Vermont V8 Trike Build

[JethroBodine]

Brief history; I was a late bloomer as far as riding motorcycles goes. I was almost 7 when I started. I saw my first trike at about 10 and new I would have one someday. Many moons and motorcycles later, I was sitting with a biker friend of mine at the Harley Rendezvous( 2014) and he said," This sucks you not being able to ride a bike, because of your ankle. Didn't you say you've always wanted a trike?" My left ankle was rebuilt a few years ago after a LONG line of sprains, tears, twists, and almost total destruction. Feeling just that little bit worse about it, I replied," Yes to both." He said," Then I challenge you to have a trike by next Rendezvous." And now the real story begins...

Once I recovered from the trip, I started working a second job to raise money for the trike and started planning the build. I didn't want to just buy a bike and trike it. I have been a mechanic, welder, painter, that sort of thing, all of my life. I have all the skills to do a full build, and wanted to put my skills to the test. I traded a friend two scrap cars for a small block Chevy 350, 700r4 trans, and a Subaru WRX rear drive.

Then the real work started.

I put the major parts on my home built pontoon boat( sense a theme here?) as that would make a nice build platform off the ground( I don't have a garage).


I then had the shortest drive shaft I have ever seen made out of the Chevy and Subaru shafts.


I started making the mock up frame out of wood 2x4s.

Cheaper than steel and lighter, too.




Once I was happy with the mock-up, I bought some 3/16"x2"x4" box tubing and started the frame.




I got a 10'x20' tent for the impending winter, and moved everything into the tent.

Once winter hit, there was no way I could work on it, even in the tent.

We had a hard long winter.

Fast forward 4 months.

In late March I rented a 10x20 storage shed, bought a generator, as there was no electricity, and started up again.

Yes that is snow in the previous pic.

I bolted the rails to the rear end and then started fitting the engine/trans.




There is a lot more to go, but it is getting late, and I'm not sure how the pics are going to work.

I will work on fixing them if they don't work. Sorry, in advance.

[FuzzyWuzHe]

Keep the updates coming .. most of us love build threads.

[tfdeputydawg]

Great start! Wish I had the skills to do one! Please keep the pics coming

[JethroBodine]

Thanks, Guys. My pics were too big, so I had to shrink them a bit.

With the rear end as a starting point, and the engine being directly related to the rears location, I started moving from rear to front locating mounting points. Engine and transmission mounts first.


Next I went to the down tubes. I found out that wood 2x4s fit into the steel 2x4s and make it easy to compare complex cuts on the two frame rails by scribing a line around the wood with a magic marker.


I was originally thinking of mounting the neck close to the engine, but thought it might put too much weight on the Goldwing 1500 front end.


I moved it out a bit, and now there is 5 feet from the front wheel contact patch to the center of the engine and 5 1/2 feet to the rear wheels from center.


Once I got the down tubes in place, after MUCH ado, I drilled a 7/8" hole, top and bottom of where the neck would go, cut the sides to fit, and welded in the neck.


More updates later.

[FuzzyWuzHe]

Sure looks like it's gonna be a heavy bugger ... Don't think power will be an issue though.

[irmagoo]

look'n great!!
good start keep it up!!
magoo

[JethroBodine]

Thanks again. I'm trying for a comfortable cruiser that is still nimble enough to run around town. At almost 12 feet long, we'll see how nimble it is.

More pics.

In my last post, I should have said that I drilled a 1 7/8" hole as that is the diameter of the neck from the Goldwing. I tacked it in place and checked the overall look.


I wound up with around 31 degrees of rake, close to the stock 30 deg. There might be a rake kit in the future, but that's to be decided after testing.

I made an extension to support the rest of the neck and welded it in place.




I strengthened the trans cross member and rear strut towers.



Now it's starting to look like a trike.



More later.

[Zammy]

Wow, lots of skill and craftsmanship going on with the build, kudos to you, enjoying the pics.

[JethroBodine]

I've known for a while now that I will not make it to the Rendezvous with the trike and as the trip is getting closer, updates will be a little slow for a bit. That said, time for an update.

Got a few things that I consider mundane like changing the oil in the engine, cranked it over without starting it to make sure everything was prelubed and turning, installed new bearings and races in the neck, cleaned up some more loose ends on the engine, thermostat, sensors, HEI wiring, stuff like that.

I flipped the Road King seat over and cut some 10 gauge steel into rough shapes of all the bends of the bottom, spotted them together and started mounting the support pan where it would sit on the bike.


Once I was happy with that, I cleaned all the edges and got it ready for rubber padding and paint.



I started laying out the dash, but ran into a mental roadblock so I moved to the rear end and radiator mounting.



After extending the rear frame, I added some 4 inch channel as the bottom mount.



I am getting some brackets bent up for the radiator mounting and will start plumbing coolant and trans lines while figuring out the dash. I think I have an idea, but what actually takes place remains to be seen.

[rrunner]

As a fellow v8 Triker I'm following this build with much excitement!!! Keep the pictures coming. We all enjoy a build from start to finish.

[DblTrbl]

my hat is off to you!! Great progress.

I'll stick to wrenching on bling and leave the building to guys like you!

[dusterdude]

i hope there is some updates coming on this.im very interested

[BladeDreams]

Where to start - or stop on praise???
Great Idea, welds, thought that went into this....in AW!

[Zammy]

Checking his profile, he was last on the forum in June of 2015, hope he's alright .

[JethroBodine]

Hi Guys,

Sorry for the disappearing act. A lot of things have happened since my last post, but little progress on the trike. I have bent up a bunch of stainless tubing for the cooling and located the radiator in the rear, but the cooling system is incomplete at this time. Unfortunately, I can't foresee any large allotment of time to put into her in the near future, but miracles do happen. With some significant progress will come pics, and hopefully RIDES.

[JethroBodine]

Several lifetimes full of stuff happening( 2 jobs, some medical issues, and life in general) and, finally, back at it. It is cold and wintering here in Vermont now, but I am back working on the trike. I spent some time today priming and firing the engine by splashing gas into the carb and cranking it over. Once I figured out the witch-craft HEI wiring, she fired over like a trooper. I took a video of the second firing, and posted it on youtube here; . Should be more soon. Hoping to move it under it's own power by end of April.

[FuzzyWuzHe]

Several lifetimes full of stuff happening( 2 jobs, some medical issues, and life in general) and, finally, back at it. It is cold and wintering here in Vermont now, but I am back working on the trike. I spent some time today priming and firing the engine by splashing gas into the carb and cranking it over. Once I figured out the witch-craft HEI wiring, she fired over like a trooper. I took a video of the second firing, and posted it on youtube here; . Should be more soon. Hoping to move it under it's own power by end of April.

Nice ... the beast lives

[JethroBodine]

I ran a couple wires, connected some temporary fuel lines, and got it to run... eventually. Supposed to snow this weekend, so progress might be a bit slow.

[David357]

We look forward to seeing your continued work through completion.

You will have one brawny "Mean Street Machine".

Keep it up.

[JethroBodine]

Took last weekend to roll her out into the sunlight for the first time since dragging the pieces into the shed. The handlebars are just for moving it around easier and testing the linkage out. The coolant lines are finally sussed and ready for final fit. Fuel tank is in place and ready for the roll-over fitting bung and vent tube to be welded. Going to try to take it for a lap around the storage place this 3 day weekend, but no promises.

Roll out vid is here( unexpectedly loud crashing noises are from the fuel tank straps bouncing against the tank).