I've been working on a custom project here the last month or so and just wanted to show my progress on it to you folks! Any encouragement or suggestions on what to do next or a good way to do/change something would be much appreciated!!! Basically, I got a hold of an '86 Honda Accord LXi Hatchback that had been totalled twice (rebuilt once) for $250 and decided to make it into a open cockpit trike with one wheel in the back instead of the front. Tell me what you think!
WHAT HAPPENED?!?!?!?! lol
well.......at least it's not gettin crushed....but damn, sux that it got totaled.
"If one has not failed, then one has not challenged himself.." -Ferdinand Porsche
weight reduction....haha i bet its faster
1989 Honda Accord LX-i
B18c1 swap since 7/2011
175whp and 132tq
Redzone tuned
w000t convertible 3gee FTW
1988 Honda Accord LX-i Coupe 123k miles.
Well, I took the doors off today and tossed them, as well as cut away some of the rear wheel wells and the essentially the entire passenger side of the car, but part way through I managed to zip through my power cord with my 7" angle grinder so........yeah. Good thing I have one of those "idiot proof" warrantee's that lets me get a new one without any hassle, but I cant get out there 'til tonight, so cutting progress has stopped for the week. I might get a little more in tonight, but most likely not until next Tuesday. I just priced out the fiberglass for the new body and it looks like it'll run me about $300 with shipping, and I'm still trying to find cheap tubular steel to add some torsional strength, rear suspension mounts, and to enclose the driver and passengers a little more safely in the car. Yesterday I ordered some plain plastic/foam bucket seats from JCWhitney, and they should be here in a week or two.
In addition to all that, I got a hold of the safety requirements to get this beast a title and looks pretty straight forward and simple. What I'm most relieved of is that I don't need a rear brake, as the fronts should be more than enough stopping power. This means I can do what I want back there, which is get a fatty truck tire and wheel and mount that in the rear without worrying about cables and such mating with my existing braking system. Nice....
I'll probably not post any pictures this weekend, but next Tuesday night for sure I'll have more to look at. Out of curiosity, do you all think I should use a bigger tire in the rear? I just think it would look rad, thats all. It might also take stress off my suspension and frame because of the increased flex in the larger tire, and increase the stability by giving it a larger footprint in the rear.
Ok, one more question. I've got about a week to weld on a rear wheel. I have about 4 full days to work on it, and I've got to get this pretty ironed out. With this time constraint, I've been tempted to use a hardtail suspension in the rear. In other words, no suspension, just solidly linked to the frame with a bigger tire. This would put more strain on the frame, but out of curiosity, I tried to lift the rear end of the car and could without too much effort, meaning I've got only a couple hundred pounds of weight in the rear at most (without the driver/passenger and the gas tank. After all is said and done, probably about 500 pounds on that back wheel.)
Do you think its a poor idea? Let me know, please! ASAP.
I'd work in a suspension myself. Nothing fancy, just a trailing arm setup like a cycle.
Bigger tires in teh rear on a FF drivetrain?
stick space savers on the back
For one, I dont know what space savers are. You'll have to explain that to me. For two, the bigger tire in the rear (one tire), would make it look more bad a** I think and also might absorb alot of shock from the road better than a smaller one would, taking stress off the frame and any suspension that I may or may not make. But I'm having a tough time figuring out how to make the wheel supported well enough to not break the swingarm in a turn. I've been tempted to go single sided swingarm like you can see on alot of custom motorcycles, but I'm worried that the weight of the car might hurt the setup in a turn (twist the arm). What do you think? In addition, how would you guys try to integrate a regular swingarm design with an car wheel? Do you think its possible to do it double sided? And do you think that I could build a single sided one strong enough? What would you say I would have to do to pull this off?
Tonight I removed the rear brake lines and the e-brake setup. I also removed the rest of the supports for the wheel hub on both sides and removed the dashboard. I am going to cut the rest of the wheel well off tomorrow, trim up the metal around the dash, hopefully remove the heating and AC units, and weld up the interior frame, or at least get the steel tubes ready to weld all cut to length, in place, and clamped down. A lot to do tomorrow, but within the 10+ hours I have to work on it, I should be able to get it all done. Any thoughts on my previous posts on getting the suspension up and running? I'm measuring tomorrow for the single sided swingarm and going to probably buy the steel for it and get ready to weld it up. Let me know if anyone thinks thats too risky. Thanks.
LOL matt!
space savers are the donut tires or spare tire
1988 Honda Accord LX-i Coupe 123k miles.
Ok, so today was pretty much a wash for working ON the car, because I spent the day in the car driving all over the place getting materials. I purchased a set of large 8 or 9 inch round headlights, about 40 ft of steel for the inner frame and swingarm, and a decent sized motorcycle wheel, tire, hub, and axle to weld a swingarm up and around. I'm pretty excited for tomorrow because I have a friend coming over whose skill in welding I trust far more than my own to help me weld everything up! If everything goes well, the car will be mechanically sound and sitting on 3 wheels without jack stands tomorrow evening. I'll be sure to post pictures then.
For the swingarm, all I could get that was decent was about 20 feet of 3/16" C-steel, about 1" by 2" or so. I think it will be strong enough if I weld it up right and add enough pieces and weld them together. We'll find out, though.
Because I was struggling with the single sided swingarm idea, I decided to just go straight double sided. This means that less steel needs to be used to provide strength to the suspension because it is more evenly distributed throughout the structure. I feel much more comfortable with this now.
Here are some pics that I have promised LONG ago! Sorry it took so long!
ahahhahahahah that looks awesome
awesome! never thought of a 3g 3 wheeler.
Its pretty sweet. I havent gotten her registered yet (need headlights still), but just on a little backroad test (a little road about 40 or 50 yards long), she got up to 45 mph until my wife told me to slow down. She's 8 months pregnant and since there is no rear suspension she's a harsher ride, so she doesn't enjoy it as much as I do.
odd looking little fellow lol. Nice work, but there seems to be quite a lot of sharp edges that would slice and shred pedestrians and such if they ever come near.
bawhahaha thats awesome!!! i want one!
1988 Honda Accord LX-i Coupe 123k miles.
yea when you get the process down make a "dyi" thread so we can all have one haha
Well, its nowhere near done yet. That is just the naked frame. Hopefully by the end of August it will have a full fiberglass body (to take care of the sharp edges), and I'll also have rebuilt my engine (I need to replace my head gasket and flush my radiator and fuel system) and it will be good to go! Hot little piece of work!
wow kool trike
you going to keep the pop up head lights and such?
Nope, ripped them out. I have big 6 or 7 inch rounds from an old ford that I wired in. They'll look pretty cool when they are molded into the body.
aweu shoulda kept the pop ups ah well ur car
I originally was going to make it a mid-engine trike with a wheel in the front instead of one in the back, but the firewall was looking too crazy to cut across. I took the lights out and threw them before I made the decision to do it this way. Also, one of the accidents it was in before I got it (thats how i got it so cheap) totalled the front passenger side area, taking out the headlights and everything. It would be pretty difficult for me to put in another unit there to make it work right again.
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Originally Posted by AccordEpicenter
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