Slow progress but progress (DIY two seater tadpole trike, 9hp Honda diesel)

[cosmic_kid]

Do you have any plans for the diesel now? Hopefully it doesn't go to waste, but somehow I doubt that...

[user removed]

The diesel is sitting in the garage, potentially for another vehicle, but nothing concrete at this time.

regards
Mech

[type-S EF awd]

You might be best off in the long run getting the harley 16" wheel, then you can run this tire

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/TireSe...=1&RunFlat=All

[user removed]

I was looking at a Harley 16 inch wheel at a community yard sale last weekend. Guy had front and rear take offs from a 2011. Dunlop tires never touched the road. He was asking $100 for the wheel and tire, then another gent kind of butted in and bought both of them for $160.
The 17 inch tire I was looking at was 28.5 inches OD and would probably hit the trailing arm, requiring modification for it to work. I'll keep an eye out for the 16 inch wheel or use the hub and another VW wheel with the same tire as the front, which I already have new, but it's a 15 inch tire.

regards
Mech

[user removed]

Last tank on the truck was over 30 MPG, including towing the trike home about 46 miles.
I have the rest of the CBR parts but it's been cold so I have not done a whole lot, mostly mocking up the locations of the radiator wiring harness and the rest of the stuff it takes for a functioning vehicle.
Went to a local car show and talked with one of the exhibitors who had a 3 wheeler there. He said the seat height was no issue with the State Police inspector and he had some headlights from a bike that were small and looked great. His trike had a Hyabusa engine and the rear tire was about 12 inches in diameter. He got his trike titled as a regular motorcycle with no restrictions on where he could drive. Looks like mine will be the same.

regards
Mech

[samwichse]

Getting in and out of there looks like it'll be tough. Maybe you need to add a u-joint to the wheel so it can be folded/lifted out of the way?

[freebeard]

That's really starting to look like something. But what's the rocker arm with the ignition switch doing behind the driver's seat?

If the regulators truly don't care, can you get it licensed without any body panels, like an Ariel Atom? Or shrink wrapped with cling-film?

Were I faced with putting doors on something like that, I'd look to 40s Buick or early 50s International hoods. They had a combination latch and hinge on each side. You could open from either side, or turn both latches and lift the whole thing off completely.

Here's a drawing I did in the 60s [the bottom one]:

[user removed]

The ignition switch and top triple tree are just sitting there until I decide where to put them. I'd like to keep the harness extensions to a minimum, so far the instrument cluster, turn signals, horn, headlights, high beams will use the switches on the steering column. All of those will require splicing wire into the harness to extend the length.

Doors are gullwings, just aluminum frames right now.

Entry and egress is easy, step over the side onto the floor, grab the rear roll bar and sit down.

regards
Mech

[HydroJim]

This is my favorite thing ever. You're living the dream

[samwichse]

BTW, slightly off-topic, but this is the thread mv8 mentioned earlier but couldn't post:

diesel 3-wheeler build thread on locostusa.com
LocostUSA.com • View topic - Honda CJ360T based Kubota 1105cc diesel CVT Trike 2F1R

Definitely worth a read, looks like he was dealing with some of the same issues.