Three wheeler

[InimiaD]

That really is a tight squeeze.
I don't think there is another option apart from the masters used on the Miglias etc.

[GraemeC]

Braided hoses with banjos would possibly avoid the pipes clashing. You could maybe spin the brake master round 180degs too?

I wonder if the late model servo and master could be butchered to remove the servo part, and have the horizontal master straight of the bell cranks?

[36inter]

Hello GraemeC, thanks for the interest, all comments welcome.

Banjo's sound like a good idea, will look at that. I can turn the brake master cylinder 180 but it means I will need a bigger power bulge to clear the reservoir, I'm trying to keep it as small as possible but it is an option.

The late model servo and master do come apart, I have one in the garage, two issues with it for me, one is that the bore diameter is a lot bigger than 0.7" as it has a servo to push it hard, not sure if the pedal pressure without a servo would be more than my little legs could provide. The other issue is the cylinder is horizontal and would clash with my modified exhaust pipe run shown at top of page 2, there looks like plenty of room from the photo but it all gets a bit too close for me to be comfortable with.

Pete

[GraemeC]

I see your point - there is probably less room than the photo suggests. If the theory is plausible though you may be able to find more appropriately sized horizontal cylinders, and maybe reverse the bellcrank so they sit towards the driver rather than the engine?

Just suggestions - I'm sure you'll have a eureka moment!

[36inter]

Its a little deceiving, a Triumph Spitfire master cylinder has the right bore and sits just up from the horizontal by 10 or 15 deg but it would have still been in the way of the exhaust.

I could have dropped the pedal box by about 35mm but that would have meant cutting 35mm off the length of the pedals, again that would have increased pedal pressure and I was not too keen in going into unknowns so a "power bulge" is the easy way out of this problem, not exactly what I had in mind but as I said before it really is making it up as I go along, my mate says the bulge will add "character" to the bonnet line...........

I was going to post some more photo's but bloody photobucket is down again, ggrrrrrrr.

Pete

[rich@minispares.com]

I could have dropped the pedal box by about 35mm but that would have meant cutting 35mm off the length of the pedals, again that would have increased pedal pressure and I was not too keen in going into unknowns

the pedals are cut down on GTM coupes

my verto clutch is fine, its not noticeable

but, my god the brakes are terrible, I had to put a servo on it as my feet just couldn't cope with the effort required to get it to stop

[36inter]

That was my worry about pedal pressure, think I'll stick with a lump on the bonnet.

Pete

[trevorhp]

http://maximummini.blogspot.co.uk/searc ... C%20Tricar
inspired by Owen Glenwood .....and my dad !

[JohnA]

http://maximummini.blogspot.co.uk/searc ... C%20Tricar
inspired by Owen Glenwood .....and my dad !

I've got the V5 and Some mechanical parts with some drawings and information on the vehicle in the photos.

[UHR850]

Took this pickture in 2011 Beaulieu Auto Jumble

[36inter]

Brilliant stories, its amazing what is still tucked away, thanks for posting.

Apart from the rust and numerous knackered parts on the Trident I bought I found this, stuffed inside a thin chrome pancake filter....



You have just got to laugh at what these people thinking.

Welding up box section is reasonably straight forward, however I had no idea how I was going to bend box section to the shapes I wanted to form the body skeleton, I had no way of heating it and no machine to work curves into it, everyone said you can't bend box without it kinking, so I tried it in a vice and it buckled and kinked, bugger.

Would pulling it round a curved former do it, damn right it would, I pulled it cold round a 20" blank flange and it bent as sweet as a nut, I was amazed so I tried smaller formers and in the end managed to bend it round a 6" former to make the small tail end curves, I also cut shapes in half inch ply to bend it round, this is what I used...







What I did with the compound curves on the front and rear hoops and the bonnet was to bend them around the ply, them make a mark about every 3" and then either squeeze it in the vice to straighten it or pull it in the vice to tighten the curve, it was very time consuming and tiring but I ended up with the shapes I wanted.

The grill shape was a fluke, I was going to have an oval grill and had cut out cardboard to the shape. I then bent two pieces of box and laid them on the oval to see where I needed to change the shape, it looked like two "C"s front to back, almost a figure 8, I liked the shape so cut of the tails and welded it up.



Radiator is a Metro Turbo item I am told, the man I got it from used to race in the Metro Turbo Challenge a few years ago, alright, a lot of years ago. I'm not entirely sure about the front yet, I am worried it might look a little lardy but I will probably leave it until I get some panels on it, the whole front can be unbolted so it would be possible to alter it at a later date should I wish.

Pete

[36inter]

I ordered some 1100 steering rack clamps which Rich told me about as the ones I was going to use were cut from a Mini floor and seam welded for strength but I was never entirely happy with them and was going to machine up some ally items until Rich mentioned the 1100 ones. These arrived and are just the job except they are a tad short, all I shall do is add a 15mm spacer and they will be perfect. For those anoraks who love the Mowog name it was nice to see them on the spacer and the U bolt.

