60 MPG - Trad Rod Style?

Pork -

Here's the link to the 4 speed w/reverse trans:

http://www.dneprworld.com/catalog.aspx?unit=1

$355.95 plus shipping for a brand-new unit.

 

I like 3 wheels too,but if I'm going for saving per mile around town,electric is the way to go,just plug in at home over nite.
If you didn't see the movie"Who killed the Electric Car" it's wroth your time to view it.
I been playing with a 3 wheeler I designed and built myself,that leans in the turns,not just one wheel,but all 3,most all the 3 wheeler that say they lean,don't lean all 3. so have drag in turn from nonleaning wheels costing HP .
http://www.electrathonfl.homestead.com/

 

people these days don't buy cars for mpg rating, they buy them for the amout of cup holders the car has,and that's the truth,proven by studies

 

small engined 3 wheelers were big in the UK due to the taxation and licencing system....have a look for reliant robin on google. you could have a laugh at Bond micro cars and peel micro cars as well...
If you really want to build a 3 wheeler PM Blackjack on here, he's building ones using Citroen 2CV engines. There is also a company in the UK shoving Suzuki GS1300r engines and Yamaha R1 engines in 3 wheelers as well as in all manor of small 4 wheelers (like Minis, as in the original Minis) .Not far from where I live there's a guy with a Mini with 2 R1 motors mid mounted in the back of his Mini with the exhaust cans coming out the back window......
As far a Locost cars (someone has already mentioned them) you can buy a book from Haynes telling you how to build one from scratch incl all the frame plans and even all the brackets etc. there are several around with bike engines (incl some with 2 !!!!) without much modification they could be made to look quite trad

 

The main problem is getting a motorcycle engine that will get a consistant 40mpg. Bikes are VERY sensitive to the power vs. fuel economy equation. I can get 40mpg on the freeway with more than a few of my bikes, but start twisting the throttle around town, or even worse on the track and MPG can drop into the teens in nothing flat.

the triumph 650 mentioned in the first post would likely struggle to get 40mpg in the best of conditions.

 

#1,
Looks like something similar to what I want to do! Do you have any construction photos, especially of the frame and final drive? Are you using the MC tranny or something else? I can just see the bike trans final drive sprocket connected to a shaft via a double row chain wrapped around a same size sprocket on the shaft...

I've also considered using a front drive setup from a Geo Metro or similar small car. The only catch is the radiator shell would be low and wide. I really want to leave the engine exposed if I go that route. Even with a front drive unit, I plan on a light wood boattail body like your "almost Morgan" three wheeler.

 

Damn cheap.

Maybe when I'm working this summer I'll give it a whirl. Looks like fun to me a bullet shaped 3 wheeled road rocket. Hmmmm wonder who's got an old tank bomber tank laying around.

 

Look at this site for three wheeler plans - electric and gas.
http://www.rqriley.com/plans.html
Also a 128 mpg capable diesel powered light weight four wheeler -- 128 mpg @ 35 mph. Goes down to 85 mpg at 55, worse recorded reported as 64 mpg around town. Top speed of 65 mph. That last one is what will get most rodders, but it should be easy enough to still get 40 mpg and burn up some pavement using a similar formula, and still nail down 50+ mpg with conservative driving. Heck, a plain old Track-T kit with a 2.0-2.5L four and a five speed should deliver 40 mpg with conservative driving and still be capable of 100 mph.

But for real economy, Google King Midget. Made through 1970, powered by a Wisconsin lawn mower engine. Started off with 6 hp, the last model had just under 10 hp. A 14hp or larger would make it nearly a hot rod!! ;>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Midget

The real appeal of a three wheeler is the comparative ease of getting it titled and registered.

 

Like this?? Couldn't look less like a Morgan. I never get less than 55mpg and 65mpg is really easy;

 

Now building the big boomer with a 1776 VW engine. O-60 in 6 seconds. To follow is a Subaru WRX engined version - 0-60 in 4??

Check it out here; http://www.blackjackzero.com/mainindex.htm

 

PS - although this is a trad rod forum it's refreshing to occaisionally see HAMBers thinking out of the box.

BTW - I'm loving the canoe bodied special - well done that man.

 

I know I posted about the motorcycle engine, and am enjoying seeing everyone go the route with ideas about the 3 wheeled creations, but has anyone considered GMs Ecotec motor?

Supposedly there is a "cookbook" put out by GM where these little 4 bangers will kick out over 265 horsepower and cruise on average at 30+ mpg. Best of all, as was advertised, these motors are in just about every small front wheel drive car GM makes. The main drawback is that in order to make one rear wheel drive, you have to get the 5 speed out of a Pontiac Solstice. There were no automatics that were direct fits for this motor at the time of the article.

The Ecotec might fit into the belly tank idea as well. I was thinking of doing this setup for my 7 year old son's buildup whenever we get started on it. I'm kind of proud of the boy - he wants a '32 Ford coupe!

