can still see the steering column and dash. lol

That's pretty cool; I'm thinking of something along these lines without the canopy.

neat idea! I like the idea of keeping the systems intact[cl

I've been thinking about using a front wheel drive unit in the back of a trike for a long time. Now think how fantastic it would handle if it steered from the back.
Like a boat, no under steer. I will be watching this intently.
For clarity before you go any farther what is that doner car you are using?
Congrats to your son. I tried to convince a couple of mine to become pharmacists.

earthman said:

I've been thinking about using a front wheel drive unit in the back of a trike for a long time. Now think how fantastic it would handle if it steered from the back.
Like a boat, no under steer. I will be watching this intently.
For clarity before you go any farther what is that doner car you are using?
Congrats to your son. I tried to convince a couple of mine to become pharmacists.

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Some of my friends in the '60s were pharmacists. Kinda...

Thanks; we're pretty proud of him. Now he makes more money than me and his mom put together and he's only 25.

Donor car is a 2000 Honda Accord with the 2.3 Vtec engine.

Got the rest of the car cut up today and separated the save pile from the pitch pile. I also trimmed off a lot of the unibody sheet metal to expose the front suspension. I'm going to keep the factory engine cradle and build a frame around that. Next is start planning the length of the frame and how the seat spacing is going to work out.

A little more trimming.....

Are you getting any distortion of the relative position of the strut towers? (When I cut the body off of our 2nd Gen Chrysler T&C, I had to put a brace between the strut towers, because they were being forced inward. I think I had cut out about as much as you have, but maybe it did not have as much structural rigidity in that area.)

Doesn't seem to be; these Hondas have an upper control arm with the strut and it seems like it's pretty meaty in that area. What did you build out of the Chrysler?

I saved the "tub" and cut it in half to make it the width of one seat and the shifter hump. I plan on putting a small fuel tank under the front of the hump. I'm still working out dimensions but this the basic idea of what I'm shooting for. One I finalize dimensions, I'll start on a frame.

Any blood spilled cutting all that irregular sheet metal? It's gonna be cool.

lol! Not yet, Bob. But there's lots more cutting to do so it's probably coming.

This is a neat idea...tuned

falconvan said:

Doesn't seem to be; these Hondas have an upper control arm with the strut and it seems like it's pretty meaty in that area. What did you build out of the Chrysler?

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It was pretty much just a "learning experience" - I ended up scrapping it. (It was badly rotted out from the road salt up here in Ohio. I had intended to build a trailer from the back section, but it was just too far gone. After I saw your previous project, the Neon, I wished I would have saved the drive train, but I didn't have a place to keep it, nor do I have a wife who understands that sort of thing, either. My main idea didn't involve using that part of it. I had this idea of using the sheet metal to build a roadster sort of deal, narrowing the body & making the hood the deck lid. I kept the doors, fenders, and rear side panels for quite a while longer, but ended up scrapping it all except for some parts I sold, and one front fender I still have in my shop. Oh, I had held on to the top part of the rear hatch lid, too - that was going to be cut down to make the radiator shell.)

I built three trikes with FWD drivetrains in the rear. No heat in your face, no excess weight on the front wheel, superb handling and ride due to the IRS. It's the only way to go, as far as I'm concerned. I may be biased, though...

Here are some pics of the frame I built on the first trike. I used a Chevy Citation, attached the frame to the front bumper attachment points. I welded the top side tubing to the strut towers. I built the body from a fiberglass porta-potty, blazer tops, and some body panels from a Cushman mail trike.

Another take on the same drivetrain... Much less "busy", front and rear seating with a back seat for the kids instead of side-by-side buckets, frame was attached to a heavy piece of tubing welded across the frame section in front of the engine. Radiator was in the rear, ducted air available from sides and air dam underneath with a huge Nascar electric fan. Body made from an old dune buggy rear body section, Blazer tops, Kenworth and International fenders and hoods. "Fuel tank" was actually just a shell, used as an instrument panel. 14 gallon fuel tank under rear seat. I pulled a 4x8 trailer all over many states with this trike, and it handled like a sports car.

Thanks for posting; these are really cool and well done. I'm looking at something more car-like that you sit in rather than on like this but with an open canopy.