Noobie lots to learn lots of questions

[stormbird]

Hi there

I live in the Uk and have a interest in building a high mpg car.

I have always like this car and when I became interested in building a hypermiler I realised this car had several good points ?

http://www.thetrivette.com/HISTORY.HTML

Aerodynamic
Light
Take any engine
3 wheels less road drag
etc

Currently planning what to use for a engine ?

Do I buy a 3 cylinder swift/metro engine ?
If so do they all come with a ECU that can be hooked up to a scan gauge ?

Or could a Citroen 2cv 602cc engine be better as it is very light , compact and in a 2cv is capable of getting between 45 - 65 mpg as standard.

The metro engine maybe is heavier and has lots of emission stuff I don't need [ added complication ]

The 2cv is very simple and could maybe improved with better exhaust and carburation but it will be harder to get mpg figures from it.

anyway I will end my ramblings now as I have some drawings to do !

regards Paul

[Daox]

Welcome to the site stormbird. I would definitly use a smaller engine. Maybe a motorcycle engine? You could even go smaller than 600ccs. That would be plenty of power for a lightweight three wheeled vehicle.

[stormbird]

Daox

The 2cv has several good things going for it , I can use the chassis only slightly modified for about 80% of the car , it is compact and easy to work on [ simple !].

There is a manual here about building trikes and does recommend car engines over bike engines if possible :-
http://www.btinternet.com/~jhpart/books.htm

I hope to build it as a trike first and then clothe it.

Paul