 

Corbin tried to build and market one of these with in the past couple of years. I believe it was called the Merlin. Also there is a trke called the T-rex


Yep. Here it is. EXACTLY what you are talking about:


http://matt_birchard.tripod.com/cars/merlin.htm

http://www.go-t-rex.com/

 

They want around 35-50K for the ones being sold here in KC, But the basic vehicle would be simple enough to repro with the exception of the fiberglass body which most of us would not want anyway. Find one Suzuki Hayabusa wreked in the front from rear ending the soccer mom on the phone who applied her breaks too fast when he was tail gating getting ready to bullet past her. And then pull the front subframe or perhaps the whole front end from a 1994-1996 firebird or Camaro 6 cylinder. Wrecked or worn out versiosn of those cars are really cheap now, and you can part it out and pay for the project in some cases. Then it's up to you and your ingenuity.

Or you could just put a single wheel on the back of a 1992 Geo Metro and remove teh body, replace with tubing for stiffness and you would have maybe 700 pounds and 60 MPG, Maybe, As long as the reduced aerodynamics didn't hurt the MPG much.

 

OMG!!! THAT is cool! Deaux Cheveaux motor, right? Is that scratch built - or a kit?

 

NOT traditional, but cool

http://www.poormansev.com/index.html

 

Clay Smith made a cam for that....well I'll be galldarned!

 

My friend Richard Oakes in Cornwall makes them as a kit (he's stopped now and is making the VW & Subaru powered version).

No it's not a 2CV engine - it's a 2 cylinder bank from an experimental modular flat 8 air cooled engine made back in the sixties as part of the development of the Corvair. The plan was to have a family of 2, 4, 6 and 8 cylinder engines. I bought this from the widow of a GM development engineer who had smuggled it out of the top secret workshop.

Or it might possibly be a 2CV engine with a big SU carb, some port work, a straight through exhaust, a lightened flywheel and twin coils - I forget.

Clay Smith don't make a cam for this engine but they do make a sticker specially for it.

 

I'm sure someone could rustle up a poor boy version of this.......

http://www.hotrodhawg.com/

 

The three wheelers are not my bag, but there is another way...

I drive a 01 Volkswagen New Beetle, turbo diesel with auto trans and get 42 mpg in suburban driving when I keep the speed down below 60 mph and watch the traffic lights. Not bad for 2800 pounds curb weight. Guys on the VW websites that have manual trans report high 40s numbers for miles per US gallon.

Put that engine in a 1750 pound (or less) manual trans track T rolling on well inflated skinny radial tires and you should be real close to 60 mpg driven conservatively. The VW diesel puts out as much power as a lightly modified flathead, so it still would be fun on the days you are not watching the fuel gauge.

Piper106

 

So now there is something to do with front wheel drivers.

 

Here, over the big pond you can get a kit car kit, thats based on the Citroen 2CV as a threewheeler or fourwheeler. Put a Motorcycle Motor in it and you ve got a rocket in your pocket........

 

Years ago Popular Mechanics put out plans to build one of these. Using a motorcycle chassis conected to a VW frontend I believe, with a fiberglass body, One guy built one here and rigged up a starter motor for reverse. It was pretty cool

 

I think this is pretty cool

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/BRA-...oryZ7251QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

And this

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1928...oryZ6472QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

Great thread.

Recently I saw something on one of the news channels that said if we end up at war with Iran, gas could skyrocket to 8 bucks a gallon. Not trying to get all policital here, but I have to admit, that scares the crap out of me. I don't want to drive a Prius, anywhere, ever, as long as I live. We probably should all be formulating a plan for how we're going to keep being hot rodders if / when something crazy happens that makes gas prices go completely apeshit. I have to admit, I've been watching the vw threads with more interest lately.

My own "plan b" involves an Olds quad 4, but I'd consider a 2.3 Ford or a Toyota 22r in a mini-car body, like a Fiat 600 or something. I'd LOVE to get one of those old Russian mini-cars like the ones in that Russian junk yard thread months back.

I have to admit though, a Goldwing drivetrain is a great idea. The other day I was driving across the bridge across the bay and there was some guy on a Goldwing with a dual-rear wheel conversion deal, and at the time I was thinking "wow, that's gay" but now I'm thinking that if you could find a wrecked version of that thing all you'd need is a body with a decent front end & steering, a little fabricating to get it together & you'd be there.

Really, a hot motorcycle engine in one of these cars would be pretty damned fast.

 

3-Lugs, motor is the size of a briefcase.

Imagine an FWD engine/transaxle in the back.

 

Quite a few years ago I was at an outdoor car show. As I was walking past a 33 willys gasser style coupe the owner asked me if I would start it up for him. Um start up your car for you? He goes yeah, pull the cord on the deck lid. Right in the middle of the indent of the deck lid there was a handle for a pull cord like on a lawn mower. I gave it a pull...I figured the guy was shining me one...the dang thing started right up. It was a fiber glass shelled car with a light tube chassis and powered by a briggs and stratton. He built it to cruise fairgrounds.

 

I'm thinking fiberglass t-bucket cut down to a single seater. A rear end out of an old rwd celica or datsun b210 with some freeway friendly gears. Use some old school looking 15 inch painted wire wheels and tall but not too skinneytires{p205/75/r15} in the rear,some t-bucket wires up front {chromed or painted to match the back} on a six inch narrowed front dropped tube axle. Now stuff a V8-60 flathead with a five speed in it . Speedway motors still sells lots of hop up goodies for this little dynamo! and you dont get more trad than a flathead.

 

I don't know anything about this or who's it is but it came to mind when I saw the title to this thread,

Just add small motor....

 

OR........ here's one for you 3 wheeler fans: