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EA81 into wild VW trike


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Busy day today.

 

Both air intakes finished.

 

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The length will suffice

 

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Thematic fan finished except for a thermo switch to buy soon

 

 

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intakes- view from front

 

 

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Finally I took off the radiator and rubber mounted it.

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Today I fixed the 5 louvre vents in place. Purchased from ebay. They are meant for boats. I am really imprssed with the appearance of these units and there usefullness.

 

 

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Had to cut out the glove box holes (an option from the manufacturer I did not take up) with a jigsaw. then S/steel self tappers.

 

 

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This shot shows the radiator under and more rearward. a small wind deflector will be added to direct the air inward more.

 

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This shot depicts both new air intakes. Ignor the plumbing of the expansion tank....small flexi hose will be sought.

 

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Tweety is growing teeth!

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Rarely have I gone to purchase items and it all comes together so well. Today I had luck on my side.

 

I had purchased a regular temp gauge from ebay for $16. was reluctant to hook it up on the basis that 1/ I could find an ideal spot to mount it and 2/ I had to find an actual mount for it.

 

With that in mind I entered Autobarn Shepparton Victoria Australia today seeking out a sender unit for my new Davies Craig thermo fan. These switches dont come in the packet and are sold seperately.

 

Armed with a blocking bolt from the radiator to match it up the guy initially told me he'd have to order one. Then he had an alternative. A temperature sender that has its own housing, that is installed between the radiator hose inlet (or thermostat housing) and the hose. He informed me that if I was to purchase also a thermo fan adjustable unit then that item can screw into the temperature unit housing.

 

The bonus was that the monitor on the dash, fitted with velcoe and easily fixed to my van electric brake unit, has a temperature guage as well as a voltage indicator.

 

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The project is now complete except for the exhaust. I will post pictures once the "blow you away" exhaust is installed.

 

The second throat of the weber carby, when it wants to cut in, causes the engine to die. but I can ride it to an exhaust place at least and get it fixed a litle later.

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Awesome build! Love all the custom work and attention to detail. :)

 

I seem to remember seeing some large black plastic elbows for emissions tubing at the local auto parts stores in the vacuum section. One of those might look better on the breather hoses than the brass fittings... if you can find any that large.

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Thanks guys.

 

I rode it with two motorcycle riders two eyars ago up the Snowy mountains here in Oz. The bikes were a HS springer and a Yamaha FJ1200 tourer. Both scraped their pegs and braked through corners jsut as I wanted to put the gas on. These trikes have some F1 pedigree in them I think.

 

The roof adds a little body roll but still hands on. The sunroof is out of a Mazda 121 what we call a funtop here, two electric motors poewer the roof forward and back (not connected yet!)

 

I have other improvements to come. A single wiper, a heater (why not, its damn cold here) and demister. Exhaust next week and more pics or a short video

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  • 4 weeks later...

Thanks mate.

 

Video in a short time. bit busy but WILL be done! It is quiet with a nice rumble and ohhh so smooth...

 

Exhaust is now finished. Got it home. Engine got hpt today and it is a cool day so an issue there. But riding up the small mountain near home....usually at 70kph flat out in 2nd gear in the VW 1916 I cruised up there without using the second throat on the weber carb at 90 kph. says it all?

 

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<a href="http://s804.photobucket.com/albums/yy330/eaglefree/?action=view&current=exhaustfinished1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i804.photobucket.com/albums/yy330/eaglefree/exhaustfinished1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

 

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Edited by tweety
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  • 2 weeks later...

Update:

 

I had thought the second throat of the new Weber was flooding the engine or too much air or had a blockage.

 

This morning I attended VW performance Centre in Croydon Victoria Australia. Within 20 minutes they had assessed:

 

-that the weber was operating correctly but might need jetting

-that the fault was electrical.

-that they had rang an ignition specialist 5 kms away to ask them to look at the distributer which was also new. Something about "phasing".

 

I rode to the sparkies and it took them 3 minutes to ask me why a red wire was connected to the negative side of the coil. I told them it was the kick down switch, the only wire I didnt label when the VW donk came out- reason? because it didnt come from the engine- it came from the gearbox. But I should have labelled it positive!!! because it was on negative

 

The result was that everytime I throttled on to a point whereby the kickdown switch went on, the engine cut out. Charge? no charge.

 

Returned to vW performance Centre and dyno tune, carbie jetted correctly etc.

 

Dyno power output result was 76hp at the flywheel (74hp when new in a brumby) and 60hp at the wheels. Daniel told me the auto zaps a lot of power out of the engine. Would I be happy?

 

Well I had been putting 91 unleaded in the tank and wanted it tuned to that fuel. On the way down I achieved 24 mpg (VW engine 21-22mpg) and that was with the wiring fault and a bit of towing the van for testing. I refuelled to return home, rode through the city then up the freeway to Euroa. I found that the trike now wants to sit on 120kph so I have to watch it, also in traffic when the transmission kicks down the front wheel wants to go airborne - nice 'wants to boogie' feeling. Above 4000 rpm the engine has a howling note through that exhaust, really pleasant sound. Acceleration is very satisfactory for me.

 

And the economy on the way home? 29mpg. 190 kms 18.4 litres 9.7L/100kms

 

VW 22 mpg 13L/100kms (range for 50 litre tank) 384 kms

 

EA81 29mpg 9.7L/100kms (range for 50 litre tank) 515 kms

 

or 30% more economical. or $20-24 a tank savings.

 

By selling the vW engine and the cost of this conversion ($2000 out of pocket overall) it will take, at the rate of my current kms/year around 4 years to recoup the difference.

 

The towbar now has an added support from the front of the trike ladder bars for peice of mind. Ready for a holiday (vacation in US).

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

The engine, regardless of two thermatic fans, gets too hot. So I purchased a kz250 Kawasaki radiator. Its onlt 14"x5" and is mounted a tthe front brake pedal. keep the engine much cooler. and the bonus is the hot air keeps my legs warm.

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