Scorpion:
Technical specifications:
Engine: BMW K100 or K75 / 75hp or K1 / 120hp
Chassis: Tubular. Polyester body
Brakes: fnt:Sierra Cosworth discs, r: BMW K100
Dim: 363cm Long, 175cm Wide, 107cm Tall.
Weight: 350 kg.
Per: 90hp model: 200 km/h. 0-100 km/h -5 sec.
>> Info made possible by: Dave Norton <<
Click here for more information located at: Grinnall Cars
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The T-Rex:
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Yellow Wheeler:
Here is a man with a nice collection of
three wheelers created by him-self! Kip
simply gets a vision in his head, soon it
finds its way from his brain to his shop!
and from the shop they seem to hunt down
show tropies! Click the photo and visit
Kips other creations! It's worth a visit!
>> Special Thanks to: Kip & Marilyn Harley <<
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Red Wheeler:
This trike was my fourth attempt at trike building. Originally I wanted the trike to look like an Indy car, so I started to build it that way. But I also wanted the trike to be a two passenger, with a driver in front and a passenger directly in back. This would have made the trike too long for my taste, so ultimately I placed the driver in the left front beside the radiator and the passenger to the driver's right. Basically I used the same setup as the previous trike I'd built, but moved everything up to a position in front of the bike. This configuration worked out very well and handled as if it were on rails. My wife and I put many miles on this trike and got many smiles from it.
One day I decided to test the performance of the trike and put the pedal to the metal. The trike handled flawlessly. Even at 95-100mph the trike was very stable, and at 100mph 6" off the ground feels like 200mph. I was very satisfied with the performance. The only scary part of the performance test was that the trike wanted to go faster, but I backed off. I may be nuts but I'm not crazy! This trike worked out so well a friend talked me into building one for him.
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Kips Site seems to be gone, if you know where it is, please email me.
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"C"Cab Pickup Trike
This trike is my latest project, and I have been working on it for over a year. Except for the front suspension, the motor, trany and the obvious purchased parts, I have built this trike by hand from the ground up. This idea about building a V6 trike had been knocking around in my head for years, and one day my wife asked me if I wanted to buy another Harley or build the trike. I thought about it for a second or two and answered "the Trike!" Anyway, I needed the space in my head for my next project.
My mini "C" cab pickup trike began its life as a 1980 Chevy Citation with a 2.8 V6 automatic trany. That's about all that I used from the Citation. I built the engine cradle from scratch because the original one was so bad, and started building the trike cradle. With all the trikes that I have built I have never used any plans. I have used what I call in-process development. I get an idea in my head and develop it by trial and error. For me this way works the best!
From the start I wanted to make the trike look like an old "C" cab pickup, and to have the engine mounted mid-engine and be rear drive. I developed my own swing-arm for the rear suspension to handle a very wide tire for stability, and to handle the power of the V6. I accomplished this with the help of the guys in the machine-shop at the company where I work as a metal-fabricator. I designed the rear axle and axle mounting brackets, and the guys in the shop turned them out for me.
I built my rear wheel from scratch using a donut wheel from the donor car. I removed the center of the wheel, then split the wheel down the middle and rolled a piece of 11ga CRS steel the size of the inside of the rim. I welded the rolled piece across where the two ends meet, and cleaned up the inside of the rim. Then I tack welded the two halves of the rim to the center ring, to keep the rim as true as possible. Once I was satisified that the rim was as true as I could get it, I welded it, staggering the welds inside and out. Once it was completely welded I ground the weld smooth on the inside. The guys in the machine shop helped out again with the center and I welded it in. It worked out great!
The rest of the frame is a Ford Pinto/MustangII, using the entire sub-frame which I cut out as a unit from a 1979 Pinto. Additional frame members consist of 3x3x1/8" sq tubing welded to the Pinto sub-frame rails. The coolant lines run through the frame rails. The radiator is mounted in front in the conventional location. I found a radiator at a flea market that fit the dimensions of the inside of the frame rails. The radiator turned out to be a Volvo cross-flow. I mounted an electric fan to the radiator for cooling, and mounted a trany cooler behind that. The braking chores are handled by an aluminum Mustang master cylinder, with a stock Pinto disc in front, and a 1976 Honda Goldwing dual-disc in back. I also have a mini-disc brake set-up on my trike for an e-brake.Now let's get to the body. It's a uni-body construction, which means that the body is welded to the frame. This adds to the strength of the trike. First I built the skeleton of the body out of steel tubing consisting of 1.5"sq around the bottom for strength and safety, 1"sq tubing for the top. For ease of fabrication, I skinned the whole trike with 18ga CRS steel and welded all the seams. The doors are fabricated out of 1.5"sq tubing with a side impact protection bar. They are called "suicide doors", which means they open from the front, and have bear-claw latches. The windshield I built to tilt out for air circulation. All the gauges are VDO - the speedo is an electric unit. The seat is the rear seat out of the Pinto that I cut the front end out of. The rear pickup sides and what you would call my rear fenders, are removable for ease of maintenence on the motor, trany and rear suspension. I put bottoms on the fenders and locking hinged skirts for storage, which I think looks pretty cool. Well that's all I can think of as far as this trike is concerned.
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Kips Site seems to be gone, if you know where it is, please email me.
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Moonraker
This was my third attempt at building a trike. I was 37 and had 12 more years of experience welding & wrenching and wanted to showcase my skills. Winter was coming, and I had been knocking this idea around in my head for some time and decided it was time to make it a reality.
I found a 1978 Honda 750 SuperSport and a Ford Pinto, and proceeded to make them look like the trike in my head. I got permission from my boss to work in the shop after hours. I started by cutting the front suspension out of the Pinto in one piece. I put the car on its side, unbolted the motor & trany, and muscled them out of the car. Next I took a sawzall and cut the unibody frame just in front of the sway-bar. Then I cut the fender-wells just above the frame on both sides of the fire wall. Next I cut the sheetmetal above the frame across the fire wall, and cut the floor sheetmetal to about half-way to the seats. Then I cut the frame on both sides and the whole unit fell out. Once you have the front end out you can trim the excess off.
After I had the frame cleaned up I snapped a line on the floor and aligned the spindles of the front end with the line. I found the center line of the front end and "T"ed off from that. Then I removed the front end from the Honda and lined up the bike's steering neck by dropping a plumb line from the steering neck to the line on the floor. I lined up the center of the rear tire on the plumb line. Then I welded 2.5 sq tubing on the inside of the frame rails to the sides of the bike, and welded mounting brackets from the bike to the 2.5 sq tubing. I also used the steering neck for a mounting point.
I adapted the original cables from the bike, and used VW gas, clutch & brake pedals for the business end of the bike. For shifting I fabricated a bracket & shifter from the original shifter, which works out great. You bump the shifter back for first gear and forward for the rest. I set the bike up so the driver sits on the left side of the bike beside the rear tire, and the passenger sits on the right.
For the body I used 18ga CRS steel with all the seams welded. The body had 544 louvers, all hand punched. There were 224 on the hood, reversed to catch air. There were 9 removable panels.
This trike had handling problems, so I set it aside for awhile. I never got to straighten out the handling on this one, since a divorce settlement left her with this trike. I kept the next trike on my list. |
Kips Site seems to be gone, if you know where it is, please email me.
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