Manky Monkey Motors

Finally got back to working on my own new trike frame this week.
I'd got it to the basic, bare bones stage a month or so ago, then Ska Man & I got involved in building Critch's frame & mine got side-lined. Along the way I decided I preferred the one we built him to my own & promptly cut mine up again! So it's back to tube bending, welding, grinding, more welding....seem to be permanently living in my grubby garage clothes lately.
This will be exactly the same as Critch's -solo saddle, gear change on the left beneath the rider's leg, small integral luggage rack, front mounted Reliant radiator etc. Going to experiment with a hydrauliically activated clutch arm this time. Today I finished filing the welds on the axle clamps smooth, (ish), then made up & tack-welded the top tube. I'll be using a standard Harley Sportster tank donated by Mr Critchley.
This is definitely, positively the last one I'm doing! Maybe.  ;)

Right.

 ;D

 ;D Reaching the stage now where it's getting harder & harder to work up the enthusiasm to walk across town to SkaMan's garage & spend another day breathing in grinding dust & hacksawing endless lengths of tube.
I love being creative & can't wait to get out & actually ride the damn things, but could really do with a break from the garage stuff. And I'm sure Mr Ska will be glad to get rid of me!

You need a nice CAD programme for your PC.

You're kidding! I can't understand the programmes I've got let alone CAD!
Ska Man's just given me a disc containing the entire Haynes manual for Reliants, copied from somewhere on the web. Every page of the good book, complete with oily fingerprints.

Yes, sorry, I forgot who I was talking to!!

 :P

Perhaps a nice graph pad and a set of coloured pencils, then?  ;D

Well time I retired for the night. Been flitting between here & Ebay, hunting for carbs for the Jag engine. Found a very pretty set in Denmark! Tomorrow Flap & I are off to visit Steve's wonderous workshop to have a go at furniture design -going to build a frame for that Jag rear seat/sofa thingy.
G'night all.

Me too.

I bought two sofas today - I feel like a real grown up because they're the first sofas I've ever bought!!

One for you & one for the Groove Kittens? Mine'll have headrests & a fold down armrest!

Admittedly mine won't be leather and go vroooom, but for £30 for the pair I can't complain. I suspect it'll end up as one for the Groovekittens, one for Jack TCWCTS and the floor for me and the FYM!

Ah. Jack, the cat who came to stay. Give him my best regards. Night missus.

He sends his best felicitations. Night night mister.

Feline felicitations huh?

Furry feline felicitations at that...

What a funky feline. :)
Flap & I trundled over to Steve's workshop this afternoon & spent several hours making a complete arse of building a framework for my Jag sofa. Just one of those days when it all goes horribly wrong. Managed to cobble together the basics by the end of the day so need to go back now & add some bracing, smooth out the horrendously ugly welds -oh, & make up the legs. Will use adjustable feet -the chances of us making 4 legs all the same length are pretty slim!

Jack is a dude after all.  ;) Have you and Flap got four legs of the same length between you?

No, but fortunately we have adjustable feet.

I am resisting the temptation to make a smutty remark...

 :o
Goodnight Wizz!

The last trike you'll ever build? I've said that a thousand times myself, so my reply to that silly remark is "bo****ks". It's in yer blood, Manky!

Ah, such a command of the English language!
An incurable ailment huh? A terminal tinkerer? Doomed to spend my life covered in angle grinder dust & welder burns? Spent the last 27 years like that, so you're probably right.  :(

And Manky didn't even pick up an angle grinder until he was 36!  ;)

 ;D
Was cursed from an early age. Can't even blame my parents for leading me astray cos mine were dead set against me ever getting a bike. Mind you they were probably right. Been skint ever since & still got nothing to show for all the long hours I've spent toiling away in lockups. Off to do a bit more in a minute.
Only a couple of hours worth today though. Rainbow & I are going to Bournemouth BIC tonight to see BB King & Gary Moore so got to get home & washed & scrubbed up by tea time.

Enjoy. BB King's last tour in this country I believe.

The guy's 80 now, so thought I should go see him while I still can.
Bought the tickets months ago. Typically, it falls on the night before I go back to work after a week off. Won't be home till gone midnight. Up again at 3.30 to go to work. Gonna be a weary Monkey tomorrow. :(

Mr King was truly fabulous. Well worth waiting for. At least now I can say I saw him play live. One of the greats.
Cut & tacked the seat rails in position tonight, then added a brace between the front down tubes the same as we did on Critch's frame.

Your frames seem to be getting simpler all the time.

So am I. Not sure if that's a compliment or not?!
Still got to add the uprights either side of the gearbox but just got hold of a pre-engaged starter gearbox, which is a slightly different shape from the earlier ones, so need to play with it & see if it'll fit the frame. Then I need to knock up the luggage rack/seat tubing. Filing & smoothing everything as I go so it's taking longer than usual. Mine'll be the prettiest!  :D

Longer than usual! its taken you over a year to so far  ;)

Yeah, but I have  built 106 others in the meantime.

I know all about that different starter length. I built a frame around a cx500 frame, and after cutting out the tubes behind the honda engine, I made a cradle for a Reliant lump and gearbox, but some of the honda frame snagged the starter nose.

 ;D Ain't building fun!
I've got the gearbox but not the starter itself so not sure whether to use it now -depends how much a pre-engaged starter motor will cost.

I've spent 3 afternoons with a selection of hand files, smoothing out the welds around the headstock of my frame. A seriously boring job but looks nice when it's done. Can't use filler cos the frame's going to be powder-coated. Tonight I added the triangular strengthening gussets.

very nice mr manky...

Looking good dude ! wish I had the patience to fiddle and fart about smoothing down welds.... but *uc* it :) it dont make it go any better and while your grinding & filing, I'll be riding. :);) take care, see you at B & W.

Bring cake.  ;D
I haven't really got the patience either! Trouble is once you start smoothing out the first weld you're committed to doing the whole frame or it looks odd. Only smoothing the curves. The straight lines will stay untouched.
Called in at SkaMan's garage yesterday to find the place green from floor to ceiling. He'd been sanding the powdercoat off my old handlebars. Wish I'd got a photo of him doing it -must've looked like Shrek! :D

Didn't you tell him they would blast that off before they re-coated them blue  ;D

Hee hee hee! -no.  ;D
Nah, he wanted to get them done with the frame on Tuesday morning so was saving time by prepping them himself. Now all the other trike parts are green!

naughty naughty monkey ;D

rotfpmsl

The garage was squeeky clean again when I arrived this morning. He's a little treasure with a dustpan & brush is our Nige.
A beautiful Bank Holiday afternoon & Nige, Simon & I are shut away in the garage a-smoothing & a-filing Nige's frame. I welded in some new gussets at the headstock & the base of the top tube & we've cleaned up everything as much as Nige wanted it done. Tomorrow he's off to the coaters with the frame, bars & battery boxes. It'll be weird to see it in blue instead of my trademark green. I think that's the point where I'll stop thinking of it as my old trike.
Now it's Nige's baby.

Nige works himself to a blur with the hand-file.

For various reasons I just haven't done much in the garage for the last couple of weeks. Managed to put in about 2 hours of filing this afternoon before I had to go do other stuff. I know I posted some piccies of the seat mount but can't find them now -maybe they got lost in the forum crash? So here it is again.

Today I've been filing the fill-in gusset in front of the seat. Rather than just one flat panel it's a flat strap that the seat bolts to with a triangular gusset either side. So after welding it all together it needs a little tidying up. I hate filing! It's a slow & laborious task but I'm getting there. I think.

show off ;D

You CAN use filler when powdercoating. I jut did loads on my India. You can only use Isopon Metalik (in a black tin) and make sure there are no air bubbles, and use it sparingly. Ideal for blending welds! Check with your coaters first, though. I was told about this by Adam at Aerocoat.

Forgot to add this picture. He also does an amazing finish called "Cromex".
Pictures are of the moulding on my front mudguard stays, and my front wheel. Both are powdercoated in Cromex!

Yeah, this is one of the bits we lost in the forum crash isn't it. My coaters are industrial guys really. The finish isn't show quality but fine for every day use. They've told me in the past that fillers that incorporate aluminium powder, (usually ones meant for bridging big holes), sometimes work, but they'd rather not take the risk so don't accept anything with filler on it. I kinda like the idea of it being all metal anyway. So much bloody grinding & filing though -maybe I'm just a masochist!
I do like that "chrome" finish though Chris. My trike rear wheels are getting a bit scruffy & I'm tempted to see if my guys can order some of that in for me.
So what's the Indian like to ride now then -& when we gonna get a write up on it?!

Right, I'm off to do a couple of hour's metal bashing in the garage.
Play nice while I'm gone won't you.  ;)

I don't seem to be getting anywhere with this damn frame. It is taking shape, but agonisingly slowly. Think I'll have to organise a garage party -I'll supply the tools, bring your own cake.  ;D

Did you get any work done or your machine tonight? frustrating to be working on the the damn things instead of riding them in this weather. :(

Got about a week's worth of filing to do to smooth off all the welds, then start welding on all the mounting tabs & brackets. Managed to do an hour's worth today but went out to a bike meet this evening. Back in the garage again tomorrow!

MM, ive got a cheap B&D power tool from some years ago called a power file.
Its a bit like a hand held belt sander and makes short work of grinding bach welds. Recommended

Yeah, I've often looked at 'em but never been sure they'd be man enough for the job. I think I'm starting to enjoy hand filing!

Sadist! ;)

What about using a 4.5" variable speed angle grinder with soft  flapper/grinding wheel on . I use 80 grit to take most of the weld and 120 grit to finish. With a variable speed grinder it's pretty quick. Don't buy the cheapest grinder though as the speed contol circuitry is not that reliable.


Available at B&Q

Flapper grinding wheels avaiable on ebay at around £9 for 4 discs

 ;)

Yeah, we get through dozens of those discs! That's what I use to take the worst of the weld down but they're no good for getting into corners where tubes meet unless the disc is brand new.
I've had a lot of very late nights recently & haven't spent much time in the garage, so it's my own fault the frame's not done. Like I said, getting there -slowly.

Haven't posted any news on my trike frame for ages now -mainly cos it doesn't seem to be getting anywhere.
I've been involved in lots of other things recently, plus the show season's in full swing, so it's been a bit neglected. Still filing my welds smooth & wondering why I ever started! I've plated in the underside of the headstock gussets to give a smoother look & Reg is machining me some radiator mounts at the moment -little housings with flush mounting allen bolts that'll be welded to 1/2" round bar arms on the front down tubes. Once they're on I can make up the radiator fan mounts, then gradually work my way backwards, fabricating mounting tabs, welding them on & filing them smooth as I go.

Spent the afternoon in the garage today & made up the radiator mounts from half inch round bar with recessed allen bolt fixings machined up by Reg, our local chap with a lathe in his shed. All the previous frames have used flat steel strap for these. Thought I'd have a change this time, plus I think they're less obtrusive. Only worry now is that they might fall foul of the MSVA regs that state all projections must have radiused edges to be pedestrian friendly -doesn't matter about running them over with the rest of the trike, as long as they don't graze themselves on the radiator on the way past! Maybe I could make up some sort of removable mushroom headed bung to get it through the test?
Also cut out a mounting plate for the little electric radiator fan that'll be welded to the cross brace between the front down tubes of the frame.
Progress at long last!  ;D

The sharp edges thing is carried whilst you are sitting on the trike in the riding position with wheel point straight ahead. The dolly that they use is about 1.5
metres high.

So if something above or below it protrudes further out then it will not matter.


If in doubt just cover them with something that has a hardness no greater than a pencil rubber.

Could really do with an article on what's involved in getting through the MSVA -where to start, which forms you need, how much it costs, a quick run down of the registration process.
So presumably the handlebars would prevent the roller thingy hitting the rad mounts then?

Probably? Bu t you must take into account the it's the examiners interpretation of the rules that count :-\

To be on the the safe side cover them.

I will write details that I can give on getting my last trike through the MSVA.


It' pretty easy and ignore the stories you may have heard of kitcars going through. They are tested under a different scheme that is very strict.

Trikes are treated quite gently really.



Will do it this week and you can get Yoda to post it on the site. ;D

Very much appreciated Byz.
G'night.

Spent a couple of hours in the garage yesterday but it was like an oven in there- too hot to do much except perspire profusely. Knocked up a little plate to hold the radiator fan. I'm using an electric bike rad fan of unknown origin. This'll be hidden behind the radiator when it's finished. 

Looking good, love those yokes, nice little fan & mounting plate.

Thank you  :)
Everything's cut & shaped by hand. The yokes are the same as Flap's -cost 60 quid a pair from a mate who manages a local engineering firm. No, we can't get any more done! I wanted to make 'em look a little lighter, not so slabby, so hacksawed out the front sections & then filed 'em by hand.
Using an electric fan instead of the original mechanical one on the water pump allegedly saves something like 3bhp. When the Reliants are only 40bhp to start with, that's worth doing. Main reason is cos it looks much tidier though. Might wire it to run continuously, with a cut-out relay to switch it off momentarily when you turn the ignition key. Same with the sidelights.

My fan runs as soon as i switch the ign on, but about to change it to either an inline switch so can shut it off when wanted or put a temp control on it. Also got to change the lights feed as its fed permanent live & i keep leaving the lights on  ::)

Yeah, Flap's got a manual switch on his fan. Just as easy to do I guess. Just means an extra switch in the side of the battery box. Been reading the MSVA trike regs & it sounds like you need to be able to operate the sidelights with the ignition switched off -presumably so you can park the vehicle on unlit roads & leave 'em on. A bit old fashioned -whoever does that these days? Means they'll have to be permanently live-fed though. Also got to have a means of immobilising the trike so I picked up a battery cut-off switch at the Uxbridge show at the weekend.   

You filed those yokes by hand ???  No wonder it's taking you longer than expected ;D tis looking fab though. Get down that garage and get it sorted.


 ;D ;D

That now makes sense why my dad wired it that way.

No real workshop facilities -just a welder & angle grinder. Tried grinding the ally yokes but the wheels just clogged up so resorted to hand files. Strangely therapeutic but s-o-o time consuming.
Fell asleep when I got home from work this lunchtime. Woke up at 5pm & thought it was morning & I was late for work! Takes me an hour to walk to Nige's garage & can only work till 9.00 to avoid upsetting his neighbours, so just did a quick bit of welding this evening, finishing off the rad & fan mounts. Now I've got to file 'em smooth!

Wiring means absolutely nothing to me. A complete mystery. My brother Steve & his mate wired the last one up for me.

There is no requirement to have lights that work with ignition off on a trike (Other Than Hazards). I presume it's because people could switch em on when you leave it in a carpark or by the road.

The MSVA manual's in the garage but I'll see if I can find the relevant page again next time I'm there. I'm sure it says something about them having to be on a seperate switch.

It's a testament to your skills and patience to be able to turn out such fab looking trikes in such restrictve conditions. ;D ;D

If I had the machinery I wouldn't know how to use it anyway!

I think it's that they must not operate from the ignition switch??? When I put my last trike through I specificaly asked about this before wiring up the trike and it was not required. Bikes don't need it but cars do.

The regs are fairly straight forward but there's still plenty of room for misinterpretation isn't there!
Right, I'm outta here for the night chaps. My alarm goes off in 3 hours time.
G'night all.   :)

It's can be a bit confusing. But gets easier as time goes by.

I've got a life like that.

last one I had MOT'd failed first time on the side light thing, ended up just putting a plate under the headlight with a small running light separately fed and switched, put the switch in the battery box, no regs covering it's position, and pulled the fuse once tested.

O.K, so trikes do need sidelights that can be operated with the ignition turned off, ie, not by the ignition switch -is that what we're saying? So the normal handlebar switch permanently fed would be O.K?

That looking good Andy :)

Hello stranger.  :)

As far as I'm aware but will get the gospel tomorrow.

You MUST have marker lights and a  small backup Side/Running light in the headlamp or seperate.

Your lights must operate from switches other than the ignition switch.

You must have Side light dipped and main beam.

Their  was no specification that any of the lights other than the Hazard lights have to operate without the ignition switched on.

My Last Trike that I put through the MSVA did not have lights that operated with the ignition off.

Lights do not need to be EU approved or have any other kind of approval but must visually perform to the standard of an approved light.

If the Trike is over 1.7m wide then it must have 2 headlamps like a car.

If Under 1.7m wide then a single headlamp is acceptable.

Forward facing white marker lights are required

Forward and rear facing indicators.

Rear facing stop and tail lights

Rear facing fog lamp x1

Number plate lamp.

Forward facing indicators are fine mounted on the rear mudguards or in the general area..

Stop and tail lights, indicators, and marker lights must be mounted no further than 400mm from the extreme outer edge of the vehicle at it's widest point.

(The measurement is taken from the edge of nearest edge of the illuminated area not the body of the lamp (Beware)

Fog lamp must be mounted either in the centre line of the vehicle ar to the off side.

Number plate should be mounted on the centre line of the the trike.



Finaly........ IF YOU HAVE LED's MOUNTED ON YOUR FRAME TO ILLUMINATE BITS OF YOUR TRIKE. DISCONNECT THEM. YOU MAY FAIL IF THE ARE FOUND!!!!!!

That means I have done something right then ;D when wiring the trike. dose that mean I may call my self a trike builder now.....Ha Ha

Umm, you've just stated the lights, other than hazards, don't have to operate independent of the ignition switch -so they don't have to be live all the time then?
Fog lights are only required on trikes over 1700 wide aren't they? Don't have to be fitted to narrow trikes but must work if they are.
Didn't know the number plate has to be centrally mounted -just as well I'd planned to do that anyway. Interesting point about the lights not having to be E marked too. I was worried my rear ones weren't but they're BS marked anyway.

One rear fog light required on all trikes :(

Only the Hazard lights need to work with the ignition off ;D

Quote from Chris, an MSVA inspector who advises on the 100% Biker forum:

Rear fog: Not obligatory but if fitted must be red Min height to bottom of lamp 250mm (not centre of lamp) max to top 1000mm. Must have tell tale warning lamp.

That's odd cos i'm sure he told me you had to have one otherwise i would not have bothered to fit one on the last trike. Oh Well! It's age you know

You also need tell tale lamps for indicators/Hazards  if they can not be seen from the riding position when looking forward. + Full and dipped beam tell tale lamps

Just spoke to Chris Corker. He confirmed that you don't sneed a fog lamp!!!! Arse!!! Hate the damn things anyhow. So one less job to do!!

He said that he has just had problem with a trike failing an MOT for no fog lamp!!!! But your right you don need one. ;D ;D ;D

Wasn't looking for an argument Byz! Just making sure we don't give out duff info.
I'm fitting amber lenses in the back of my front indicator shells, which should sort the tell tale lamp requirement for those. Tell tales needed for High and dipped beams? Or just high?

Quite right! ;D  I don't  wanna give out duff info either.


I believe that you need to have a tell tale lamp to tell you that the lights are on and another for the main beam.


I fairly certain that your speedo should be illuminated too when the lights are on but you might wanna check that.

It was checked at the MSVA to see that it did!

I've got a spare triangular panel in front of my saddle on the new frame so will fit LED warning lights there. Do they have to be labelled?
Got a small analogue speedo -the 48mm version of the normal 60mm mini speedos, which I plan to mount in a pod welded into the centre of the bars. Can't find out whether that'd fail on the "no sticky-out pointy bits" regulations. I know it's got to have radiused edges -mustn't graze yourself on the trike before you headbutt the car that's pulled out in front of you! Can I fit a green bulb in the speedo to match the paintwork, or has it got to be white? 

Green light for speedo is fine

You should not have a problem with the sticky out bits with the speedo.

Warning lights don't have to have labels but use the standard colours.

I used

Red/ Foglamp (That I didn't need)
Blue/ Main Beam
Green/ Side Lights/ Dipped
Amber/ Indicators & Hazards 

It passed fine.

That's posh! Have we seen that trike before? If not, why isn't it featured in the Motors section?!

Yeh those idiot lights look pretty good are they led's.
When i had my trike mot'd they did'nt check the fog, also i've got no warning light for my side/dipped lights just blue for main, amber for indicators & red illuminated switch for fog oh & red for ign.

What's the standard colours for ignition & oil lights? Both red? If so I'd better label them -Manky, easily confused Monky. :P

Rather than labeling them use a self flashing LED for the oil light and a non flashing one for ignition.

You can get other colours too and as they are not required for the Msva you can use whatever u like i would think

I'm pretty sure oil is amber.

That's just what I did when I first built the green one -red constant & red flashing. Might even still have some spare ones somewhere.

Can you get 12v led's that you just wire straight up or do they all need resistors & monting boards  ???

Halfords do various colours. 4 for about 7 quid I think. No rigid bodies to them, just two wires. They pop into a hole drilled in the bodywork of the boyracers' hatchbacks. No resistors as far as I know.
Maplin Electronics do all sorts of useful looking stuff but not sure if it's 12v auto friendly.

Sounds good, will take a look have'nt been to halfords for years.

Just dug out a flyer for these guys. They had a stall at the recent Billing rodrun.
They do a plastic dashboard mounted housing with 6 LEDs behind labelled lenses a bit like Byz's setup. 30 quid plus 4 postage. Lots of other 'leccy stuff, including some really neat little metal toggle switches with tiny coloured LEDs built into the ends.
www.s-v-c.co.uk
info@s-v-c.co.uk
08456-581251.
Stafford Vehicle Components.

Ignore the bit about 12v cos is not what you normally get on auto electrics.

Let me know what colours you want and the lead length and I will make em up for you with the correct resistors to suit your vehicles leccy system. You have to limit the current that flows through them not the voltage.

Led's are very sensitve to voltage variations. 1/2 a volt increase will up the current by perhaps 200% and will blow them.

Leds only cost pennies to buy and vary in brightness and quality quite a bit.

That applies to all in Manky World.

I have many types of leds and they vary from the tiny dim ones that show that your telly is on standby to ones that will light up your garden and will almost blind you.

Manky

Will do an article soon on the subject if you like! ;D

Ah, of course, I'd forgotten -LEDs are your business aren't they Byz! A very useful chappie to know!

Yes please Byz! A volunteer contributor! I usually have to badger 'em for months to write anything! I haven't got a garden -got any window box ones?

Nice one Byz.

That was a good link Manky some lovely old retro stuff on there reckon that link should go in the commercial section ?

 ;D

Done Mr Boarder. Did you see the LED warning light panel & toggle switches I was on about?
Byz, that's never gonna get through the MSVA!  ;D

Ah......... a trike designed like a window box???? seen a few on Ebay ;D

Yep quite tidy.

Byz did you design that for your Beetle trike, i've seen real ones in the new beetle  ;D

I've seen a trike that looked like a skip!
Bog standard Reliant cut off at waist height with alumminium fake skip body fitted over the top.

Just noticed someone stole their gazebo between those two pictures!  :D

Thats Bonkers! :D

Thats my ideal car!  Get up in the morning and some bastard has dumped a 2CV in it.

Yeah -that's why I like it! Can't see it getting through MOTs somehow so reckon they must take the skip body off once a year.
This guy's a regular at local bike meets. Not sure if it's the same one, but well known car customiser Andy Saunders built one very similar back in the early 80s. Same idea -standard Reliant with new bodywork.
He drives it in a diving mask & snorkel & Haiwan shirt. When he parks up he chucks an anchor out onto the tarmac! I've seen this out on the motorway in the pouring rain -very surreal!

Before you ask, no it isn't Father Christmas' Summer transport! That was a local toy run. I've seen another along the same lines built around a bike engined trike & called Tritanic!

Anyone remember this?
My own trike. Started work on this frame a million years ago, then got side tracked by successive projects & just kinda lost sight of my own.
After riding Flap's big orange Flapster at the weekend I really want to get back on 3 wheels now. Obviously mine'll be far prettier than his, but I'd forgotten how much fun they are, in a basic, lumpy, bumpy kinda way, (I've known a few ladies like that over the years ;) ).
The Honda's sorted now & just awaiting a new speedo cable before I MOT it, so time to get back to welding, grinding & filing.
Spent a couple of hours in SkaMan's garage this evening getting reaquainted with it. I've actually forgotten where I'd got to!

Hey Loony,
I want to keep the mint green colour I had on the last trike. Powder coat for practicality & durability, but I fancy adding a twist this time, just to be different.
Can you blow clear laqcuer with a splash of greem metalflake in it over the base powdercoat colour, without obscuring that mint green completely?

Certainly! Can put the flake on as heavy or as light as you like. Could also use green pearl?

Together? A glam rock trike! Just a dash of flake to liven it up'll do nicely thank you.  :)

I just thought of the pearl as it is like a super fine mettallic that only really shows in bright sunlight. But I think flake is the stuff to have! Hot rod tiki do Roth flake in a rather fetching green or I can get house of kolor.

Bloody painters! Always want to show off!
This Roth green? Hot Rod Tiki's link is in our Links page by the way.

Just giving you some options mate! Dunno if thats roth green flake or not?

This is the colour the new frame will be -same as the old one. Don't want to go too blingy, but would like to vary it somehow. Metalflake laqcuer's the favourite at the moment, or maybe some simple black hotrod pinstriping on the tank?

Bit of flake and some traditional striping, you cant go wrong!

Both? We'll see! I'd better get on & build it then.

Yep! come on chop chop! ;D

More like trike, trike.
Got some errands to run today & off to Braintree this evening to collect some doors for my van, but will be in the garage all day tomorrow, promise.

Good boy! :D Im having a days break from the horrors of vw restoration.The last bug was a nightmare! >:( Back into the spraybooth tomorrow though!

Been sat indoors all morning, waiting for a courier to arrive. He's just been & gone so I'm off to the cake shop!  ;D

Good call! ;D

These are the two Roth green flakes for your perusal.

Would have to be "Ganggreen" but not sure if it'd clash with the base colour.
Got sidetracked yet again this weekend into doing other things but will be locked in the garage every day for the next week, trying to make some progress on my frame.

Managed to break our trusty ol' welder this morning. Poor thing. It's pretty battle scarred. Gets dragged round the garage, kicked, stood on, sat on, sprayed in grinding sparks. Suprised it's lasted this long actually.
The hose sleeving had broken away from the torch so it was held together with masking tape. This morning the wire feed packed up. The wire was snagging inside the torch so I took it all apart, poked it & prodded it a bit, then found the little motor that feeds the wire up the hose wouldn't work. Bugger.
Took it to the all powerful Reg on my way home -"I've broked it. Can you make it better -please"  My best pleading look obviously worked cos he rang me an hour later. All mended. Thanks Reginald, you're a prince among wiring chappies.
Apparently a transistor/resistor circuit board thingy had bust & taken an internal fuse with it. Ah yes, just as I'd suspected. So ready for me to collect tomorrow -ready for another couple of years of garage abuse.
So no welding on my frame today. Busied myself with making mounting tabs for the tank & doing a bit of filing, then had a visit from SaddleBags this evening. Nice to see you mate -& many thanks in advance for sorting out my footrest mounts.
Ain't it nice to have good mates.   ;D   

Its getting there! What yokes have you got on it? I dont think Ive seen them before?

They're mine -all mine! You can't have them. So there!
Saddlebags made 'em ages ago. Via his boss, Doug, he knocked up 3 sets, one for Flap, one for Simon & one for me. I didn't want anything too ...slabby, so spent ages hacksawing & filing them to a shaplier shape.
Then Saddlebags said this evening he could've done that in the first place in half an hour!  >:(

Thats looking good Manky, looks like you're putting the rad at the front this time.  The Pea Green Beastie's was at the back wasn't it? with the coolant running through the frame?

Yup, twas.
Just trying to simplify the design as much as possible -less to go wrong! The water in frame design worked fine. SkaMan's still using it now that the green beastie's gone blue. He did 300 miles up to Hereford & back on it last weekend. The reason I broke down on the way back from the Cambridgeshire TrikeFest show with you was that the cylinder head bolts had worked loose! Nothing to do with the cooling system at all. 
I just wanted to pare the trike down to the least possible number of parts, so a rad on the front is the easiest option. Flap's got his at the front -but on flat steel plate mounts, not the pretty hand crafted round ones I've got. Next job is to make some matching arms on the bottom frame rails to hold the brake & hydraulic clutch master cylinders. I'd planned to mount the speedo in a pod welded into the centre of the bars, but was talking to Nige earlier & might try & mount it in the triangular panel between the seat & the tank instead. Depends if the speedo cable can be routed tidily or not.
Found yourself a Reliant to play with yet? Got an engine's worth of bits here if you fancy stripping & rebuilding one.

No, I think I'd end up with one of those "unfinished projects" that you see everywhere.  I shall settle for admiring the trikes on here for a while yet.

Not man enough for a mighty Reliant eh?! :P

"Mans gotta know his limitations"

Ya wimp!
New trike's gonna be the same pea green as the last one by the way.
I've been talked out of metalflaking it -too blingy.

Sounds like pea greens gonna be your trade mark

Think it already is. It's an industrial powder-coating colour used on children's playground equipment. So's the orange on Flap's trike & Ska Man's blue is used on factory shelving units.

Hi manky nice to see you last night i have to say the new manky frame looks even better in the flesh,especially mocked up with engine in situ,ska-man and you were like a couple of formula one mechanics when assembling it .Coming to see you has just increased my desire to build my own now and will have to see what i can do to get going,if you pm me your mobile ill call you when ive made your bits or will you be in the garage all this week cheers mate.

G'wan, g'wan. Get building mate.  :)
I'll be at Nige's garage for the rest of the week but best ring first to make sure. Hoping to go out on Sunday & take some piccies of Flap's to feature on the site but haven't heard from the guy who offered to let us use his hotrod workshop as a backdrop. Also looking for ideas of somewhere nice locally to photograph Ska Man's.
I've PM'd you my mobile number.

hi mankster made your pedal shafts and your mounting pieces today just your bushes to do tommorow ill will call you tommorow evening.

Great! Thanks for that Sir.
I forgot I need a tank mount too. Can you PM me your mobile number so I can give you the dimensions? Just a tube to weld through the top frame tube to take a mounting bolt. It's mild steel, 15mm O.D 8mm bore, but not sure of the length. Will check it tomorrow lunchtime when I get to the garage & text you. If that's O.K?

"A Monkey on a Pea Green Trike"..... we know a song about that, dont we boys and girls.

its ok, ive got my coat on :(.............................................................................bye ::)

hiya andy long time no speak as it where..

frames looking very nice and itll be probably finished before our ems too.... ::)

keep up the good work...

I actually had to spend an evening in Nige's garage refamiliarising myself with my trike this week. It's been sat there, unattended, for so long I'd genuinely forgotten where I'd got to with it. Really looking forward to riding it when it's done. Don't intend building another -at least not for myself, so trying to get it as right as I can. Don't want to be sat on it thinking I wish I'd taken the time to do that bit properly. Planning on just building it & keeping it for ever & ever.  ;D

love the tank btw ;D

 ;D Yeah, thanks for your contribution to the trike's reincarnation!
Got round to cutting off the tank mounts & making new ones this week & this evening I welded in & filed smooth the front mount on the top tube of the frame. "SaddleBags" called in this afternoon with the freshly machined footpeg & pedal components.
I'm trying to be methodical & work my way backwards on the frame from the headstock, welding & smoothing everything as I go.
It's a long, slow, tedious business.

gotta log off now mate take care

and in the words of arnie..."i'll be back" ;D

We'll be here.
You take care eh?
See you later. ;D

Been tinkering in the garage again this afternoon. Finished filing the front tank mount on the frame & welded new mounts on the tank itself. Then I cut a fill-in panel to blank off the front of the tunnel.
I've been through this before on a previous thread when I did the same on Rainbow's trike. The Sportster tank will sit up off the frame so that it's underside runs parallel to the frame tube, which means there'd be a gap at the front -hence the fill-in panel. Rather than trying to weld a flush fitting panel in & risking distorting the paper thin tank with the heat of the MIG welder, I prefer to make a feature of the tunnel shape by welding to the raised seam around it which is much thicker. Tomorrow I'll sand it smooth.

I'm sure I don't have to tell you this, but just in case, do not weld a tank that's recently held fuel! Even if you've drained it out. In fact especially if you've drained it out. Petrol liquid burns. Petrol vapours explode. This tank's been stood empty with the cap off for a very long time.
There's also a new crescent shaped gusset between the two uprights that meet at the back of the tank & triangular gussets where they join the bottom rails -did that make sense?

Been busy doing other stuff today but managed to get the front of the tank smoothed off.

Manky loving your work should get those other parts to you real soon, snowed under at the moment.

That's great, thanks matey.
Not exactly a super fast production line is it! Every part hand crafted. Untouched by human hand -built by Monkies. Tomorrow I'll weld on the footrest mounts you made.

Andy is that a standard rocker cover just blasted?.

Paul

Would look nice and industrial if it was done with scotchbrite pads. Sandblasted might be a bit harsh? Hows the supercharged beastie comin?

Been waiting for you to ask Paul!
No, it's one of a batch of special aluminium castings the Reliant owners club had done. Cost me 50 quid as I remember from a member of the Hull branch. He was into trikes & advertised for members for his branch, many moons ago in BSH. His name's John Metcalfe & the number I've got for him is 07811-347996. How organised is that! As well as looking nice, being solid ally it doesn't bow out of shape when you tighten it down like the standard pressed tin ones do. No, you can't have it!   
Also came with 2 shouldered mounting nuts that don't leak like the originals -I've since replaced them with the ones in the photos, which are Mini radiator grille buttons. The filler bung was machined by my mate Reg. The original one featured a built in breather pipe fitting but it wouldn't fit under the tank on the new frame, so I had a new, shorter one made & will fit a breather direct into the side of the rocker cover.
   

I drilled a big 'ole in me trike frame this evening, then spent 2 hours filing it bigger.
Been thinking about where I was going to mount the speedo. The original plan was to weld a pod into the centre of the bars but once I'd sorted out the basic frame dimensions I ended up with a triangular space in front of the saddle, (necessary to get the seat far enough back for my long legs). Had thought about putting the warning lights there, but today decided to fit the 47mm mini chrome speedo there instead. Most universal aftermarket speedos are 60mm. This is the more expensive mini mini one.
So I had to bore a hole through the 1/4" steel strap that forms the seat mount, then file it out to the correct size. Got blisters on my filing fingers now. Looks good though I think.
I spoke to "Speedy cables" today, (their number's in the Links for commercial purposes bit). They can make me a 90 degree speedo cable fittiing for 35 quid, plus a recalibration unit for 45 quid, plus VAT & postage. That'll enable me to run the speedo off the gearbox rather than the front wheel. Will be one less cable on the front end, requiring only a very short one going straight down from the guage to the gearbox below it. 
So the next job now is to make up 2 more gussets, mocked up in the bottom photo in masking tape, to hide the speedo body.

I'm thinking of using coloured LEDs, mounted down the curved tube between the tank & seat, as warning lights.

Isn;'t it better for warning lights to be somewhere nearer your line of sight?  Was just thinking they could be a bit distracting down there....?

Yeah, the other option's to mount them flush in the centre of the bars, as Flap's are, although I'm sat quite low so they'd be visible down there without needing to take my eyes off the road. On my Honda I've got a flashing red LED for the oil warning light, specifically to draw my attention to it should it light up.

Hook the oil pressure switch to a klaxon! You'd never miss it then! ;D

Hmm, yeah maybe I cou...No!  :D
You usually only get a few seconds warning of imminent disaster with those oil lights anyway. Just enough time to pull the clutch in & coast to a halt if you're very lucky. The trouble with LEDs is that most are ultra sensitive to residual current. Only takes a tiny amount of juice to light them up. Ska Man's high beam LED flickers when the lights are off due to current "leaking" into the system.

We'd planned to ride up to London this morning to grab some snaps of Flap's trike for the website & take in a leisurely breakfast at the Ace Cafe, but the miserable weather put paid to that idea.
So it was back to Ska Man's garage as usual. I'm actually spending longer here than my own flat at the moment. When friends want to visit they go to the garage now.
Spent most of the afternoon filing welds smooth around the nose of the saddle. I've added a new pair of gussets here but as one edge is straight & the other curved, they sort of buckle in the middle. An odd shape to work with & a bugger to get symetrical.
It feels like I haven't made much progress lately -just endlessly filling & filing the same bits. So this evening I varied things a bit by making up the footpeg mounts & welding them on. "SaddleBags" machined the shafts for me & made the bushes that'll press inside the pedal pivots. The turned aluminium pegs are actually the passenger ones from my last trike. I made up a couple of 1/2" shoulders, then welded the footpeg shafts into them before welding it all to the frame. More smoothing to do now.  :(

.

.

Made a start on the clutch & brake pedals today. They're 1/2" round bar & will weld to the pivots that SaddleBags is machining for me. Haven't got any means of bending short off-cuts of bar so I cut a wedge out of them & whacked it wiv a big 'ammer, then welded it up again. I'll weld a flat 3mm plate to the T pieces to take a standard car pedal rubber.
Once these are done I can move on to the clutch & brake master cylinders & their linkages.   

Hi there Manky good progress on the frame ive finished your pedal mounts and your other tank mount and tried calling your mobile but got no reply call me when you read this i dont want to hold up your trike project especially because youve just got going again.

Have sent you an email Sir.

Had a visit from Saddlebags at Flap's garage this afternoon. Thank you for the foot pedal parts for my trike matey. I'll be covering them in big lumps of weld tomorrow & filing them smooth again afterwards.
Hope you enjoyed the test ride on Flappy's tricycle? Fun ain't it!

Still grinning and haven't stopped talking about how great it was and how well it went and how good the handling was and most importantly how much i want one,really depressing driving away from it though, what a fine piece of machinery you must be proud.

Yes, we're very proud parents  ;D though neither of us dared look as you shot off up the road on it!
They're deliberately basic & mechanically simple cos that's what makes them fun.
Can't beat the buzz of haring around country roads in the sunshine on one.  ;D

That trike is just too nice to keep inside Flap needs to put some serious miles on her and some mudguards for the winter outings.I surprised myself bringing it back id normally be disappearing over the horizon.

Still a few bugs to iron out but reliable & perfectly capable of eating up the miles.
We'd appreciate your engineer's expertise to tidy up that brake pedal linkage & eliminate the free play when you next call by please.
After you left we made a paper template for the removable pillion pad. My job tomorrow morning is to reproduce it in steel plate & weld on the mounting studs so, Hopefully, we can get it upholstered in time for Santa Pod next weekend. 

Nothing to report today, so no piccies.
This afternoon I cut out the base for Flap's trike pillion seat -why was I doing it while he was sat at home? Probably cos I want to perch on it next weekend to go to the drag races at Santa Pod. Cut it from 2 1/2mm steel sheet. It'll sit on top of the luggage rack. Later I welded 4 stainless 8mm bolts to it that'll drop through holes in the rack to secure it with wing nuts so it can be added & removed without the need for any tools. Suprisingly, between us, Flappy & I managed to drill the requisite holes & fit 4 bolts & they all lined up perfectly.
A successful job then -apart from me setting fire to my jeans with the angle grinder  :o
Squirted some black Hammerite over it & tomorrow we'll pay a visit to our friendly local upholsterer.

The base of the pillion seat was measured to fit Andy, 'tiss a rather large piece of metal  ;D ;D

 :(
Apparently I'm not the svelte 7 stone slip of a lad that I thought I was.
The words "self-delusional" were used -among other more descriptive ones.  :'(

Have you welded those pedals yet Andy or are still in shock at the size of flaps pillion seat?though i have to say chunky would be in keeping with the trikes theme lol ;D

Yeah, I'll do my best to look chunky while riding on the back of it!
Erm, no, not welded yet, but will be tomorrow, honest! A bit fiddly to set it all up & weld it alone. A 2 monkey job really, so I'll enlist Flap's help tomorrow. Haven't burnt him with the welder for a few days so time I did again.

Right. I've got a deadline now.
Nige has been storing his trike in a borrowed, rented garage while I've been in semi permanent residence in his own garage. He's got to hand it back at the end of the month so needs to move his beloved blue beastie back -so I need to be welded, smoothed & outta there.
Obviously my fellow Monkies will all pitch in & help me -won't they? 

Slotted the frame & welded in the rear tank mount this evening.

Are you going to move out of my garage as well by the of the month.

ha ha ha ha ha .....no.

Hi MM, so I'm not the only one that can set fire to himself with an angle grinder then. I've done my jeans, two tee shirts and a jumper..... what a prat, will I ever learn? Still it adds a bit of excitement eh!

Don't encourage him K, he's only playing for sympathy!

 ;) ;D

Is he attention seeking well......................... maybe I am too ;)

Attention, yes - sympathy, NO!

 :P

Nobody loves me   :'(
Flap once burnt a 6" hole in his bestest jumper with the grinder. Dangerous things in stoopid hands!
Tonight, after workiing on my Honda at Flap's garage, I nipped across town to Ska Man's garage. Another garage, another project.
I made up & welded on the rear petrol tank mounting tabs & re-worked the front ones a little to follow the line of the top tube better.
Then Saddlebags arrived, bearing gifts. He bored the pedal pivots he made last week to accept the pedal arms I made, so tomorrow I can weld them together, (forgot to take a piccie). He also brought back a spare Reliant cylinder head which I gave him yesterday -skimmed by 10 thou' & fitted with a specially made adaptor to take the "Moon" water temperature guage Brock brought back from America for me. 

Pedals.
Lovely machined pivots are Saddlebags'. Big, lumpy welds are mine.

Only put in a couple of hours in the garage this evening, so both pedals welded up & one filed back down. There'll be a 2" arm welded to the underside of the pivots to link to the pushrods of the clutch & brake master cylinders. Hopefully that'll give enough swing to fully operate them.
The pedals pivot on ally bronze bushes, courtesy of our new bestest mate, Saddlebags. The rubbers are an unknown autojumble find.

That frame's lookin' very smooth mate.

Thanks -I was tempted to have Lunatic spray it up in clear lacquer with a hint of green metalflake in it, so you could see the metal underneath, just so everyone would know it's all steel & not just done with body filler.
Probably end up with the mint green powdercoat I had before though cos it's cheap, very hard wearing, (I intend to do some serious mileage on this baby), & I just happen to like the colour.

when i used to make obscure candlestick holders etc out of old chains etc. i used to spray them with old battery acid and leave them outside for a fortnight in the rain etc. and then when they were nice and red an furry i,d  lacquer them gave a really good antique effect

Yeah, rust is the "in" style for ratrods at the moment. I think it looks great, but I like the ultra smooth look on my trike. Brock & I keep talking of spraying the fibreglass body of my rod project in faux rust.

Mr Mankey, are you going to have a build section on here for the rod build when it starts? as I'm planning a rod build myself so will find it invaluable.
(sorry for the hijack :-[)

That's the kinda thing I'd like to do - except I was thinking more of sculptures from old bike parts!

Sorry for the further derail.........   :-*

Maybe we should go into business together then Bobbi cos I'd love to do the same once all the current projects are out of the way.
I really enjoyed making the sword for Summer & Gypsy's wedding
http://www.mankymonkeymotors.co.uk/Tech/sword/sword.htm
Building bikes is fun but once in a while you just need to do something different. I'd love to try a monkey head sculpture.

Shaun, the rod project was supposed to be a quick thrown together rat -over a year ago. Still gathering parts but got most of the major bits.
Time & money are stopping it at the moment. I seriously doubt I'll be able to get it registered for the road though cos the SVA testers would laugh at me in a fenderless, belly scraping ratrod. So unless you happen to know someone with a spare 1920s/30s Ford logbook it's likely to be built just for traillering to race meets & maybe dragging in -which tempts me to build it even more radically!
Yes, a build diary here once we start.

you'll have to dig the bas***d out first, still , it keeps the door from swinging all the way open and me from having to wade through the nettles to get to it

Err, yes. He means the motor's been sat a little while outside his workshop & is currently providing shelter for all manner of wildlife. The body's also cluttering up his workshop.

Ska Man, Flap & I spent several hours yesterday evening buggering about with the trike gearchange. I'd wanted to have it as short & stubby as possible & tucked under my left knee. Wouldn't work. No matter how we tried, mocking it up with offcuts of 1/2 inch round bar tack-welded together, we just couldn't find a useable combination of bends & bar lengths that would put the gear knob where I wanted it. It either fouled on the frame or wasn't the right shape to get the required leverage to change gear, or just looked wrong. It'll work, just not with the stick where I wanted it.
So back to the drawing board. Another hour or two & we've managed to get it working with the stick coming up through the triangular panel between the nose of the saddle & the back of the tank. Being much shorter, there's far less travel between the gears -at one point I'd convinced myself I'd just have to forego reverse gear cos we couldn't find the clearance to be able to use it.
No piccies but I'll try & reproduce it in fresh bar this afternoon & trim the triangular panel back to clear it, then post some pics. Mr Saddlebags, if you're here, I'd like a nice shiny cover plate with the gearchange gate milled into it -can that be done?
So now I've got to find somewhere else to mount my speedo. :(
 

And I only grabbed hold of the red hot, freshly welded gearstick once, which is pretty good going for me.

As the late great Benny Hill would have said.

"Siry iriot"       

As Manky said -"Owww, bugger, that's HOT!!"

*Sigh*, well this afternoon plan B was abandoned & we reverted to plan A!
Having hacked a big chunk out of the frame in front of the seat, so that the gearchange could come up through it, we decided it just wasn't gonna work. It fouled the frame in 3rd gear & reverse would need the nose of the saddle cutting back about 2 inches. Hmm, maybe I could run it with just 1st & 2nd, like a drag bike?
Bugger. So back to the side-mount stick idea. It works for everyone else -I've seen Reliants with all sorts of weird gearstick shapes -they must work. So we started with the box in 4th, which was the one that fouled the frame last time we tried. Tacked the stick on with plenty of clearance around it, then tried the other gears one by one. Success! It now has an S shaped stick, with quite a long drop off the top of the gearbox, then a short upward bend. That puts the gearknob comfortably under my left knee, though the length of the stick exagerates the movement between gears. There's a long travel across the box from 2nd to 3rd & back again -the knob moves about 3 inches, but nothing I can't get used to pretty quickly.
A bit of a compromise but I now have the gearstick where I'd originally planned it & all gears, including reverse, work fine.
So now I've got to weld a fill-in panel back in the big hole in front of the seat! 

Brock's emailed me some sketches of a super-dooper remote gearchange linkage involving all kinds of rose joints & rods that he tells me would eliminate the amount of travel between gears, but I couldn't make head nor tail of it. I've asked for a drawing of it fitted to the engine, where it might make more sense.
The shift works O.K, but just doesn't move in the direction I expected it to, plus there's 3 inches of travel between 2nd & 3rd gear, across the neutral position. I checked in my van on the way home tonight though, & the Fiesta gearstick moves about 3 inches too. You just don't notice it when it's vertical. It's also got a return spring that stops the stick flopping to one side, which I might try on the Reliant box.
So, this evening I cut an in-fill panel to replace the chunk I cut out of the frame yesterday & welded it in place. A bit of filing, & opening out the speedo hole, & it'll be good as new again.
I also spent some time on the Harley silencers I'm going to fit on my Honda Sabre. I was given the pipes for nothing after the bike failed the MOT for being too noisy, but the previous owner had fitted a reducing sleeve in them, which I needed to get out. It'd welded itself to the pipe with the heat of the exhaust & refused to budge. In the end I had to make up a T handle & weld it to the inside of the sleeve so I could knock it out with a hammer. Got one done & will do the other tomorrow, then they can be fitted. A couple of odds & ends to tidy up & the bike can go in for a retest.

looking good.

Thank you.  ;D
Deegee, I spoke to Yodie about the Trunk Monkey video link you sent in, (a series of American TV ads featuring a chimp who lives in the boot of cars to act as security. There's one in the Miscellaneous bit of the main site). He say running all 6 here would eat up too much bandwidth & that the site you sent the link to has suspended the videos, probably for the same reason. We've got a couple of video clips here, but they do take up a hell of a lot of space.

OK, shame but there you go.

That is really looking something special mate.

 ;D Bloomin' taking long enough!
I was saying to Ska Man this evening, this should've been back on the road last year sometime, but I've been constantly sidetracked into other things so it's just been pushed to one side. He agreed it should've been done ages ago -but that's cos I've been virtually living in his garage for so long! Thanks Nige. ;)
I like the very simple, uncluttered look myself -not into over complicated, designs, so this is as basic as I can make it.
Another design change tonight though. I've decided to bin the speedo mounted in front of the seat & go for a handlebar mounted pod, because I haven't got the room for the cable drive off the gearbox as that's right where I want to put the battery box. So that means I've got to fill in the roughly speedo sized hole between the seat & tank. Think I'll mount a couple of warning lights there instead.

manky i use a transit gear lever cut down and welded to the reliant cut down lever as the transit lever is tapered it doesnt bounce about when riding like a straight bar does just bend to siut the person thats riding it i usually get them to sit at the back of knee in 3rd and top of thigh in 4th same result about 3" off movement

Hopefully mine won't bounce too much once it's in gear, it's just got a lot of travel between 2nd & 3rd, across the neutral position, but that seems to be normal.
Spent this evening filing the ripples out of the plate between the back of the tank & the nose of the saddle. It's been cut & welded half a dozen times now. Final set up -cos I'm not doing it again. 3 warning lights. There's a hazard warning one here that I won't need cos I'll fit lenses in the back of the front indicator bodies to act as flasher warning lights.
There'll be a high beam, oil & ignition warning light. These ones are labelled with pictures & came from Stafford Vehicle Components at
www.s-v-c.co.uk

.

Hey Andy, that's really startin' to look good now mate.

I'm a very slow worker but it'll get there eventually.
Tonight I made up mounting tabs for the Metro handbrake & welded them to the frame. Not quite as straightforward as you'd think, cos it had to be within the line of the frame tubes to avoid fouling the gearchange, but not in the way of the exhaust, plus it had to have enough travel to give a minimum of 3 clicks when it's pulled on. In the end I used the angle grinder to cut an extra tooth on the ratchet to eliminate the wasted travel at the start of it's movement.

This afternoon I nipped over to the "Motorists Discount Centre" in Newbury & bought a 14" long "Cherry Bomb" silencer for 25 quid. Si's black Reliant uses one of these & though I haven't heard it, Ska Man reports it sounds nicely deep without being excessively loud. We'll try it on Ska Man's trike tomorrow.
I can't run the dead straight high level pipe I'd hoped to cos it'll foul the gearchange, so I'm going for a "normal" down pipe, running along parallel to the bottom frame tube, with an S bend kicking it up over the gearbox mount cross-member to exit over the top of the axle.

The silencer's going to need a heat shield over it to stop me melting my jacket on it -or leaning back while stood at traffic lights & welding my hand to it, so hopefully Saddlebags can roll me a length of 2mm polished ally sheet, which I'll secure with countersunk allen bolts screwed into threaded "feet" that will be welded direct to the exhaust.
This is it so far.

I like that a hell of a lot  :D :D

It's very... petite. Sporty looking in a compact sort of way. I'm pleased with it. Starting to think about colour coding it now. Everything will be powdercoated either this mint green or gloss black, with polished ally bits here & there. The frame, yokes, bars, tank & headlight will be green. Engine ancillaries in black, as well as axle, mudguards, battery box, gearstick, headlight brackets, pedals etc. 
This was my last one by the way. I kept the motor, front end & rear wheels from this for the new one.

Looks like Nige has been tidying his garage up, is he getting ready to kick you out at the weekend.

There's room enough for two trikes in there now, but I've got to be on my bestest behaviour & not shower his in grinding sparks. Or pinch bits off it.

looking rather good andy...

O.K, this afternoon Ska Man & I bunged the front end in my trike -partly cos I wanted to check everything sat square & level & that the yokes cleared the tank etc, & partly cos I'd forgotten what it looked like on 3 wheels & needed some inspiration. I'm happy with it.
I made up & tacked on a couple of tabs on the back axle. They stop the axle turning or sliding in the clamps.
Next job is to sort out the pedal Assemblies so I've mocked up the master cylinders to see what mountings I need to make for them. They have to hang at an angle so that the arm on the pedal can move through an arc to operate the cylinders cleanly.

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dont wear yer filing arm out i got a job vacancy fer a filer!!! ::) ;D

 ;D S-o-o much cleaning up to do on this frame! I keep thinking how little time I've got to get this built & registered before the MonkeyWorld run in April.
4 months. 16 paydays. Sounds a lot if you say it fast, but it'll soon go. I'd better get filing!

Been chatting with Brock via email. Really not sure about the master cylinder hanging at that angle. Just looks wrong. There's a certain amount of leeway in the pushrod that operates the cylinder piston because it's ball-ended. I'm wondering if it'd still work if I brought the cylinder down almost parallel to the frame rail? I'll weld the arms that Saddlebags made to the underside of the pedals this afternoon, then try & tack weld on a mocked-up bracket to see what happens.
Someone emailed me the other day to say they learnt a lot from following the thought processes behind the builds, rather than just seeing the finished results.
-As you can see, there's not a lot of thought involved. Try it, then if it looks wrong, try something else!

But the thought processes are involved in WHAT you try!  And how.  I can see what they mean, cos it;'s interesting to me too, and I've never built anything & prolly never will!
When you know stuff - as you do from your own experience - you don't realise how much you know, and how interesting it is to others.

Oh yes, I was forgetting -I'm a genius aren't I!  :P
Hurry up & book that welding course Bobbi, then come & give me a hand!

Another change of plan!
After a visit from Saddlebags & his equally knowledgable brother this evening, we've decided to shorten the arms that drop down under the pedals as we don't need that much travel on them, & lift the cylinders as well as pushing them further back, which will reduce the angle they hang at. No photos again I'm afraid, but as soon as he's machined some linking rods I'll mock it up & show you.
Every time Mr Bags visits the Manky garage he talks himself into more work! I think he's beginning to realise we're not actually as clever as he first thought! Got to screw as many machined parts as we can out of him before he discovers he could build his trike just as well without our "help"! :P

I'm sure you will be able to work off the immense debt,i still need a frame to stick all my bits together yet. ;D

Ooh, bugger.

I used up the last few feet of 1" bore tube this evening to make the bars for my trike.
The ends will be 7/8" to take Japanese switch gear -Saddlebags, if you're listening, I need a couple of mild steel sleeves to take up the difference in tube sizes please. I picked up an old set of bars from an autojumble for a fiver so have cut the ends off. The finished big fat trike bars will be powder-coated green.
They'll sit on 1" tall risers, which keeps them more or less level with the top of the Sportster tank. That looks right &, more importantly, feels comfortable. I think I'll make a pod from 2" bore tube to hold the speedo & weld it to the front of the bars.

Whats this, a change of plan. No straight uncomfortable bars anymore.

Well, they're sort of straight -if you squint a bit. Maybe.
I could still make them uncomfortable though. The grips will actually finish up exactly where I'd envisaged they would; I just thought I could get them there in a straight line from the yokes. Nige tried them against his ones on the blue Reliant after I'd bent them & they're almost identical. Understandable I guess as both sets were tailor-made to be comfy for me.

I ordered some exhaust bends from Demon Tweeks last week & they arrived today, so I've made a start on slotting the system together.
I bought a pair of 1 3/4" 45 degree bends & a 500mm straight section. That will sweep the pipe up around the gearstick to meet the Chery Bomb silencer.
First section's trimmed to length & welded to the silencer.

Or maybe I should just have a stack of straight through drag pipes?!  :D

Looking Awesome, soon be finished and ready for next year's events.



 

God I hope so!

Mr Saddlebags & his mechaniccy brother, (sorry, I can't remember your name!), arrived at Ska Man's garage last night with Byzmax in tow. Must've been standing room only in there. Sorry I missed the party guys, but I was laid up at home with a twisted ankle. Being a Postie those sort of injuries are common & don't get the chance to heal so I was keeping off my feet for the evening. Still a bit tender but well enough to visit the garage tonight.
Mr Bags had machined the connecting rods for my pedal/master cylinder set-up. Tonight I made up the mounting brackets for the cylinders & tacked one in place to see what it looks like.
Erm, don't think I like it.
The whole point of using hydrauilic cylinders was to get rid of the long connecting rods we normally have running between pedal & cylinder, but now they're longer than ever! Don't like the angle they run at either. It takes your eye off the horizontal bottom frame rail & just looks wrong.
Had to try it all in place though or I wouldn't have known, so not wasted effort. Just need to rethink it a bit. Maybe it'd be better if I could run the connecting rod on the inside face of the frame rail, between frame & engine? I'd like to keep the cylinders where they are, but inside the line of the frame.
Ran out of time to do any more & will be in Poole tomorrow working on Mr Toad's frame, but will have a think about this. 

I like it. Whilst I understand what you mean, having the master cylinder away from the pedal makes it look cleaner.

Twas a shame that you could not make it last night.

Yeah, sorry Byz, I didn't realise at the time that you were there as well or I'd have made the effort to hobble over.
My scruffy frame's not up to your standards I'm afraid, but should scrub up O.K
I'm planning on using a pair of tiny plastic remote reservoirs, mounted on the frame behind the cylinder head, for the brake & clutch, so will be able to run the hoses for them inside the frame uprights either side of the gearbox. Mounting the cylinders where they are means their bulk is hidden by the triangular frame gussets behind them. Just looks tidier than having them sat out in the middle of the bottom frame rail. Which is all very well, but they still need to be connected to the pedals. Brock suggested using cables & reverse linkages, but I'm not keen on cables -they always stretch & need adjusters & end stops for the outer cable & stuff.
I think I'll probably move everything inboard of the frame, but will need a tidy linkage to transfer the pedal movement from outside the line of the frame to inside.

Wouldn't call your frames scruffy! Think they are very tidy.


Don't like cables either.

What about a bell crank?

Care to explain that? If I use an arm curving under or over the frame tube, it'll reverse the pedal action from pushing to pulling won't it?

Well what I was thinking was have the bar from the pedal running parallel to the bottom rail to behind the master cyclinder and have the cylinder mounted facin toward the rear and a bell crank mounted from the lower frame rail.

It would make a feature if made from stainless and would keep the rods parallel to the frame  eh?

Ah, a reverse linkage thingy. Similar idea to Brock's proposed cable setup. Trouble is then it encroaches into the limited space I have to mount the battery box on the righthand side & will almost certainly foul the exhaust on the left.
I'd rather stick with rods so may have to use a cranked rod running under the frame. The problem with that is you lose some of the direct pushing force. Never seems to work as well as a straight rod.

Emailed to me by Brock, a nice little site, clearly explaining various mechanical linkages, including Bell cranks.
http://www.flying-pig.co.uk/mechanisms/pages/bellcrank.html

Manky i know its a bit severe but what about cutting off your footrests and remounting them above your frame high enough so your conecting rod runs parrallel to your frame.

ARGH!


                           -no.

Just for an idea. This is how i mounted my brake M/C on my previous trike.

Maybe use a BMW front brake master cylinder as they are cable operated, thats what I use but converted to  10mm stainless rod with brass adjusters  and stainless ball ends.

Brock & Saddlebags both visited the garage last night & the joint decision was that I'll use a straight rod, running parallel to the frame tube, with an S bend to step down to meet the pedal arm. Tidy & simple.
Rather than make sleeves to take up the difference in diameters between the main part of the handlebars & the 7/8" ends, Mr Bags simply turned some new end sections with larger diameter ends that are a tight push fit into the bars. They extend 3" into the bigger bar & I've drilled & plug-welded them in place, before filing the welds smooth.
Ska Man & I spent ages working out what angle looked best to mount the bars at, then I welded on the 1" tall risers. The finished bars will have a speedo pod welded into them & will be powder-coated green. I've got a simple multi function switch on the left of the bars with a similar sized throttle unit on the right. Now I'm wondering if they should be stripped & powder-coated black?









 
 

As usual, didn't achieve a lot on the trike tonight.
Been having starting problems with the van, which the Post Office workshop chappie tracked down to a duff alternator. So Ska Man spent the evening crawling under it, fitting a replacement by torchlight, while I handed him the spanners. Thanks mate.
So just a little filing of the handlebar risers tonight. I've welded a pair of 12mm nuts to some washers then welded them into the bottom of the risers to form captive mounts, in the same way we make the engine mounts. The stainless allen bolts will be recessed up into the underside of the top yoke.

Busy doing other stuff today so although it was my day off, I only got half an hour's worth done in the garage this evening. Time enough to cut a semi circle out of the front of the bars & weld in a lump of 2" bore tube. I'll cut it to length tomorrow & clean up the welds then weld a plate across the bottom to form a pod for the speedo to sit in.

So how have I spent my Christmas Eve then - making paper chains? Carol singing? Jingling my bells?
Nope, fixing Flap's busted Landrover & working on the trike.
SaddleBags offered to make me a new set of nicely machined yokes but having put so much effort & time into carving my own to shape I think I'd rather keep them. The speedo pod will be recessed back into the top yoke so it sits level with the front edge. Nice simple idea but meant another afternoon of hacksawing & filing to create.
Flap & I chain drilled out the rough shape last night, then Ska Man hacksawed it out for me this morning, before I took over & filed it to shape today. Needs a little more fettling to get the curve symetrical but looks good. Ever tried hacksawing & filing 1 1/2" thick ally? Takes bloomin' ages.
If you're reading this SaddleBags, I busted a drill bit off trying to drill the handlebar mounting holes. Can you drill 'em out for me any time soon? 

.

.

Back in the garage this evening, I cut out & welded an end cap on my speedo pod thingy.   

i want one

One what exactly? I'm off to visit Mr SaddleBags in his Shiny Thing Grotto again later. He's drilled the top yoke to accept my bars.

one of your frames

Ahh. Much sought after they are.  ;)
We've got to build one for Mr Bags in the very near future, down at Saddlebags Enterprises inc. Gather your parts together & we could build 2 at the same time. What's the chances of us getting the parts mixed up & fitting your axle to his frame?!

There is absolutely no chance of getting any of my parts mixed up with anyone elses,mine are shiny!!! ;D

 ;D
Get back to work you!
Many shiny things to make, you have.

Hey, I forgot to ask this morning -what magic did you use to remove that drill bit I busted off in my yoke?

 :o    :o    :o    :o

got engine gear box tank yokes axle prop electrics need forks and front wheel

Must be someone here with spares?

Well, one step forward & another back tonight. That's about normal really.
Collected my yoke from Mr Bags this afternoon. He's drilled it for the handlebar bolts, with countersunk holes so the allen bolt heads finish flush with the underside of the yoke. Then he's countersunk the top face so that the risers slot into the yoke, rather than just bolting to it. Very nice.
Then I buggered it up. Screwed the bolts into the risers. No problem. Unscrewed them. Argh! One came out easily but the other jammed. No idea why -like it was cross-threaded but it went in O.K. It ended up seizing completely. Couldn't even budge it with my favourite hammer. Could've given it back to Mr Bags to drill out & retap for me but it was easier to just cut the end off the riser & make up a new captive nut. That's done so I'll weld it in tomorrow & be back where I was before I started tonight. Ho hum.
Anyway, here's a couple of snaps of the story so far.

I've taken the fork top nuts off to remove the top yoke, so the front end's sunk a few inches in these piccies.
Not really much more to add to the frame now.
Master cylinder mounts.
Clutch slave cylinder mount.
Battery box mounts.
A bit of filing & general cleaning up then it's ready for powder coating, but while it's all together I'll also make up the handbrake cable mounts that will weld to the axle & the steering stops on the bottom yoke. Also the master cylinder reservoir mounts that will bolt to the top of the gearbox.
It's getting there -slowly.

Its looking good keep positive you will have it finnished in time.
Just one question though where do i sit when you take me for a spin once it is done ;D ;D ;D ;D  ::)

thats looking fantastic mankster, loving the handlebar mounted speedo,i  feel some idea snatching is about to happen  ;D ;D ;D ;D

Thats coming along nicely mate.

Just a tidier version of the speedo mount on Flap's trike really -told you mine would be prettier than his!
Bugger, wish you'd mentioned it earlier, (about a year ago). Id've added a pillion pad just for you Ms T. :(

 ;D ;D ;D didn't know you a year ago. bummer. oh well ;D ;D :'(

We'll knock up a trike for you in our lunchbreak at the garage today. No problem.

 ;D ;D thatnk mate love you for ever honest ;D ;D

I may hold you to that. x

I always said those posties get too long a lunch   :o ;D

hi was somebody asking you for reliant spares only i just bought 3 , 2 complete runners , 1 for bits only missing carb and rad got to fetch them down from bishop auckland in a few weeks so let me know whats needed and i will see what i can sort out cheer spanners 8) 8)

There's always a demand for running gear so don't throw away anything useful if you've got the room to store it. If it's not needed now you can guarantee it will be the moment you chuck it out.

will try to strip and save all relevent bits but short of space plus her indoors and father up at yard says no more scrap if anyone needs owt give me a shout cheers spanners

Axles seem to be getting scarcer & we can always make use of engines & boxes, even if they're only for spares.

reliant runing gear is getting scarce because of one mad dutchman called hans something he's buying it all to build and rent out little stockcars called rebels >:( >:(

Rebel Racing. Yeah, we had a link to their site somewhere. I was told they'd moved on to Fiat's now.

no still reliants acording to andy mr stockcar fan down the village he was asking me for bits for hans but he won't be getting any from me because trikers are more deserving ;D ;D

Have to applaud the man for that!

 8)

please could you let me have details of your trike seat  only i'd like one like it or simerlar for mine 8)

have you got a rough idea of how it will cost to powder coat yuor new trike frame  :)

The seats are just large universal sole pads, made by Zodiac, High Level or one of the other universal bolt on custom parts companies. Ours were bought from Aztec Bikes, who's link's in the Links page of the main site, but I'd imagine Wynne at JW Motorcycles would stock them too. His link's in the same place.
We bought the first couple for 40 quid each brand new from Netley autojumble but they've gradually crept up to about 70 in the shops now.
Personally, I don't think any other seat looks right on a hardtail trike frame.

The frame & yokes usually cost around 100 quid to be shotblasted & powdercoated, though Ska Man's was a little more cos it took them 4 hours to blast the old powdercoat off!

Got lots of little bits & pieces to finish on the frame now. Saddlebags made these stainless pedal connecting rods for me but they don't run parallel to the frame, so he's making new ones. The master cylinders are on & I've finished the other pedal.
I've decided to make my own battery box, rather than farm it out to Devon Tony of the 100% Biker forum as I'd planned. It's quite a complicated shape & easier to make than explain. I've also started on the rear mudguard mounts -clamps that will bolt to the axle with tubular struts welded to them.
The forks have compressed in this piccie cos I've taken the forktop nuts off.

the frame looks really good, and should look the biz when its powder coated.
How high up did you have to mount the brake master cylinder resovoir? If its too low does the front brake slave cylinders bleed back?
Gareth

monkey. i've given up waiting for those pop up caps.off drag specialties and i'm importing them myself from another supplier. i have 5 left and 8 right ones on thier way. so should be contacting you shortly ;)

(http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m185/dracken1/popupcaps-1.jpg)

Is "Hans" from the midlands somewhere?? name is familiar there cant be too many of them linked with Rebels, he may be the guy that makes the 4 branch manifolds for the Reliant motors fitted into the Rebels.

thats him but can't find his contact detail at the moment, will ask andy mr stockcar fan when i see him

Hiya Lobo. It's a closed hydraulic system so it shouldn't make any difference where the cylinder's mounted. Certainly never noticed a problem. The original plan was to mount the master cylinder right behind the pedal, as most aftermarket forward controls are, to do away with the long connecting rod, but it just looked wrong. Much tidier now.
Mr Dracken. Nice to see you here. Hope it's not just a fleeting visit. Not sure which cap I need. My Sportster tank's got a vent pipe from the filler neck to the underside of the tank, so presumably an unvented cap would do.

Didn't spend long n the garage this evening so just cut & welded up the rear mudguard mounts. These will be drilled for 6mm bolts & will sit over the axle tube. They'll bolt to tabs welded to the axle, then the mudguard struts will be welded to the top of them. That way they'll be detachable from the trike so I can powdercoat them black while the main frame will be green.

a single cap tank will have a right hand thread. and the right hand caps are vented :)

One of those for me then please -or two if they're cheap enough.
Why left & right hand threads on the same tank? Ahh, I guess that stops you from putting the unvented one where the vented one should be. Would be easier if they were all vented though wouldn't it?

How much Draken ? could do with a pair myself, if cheap enough.

They were about 40 quid each from Dracken's original supplier.

The axle clamps are sorted, just need to weld the corresponding tabs to the axle tube then go buy some more tube for the actual struts.

This evening I made a start on the battery/electrics box.
On Flap's trike we made two equal sized boxes, one either side of the frame, joined over the top of the prop shaft. I can't do that though because my exhaust fills that space on the left hand side. So I've got to make the biggest box I can in the available space on the right. This needs to hold the battery itself, plus the starter solenoid, the fuse box, the ignition switch, a couple of toggle switches & maybe some relays. It's gonna be a tight fit. The various components also need to be accessible -the fuse box, for instance, needs to be somewhere I can easily reach it should one blow. The MSVA regs also say the switches shouldn't protrude beyond the line of the frame, unless they're foldable or guaranteed to snap off in the event of a collision. So I think I'll mount the toggle switches, (hazard warning lights, sidelights & radiator fan), on the rear facing side of the box & maybe the ignition in a recessed tube or panel on the side. I might hardwire the fan so it's running all the time, but the sidelights have to be operational independantly of the ignition -ie, when the ignition's switched off, presumably so you can park on an unlit road & show sidelights.
The sheet of 2mm steel plate I thought we had turned out to be 3mm but will do the job. It will sit on mounting tabs, rather than hanging from brackets, so the extra weight isn't a problem. Tonight I hacksawed out the bottom panel, which has a slight fold to follow the line of the frame, plus the front facing bit. The side & top will probably lift off in one piece to give access to the battery & the rear facing panel will be removable to access the fusebox. The finished box will be powdercoated black.

You can do it Andy, 4 months at the rate your going and you should be done. Is there anything you need that I can machine up for you?

3 months & counting. I don't know how long the whole MSVA registration process takes so want to be up & running by the start of April. Thanks for the offer matey. I'll shout if I think of anything!

It'd make more sense to make the whole side panel removable wouldn't it, rather than part of it plus the rear facing bit. I'll have to weld a lip all the way round the opening to attach the removable panel to. That'll need to be about half an inch wide, which'll make getting the battery in & out very tight. I never seem to have enough room for a decent sized 'leccy box.

Right. Box made.
I've decided to have the whole side as a removable panel, so I'll create a lip around it that'll push over the edge of the box, then secure it with 6mm button head allen bolts, screwing into captive nuts welded inside the box. That'll give me the maximum sized opening to get the battery in & out.
I'd thought of angling the front panel forwards to follow the line of the frame upright, but when I tried it, it just looked wrong -it created a very sharp sticky out front corner. It also would've filled the space below the curved gusset that I plan to use for the remote reservoir for the brakes, plus blocked access to the gearbox filler plug. So practicality won over form & I settled for a square sided box.

The various panels were measured up & copied onto 3mm steel sheet, using my best Blue Peter paper templates. Everything was spot welded together & checked for squareness before lots of short tacks were added, rather than long seam welds, to minimise heat distortion. Rather suprisingly the finished bullet proof biscuit tin sits perfectly flat & level.

Welds sanded back. I made perfect razor sharp corners but this is going to be powdercoated & the coating doesn't like sharp edges -it tends to bleed away from them, so I rounded them off with a hand file.
Hopefully enough room to fit everything in. The ignition switch will be in the removable front panel so it'll need enough extra wire to allow the panel to lift clear of the box, or preferably a multi pin plug so it can be unplugged. The bottom of the box isn't bowed out of shape, it kicks up slightly to follow the line of the hardtail.
Sorry about the scruffy workbench -I used the steel sheet I usually stand stuff on to photograph it to make the box!

I've also welded the tabs to the axle for the mudguard mounts to bolt to. I could only reach the top face of them though so the heat of the weld has pulled them upwards. Once everything's stripped down again I'll weld the underside & knock them down square with my favourite hammer while they're still hot, then radius the corners.

So. The story so far.

Manky!

The switches can protude from your leccy box as the sharp edge/protrusion test is done with you sitting on the trike so will not cause a problem!

 ;)

hi manky is that little battery big enough for the pig lump?? :-\

Thats a nice little frame MM. It looks even smaller than ours, bit of a squeeze getting some of the bits in mind. ;D

That's good news Byz. Nice to see you back by the way. How did the VW MSVA go? How long does the whole registration process take? Think I'll mount all the switches in the front panel then & try to connect them all to one big multi pin plug so I can unplug it when I lift the lid off.
The battery's a 14 amp hour. This one's actually dead & I'm just using it as a template to build around. Yeah, it's fine for everyday use, but if you leave the trike sat unused for a couple of weeks you sometimes have to jump start it. Fine again once it's done a few miles though. We've all treated ourselves to one of those battery jump start/booster pack thingies cos they were being sold cheap locally, so will keep them in our garages charged up in case they're needed. Reliant batteries are smaller than most normal car ones but much bigger than bike ones & I just haven't got the room.
Compact & bijou' TT, compact & bijou'.

not to keen on small batterie's so i think i'll end up using a 7 plater like's on an old mini ,very cheap and plenty of power in reserve :)

Spent the afternoon in the garage with Mr Flap & Mr Ska Man today. A successful day's Monkeying. Flappy cut, shut & welded a jolly nice little propshaft, using the one left over from Rainbow's GS850 project from last year. Amazingly, the finished prop's spot on. 7 11/16" long, to be precise.

Meanwhile I took another look at that battery box.
I wasn't happy with the protruding pointy front corner. It didn't look right. So, completely ignoring the valued advice of my fellow garagers, I hacksawed a lump off the top of the box & replaced it with an angled corner section.
It now follows the lines of the frame much better & doesn't stand out half as much. I'm very glad it worked out O.K cos they'd never have let me forget it if it didn't! The lid's reshaped too & just needs attaching now.

Been proof-reading Flap's Back Street Heroes trike write up tonight, but earlier this evening I was in the garage & finished prettying up the battery box lid. It has a 10mm lip around it that sits over the box. Eventually I'll line the lid with a sheet of rubber to form a weatherproof seal.
To stop the battery moving about I've added a plate across the inside of the box. This might also prove useful for mounting some of the 'leccy components to. The battery compartment will also be lined with rubber.
Next job is to make some mounting tabs to bolt the lid to.

.

 ;D looking good  ;D

Fank U.  :)
It'll need a small miracle to get it ready in time for the MonkeyWorld run in April but I'll keep plugging away at it.
The ignition & sidelights/radiator fan/hazards switches will fit in the angled section of the box lid.

A few wires and its done?? surely ;D ;D ;D ;D

wire's and bit's=  electrical knitting ;D ;D

An awful lot left to do -& don't call me Shirley. ;D

3 mounting tabs made, with 6mm nuts welded to the back of them & fitted to the box to secure the lid. Couldn't put any further forward because I wouldn't be able to get the battery in & out. The lid's 3mm plate though so I don't think it's going to flap about. Also a few 6mm bolts welded inside the box to mount the starter solenoid & fusebox.

Lid fitted & ignition key in place. I'll use a multi pin plug on the back of it so it can be unplugged when I remove the box lid.

Next job is to make the mounts to fit the box to the frame. I also have to fit a couple of toggle switches next to the key for lights on/off & radiator fan, as well as a hazard warning light switch on the rear facing side.
The tubes are bent for the mudguard struts now so will try & get them sorted this week.

just a thought andy? cant you put a tab on the end of the lid. and a captive nut inside the box?

Yeah, been there, thunk that.
Once the 3 bolts are tight, (they'll be nice shiny button headed allen bolts when it's finished), the lid doesn't move at all. A tab on the outside would just look a bit untidy I think. I'm going to mount the box to the frame with 2 bolts through the underside so they'll be hidden. Would be a shame to have tabs & things showing.

I made up some rear light mounts & last night Nige & I set them up & tacked them in place. Then decided one was in the wrong place & cut it off again.
They're 2" lengths of tube, with a flat mounting plate for the light, welded directly to the back of the axle clamps. The light wires run inside the tube then drop out through a hole underneath. The idea is for them to follow the line of the frame so it looks like the seat rails continue straight through the clamps.
The MSVA regulations say the rear lights have to be within 400mm of the outside edge of the vehicle & a minimum of 250mm from the ground. Mine will be roughly 350mm to the centre of the light & 270mm off the deck.

Hi Manky.


I think the lights need to be 350mm off the deck. Measured to the bottom edge of the illuminated area! I will check in the morning and let you know.

Ooh bugger. I'm sure we read it as 250 in the manual. I'll check it again at the garage tomorrow. Mine are 270mm to the bottom of the light. If necessary I could make a temporary bracket to lift them for the duration of the test.

Bracket would be easier as i don't thing nige would like his hand being welded to it again  ;D ;D

He was offered a welding glove to wear while he held the light in place but was too macho to wear it!

 ::) typical  ;D

The good news is that we are right with brake and tail lights the mim is 250mm.

The bad news is the indicators shoud be min 350mm.  BUGGER!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :( :'(

 Don't need gloves, I can take it  :'( :'( :'( .

 They did not help you, when your jeans started flaming ;D

Yup, wise safety tip -never set fire to your jeans.
Hmm, looks like I'll be shopping for another set of lights then -or taping over the indicator lenses & using the side repeaters on the ends of the mudguard stays as the main indicators during the MSVA test.

I'm planning to fit oval car side repeaters, as used on Ford Escorts, to the front rear mudguard struts, to act as front indicators. So I could do the same at the back. That'd be well within the measurements. Wonder if just removing the indicator bulbs from the rear light units & taping over the orange lens would get it through the test? I'm also not sure if the lenses of the rear lights count as reflectors or whether I need to fit seperate ones, & if so how big they have to be.

Phone your local MVSA test and ask, if they don't know answers nobody will.

Very true. ByzMax uses the test centre at Yeading, near Heathrow for his trikes. I think that's run by Chris, who posts the MSVA advice on the 100%Biker forum.
Simple solution to the light dilemma is to make a temporary plate that bolts to the frame bracket, with the light bolted to the plate, to lift it the extra 100mm for the duration of the test.
Once it's passed, (I hope!), remove the plate & bolt the light back on the frame bracket as it is now. As far as I know, there's no similar requirement to test the height of lights on the normal MOT, but even if there is, it's no big deal to keep the plates & put 'em back on once a year.

Correct Manky. The mot only checks that the lights perfom properly.

Chris is the MSVA tech officer and works out of an office in southampton.

If you want his phone number I can PM it to you. ;D

Yes pleae. Might come in handy for future reference.

And you say about my spelling  ;D ;D ;D :P

Quote from MOT manual.

Lamps required by Regulations to be fitted to a vehicle to indicate its presence and width when viewed from the rear.

They must show a steady red light to the rear, visible from a reasonable distance.
 d. are not adversely affected by the operation of any other lamp

e. are not obviously out of position.
Note: The precise position of obligatory front and rear position lamps is not part of the inspection, but check visually that the lamps are at about
. the same height, and
. the same distance from the side of the vehicle.
 d. adversely affected by the operation of any other lamp, eg dual-function lamps on foreign vehicles

e. obviously incorrectly positioned

Well spotted Tazet.

That's pretty vague isn't it. Shouldn't be a problem then once the MSVA's done.
See you later Nige.
Did I really write that Tazie?
I do apologizzze.

 ;D ;D ;D :P

VERY expensive & hopefully waterproof push button hazard warning switch added at the back of the leccy box, plus small plastic toggle switches for the lights on/off & radiator fan.

Wish my hazard switch was somewhere a bit subtle like that instead of sticking out of one of the side panels.  When I leave the trike parked I'm always afraid I'll come back to find someone's switched on the hazards and flattened the battery!

Yeah, I'll be the same with the light switch. The black toggle switches on the front of the box are for the radiator fan -I was going to hardwire it so it was continually running, but thought I'd rather have some control over it, plus the on/off for the lights. The MSVA regs aren't very well worded on that, but as far as we can make out, the sidelights need to be operable with the ignition turned off. So the switch on the box front will be live all the time, then I'll switch from sidelights to low & high beam with the handlebar switch.
The hazard button couldn't really go anywhere else. The bit inside the box is quite bulky so it had to fit around the other components in there as best it could. Cost a whopping 20 quid from Vehicle Wiring Products but does look good. 

Haven't posted any pics for a while, mainly cos it doesn't look any different. I've been sorting out bits & pieces -like ordering the rear axle driveshaft bearings, getting the wrong ones, (there's 2 different sizes), sending them back, taking stuff to Mr Saddlebags to be machined etc.
Spent half of today posting off merchandise, buying new hand files, replacing the empty welding gas cylinder, going back to the welding supplier when I ran out of welding wire, etc etc.
Anyway, everything's welded to the frame that needs to be now, so it's just a matter of smoothing it out & checking it over prior to powder-coating. All the wiring & brake hoses will run inside the frame tubes so Nige & I spent one afternoon this week deciding where everything would go & drilling holes. Bet it comes back from the coaters & we find we've forgotten one!

very very nice trike mr manky ;Dkeep up the good work ;)

Looks great Mr Monkey! I do like the single seat with a rack look. What is your target date for on the road?

Not as pretty as your tricycle Pie.
We've always said you can clip a temporary pillion seat onto the luggage rack, but when we tried it on Flap's it was the most uncomfortable seat I'd ever sat on! Probably fine for a short-arse girly type, but not for a hefty 6 footer. You'd have to design the seat height & size into the frame shape to make it comfy, rather than just being an afterthought.
Personally I've got no intention of carrying pillions on mine. Always hated having passengers -I get very self conscious knowing there's someone looking over my shoulder & start fluffing gearchanges & stuff! Twice the weight on a little Reliant trike really knocks the edge off the performance too. I've changed girlies a lot in recent years, (hopefully the new love of my life is a little more permanent), so in future they'll need their own transport!
Target date was some time last Summer I think, but a million other projects got in the way.
Really, really hoping to have it done & registered in time for the MonkeyWorld run at the end of April, but that may be wildly optimistic. We'll see.

 :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'(

I used to get an indicated 110mph two up on mine with camping gear (5 tents etc) and a really good run up ie from here to the otherside of Bristol about 45 miles and it was witnessed not bad for a Reliant 850

Keep going it'll be finished soon

Yeah, but you also blew up several Reliant motors if I remember correctly mate!
I've had about 90 out of my green one by pushing it hard & really working it in every gear, but to be honest it's happiest at around 70 -75 & so am I. Don't need high speed to have fun on a trike.  :)
Gonna have to get you a trike of your own Tazzie.  ;)

Get your own done first  ::)

Yes Boss. :-*

You still here  ;D ;D ;D

Only blew the head gasket or two honest!

O.K, I get the hint. I'm orff to the garage. Later dudes!  8)

can we have some up to date piccy's please and some more details on powder coating   coulers/price's   weve got one local but i think he's exspensive    £40 for a kids bmx frame in black  and it wasn't posh

We're off to the coaters next week, (still finishing the smoothing of the welds at the moment), so I'll take some snaps of their workshop & get some details on colours & prices. Our trike frames cost something like 100 quid, shotblasted & coated.

you being a postie an all that what would it cost to send a trike frame from
say south manchester to basingstoke  for powder coating

WE use A & C Shotblasting in Newbury, Berkshire, (01635-523775).
No idea on the cost of postage -I'm a delivery Postie so don't have any dealings with the collection side of the business. Probably cheaper to use someone like Fed Ex.
Or may actually be cheaper to find someone with a small van & pay their petrol.

try this! its what i use for largish bits! ;)
postvan.com

  :) ;) :D ;D :o 8) ::) :P  :-* andy  were is the table4 ur diet coke an jaffa cakes they r not fattin  so u will av to build a table 4 thm 2 go with ur seat  jane , peter  :) ;) :D ;D :o 8) :P :-*

My little helper  ;D

Well I try to help  ;D

Tazet loves power tools  ;D

Mines nearly painted but once Iv'e learned to weld properly Ill be doing my next frame the weld and grind way.

I recon I just want to finish this one in time for the NABD rally and am rushing a bit to get it done, but hey it is my first go ;D

I took a few bits & pieces to the powder-coaters this afternoon. They've got the shade of green I used last time in stock so I'll be going for that again. Hoping to take the frame down on Tuesday cos it's my day off.
One of our trike frame's is usually 80 quid to shotblast & coat but because we've put so much time into smoothing it all, I don't want them to blast mine to bits with the shotblaster so I'm having it etch primed instead, which takes the cost of the frame up to a still very reasonable 100 quid.
I'll take some before & after shots as well as a few snaps of the process if I can.

Hi Andy, would one of these help with the filing?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Carbide-Burr-Rotary-File-3mm-Shank-DOUBLE-ENDED_W0QQitemZ290078776479QQihZ019QQcategoryZ112399QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem  (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Carbide-Burr-Rotary-File-3mm-Shank-DOUBLE-ENDED_W0QQitemZ290078776479QQihZ019QQcategoryZ112399QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem)

Maybe. I've tried all sorts of files, rotary & otherwise, but still end up doing it all by hand. Nearly done now anyway -& I'm NEVER doing it again!

Those poxy bits that I've been doing for you have been taking longer than the frame grrrr

Ain't trike building fun.  ;D

yeah ish.  ;D

" I'm NEVER doing it again!"

I've heard that from so many people a thousand times along with "I'm never going to build a fast bike again"

We'll see 

im never doing it again, i seem to recall saying that 6 bloody times!!!! er indoors just laughs when i say thats it no more, :D ;D ;D

Mr monkey,
i know you've said your nearly finished with the filing and you probably already know about them but just in case you don't, have you used the flap discs for grinders? i've done all the bits on my trike using one and they're bloody excellent!
they're not as vicious as a grinding wheel (80 grit) and they have a radius on them so you can get into quite tight spaces.

i donated a dremel  ;)

I have some dremel sanding tubes you can have, they are great for radiusing welds ;D

We've got through dozens of flap wheels over the last couple of years. Handy things.

doe's flap mind                                   you using dozens of his wheels ;D ;D ;D ;D

Where is he when I need a hand with me filing though eh? Buggered off hasn't he. He claims he's on manouvres with the TA but I reckon he's just avoiding getting his hands dirty.

I offered you my services for today but you were off out. He doesn't want me anymore  :'(

No I'm not off out. I'm going to the garage.

We've heard that before!

So did the frame go to the powder coaters today?

What do you think ::) ;D

No  ;D

You know him so well(http://www.websmileys.com/sm/happy/671.gif)

The parts I took to the coaters last week aren't ready yet. Won't be done till Friday, so I'll take the frame over then.

 ;) ;) ;)

well i take my hat off to you tazet. ;D mr manky you must be one of the lucky,est blokes around i wish i could get my misses to help me, good on yer girl ;) ;) ;) ;D

Thanks dynatrike, just doing my bit to help. He was going to let me do a bit of welding too but I refused just in case I messed it up. Will have a go on another project. If he lets me  ;D

Yep, I'm lucky -& nope, she's not practising on my trike!
Maybe on the Pop.

Anyone remember my trike? It's been languishing, unloved in Ska Man's garage for several lifetimes now.
Finally decided to pull my finger out & get it off to the powder coaters today. Rang them up -they can't fit it in till early next week.
Bugger.

I was wondering what was happening with it.

Will you have it put together for the southwest show?

How long do the powder coaters need it for?


Looking forward to seeing it

It'll certainly be up on 3 wheels by then -& green.
We usually use A & C Shotblasting in Newbury, Berks, but they wanted to blast the frame before coating it. I don't want to risk them blowing chunks out of my carefully filed joints, so will take it to Pro Coat, a slightly more expensive coaters in Newbury, who did the green coat on my last trike. They're happy to take it in polished bare metal but want it delivered the day they coat it in case it oxidises in storage. Turn around is usually about a week. I'll try & take some piccies of their workshop & write a little piece on coating for the site.
I've got really bogged down in this build. Been involved in other people's trikes & various other projects & after the frame took so long to rub down I just got disheartened by it all. I'm sure everyone's been there at some point. Now the show season's getting underway I really want to be part of it though. Followed Ska Man, Flap & Simon on their trikes to WheelsDay on Good Friday & really, really wanted to be out there with them, instead of watching them from inside my van.
I think once it's green & I can start bolting bits together the enthusiasm will flow again.
P.S Loony, sorry mate. Sheer weight of public opinion's persuaded me to go with powdercoat on the trike, rather than metalflake paint. I'll give you my Pop to paint instead.  ;)

Thats ok mate! ;D I was a little worried about how long the clear would last on the bare metal, all the cars ive seen done seem to start to rust after about a year. Powder coat is going to be a lot harder wearing and more practical.

It'll be more in keeping with the uncluttered, minimalist look too.

Woo hoo!
Woo, hoo, hoo, hooooooooooo!!  ;D
FINALLY delivered the frame to the coaters this afternoon. We just about managed to stuff it in the back of my old Fiesta van & trundled off to Newbury with it -it's been a gorgeous day here so Tazet & Ska Man followed on the blue trike.
I'm using a different coaters to our usual guys. Pro Coat coated my last trike in my trademark minty green & were happy to coat the new frame without shotblasting it first, so I've given it to them.
It'll be ready tomorrow!!
OOOH, I can't wait!  ;D
I've promised Aston Martin the owner of Pro Coat, (yes, that is his real name), that I'll put together a piece on the intricacies of coating for the website, so will use my frame for before & after photos. Watch this space.

It'll take about 5 kilos of powder to coat my stuff -imagine a couple of bags of sugar. About that much. This is a 20 KG bag.
Fortunately they had the shade of green they'd used last time in stock.
Thanks to the vagaries of digital photography, this looks absolutely nothing like the colour it'll be by the way! It's actually a deep mint green.

This still doesn't properly show the colour -looks more turquoise than green here, but trust me, it's jolly green -like the giant.
Frame, axle clamps, tank & Bates headlight 180 quid. More than I'd pay at our normal coaters, but I guess you get what you pay for. Paint is usually about 25 microns thick. Powdercoat's between 70 & 100. This has been etch powder-primed then gloss primed. Aston put his digital paint thickness tester gizmo on it, (about the size of a tape measure but cost 700 quid!). My stuff's 195 microns thick.
I've asked him to jot down some notes on the whole coating process & we'll do a little write up for it on the site.
Now the frame's safely home, the next job is to fit the headstock bearings. I've ordered them from bikebearings.co.uk, (see the links for commercial purposes bit here). Janie_Postie lives nearby so is collecting them this afternoon so I can pick them up from her at the local bike meet this evening. Once they're in, Saddlebags will measure up for a new steering stem & wizz one up on his magic trike parts making machine, (I hope). Then the yokes & handlebars can be coated in the same green.
Meanwhile I need to get the engine mounting plates & sump & all the other parts that have been scavenged for other peeople's projects coated in gloss black. I also need to pull out the clutch arm from the gearbox, get it coated, then refit it to the opposite side of the box.
Lots & lots & lots to do.   :(

Mr Manky & Mr Aston Martin.

Looks very good! nice and smooth, obviously well worth all that prep time.
Hopefully mine will look half as good as i'm going smooth as well, although, unfortunately, it's at a bit of a standstill at the moment.
Looking forward to all the build up pics, good luck!

Looking good Manky. hope you get it put together for the southwest show.


More pics as you get it done please!

Looking very very good. Have you got your scraper ready to take the earthing points back to bare metal?. ;D

Popped round skamans the other night whilst i was there caught a peek at the new manky frame very impressive,very smooth aswell and the colour is nothing like the photos show.

I'm gonna have to pay you visit Mr saddlebags and then go and have alook at this frame. ( if thats ok with manky and skaman! :)

Look forward to it byz ill show you my freshly machined yokes.

Has everyone been peeking at my tricycle?!
There better not be any grubby fingerprints all over it.
Mr Saddlebags, I need you to call in at Nige's again & measure up for the steering stem please. Are you available tomorrow afternoon, (I'm at a concert with Tazet in the evening). Failing that, Friday?
Today Tazzie & I unbolted the gearbox from the dummy engine we use to build frames with. The box is the one I'm using in my trike. Taz scrubbed it clean then removed the clutch arm, while I stripped the engine mounting plates from my motor & dug out a spare sump, (I've lost track of who's purloined the old one). Then we nipped over to Newbury & dropped the parts off at the powder coaters to be coated gloss black. This evening I picked up the headstock & wheel bearings from Janie & Dave, who'd collected them from a local bearing suppliers for me. Still with me?
My rear wheels will be ready tomorrow in high gloss silver powdercoat so I'll collect them & get the tyres re-fitted. Got a couple of tabs to weld on the axle then I can paint it in thick gloss black chassis paint, fit new oil seals, then the drive shafts & wheels. Flap's nicked one of my rear caliper hanging brackets so now I've got to find another one. Also waiting for some fork seals to arrive.
With luck, if Saddlebags can sort out the steering stem, I can get the yokes, handlebars & foot pedals in for coating early next week & get the thing up on 3 wheels in time for the Shepton show.

Hi Manky the saddlebag clan are going on a weekend jaunt to sunny newquay for a long weekend starting friday lunch time and returning sometime monday so thursday afternoon or evening may be possible,does nige know what you want should you be absent with your busy social calender? ;D ;D

mankys beating my build by miles :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'(

must admit its looking good

mines been on hold again just got to get my head straight then get on with it

Note everyone the job that I got and I'm sure as you all know the gearbox is not the cleanest of places. By the time I had done I was ear to ear in black oil and whan Manky had done his bit only his finger tips were mildly mucky  ::) great fun though  ;D strangely enough I had to wash my hands at Asda as was not allowed near the flat  ;D

Are you gonna repay the favour by getting manky to clean out the horses without a shovel! :)  :)

 ;D Now there is an idea. No I'm not that cruel. I actually enjoy working on engines. Always wanted to be a mechanic.  ;D

Nipped over to Newbury after work today & collected the rear wheels from the powder coaters, (A & C Shotblasting). After 4 1/2 years use on my last trike, the 5 spoke alloys were looking a little tired. They've been done in the shiniest silver they had in stock. It's not as reflective as chrome, but matches the polished ally front wheel pretty well, which is the idea. Saddlebags has machined a slot into each spoke to mimic the ones on the Comstar front wheel.
Then I nipped round the corner to the local tyre depot & had my old tyres re-fitted. They're too old to pass the MSVA, but had hardly any wear. so I'll use Ska Man's wheels for the test, then fit these afterwards.
Wheels, 20 quid each to shotblast & re-coat.
Tyres, 5 quid each to remove from the rims & a fiver each to re-fit & balance.
I've also finished welding a couple of tabs on the back axle & been through the making of a new steering stem with Saddlebags. So much to do.  :(

Wheels look excellent!  Wish I could find somewhere local to do Doris's wheels at that price!

The guys at A & C, (Albie & Craig, strangely enough. Father & son. Scottish, but nice blokes anyway), seem to charge whatever they feel like at the time. Cash in hand. Wheels are always between 20 & 30 quid each to blast & coat. They had an advert in Back Street Heroes, alongside Flap's trike article. Don't know if that's brought them in any extra work, but they've had 3 enquiries about having trike frames built!
If you can do without Doris for a few days, bring the wheels up & I'll take them in for you Bobbi.

No real progress on the trike today. Fell asleep when I got home from work this afternoon -a common occurence among Posties apparently, so only had a few hours this evening. De-gunged the axle ready for painting then found I haven't got any stainless bolts to fit anything together, so will be running about tomorrow morning, looking for a tool shop that's open at weekends to buy enough to fit the axle into the frame at least.
I've also ordered a full engine gasket set. The engine mounting plates, sump & clutch arm are all being powder-coated in gloss black at the moment.
It'll be great to see this thing on it's 3 wheels at long last.

No discernable pogress again today. Managed to find a tool shop & buy most of the stainless bolts I need to fit the axle. The welds on the various lugs I'd welded to it needed filing down though, so Tazet helped me with that this afternoon. Then Flap & I slapped a coat of thick gloss black chassis paint on -on the axle, not ourselves. It'll need a second coat though, so I'll do that first thing tomorrow morning before we head for the Southampton MAG show. That means it won't be dry enough to fit until Monday when I get home from work.
We spent a pleasant afternoon tinkering with various trikes in the sunshine at Ska Man's garage. Flap. Ska Man & Simon will be riding down to Southampton in the morning with Tazet & I in the van bringing up the rear.
Got home this evening to find the Postie had delivered the gasket set I'd ordered yesterday afternoon from Michaels of Selby, Yorkshire. Damn fine service. I recommend them if you need Reliant spares.
So full steam ahead with the build on Monday.

Can't really be without her but might get hold of some even mankier (oops!) wheels to use in the meantime...

Just give me a shout when you have Bobbi. I can nip down in the van & pick them up from you. Steels or alloys?

i know you like green mr manky, but painting your axle in coloured co ordinated gloves to match your frame is going a bit to far me boy. and flappy looks like he s pointing out the bits you ve missed, hee hee. ;D

I was actually painting the bits he'd missed.

but where s his paintbrush, it not in the picture, ;D

Tis. It's hidden behind the axle. Honest.

Flap did have a paint brush too and god knows how they managed to get paint on the axle. Kids  ::)  ;D ;D

The axle's had two coats of paint now, but it's rubbish. We've used Frost's chassis paint before & it was lovely -really thick & smooth. This is much thinner & runs all over the place. Still tacky too. I'll have to give it a week or so to fully harden then gently go over it with some very fine wet & dry to take the runs & bubbles out, then buff it up with some black, coloured T Cut. Failing that, I'll mask up the frame & re-paint the axle with something else. Looks fine in the piccies but the camera's definitely lying.
Fitted the axle oil seals today, then slipped the driveshafts back in with their new bearings. We recently had a problem with Simon's trike leaking oil from the axle tubes. Turned out he had the wrong bearings. Reliant ones come in both Metric & Imperial sizes. Sorted now.
Put the new caliper mounting brackets on, then Nige pointed out I'd fitted them back to front. Bugger. Took them off again, flipped 'em over, then fitted the new 1200 Vauxhall Nova discs. 14 quid a pair, brand new.

These are the driveshafts from my old trike -Ska Man's one in it's previous guise. I kept them cos I'd swapped the wheel studs for beefier half inch jobbies, courtesy of SpeedShack in London, (check the Links for Commercial Purposes bit of the forum for thier address). I'd also drilled & tapped disc locating holes into the face of the hubs.
Flap's pinched one of my caliper hanging brackets while I've been off the road so now I've got to get another pair powder-coated up.

Woo hoo! Now we're getting somewhere!
With the frame safely cocooned in bubbly wrap, Tazet, Ska Man & I manouvred it onto the axle & bolted it into place. Nyloc nuts on everything to keep the MSVA man happy. I wasn't sure about painting the ally diff housing -I left it in polished ally last time around, but it really sets off the green powder-coat nicely.

Half an inch of clearance between the diff & the frame. Loads of room.  :)
The bracket under the left axle tube's the end stop for the handbrake cables.
The rear lights sit on the arms on the back of the axle clamps. That puts them within the required 400mm from the outside edge of the trike, & the stop/tail lights are the right height off the ground, but the indicators need to be 100mm higher for the MSVA. Not for the MOT though, so I'll knock up a temporay plate to raise them for the MSVA then bin it afterwards.

This is how it sits at the moment.
The headstock taper roller bearing shells are in & I'm waiting for Mr SaddleBags to machine me a new steering stem so I can get the yokes off to the coaters.
Next job is probably the engine. It's been sat in my lock up, untouched for a very, very long time, but looks pretty good so just a quick check over & some new gaskets hopefully. Waiting for the sump, clutch arm & engine mounting plates to come back from the powder-coaters.   
These snaps still don't show the real colour. It's mintier than it looks here. I've been thinking it reminds me of vintage vehicles or farm machinery, then I realised it's very similar to John Deere tractor colours.

Looking good mate, nice handbag in the third photo yours or Ska Mans?.  :o;D

 ;D ;D ;D We knew someone would spot it. They share it, alternate weeks.  ;D ;D ;D

 :D :D :D Looking good! :D :D :D

I used a coach paint on the XS wishbones but had the same problem. First coat went on nice and smooth second coat looked like porridge!

Rubbed all the bits down coated the in barcoat and then primer and then celluosed em and got as much better finish!

I'm almost tempted to mask everything up & spray the axle with a gloss black aerosol, but there's an awful lot of tubing to mask -guaranteed to overspray it somewhere.
Tazet's handbag, but big enough to make a decent pannier for the trike. Has to be capacious to carry my camera, spare memory cards, spare batteries, notebook, pen, bags of sweets etc.

And that bag did cope with all that but the weight took its toll and the strap has now broken so got to get it fixed now  :(

Sweet frame Andy,
You and the young lady have done a marvelous job. The rest of your little band of helpers seem to be on top of the job too.

Well done mate. ;)

yes well done manky you deserve a nice big cream cake with jam in it  ;)

Mnky be carefull if you decide to spray it as the reaction between paints may ruin it. Put a bar coat on first!

He's always got a pot of something to nibble, either cakes or flapjacks and Diet coke to wash it down with  ;D
I think he is going to give it a week or so to fully harden then gently go over it with some very fine wet & dry to take the runs & bubbles out, then buff it up with some black, coloured T Cut then see what it looks like first before spraying.
Probably would be safer to take the axle out before re -spraying if it is needed as I can see something going horribly wrong. (I will be armed with the camera as its much safer)

Lookin' Sweeeeet! there Manky Boss, not long now eh!

Thanks chaps  ;D
S-o-o much more to do  :(
At least it's starting to look like a trike now though.

If you have to re paint the axle and decide to take it out, I'll blow it over with some 2 pack gloss black for ya! Got some in the cupboard and some barcoat! It would only take an evening and would be pretty much handleable (?) the next day.

Hmm, that's an idea Loony.
Would need to be done almost straight away cos I need to start building it up now -got my engine parts back from the powder-coaters today so with luck, Nige will find a spare hour or so to check the motor over with me & we can bung it back together.
Tazet & I finished filing the handlebars & yokes this morning, then we wizzed them over to Aston's coating business in Newbury. They should be green by Monday. On the way back we called in at A & C Shotblasting & picked up the sump, a spare rocker cover, the 2 engine mounting plates & the clutch arm. Blasted & coated in gloss black for 20 quid.
Got a big pile of bits now. All I have to do is put them all together!

dont you just love meccano ;D

At least Mechano comes with instructions for when you get stuck  ;D

Intructions ? I just had a box of metal bits + nuts a bolts and no sping washers so it would fall apart as you built it.  ;D

Oooh just like trike building  ;D

Don't say that I'm riding my trike to the MOT today !!!!!!! first time on the road and I know I will get pulled as it has no REG plate!

Good luck Byz.  ;)

Despite the gods conspiring against me and the F*&%ing mot test centre letting me down I managed to get find another place that tests 3 wheelers and I am now in possesion of an MOT!!!


Yippeeeeeeeeeeeeee. Loads of stuff to sort out for the MSVA tomorrow!

I must say, the trike is looking good Andy :)

Great news byz good luck with the msva mate cant wait to see you on the road mate.

Can't wait to see your trike on the road!

Cheers People!

Gotta get the thing through past the Msva chap tomorrow and then get over the mountain that is the DVLA!

Good Luck Byzmax

Not a very productive day on the Mankymobile.
So far I've only fitted the back axle, but this afternoon we took it back out & took it over to Lunatic's paintshop. He's going to rub the brushmarks & runs out of it & spray it in 2 pack gloss black then lacquer it for me. Hopefully that'll be ready to bolt back in on Monday.
Flap & I then tried to remove the front wheel bearings & replace them, but eventually gave up. Couldn't shift 'em from the hub. I was only replacing them because the bike's been stood for a long time & it should've been an easy job while the front end was off. So we ended up cleaning the old ones up & leaving them in place. Flappy spruced up the ally wheel with a squirt of Autosol.
The brake disc's quite heavily scored so I'll ask SaddleBags to skim it for me while we're working on his trike on Monday night.
Then Tazet & I replaced the fork seals -except we buggered one of the new ones up tapping it into place -so now we've got to hunt around on Monday & try & find another set. Not easy for a 20 year old bike. 
Looks like Monday will be more productive. SaddleBags finished the new steering stem this morning so if the yokes & bars are ready I can pick them up from the coaters & fit them, along with the back axle if Loony's done it, plus the forks if we can find some seals. I fitted the powder-coated clutch arm in the gearbox today so it's ready to go into the frame. All I need to do now is check the engine over & bung it back together before very carefully slotting it in place.
Tank, seat, lights etc can go on & at least it'll look like a trike in time for the Shepton show.
I hope.

Head Monkey delivered his trike axle on saturday coated in what appeared to be a black, porridge like substance! I tried to sand it off but it just clogged anything I used as it still appeared to be soft under the surface, like me! So out came sonic, the rotary wire brush. An hour or so later the large open areas were back to metal, all I had to do was get the black out from the crevices. We tried everything but had to resort to scraping the remenants of the black off with some (very)coarse sanding paper.
Then I sprayed it with a couple of coats of bar coat. Once that was dry I chucked a few coats of high build primer at it. Then it was off to the chinese take away and then to bed, to dream of all the sanding I had ahead of me! :(

Sunday dawned later than expected and while you were all off riding in the sunshine, I was sanding Mankeys diff!
Once that was done and the ends of my fingers really hurt, I put 4 (ish) coats of BMW black on it, Waited for it to flash off ( become tacky) then I went round it with some 2 pack lacquer until she was lovely and shiney!
Now DONT CHIP IT!
 ;D

Erm, "thank you" hardly covers it really does it -but Thank You Loony. I owe you several very large favours. ;D

   nice finish mate, I laid some gloss black on my ramps tonight, I was quite pleased with it, now I'm going back tomorrow to kick them round the yard !

??????? ??? ???

Fitting such a masterpiece back into the trike frame was a nightmare -I'm terrified to even breathe on it now. Managed to get away with one tiny pinch mark in the paint from the axle clamps. Looks great against the green tubing.
I'm off to the coaters in a minute to collect the yokes & bars, (both in green), so hopefully I can get the front end in & be able to roll it about on 3 wheels today -though Saddlebags is machining new stainless steering stops at the moment so I'll be paranoid about dropping the forks onto full lock & dinging the frame until they're fitted.
I've got to relocate my Pop to Lunatic's rural paintshop so the trike can go in my lock up next week -so I'll owe Loony even more favours. Wonder if he'll strengthen & 'flake the chassis for me if I leave it there long enough?!

You done a great job on the axle lunatic 8).  Looks better in the flesh :)

Another day lost, just running about, collecting parts, today.
Picked up the handlebars, yokes & pedals from the powder-coaters.
Got home to find an answerphone message from the other coaters to say my forkbrace is ready in gloss black, so I'll go back for that tomorrow.
Having managed to find a replacement fork seal for the one I buggered up the other day, I fitted it this afternoon. I've now got most of the parts to bolt the rolling chassis together but only two afternoons to do it in before the Shepton Mallet show.

God it's a panic situtation eh Manky? I'm going mad here trying to get things sorted on my Trikes and organising everything else. Will probably Sleep all weekend!  ;D ;D

Doesn't matter how much you plan ahead, it's always a last minute panic!

Just got home from the garage. Jeez, what a night. Flap & I have spent the entire evening just fitting the front end on my trike. Now it's all powder-coated, nothing fits! Gently tapping the fork tubes into the yokes soon became whacking 'em with all our might with a rubber mallet -sod the coating, they're gonna fit one way or another! Suprisingly, nothing actually got damaged. The headlight bracket fouls the steering stops, so will have to be re-made & when we unwrapped the handlebars we discovered there's a huge chunk out of the coating. It's right on the front edge of the speedo housing. We thought I must've done it bringing them home in the van, but looking at the last photo I posted, it's where they hung them up to coat them. Can't do much about it before the Shepton show but will have to take them back for re-coating next week. Bugger.
We bolted on the rear lights & saddle before calling it a night. I'll just keep adding more bits now until I run out of time. Piccies tomorrow.

well looking at youre's   i  best call the scrap man to pick mine up where did i go wrong??????

Just get on with it Mike, it's your first trike so we don't all expect you to produce a show winner right away.
Get it done mate and get out and start enjoying yourself again.

Mine is a bit poor in parts but some of the other bits on it make it look cool.
It's a scream to ride too.

Laters

Gary

Spoanners - I make novelty cakes.  Now what the dickems has that to do with anyhting, I hear you say!  Just this - when I'm still in the middle of doing it, I often think, this cakes turning out to be a disaster!  But by the time I finish putting it all together, it looks great! 

And the same will be true of your trike, and what's more, you'll have done it yourself!

Lunatic excellent work on that axle mate,your gonna wish i didn't know where your workshop was ;D ;D ;Dand spanners i dosen't matter what your trike turns out like just wait til you ride it and any parts you dont like change on your next build,no one is completly happy with what they build first time,its what keeps us building more.

Well thank you for your compliments! Ill paint whatever you have saddlebags, but no more campers for a while!! ;)

Well, I've got to change a few parts before mine ever hits the roads.
The build up was progressing well this evening -until we tried to fit the tank.
Disaster.
SaddleBags made me a new steeering stem & we fitted an adjuster/locking ring between the top bearing & the top yoke. Unfortunately, when the trike was being set up, we didn't have an adjuster. Now everything's nicely coated we've discovered the tank won't fit cos the top yoke's higher & further back than before.
Poo.
There's also too much steering lock so the bars come round until they either hit the tank or the rider's knee.
More poo.
Got no choice. The only fix is to take the bars & yokes off again, (it's taken hours to fit those damn yokes!), & shave a chunk off the back edge of the top yoke to give more clearance, bin the adjuster & re-machine the steering stem so the yoke sits where it used to. We'll also have to ally weld the steering stop holes in the bottom yoke & drill new ones.
It obviously won't get done before we leave for the Shepton show tomorrow, but maybe during the week, before next weekend's Basingstoke Transport Festival.
Bloody annoying but not the end of the World.

