Mopar Reverse Trike

[supersmitty]

Nice build. Can't wait to see this come together. May be something I attempt some day.

 

[falconvan]

You know, I really do love my son but is it just me or are today's youth unable to finish anything they start? He bugged the crap out of me to get going on this thing and wanted to help but I got about 4 hours of work out of him and now he's too busy to mess with it. This is after I dig all the stuff out of the boxes, buy several parts, and make a day's trip to the boneyard to get a bunch of little stuff we were missing for the motor. And of course its spread all over my workbench so if I want space back, I have to put the motor together and get it out of the way. Oh well, when I was 24 I was kind of flighty too, I guess. Anyway, here the short block is together and the head tore down so I can get it resurfaced. Having a clean painted motor on the stand isn't all bad, maybe I'll start on a chassis once this is done.

 

[supersmitty]

Motor looks good! What car is that in the background?

 

[falconvan]

Thanks, car in the background is 49 Plymouth.

 

[Neverdone]

I got a R6 motor on the floor of my shop I was thinking of doing something like this with.

 

[RPM]

Hmm got me thinking 500 Caddy from an Eldorado is front wheel drive.

 

[Skip]

Hmm got me thinking 500 Caddy from an Eldorado is front wheel drive.

I like the way you think.

 

[animal]

Eldorado front ends are the same as Toronado. They're heavy, but the tranny can take up to nearly 500 hp. They work great on conventional trikes....not sure about having all that weight up front on a reverse trike

 

[animal]

Side view

 

[falconvan]

I decided that with all the small parts I'm going to need and Missouri's law of documenting all the parts origins on a specially constructed vehicle; what I needed was a parts car with a clear title. I found this 1985 Omni for $175; clear title, and believe it or not the motor runs pretty good after just a battery and some fresh gas. Got it from a local car club member; it was his son's car in high school. His son died in 1994 and the car sat under a tree ever since. Actually less than 100,000 miles on it too.

 

[falconvan]

Got it in the garage today after evicting numerous wasp nests and stripped a few parts off. Still tossing several ideas around; I'm going to strip it down to the bare body and drive train and then start figuring how to build a tube sub frame for the motor trans that will make the body wide enough for tandem seating. Lots of thinking to do......

 

[Flipper_1938]

That thing is a NSRA-legal street rod as is....

 

[falconvan]

Yep, I could just drop in a hemi and call it done!

 

[the reverend muddy grimes]

I agree that the motor NEEDS to be behind you. Then you could use the rear of the can tor a unique tail light set up at least. The slingshots are an affront to biking, and what you are proposing with the motor up front is just so weird looking.

 

[falconvan]

I don't like the Slingshot, either. But to me the reason is that having a three wheeled car with the passenger sitting by the driver makes it look too disproportionately wide with the single wheel in the back. That's why I'm planning to build a narrower body with the passenger sitting behind the driver. Hopefully it'll work the way I'm thinking. If not, I gave it my best shot.

 

[soltz]

OK I'm dumb

A slingshot is what we called a dragster, digger way back, i'm guessing thats not what your talking about [S

falconvan build it your way, i won't to see how it turns out and handles. The rear single wheel just follows you around so put a really big one, as in wide, back there [S

 

[Bamamav]

Only problem I see will be the steering. On the factory trikes, you have handlebars and a small movement of them changes direction. How will putting handlebars on a rack and pinion designed for a steering wheel work out? Or all you going to use a steering wheel?

I think I like the idea of the engine in back better.

 

[Neto]

I'll be one who goes against the flow here, and say I like the design you're talking about, as long as the seats are in a row, like you say, and as long as the body (up front) stays between the wheels (any front fenders should be motorcycle style).
I've never been a biker, so I don't have experience with it, but from what I've read, the reverse trike is more stable than the standard design, unless you have the whole thing designed to lean like a motorcycle.

 

[Skip]

Isn't the normal reverse trike still rear wheel drive? I've only seen couple of them, and they do look strange because we expect them to be the other way.

That said, I stumbled onto a website a couple years ago with a bunch of cars converted in various configurations similar to what falconvan is proposing. It didn't get into details, just pics mostly. I was goggling trikes.

 

[falconvan]

Maybe the word "trike" is misleading. I'm thinking something you sit in like a regular car rather than something you sit on like a motorcycle. Agreed on the wider rear wheel.