Bloody photobucket down again........

[36inter]

Photobucket back up, drives me barmy.







Pete

[trevorhp]

http://maximummini.blogspot.co.uk/searc ... C%20Tricar
inspired by Owen Glenwood .....and my dad !

I've got the V5 and Some mechanical parts with some drawings and information on the vehicle in the photos.

Am I correct in thinking the vehicle is no longer with us then?

Trevor Powell (Bill's son)

[36inter]

Steering column is a collapsible one from a Fiat plus a shortened Mini column. I have had to make an adaptor to fit the Fiat end and connect to the Mini column. The Mini column is threaded then welded into the adaptor. The adaptor is turned up from a Mini drive shaft so is plenty strong enough.





Intended final line of the exhaust, with or without proper sized mandrel bends.



These are the extra engine mounts, 4 in total and I will still use the normal bottom two mounts. The extra ones are a mix of 1100 (timing side with 1100 backplate) and Metro on the clutch end. This engine will be an ex-rocker.













They all require final welding but that will be done when I have stripped the suspension from the subframe and de-greased it, I will post more pictures when this is completed.

Pete

[Brett]

What a great thread!

Here is a recent picture of the Greenwood 3 wheeler, on a race track.



A year ago, I've been told that a copy of the Greenwood 3 wheeler was made a few years later (1968). It was in poor condition last year when I received pictures of it but its new owner was planning to restore it. Unfortunately I can't post pictures here as the owner didn't allow me to use them for my website but you can see pictures of it from a MiniWorld article here: http://www.mosquito-triad.com/The_origin.html

http://www.mosquito-triad.com is my website as I'm completely nut with Mini-based three wheelers. Here's mine, a 1275cc Mosquito.

[36inter]

Neat three wheeler Brett, very smart, far smarter than mine will be, mine will probably come under the heading of 'functional'.

I have been busy welding and painting, this is the chassis with most of the main metalwork done and awaiting a coat of Hammerite No1 rust beater.


This is looking where the back bulkhead goes, lots of small tabs in place to bolt it up, also shown are the seat belt mounts.


Trial fit of the front bulkhead.


Trial fit of the rear bulkhead.


Chassis fully undercoated.


And starting with the topcoat, good old Hammerite smooth black, it was a bit cold when I did this and it was like painting with treacle.


All in topcoat.


Using card to work out the size and shape of the front and top engine bulkheads, the front ended up with 6 pieces.


I turned the chassis upside down and cut the floor out in one piece, 1.5mm steel sheet. I marked from inside the positions of all the chassis rails then turned the sheet over as you see here. I then blued the areas and marked it for drilling. Rivet spacing is 30mm, research told me the minimum is 3 times the diameter of the rivet, 4mm rivets -12mm and the maximum was less defined, aircraft use was between 6D and 8D and for anything else the maximum spacing is what ever you decide, I don't want this florr to fall off so I plumped for more must be better.....



I drilled through with a 2mm drill first so that when I turned the floor the right way up I would know where to drill, this was done with a 4mm drill, the 2mm holes centering the drill in the correct place, 438 bloody holes, twice.......




Everything was de-burred and the bottom of the chassis and the inside of the floor given a coat of green hammerite.



Once that had dried I applied Tiger Seal to the bottom of all the rails and sat the floor in position, some of you will know that Tiger Seal does not take long to go off and I had to put in and pull 438 pop rivets.......quickly


Two things helped me do this in just under one hour, the first was buying an air rivet gun from Machine Mart which performed faultlessly, the other was my mate Des turned up when I was halfway through and took over, my arms had just about had it.


One floor riveted and sealed, it will eventually be painted with POR15.



Steel sheets cut and positioned ready for drilling. Another brilliant buy was a set of air shears from Aldi or it might have been Lidl, Des saw them and asked if I wanted one, £20.00, I nearly said no but decided that they might come in use. They were brilliant, I cut out the 6 bits of sheet for the front engine bulkhead in minutes, why did'nt I have one years ago.

Front subframe was stripped ready for painting but there was too much rust for me to deal with so I took it to the local shot blasters who cleaned it and powder coated it for me in 3 days for £80.00, I thought it was a bargain, pleased with the result.

[minimans]

Why a steel floor? Alloy would have saved a lot of weight?

[36inter]

You are quite correct but I prefer something a little more solid under my bum

A friend of mine ran over a wing mirror, the type that you fit to cars when towing a caravan, this happened in front of him on the motorway, as well as putting big dents in the floor it destroyed the power steering, if the floor had been aluminium I am sure it would have punched through, we were all surprised at how much damage was done.

[rich@minispares.com]

its looking great


those air rivets are great, we used one when we reskinned wils race car trailer, once a couple of you get into the rhythm of drill / rivet / drill / rivet, you really can rip through them - and of course get away with having thin arms with no strength in them!

what do you think its going to weight when its done?