VW trike

[Tom Dunlap]

A buddy of mine started to build this trike. He had it about 95% complete when I traded him some time on a backhoe digging a walk-out access to his basement for the trike.

It was a fun project to finish. I put in a pancake motor from a Karman Ghia. The fuel injection got stripped off and I modified the intake box and mounted a single barrel carb from a Pinto. Don had flipped the ring/pinion and made it a mid-engine like in Porsches. The front springer is from an early '30's Indian. Clutch and brake hydraulic cylinders from a Toyota. Throttle from a 900 Kawasaki. The gas tanks were made by taking four Hamm's Tappers, cut the ends off them and weld back together. The headlights set nicely into the ends of the tappers.The shifter is one that is used in dune buggies. I had to tweak it because the shifter is meant to go under the engine and the driver sits low,in front of the engine. I ran the shifter on top so that I had the shifte between my legs. In hindsight I should have found an automatic. The seats are out of a Triumph. Wheels are from a Pontiac I think with wheel adapters. There wasn't a speedometer but I used the tach to set my speed.

 

[Tom Dunlap]

The trike was a hoot to drive. The longest trip was from Minneapolis to my brother's graduation from Uof MN-Waseca. My Grandma rode home with me. I think it was about 90 miles.

A few months later I was driving down a road and wasn't paying attention. There was a cut and run job that I had done so I looked over to see if the client had cleaned up. When I looked back at the road I was about to rear-end a car making a left. I made the decision to move into the oncoming lane and hope that the car that was coming would swerve to his left, out of my path. He was back a ways so I made the move. I ended up driving the right tire up the side of his car. The skid mark went from wheel well to wheel well. I flipped the trike and was out for a split second. When I came to I was laying on my back with my feet in the direction I was driving. Before I moved I did an inventory. Got my breath and then moved my fingers, wrist, arms, toes, ankles, legs. So far everything worked. Then I moved my head just a little. Seems OK. The trike was upside down behind me. Someone went over and turned it off. The ambulance came and they backboarded me for a ride to the hospital.

After the ER team worked me over I was sent home. All that happened was my helmet got a little scratched. The elbow of my jean jacket got a little road rash but didn't scuff through. I was a lucky guy.

The next week I hauled the trike home and parked it in the backyard for the winter. There wasn't any discussion about the trike with my ex. I wasn't sure if she would let me rebuild and I didn't know if I should. The next spring we were doing dishes and she asked me if I was going to rebuild the trike. I was stunned! I asked if she was giving me permission. She said the decision was up to me. I told her that I really didn't think that I should because I used up too much of my luck.

 

[Tom Dunlap]

A buddy of mine got together and built a log splitter. I supplied the materials and he did the welding. This is what we ended up with. The screw gizmo didnt' work very well. We rebuilt using a hydraulic. It worked OK.

 

[Mark Chisholm]

Must have had a lot of old kegs sitiing around huh? Not a bad fuel tank though. /forum/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[Colin]

Shoot, rebuild that sucker! And keep yur eyes on the road, eh? /forum/images/graemlins/crazy.gif