info wanted on front eng vw trikes

[dracken1]

anyone know of any websites that go into detail on front mounting a vw engine?

i have a nice 10" over girder needing a home
and it would look silly on my rear engined trikes

[Blackjack]

Split the gear box. Flip the diff over. Relieve the casing that now has the crown wheel in it until the diff fits again. Button gear box back up. You now have four reverse gears and one forward. Turn entire driveline through 180 degrees, you now have the engine in front of the box, four forward gears and one reverse.

Apparently its that easy.

[Reliantman]

Have a look at-
http://hem.passagen.se/trike/engelsk/ramareng.htm

And-

swedishtikes-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Cheers.Doug

[dracken1]

thank you blackjack and reliantman.

i thought there was some secret involved as most use a second box.
now i realise that it is used only to get some distance from the engine to driveshafts.

[Pennywise]

early van and camper rear axel....have a look for one with reduction gears by the wheels, if it has them, then get that box as it turns the right way that you want, cause its running in reverse in the van, and the reduction gears by the wheels turn them the opposit way.....does that make sence?

so you need that box, and use the standard beetle halve shafts......or a standard beeltle box and get the early camper half shafts with the reduction gears....either way is good

[Pennywise]

much much much better idea though is to use the beelte engine, and use a renault 25 gear box or simmilar...audi,passat etc etc

btw..you are putting the engine exactly where it deserves to be!

[Blackjack]

A far superior alternative is to use an Alfa Sud or 33 motor and box as they are the "right" way round and there are 120hp stockers out there for next to nothing.

And the Sud has inboard dics and front wheel hand brake. So never attempt a hand brake turn in one.

OHC and dual downdraught Webers.

[Pennywise]

cool...and these are air cooled so you dont have to worry about ugly rads and over heating....?

keep with the rub a dub m8

[Blackjack]

Nope, they're not air cooled so you don't have to worry about it over heating.

Yes you need a rad, but between getting one made and a little ingenuity it needn't be either ugly or visible.

And the crank isn't made out of bent fencing wire, the cases don't alter their dimensions at the drop of a hat, and the oil tends to stay inside of them.

[Pennywise]

but if it doesnt leak at least a litre a week, it aint a bike:)

bring back the old per unit trumpets......now they knew how to leak oil...

on a lighter note, im building a car engined bike.....tell me more about these invisible rads....you got me interested now

[dracken1]

yes vw's flat 4 does have it's down points.
but start with a well built one and they ok.
plus you can con yourself into believing its a honda goldwing without a rad.

as for hidden rads.. as cars usually have them stuck at the front we tend to think they have to go there.

they don't they don't even have to be in a vertical position, but if inclined it's best to fit a deflector to bend the airflow so that is passes through the rad at an angle of 90 degs to it, plus a quality fan.

you don't have to stick with one read, 2 smaller ones can give you a larger cooling area and be easier to tuck away

[Pennywise]

well the pinto engined trike we were rapping about else where on here, im gonna build a bike the same way....and i was thinking on making it water in frame......i was going to circulate the water through the frame, and have some form of cooler fan running round the fly wheel, and make my own skeleton bell housing, and round the housing wrap an all rad....basicly, you have the sprigot bearing, well at the rear of the skeleton housing you have a ball race, run the sprigot with a 4 inch cam pully on the shaft, and run a belt from this pully, to another positioned at the bottom right or left...depending where you wanna take the final drive from......

so as with that trike, its slip twist and go, and you neutral is you holding the clutch in.

just one more thing though,,,,,when you lot build car based trikes and bikes,,,,,why oh why oh why are you running belt driven alternators?.....

[Blackjack]

Because it's easy......

[Pennywise]

ahhhh...is that why there are so many butt ugly trikes out there that are as big as cars, with no thought gone into them at all....cause it's easy?

Personaly I put the crank of my pinto engine in the lathe, i turned the front of the crank to fit a kwak alternator and side cover, and i fitted an electric water pump.... but then again.....I care about how it looks......and its only a single seater too.....If i wanted to have 4 seats...I'd buy a car

Cause buying a car would be easy

[dracken1]

so you have a lathe, your building a skeletal bell housing.
wtg. very ingenoius.
now put yourself in the position of not haveing a lathe or those skills.

add to that a tight budget and maybe you have to settle for a little less.

theres also personal preferences. besides vw's flat four i think all car engined trikes look odd, but thats me.

please understand i'm not putting you down. i'm sure theres many here who if they could would do things different.
your one of the lucky ones in so much as you can..

[Blackjack]

Very good Pennywise.

But what are you doing for a torsional damper?

Dracken, ever wondered about a trike with an Air Cooled Tatra V8?

[dracken1]

thanks for the thought blackjack.
i've looked through the various scrap cars about the village, and through my sheds but alas i'm fresh out of tatras :D .
a guy a few miles away has an m3 american half track and a wd harley complete with browning sub machine gun in a lether holster.
but around the back he has a genuine tiger tank maybach aircooled diesel engine.

but will need a good strong trike frame. anyone know where i can buy some secondhand railway tracks from :confused: