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Post by henrye on Jul 28, 2014 17:50:21 GMT -5
Hello all,
I am interested in premade or donor car almost drop in steering and suspension setups. Other than the VW beam and the Mustang II setups are there any widely used donar car\buggy\prefabbed setups that arre widly used for building a reverse trike. What are our options. Thank in advance.
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Post by jim99 on Jul 28, 2014 22:05:35 GMT -5
Hi Henrye,
Take a look at the GM Metro. Complete engine, drivetrain and front end suspension in a small package.
Jim
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Post by henrye on Jul 31, 2014 2:12:10 GMT -5
Hi Henrye, Take a look at the GM Metro. Complete engine, drivetrain and front end suspension in a small package. Jim Thanks, i looked at the geo metro it has a macpherson strut. Im not to sure about strut towers on a reverse trike. I did see the mazda miata has a upper and lower control arm and what looks like a front clip that unbolts right from under the car. |
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Post by srx660 on Aug 2, 2014 16:16:34 GMT -5
Look at the mazda miata front suspension. It's the smallest IFS you will find that is car based. I still remember the mazda 323 sedan that had a 1200 cc FWD very small suspension.Yes, it is a strut design, but many people convert it to coil-over shocks as there is a top a-arm.  |
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Post by henrye on Aug 17, 2014 14:13:25 GMT -5
Looking into all the pre made options. I keep going back to the VW front end other than the weight which can be over come with modifications. It doesn't have many downsides. Its a very simple complete suspension steering combo. I also see there are few racing car classes that use the vw beam axle. Other than that I also found the locost parts to be quite usable in a trike if your not keen on trying to weld,fabricate and design your own suspension. They also have a nose cone and few body parts that could be used. www.kineticvehicles.com/parts.html |
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TomyJ
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Post by TomyJ on Sept 12, 2014 12:07:37 GMT -5
Corvair,light front end and parts can still be found, I am going to use MII because "ease" of different setups, I want coil overs for better looks, but I can not find the "total" dimensions of the setup, a-arms location. Attachments:
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Post by DaveJ98092 on Sept 12, 2014 16:38:54 GMT -5
Tomy, Go here, poke around and read. He has the complete MII DYI setups that you do not even need a crossmember. Paul Horton is a nice guy too. www.welderseries.com/blog/He explains anti-dive and all sorts of other things. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 28, 2016 18:51:26 GMT -5
Administrator, would that subframe be the right one to build a wazuma bike replica?
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Post by DaveJ98092 on Apr 28, 2016 19:22:56 GMT -5
Poor, a Wazuma Bike is in most USA states classed as a car due to 4 tires on the ground.
That said, just about any subframe can be modified to work. It just matters on how much WORK "YOU" are willing to do. Like said a MX5 Miata, Dodge Stratus, Mazda 323, Mustang II, Corvette C4, ..... Too many to list. The Dodge Stratus has twin A-arm with a strut so removing the strut and making a coil over mount is kinda easy.
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Post by noahkatz on May 7, 2016 16:15:06 GMT -5
How about Polaris Slingshot parts?
Though except for the A-arms, kind of heavy but likely lighter than car parts.
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Post by srx660 on Jun 16, 2018 20:29:30 GMT -5
Well, i went looking at some junkyard Mazda miata front suspensions. Found one that was already out of the car on the ground with brakes still on it. WOW, it is a lot heavier than i thought it would be. Even the A-arms by them selves look way heavier than i will need for a 600-700 lb trike. Now i am in a quandry on what to use as i cannot afford the prices of the custom a-arm suspensions i've seen on the net. I dont even like the weight of the VW suspension. May buy the miata front end just cause it's available. He wants $500 for a complete front end from a 89 miata. I wont be using the subframe on this trike. Trying to get him to throw in the wheels with it. Going with the honda shadow chain drive rear suspension as its a good fit.
Thank you, Henrye, for the link to the kineticvehicles website. It may be the solution to my problem.
SRX660
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Post by DaveJ98092 on Jun 16, 2018 21:27:20 GMT -5
James, do not over look C4 or C5 Corvette front parts. There are 10 Corvetted in a local to me classic junk yard and they want $750 for the whole thing including sway bar, Bilstine shocks and a Rack&Pinion. The Dodge Stratus arms look to be kind of lighter than Mustang II. RockAuto link for new www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/dodge,2002,stratus,2.7l+v6,1413638,suspension,control+arm,10401 In a light weight trike a lot of these parts can be ground down some to lighten, just do not go overboard. |
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Post by Liteway on Jun 16, 2018 22:51:02 GMT -5
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joe
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Post by joe on Jun 17, 2018 20:25:03 GMT -5
James, if I were to do it again the Corvette C5 entire front end including upper & lower control arms, spindles, rotors, brakes, R&P Steering, stabilizer bar along with mounting cradle is available for under $1,000 on ebay. Most components are light weight cast aluminum and have been engineered & stress tested for regiorus driving conditions so most of the hard work is already done. See www.ebay.com/itm/97-04-Corvette-Full-Front-Suspension-with-Front-Member-Engine-Crossmember-C5/381533542508?fits=Model%3ACorvette&epid=1123979889&hash=item58d52bd86c:g:DgAAAOSw3bxbDW3o. I like the idea of the can am spyder also, since I own one, but looks like most of the above components are steel and have to be found piece meal from various sources, ether way, good luck! |
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Post by noahkatz on Jul 1, 2018 21:51:40 GMT -5
I agree with Liteway on suitability of Can Am parts.
