Post by logotrikes on Jun 1, 2018 4:17:44 GMT -5
Hi All, greetings from down under...
Early last year I started a build log for a reverse trike, two seater, side by side, powered by whatever motorcycle donor I could afford, I really fancied and is suitable for this conversion.
Here in "Strya" there are minor differences state by state, but essentially if you want to build an "ICV", an individually constructed vehicle, you apply for permission via a form online, wait for a reply, which is almost always 'permission granted', select a suitable signatory engineer from a list of suitable engineers to oversee your project, and then dive in boots and all.
I initially chose Terry Southam here in Perth. Terry has a wealth of experience with kit cars and the like and seemed enthusiastic about my project. Later on I found him impossible to contact; no replies to emails or phone calls, so I figured he was either away, had passed away, or dropped out of the business altogether.
So I contacted Jack Packard of Packard Automotive in Jandakot, and he said, "Sure, I'll take you on..."
After spending 14 months or so on my trike, I called Jack over for an inspection and he gave me the thumbs-up to continue. The next logical step was and is the purchase of a suitable donor machine...
So far so good, but then I thought that since my wife had already said many times that she would not venture out in such a low and "dangerous" machine, I'd be spending all of my time driving alone.
Here enters the "Spartan" trike built by **captainamerica**.
I'd been looking over this trike long before I settled on my eventual design (if you can call it a design), but decided that a single seater, despite all its obvious charms and attractions, would be counter-productive, so I went with a two seater.
The build so far had been done using galvanised tubing (what was I thinking?) and I hated it with a passion, so, I thought, here's a chance to make a clean break. I'll buy a pile of non-galvanised RHS and tube, and start again, using the "Spartan" design as a basis for a single seater of my own.
As asked by captainamerica in his blurb, I contacted him to ask for permission to use his design. He has yet to respond, but I figured I could make a start, which is what I've done..
There are no common measurements between "Spartan" and mine, but it would be clear to anyone that mine will be a very similar design, changes made in mine to suit my steering geometry and suspension mapping, different pedalbox location, different steering column used, different seat accomodation, etc etc, plus I'm 9 inches shorter than Andrew (and 40 years older sadly), and my chassis reflects this.. Also, importantly, my design will use the entire frame, fuel tank, airbox and all the other gubbins, rather than just the engine, as favoured by captainamerica. For me, this would involve making up the new pivots for the swingarm, and, as I see it, much more complex holding frame. Using the frame and fuel tank, as favoured by me and others, solves a lot of the issues raised by having to cobble up a fabricated fuel tank, (here in Straya, it would have to be examined and tested), and various other plumbing bits forced upon me by going that route. So, for me its frame and tank as is....
As previously I used a free programme called "Vsusp" to map out the front suspension, and the beauty of this program is that it operates in real time in that you can move the "chassis" around to judge what happens to the front wheels over bumps, left and right lean, how the roll centre is affected etc. A brilliant piece of kit. In an ideal world you want to outside wheel in a turn to stay as upright as possible (aided by a degree or so of negative camber), and as far as I could work the numbers, this was achieved though not optimally.
Once you know all the measurements of the chosen upright (in my case a Holden Gemini upright), the track width, proposed tyre sizes, ground clearance and roll centre required (in the case of a reverse trike the roll centre of the rear is always going to be zero, so it's best to have the front roll centre at zero too), the program spits out front-of-chassis dimensions, and lengths of wishbones (assuming you go for unequal length wishbones pointing inwards to each other toward chassis centre), and voila, you have most of what's required to draw up the suspension elements. You must also include bump-steer analysis, and this is an easy addition once you know your steering rack dimensions; inner tie rod knuckle to inner tie rod knuckle, and where it's placed in the chassis etc etc
For those familiar with "Spartan" you'll know it is an angular design, and it's actually very clever, a credit indeed to Andrew, who elsewhere in this forum covers the build in immense detail in its various iterations. I chose iteration 2, and I believe Andrew has consolidated his design so it can be small-volume-produced, and now has softer lines...
I've made a start and now have the chassis bottom rails laid plus the seat back basic frame. Just waiting now on some laser cut parts to continue.
This first posting is really a test, and I'll include progress pictures as and when, so stay tuned..
Cheers, Martin
Early last year I started a build log for a reverse trike, two seater, side by side, powered by whatever motorcycle donor I could afford, I really fancied and is suitable for this conversion.
Here in "Strya" there are minor differences state by state, but essentially if you want to build an "ICV", an individually constructed vehicle, you apply for permission via a form online, wait for a reply, which is almost always 'permission granted', select a suitable signatory engineer from a list of suitable engineers to oversee your project, and then dive in boots and all.
I initially chose Terry Southam here in Perth. Terry has a wealth of experience with kit cars and the like and seemed enthusiastic about my project. Later on I found him impossible to contact; no replies to emails or phone calls, so I figured he was either away, had passed away, or dropped out of the business altogether.
So I contacted Jack Packard of Packard Automotive in Jandakot, and he said, "Sure, I'll take you on..."
After spending 14 months or so on my trike, I called Jack over for an inspection and he gave me the thumbs-up to continue. The next logical step was and is the purchase of a suitable donor machine...
So far so good, but then I thought that since my wife had already said many times that she would not venture out in such a low and "dangerous" machine, I'd be spending all of my time driving alone.
Here enters the "Spartan" trike built by **captainamerica**.
I'd been looking over this trike long before I settled on my eventual design (if you can call it a design), but decided that a single seater, despite all its obvious charms and attractions, would be counter-productive, so I went with a two seater.
The build so far had been done using galvanised tubing (what was I thinking?) and I hated it with a passion, so, I thought, here's a chance to make a clean break. I'll buy a pile of non-galvanised RHS and tube, and start again, using the "Spartan" design as a basis for a single seater of my own.
As asked by captainamerica in his blurb, I contacted him to ask for permission to use his design. He has yet to respond, but I figured I could make a start, which is what I've done..
There are no common measurements between "Spartan" and mine, but it would be clear to anyone that mine will be a very similar design, changes made in mine to suit my steering geometry and suspension mapping, different pedalbox location, different steering column used, different seat accomodation, etc etc, plus I'm 9 inches shorter than Andrew (and 40 years older sadly), and my chassis reflects this.. Also, importantly, my design will use the entire frame, fuel tank, airbox and all the other gubbins, rather than just the engine, as favoured by captainamerica. For me, this would involve making up the new pivots for the swingarm, and, as I see it, much more complex holding frame. Using the frame and fuel tank, as favoured by me and others, solves a lot of the issues raised by having to cobble up a fabricated fuel tank, (here in Straya, it would have to be examined and tested), and various other plumbing bits forced upon me by going that route. So, for me its frame and tank as is....
As previously I used a free programme called "Vsusp" to map out the front suspension, and the beauty of this program is that it operates in real time in that you can move the "chassis" around to judge what happens to the front wheels over bumps, left and right lean, how the roll centre is affected etc. A brilliant piece of kit. In an ideal world you want to outside wheel in a turn to stay as upright as possible (aided by a degree or so of negative camber), and as far as I could work the numbers, this was achieved though not optimally.
Once you know all the measurements of the chosen upright (in my case a Holden Gemini upright), the track width, proposed tyre sizes, ground clearance and roll centre required (in the case of a reverse trike the roll centre of the rear is always going to be zero, so it's best to have the front roll centre at zero too), the program spits out front-of-chassis dimensions, and lengths of wishbones (assuming you go for unequal length wishbones pointing inwards to each other toward chassis centre), and voila, you have most of what's required to draw up the suspension elements. You must also include bump-steer analysis, and this is an easy addition once you know your steering rack dimensions; inner tie rod knuckle to inner tie rod knuckle, and where it's placed in the chassis etc etc
For those familiar with "Spartan" you'll know it is an angular design, and it's actually very clever, a credit indeed to Andrew, who elsewhere in this forum covers the build in immense detail in its various iterations. I chose iteration 2, and I believe Andrew has consolidated his design so it can be small-volume-produced, and now has softer lines...
I've made a start and now have the chassis bottom rails laid plus the seat back basic frame. Just waiting now on some laser cut parts to continue.
This first posting is really a test, and I'll include progress pictures as and when, so stay tuned..
Cheers, Martin
