Quote:
Originally Posted by Gunluvver2
In doing my planning on building this project two California businesses have given me some ideas and ways to save some money. Kennedy Engineering in Palmdale, CA does clutches, adaptors and flywheels and is a great resource for any Hot Rodder. They recommended a shop in Chatsworth, CA, Transaxel Engineering for more building ideas. I am anxious to get started on my project and it looks like these two companies are going to be hearing from me a lot this winter.
GL2
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Yo! GL2, hey, how did your experiment turn out!?? About 10 years ago I ran across a vehicle in a shop in Pasadena that absolutely thrilled me. If memory serves (and a little googling), it was a TriHawk, which was a short-run production vehicle back in the 70's or 80's. It was georgeous, and everything I found to read about it made it sound 100% fun.
But, before I go farther, my apologies to anyone offended by me waking up an old thread! I did notice the Trihawk did not get mentioned by anyone else.
Here's the thing - it was FWD - with a boxer engine from France (Citroen?). I think they considered a Subaru but had importation problems. In the following years, I discussed the possibility of a FWD trike (reverse trike, whatever) with a number of other people, including people who built motorcycle trikes and car cutdown mods. One bit of good advice, that I recall, was to basically take a Subie with a good front and maybe cockpit, and weld a new subframe to the "hard points". The Subaru's have a boxer engine to keep the weight and profile low, and stability high. Subaru's also have a higher reliability rating and parts availability then Citroen.
I think your idea, especially because of the FWD bit, is a great one. Apparently the Trihawk could pull more g's on a skidpad than any car or RWD trike. At least, at the time, and maybe since. By using an existing FWD drive train, you've got all the bugs already worked out, re pulling and all that. I'm a bit bewildered by all the naysayers badmouthing FWD handling, when, especially in this case, it should be far superior to RWD handling.
As far as why other trikes are RWD - the simplest reason for that is pure economics. It's easier, cheaper, and has a larger existing market, to build up from a m-cycle base than to cut down from an auto base. Not to mention the possibility of pollution requirements for production vehicles. Cutting down from a car likely makes your vehicle a car, and I'm pretty sure projects like the Spyder have worked to keep themselves licensed as motorcycles. Occam's Razor says the simplest reason is most likely the truest.
So, apparently we are rare beasts, thinking about FWD trikes, but you are not alone.
Another car to google that might be of interest would be the Blackjack Zero.
The Blackjack ZERO
British, but the Zero uses a VW flat four - which is the only VW I'd ever use, myself, seeing as how all the later stuff inherits (at least, imo) more from the Audi and Opel - and I can't say anything polite about either of those two - based on my ownership experiences. But that Blackjack Zero looks interesting - it's a kit car, too.
And the new Elio motors car/trike is FWD - it it ever gets to market.
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