Manky Monkey Motors

If I used a chassis with a car engine mounted in line at front,how would  I transfer the power to the rear wheel? Could I use a rear wheel and parts from a shaft driven bike,then ,in basic terms,connect the propshaft from the engine to this? Im presuming they run on a 1:1 bevel box,therefore this wouldnt work? If not what else can be used?  ???

So,what about using a car engine front mounted in line,g/box/prop  and a diff from spitfire or Sierra. Weld up the diff inside,then fit a sprocket to one flange with a chain to rear wheel,then fit a disc to the rear car type wheel for the brake?

Rod when you say chassis,Do you mean car or tubular built,
If tube you could incorporate a bike wheel swingarm and suspension and stay with the shaft.

Im actually thinking summat like a spitfire chassis/engine and box,chop chassis in front of rear wheels,mount swingarm with single wheel on.Mount diff with shortened prop.

Shouldn't be to difficult then,Get some box tube make yourself a subframe to take the swingarm.
Try and find yourself a modern swingarm and wheel.

why not use a bevel box but backwards, gearbox to bevel box then chain from bevel to rear bike wheel, its far to complicated for me to work out if it will have 5 reverse speeds or 5 forward speeds, ile leave that to someone with thinking power ;)

Think the spit diff idea is better,as keeps all the gearing more or less correct.Anyways,5 mins ago have commited to a complete spit chassis/eng/box etc,picking up tamara! So here we go again! Just need to get out in that workshop again,so bored! ;D
  Gotta now research/find sprockets and heavy duty chain.May use a Metro swing arm,or poss build my own might be better.
  COMMENTS PLEASE GUYS!

whats the rear axle like ? is it on wire wheels by any chance  ;)

lol! No Mike ,frustratingly it isnt!He had already sold the wires and adaptors! Bugger! :'(

Seeing as you now have the spit chassis and running gear i think that the idea of using the existing diff is probably the way to go, nowt to lose in trying  ;D. Metro rear radius arms ar cheap and strong, one on evilbay new for under £20 at the moment. Only real probs that i can see is the mounting of the rear sprocket, as the existing hub and brakes are within the wheel and moving the wheel outwards may put excessive forces on the stub axle.  A deep dished sprocket sandwiched between the hub and brake disk might work.
Good luck, you're gonna need it  ;D

Thanks!..designed this all in my head whilst trying to get to sleep last night! ;D............
   What Im hoping to do is mount the (welded up internals) diff so that its output flanges are in line with the pivot point of the trailing arm. As far as I can fathom,this will mean the chain is always the correct tension as the arm moves up/down.Dont know how this achieved on a bike,cos dont'do' bikes! Because the diff will be in between the pivot points of the swing arm,it will need a custom built arm that has wide mounting points.I think this will be better for stability of the rear wheel anyway.
    I'll then machine up a hub to take either a Ford wheel(cos they have lots of different widths/offsets available on the same pcd)or maybe a spitfire wheel(cos that will mean one spare can be carried ) Im leaning toward a Ford wheel with Ford disc and caliper. Hopefully I can find summat that incorporates the h/brake.Will have to visit the local Ford breaker.
 The other way to go is have the caliper and disc mounted on the opposite side of the diff. This would be much easier,but I dont think a remote brake is MSVA compliant,probably cos if the chain snaps,you lose the rear brake.Gotta go research this ......
 
 UPDATE...I was right ,the manual says that the brake has to be mounted directly to the wheel/hub,as does the h/brake. I think Mondeo's have h/brake in the rear calipers.Maybe Sierras as well.

So my next question........Are 'normal' m/cycle rear axles made from some sort of special steel?

got a couple of mondeo v6 rear hubs /calipers and discs ,, ;) ;)

Have they got the h/brake attachment Mike?

EN8 is what you can use for wheel spindles and instaed of a chain why not go with a belt drive they are so much smoother. ;D ;D ;D ;D

Personally i would go for EN16T for its high tensile strength 850-1000 N/mm2 and it still machines well.

how do u replace it easily when its round a diff?

Hey Rod, why dont you save yourself the grief of "reinventing the wheel!" so as to speak, and use a shaft drive motorcycle rear wheel?, such as Yamaha's Virago, various Honda's such as the GoldWing, etc,also EN 8 or 16 would be fine, but if it's available, and of sufficient diameter, I have used various half shaft/ drive shafts, from vehicles,over the years,quite successfully, and they machine well, Morrag

Couple of pics of my current "distraction", to perhaps illustrate!....cheers, Morrag

Is that the old Triumph Spitfire front suspension from Brock's workshop Morrag?

I did think of a bike wheel,but trying to stick to car stuff so the gearing stays the same. Ive got a couple of old half shafts from my a40 farina days.p'raps they'd be ok??

OOOOOOOO im liking that  :)

Certainly is Mr M, modified now to suit the new chassis,and I'm using lighter springs of course, but an excellent basis...........Morrag

If they have the required diameter, the A40 shafts will do fine, however you might find it more cost effective to flog them on E bay, and buy, possibly, a 'bike spindle that's even the right size, or can be machined to suit. Quite honestly, should your resulting diam. be 25mm'ish, 'bright mild' would probably be more than adequate, and that's easily available, and reasonably priced, Morrag

ok Thanks for the advice.

might be a tad off topic but morags build pics brought back a memory, my dad years ago had one of them reverse 3 wheeler cars (factory built ) twas painte black with a white top half and roof, not much to go on but any idea what it was called?? if i here the name ile know it ???

Possibly a Berkley, they used three cylinder 2 stroke engines in their three wheelers, and 700 cc Constellation motors in their 4 Wheelers, Morrag

Perhaps a Messerchsmitt or Isetta, only factory ones i can think of with a roof.

was a berkley i remember now thanks morrag,  didnt know they were 2 stroke but i was around 6/7 years old at the time so all engines sound the same. thread hijac over ;)

Yeah,get back to yer 'normal' way round trike Luke! ;D

i had a lomax trike many many moons ago (2cv lump)
the two wheels at the front style handle great