Corvette parts may be light compared to those on other 3000+lb cars, but there's no way they're not overkill and overweight for a light RT.
Also I bet that tubular steel parts aren't significantly heavier (and maybe even lighter) than solid cast aluminum parts.
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Post by srx660 on Jul 23, 2018 9:02:11 GMT -5
Just for your information, if you are building a narrow frame single seater (or inline seating)trike, Most of the factory suspensions will give you a narrow track width. Because my trike frame width is only 20 inches the miata suspension gives me 45 inches for the track. Even the VW ball joint FS at least gives you 52 inches. Because i want a width between 55 to 60 inches wide i will have to go with custom built suspension. Unfortunately it means the only parts of the miata front end i could use is the spindles and brakes. I did not buy the miata front end for this reason. I was iffy on the front end anyway as it looked like the rotors had been turned a few times already, and the rotor widths looked very thin to me, when i compared them with new rotors.
srx660
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Post by DaveJ98092 on Jul 23, 2018 12:07:01 GMT -5
James, you can get most of those parts new and cheaper than useds sometimes from Rockauto.com
A VW beam is easily cut and widened. And when you have it all apart thats the time to do the inboard coil over shock mod and cut the old shock towers off.
A long time ago (before AM General's Hummer 1) a buddy took a VW Thing and made a wide off road buggy. It required us cutting the front beam and adding 8 inches to the center. We used air shocks n the stock areas and just cut the two torsion bars and added a 8 inch thick wall tube in the center (removed the VW beam height adjusters from the centers of the stock tubes). I have some Polaroid pictures somewhere of it but do not know where.
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Post by srx660 on Jul 23, 2018 20:32:26 GMT -5
While i am still sorting out what type of front end to use i came across this UK website on general suspension design. A lot of things i did not know and probably would never have thought of made me read the whole page. Very Interesting! Yes, it's about a MGB car but the samedesign applies to the FS on reverse trikes. www.britishv8.org/Articles/Suspension-Design.htmDave, I have looked at as many places i could over the last couple of months and have found only 3 used VW front suspensions. 2 were just the beam, arms and spindles, and the third had only the beam. They still wanted $200-350 for them without brakes & steering. If i find a good complete VW balljoint front susp at a decent price i will probably use it. If i don't i will take on building my own A-arms to get what i want. srx660 |
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Post by DaveJ98092 on Jul 23, 2018 23:45:49 GMT -5
Well, again look at the Dodge Stratus front end as it is a double A arm with a strut that can be removed for an inboard coil over. The top of the spindle is curved to put the hub out farther. Overall an easy system to modify. All the parts are in Pick-U-Pull or new from Rockauto. The spindle can be cleaned up by grinding casting flash off. Same with the calipers. The hub will require a large bolt and washers fed from the back with a lock nut, just like the CV joint. (picture hosted by Imgsafe.org)  |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 1, 2018 3:56:22 GMT -5
As everyone here, I'm looking to make the lightest front end possible. When I built my Locost (Lotus Seven replica) I used Chevette spindles, rotors, Outlaw calipers, rod ends, and a Toyota Corolla steering rack. I used Pegasus Racing Supplies for many of my needs. Jegs and Summit have some good stuff. I relied heavily on the "Race and Rally Car Source book: The Guide to Building and Modifying a Competition Car" for suspension design. Problem with the book is it's easy to get sucked into too much thinking about design. So I tried to confine my design thoughts to the front end and I didn't worry about anti dive or squat. My main focus was on the roll center and making sure I didn't have bump steer. Not hard concepts, just have to read a few times and draw some pictures. I made inboard coil overs with rocker arms just to see if I could do it. I was very happy with the results. Hopefully the pictures I post will come through, although neither is the final product, they show the evolution.
Anyway, I was trying to build a lightweight suspension and I feel a lighter one is necessary for the tripod. Unsprung weight is crucial to make the front end respond quickly. That's why I'm going to figure out how to make one with motorcycle wheels, brakes, and spindles. The biggest problem is the tire itself - how much tire contact patch is necessary to avoid understeer and inadequate braking. The problem is the round cross section of a motorcycle tire vs. the flat contact patch (square tire edges) of an automobile tire. I'm looking at compact spare tire wheels, but that gets back to heavy brake rotors. Cadillac CTS has some really nice spare tire wheels. I've also been looking at golf cart spindles. But I'm rambling... Hopefully you can see what I mean in the pictures.
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