As the Basingstoke transport festival's only a couple of days away now, I've decided not to pull everything apart until afterwards. Both SaddleBags & the powder-coaters have said they'll try & sort the necessary bits in time, but no point creating extra hassle & stress for myself. I'll display the rolling chassis as it was at Shepton last weekend, then re-do it later.
That means I can treat myself to a couple of days away from the garage & hopefully catch up on some website jobs.

hi i need some yoke's and a stemm like youre's any ideas

Have a word with Mr SaddleBags. He made mine, although I didn't know him at the time -they were done via his boss, Doug of the Guzzlers car club.
No idea what they'd cost now -PM him & ask.
I painstakingly hacksawed & filed the curves in mine over several weeks, but SaddleBags says he could've profiled them that shape in a matter of minutes.
Poo.

Hope you get the steering sorted Andy, nowt like a small hiccup to make a grown man groan ::)

Tis only a hiccup. Easy enough to sort once I've got the yokes back off. Just hope I can do that without causing too much damage -they were such a tight fit after coating they had to be thumped onto the fork tubes with a rubber mallet
-yes I know I should've reamed them out to fit but the urge to get the thing on 3 wheels got the better of me!

First time out on the road for the trike today -not quite under it's own steam though.
Took it along to the Basingstoke Transport Festival. The unfinished projects always seem to attract a lot of attention from curious showgoers. Brock made up a trike towing arm a few years back, which has ended up in Flap's care. Seems to work well. Uses two big U bolts clamped around the fork legs, (which are protected by wrapping them in rubber).
Poured with rain all day at the show, so now my pride & joy's soaking wet & covered in mud. Splattered with road crud already & I haven't finished building it yet.
Nice to roll the thing out of the garage & stand back & check it's lines in the daylight. I'm happy with it so far.

looking bloody good so far andy

Hiya Critchypoos.
Going bloody slowly so far. Should've been on the road last Summer, but kept getting sidelined for the greater good of the local triking community. Other machines always taking priority, but slowly getting back on track. Hope to get the engine back in over the weekend, but still waiting for SaddleBags to rework the steering stem & yokes for me so I can get them re-powdercoated & re-fitted.
His frame's very nicely TIG welded now apparently, (his brother's a welder by trade), but I haven't seen it yet.
How's things in CritchWorld? 

quicker than our ems mate ;D

things arent too bad oop north mate currently awaiting the arrival of our latest addition to our brood.......
as you can see the 'puter is finally fixed.........
the house is nearely finished and ive been up to my ears learning how to weld and fab,
the pub ended up falling through due to my leg op and ems pregnancy, but maybee well try again in a few years after i see how the smoking ban affects trade.......

It's in! It's in!
Tazzie & I scrubbed the engine up this afternoon then Nige arrived to give me a hand to lift it -very, very carefully into the frame. Woo hoo! It fits! Sort of.
Checked the gasket set I bought a month ago & found it doesn't include the gasket that goes between the front mounting plate & the motor. That means I can't bolt the front of the motor into the frame, so for now it's balanced on blocks of wood with just the gearbox bolts in place. Next concern is whether there's enough room for the cylinder head to slide over the studs & drop into place. Then will we be able to fit the rocker cover?! It's all extremely tight. Maybe a little too tight. We shall see when the new gasket arrives.

Nige, in his best workshop slippers.  ;D

.

looking good Chief Primate(the trike, not you!!)
hope rest of lump all goes in sweet

regards

mark

they like chris irelands welding slippers??? ;D

Nige is well known for his sartorial elegance.

No way, far to clean :P

Another quick plug for Michaels of Selby, my favourite Reliant specialists.
Gave 'em a quick ring yesterday afternoon cos the gasket set I bought a month ago was missing one piece. Not only was it on my doorstep this morning, but they threw in the gearbox gasket I'd asked about, which isn't part of a normal engine gasket set, free of charge.
Top chaps. If you need Reliant sales or advice, give 'em a ring & tell them I sent you.

Michaels of Selby, (Yorks), 01757-270002.

It's been so long since I took my trike off the road I'd actually forgotten what was wrong with it.
A close inspection revealed the head gasket had blown & one of the combustion chambers was gunged up where the water had got in. So Saddlebags skimmed a spare head for me recently & this morning Nige ground my valves into it for me.
Flap, Nige & I then fitted it, along with the timing chain, front engine mounting plate, oil pump, sump & a few other bits & pieces. One of the head studs appears to be stripped so I need to pull one from one of our spare crankcases. Other than that, the main problem is the lack of nuts & bolts. Over the last couple of years, while I've been off the road, my motor's been raided -sometimes with my consent but not always, by everyone else. Now it's time to put it back together I need to replace everything. So I spent this evening writing a shopping list to take with me to the Billing rod show tomorrow.
Oh, & my lovely 50 quid cast ally rocker cover, one of a limited run specially cast by the Reliant owners club, won't bloomin' fit  >:( Seems I made the frame just a little too snug a fit around the engine. I hadn't allowed for the rear tank mount which hangs below the line of the top frame tube. Fortunately the standard pressed tin one fits & I'd had a spare powder-coated in gloss black just in case.
No sooner had I said to Nige that the black one suited the new trike more anyway than he was off up the road on his trike with the polished ally one shoved down his T shirt! Did it fit alright Nige?   

.

I have a bucket full of reliant nut's and bolts you can have if you want them.

bugger i was getting all excited as i was reading this i woz goijng to offer you cash too :'( :'( :'(
ah well nige deserves it ;)

 ;D Yeah, Nige is a bit of a star & deserves a freebie or two just for putting up with me living in his garage for the last couple of years. At times I was there from early morning till 9 at night day after day. I dread to think what his leccy bill was like. Thanks Nige.
Critch, if you want a rocker cover, PM me for the mobile number of the guy from the Hull branch of the Reliant Owners Club who I got mine from about 5 years ago. They're a quarter inch thick & good & heavy so don't bow out of shape & leak when you tighten the mounting bolts up.
Doc, I've got buckets of old bolts too, but my motor was fully kitted out in nice stainless ones.

Ah! no problem.

I think all this work on the garage is getting to me as I started farting about with body work ideas, not much just an air filter cover but I'm not sure I can do what I want in sheet steel, had to stop making too much noise at about 8 but there's always plenty to do, finally emerged about 2pm.

(Still have a nice vintage tractor seat in steel that would look right nice, I'll let you have it for nowt coz I ow'z you a favor.)

 ;D
I'd originally planned to fit a trac'or seat on Flap's trike, but we went for the large universal solo pad instead. I used the same type on both Simon's & my new trike too, cos they look right & are quite comfy. Nige is talking of a larger engined trike next year so maybe he could use it. Would make a cool workshop stool though. 

Looking good my manky friend

I've been on holiday all this week so should've been pushing on with the trike & getting it done. As usual though, life in general seems to get in the way.
Been at a horse event with Tazet today but managed to put in an hour or two at the garage late this afternoon.
Fiddling about, fitting engine parts, but keep finding I haven't got the necessary fixings & have to keep nipping out to the local bolt shop for more.
The new gasket's fitted on the top plate of the gearbox & a spare polished up plate bolted on. Gearstick's on. It's powdercoated black with a black pool ball drilled & tapped to fit. I've got a bag of these in various colours. They're a perfect size for gloved hands to hold comfortably. A full set cost me 35 quid from a local sports shop.
Shiny new diff dome nuts are on.
Clutch arm return spring's on. The arm's shortened & will be operated by a hydraulic slave cylinder, pushing it from behind, rather than a rod pulling it from the front -if it works.
The engine & gearbox mounting bolts have been fitted with the spring washers I was missing last week.
Starter motor's on. It's the one I used on the last trike, which has a thin sheet of polished stainless wrapped around it & TIG welded along the seam, just to pretty it up a bit. Nearly forgot it has to be bolted on before the oil filter, otherwise it won't fit.
Primary chain & chaincase are on, except I'd forgotten I'd stripped one of the bolt threads & retapped it to M6, so I'm now short of one polished stainless bolt.
The little electric radiator fan's on. From a motorcycle of unknown origin.
Seat's on but I'm 2 stainless dome nuts short, (I know I bought them -must've used 'em on something else). Also the 3 warning lights are pushed in place in front of the saddle, (oil, ignition & indicators. High beam will be in the headlight shell).
The propshaft & handbrake are painted in nasty gloss black paint that runs like buggery & takes about a month to dry. As soon as they're handlable, I'll bolt them on.
Next will be the alternator, (if I've got the bolts & can find the stainless spacers I had made up), the water pump, then the front pulleys. Then the Reliant radiator can be blown over in high temp black paint & fitted, along with it's perforated stainless stone guard.
I'm replacing the exhaust & carb manifold studs with stainless allen bolts for ease of fitting but can't get any locally.
The pedals are powdercoated up, ready to fit, but I'm waiting on Mr SaddleBags to produce the stainless rods that link them to the cylinders, as well as reworking the yokes & steering stem for me & altering the steering stops, so I can refit the front end. 
Most of it's bolt together stuff now, but as I said, I haven't got the necessary bolts so am buying them as needed. Touching little bits of black paint in & wiping off gasket goo as I go.
The only bits that still need to be fabricated are the exhaust system & the rear guards & their mounts, but the tubes are already bent to shape & brackets welded to the axle, plus I've already got the 3mm ally sheet rolled to the diameter of the tyres.
So full steam ahead next week hopefully.
 

.

.

You'll be on the road before me at this rate.

Somehow I doubt it!

Tazet's been helping out in the garage today.
I messed about cleaning blue gasket sealant off the primary chaincase & fitted the crank pulley & a few odds & ends, while she fitted the prop shaft & handbrake lever. The prop was a bugger cos it's a "precision fit". A perfect fit between the gearbox & diff flanges, but it has a lip around each end that has to be lifted over the nut that holds each flange in place. If you've fitted a Reliant prop you'll know what I mean. In the end we had to loosen the engine/gearbox mounts & ease the motor forward a tad, bolt the prop in & let it find it's own position as the prop bolts were tightened.
Waiting for SaddleBags to sort the yokes out at the moment so couldn't move the trike. Then we found an abandoned skateboard near my garage. Ideal. Put a block of wood on top of it & shoved it under the sump. Now we can roll the trike out into the daylight at last. :)
I always set the trike frames up by putting the wheels on the axle then setting the propshaft up parallel to the ground, which gives you the height of the engine off the deck. On my own trike though, I've ignored that & set the engine slightly lower, simply because it looked better. So my prop runs slightly nose down.
Propshaft on. Handbrake lever on. What's next?
You can bolt the battery box in place.
O.K. How?
2 8mm bolts through the mounting holes in the bottom of the box & through the mounting tab on the frame.
What holes in the bottom of the box?
What?! Those ones right there.....oh bugger.
Absolutley no idea how I've managed it, but the battery box is peppered with all sorts of wiring & electrical component holes, even a hole for the plastic breather pipe on the battery -but no mounting bolt holes. How the hell did we miss those?!
Not a big problem, but now we've got to very carefully drill a couple of holes through my nicely powder-coated box. Ah well.
Next to go on is the water pump, then the alternator & fan belt, radiator then the footpegs & pedals. I've still got to make up an exhaust system. I think I'll end up making it in mild steel & spraying it black, then getting a stainless copy made at Valley Gas Speed Shop when I've got the money. Once the exhaust manifold's on, the carb can go on.
After that I just need to sort out the rear mudguards & cobble together some rear brakes from the bits left over after Flap nicked my old ones.
Wiring, hoses & cables & it's done. Easy!  :P
 

.

.

shame to have a skateboard front end when the rest of the trike looks so good manky, ah well each to their own
HEHE

Yup, six wheels on my wagon. It's a bugger to get round corners though.
Nag that brother of yours to re-machine my yokes & stuff so I can get the front end back together.  :(

looking very very sweet mr manky nice an shiney like a new pin ;D ;D superb job sir

Thank you.  :)
Mr Flap visited this afternoon. Tazzie fitted the battery box once we'd drilled it's mounting holes. There's a sheet of rubber sandwiched between it & the frame bracket. The inside of the lid is also lined with rubber to seal it against the weather & stop it vibrating. The hazard warning switch is a very expensive push button affair mounting in the rear face of the box. The ignition switch plus switches for the radiator fan & lights on/off are in the lid of the box & will probably be on multi-pin plugs so they can be unplugged for access to the box's wiring.
Fitted the water pump but found I'm one dome nut short so Mr Flap's going to search his extensive garage facilities for one. He made a start on cutting water hoses then we found I haven't got any radiator ones -something else I need to buy.
I fitted the tiny Moon Eyes water temp' guage my brother brought me back from his stateside holiday last year. It screws directly into the side of the thermostat housing.
Just generally faffing about, trying to fit bits, finding they either don't fit since everything's been powder-coated, or we haven't got the necessary nuts, bolts or spacers to fit them with. Getting there -slowly.

.

it needs a penguin trailer to set it off lol

 ::) er how do I say this nicely       NO

There is nowhere to keep it anyway  ;D

It does begin to look like a trike in the building rather than just a load of parts!

i have a pretty big collection of hoses at my garage, what day are you at the mm head quarters? i could leave a box full with you to sort through

That'd be handy Sir.
I'll PM you my mobile number.

Captain S.F called in at the garage today.
He brought along a big box of radiator hoses -none of which fitted unfortunately. Bugger. Looks like I'll have to buy a couple of genuine Reliant ones & chop 'em about to fit. Thanks anyway mate. Still a worthwhile visit though, as he may be able to arrange a stainless exhaust system for me. (Spanner), Fingers crossed.
I know I've had several sets of stainless alternator spacers made up while my trike's been off the road, but they've all gone walkies, so I had to hacksaw up some mild steel tube & spray it black instead. Once it's dried I'll fit said alternator & the fan belt. I'm happy to admit I'm not a mechanic -I know what goes on inside an engine, but I'd rather leave it to people who have done it before -so the spanner digited one wound the motor over to top dead centre & dropped the distributor in place while he was there.
I've spent the rest of the afternoon listening to the radio, drinking Coke, eating sandwiches, (my lock up's in the service area behind a parade of shops & a pub so it's easy to get lured by the smell of the chippie or the temptations of the Co-Op), & occasionally fitting bits or painting stuff ready to fit.
The Reliant radiator & it's stainless stoneguard went on without any problems, with rubber washers to cushion it a little, (on the outside of the stoneguard so hopefully they won't melt), as did the various leccy components inside the battery box, as well as the horn that bolts to the back of the box.
Next time I'll sort out the carb & it's manifold.

.

lookin good fella does it steer by means of skate board underneath. ;D ;D ;D

At the moment, yes.  :)
Great in straight lines but not so hot round corners.

Looking good, mate.  :)

cant believe there wasnt a single hose that fitted out of the six million i dropped over,  :-\
strange things reliants

Whats that radiator off andy?

It's off the deck by about 4 inches on a roller skate cos you haven't machined my yokes yet.  :P
Standard Reliant. I know cos it says "Reliant" on the top.  :)
The bottom outlet is right angled so I cut it off, turned it round & had a mate braze it back on to form a straight outlet.
Hoses are 1 inch bore. Top one needs to be S shaped to clear the down tube of the frame. Bottom one's wiggly shaped.

Mr SaddleBags has sorted my yokes for me now, but they'll need re-coating. The rear edge of the top yoke's been shaved off to give more clearance for the fuel tank, but it's milled in a staight line, which looks wrong, so Tazet's been busy filing it to a nice curve to match the rest of the yoke design. The steering stops have been re-drilled to give slightly less lock, which will give more clearance between the tank & the handlebars. The steering stem's also been re-worked to remove the locking ring that sat above the top bearing. That'll lower the top yoke by an inch so it'll clear the tank as originally intended.
Does that lot make any sense? Probably not. I'll take some pics to explain it better.
In the meantime I've been re-working the heated carb manifold. On a standard Reliant the SU carb sits on a short manifold which is heated by water from the engine to help cold weather starting & running. That's never been a problem on any of our trikes, so I've hacksawed off the water chamber & filed the tube smooth, so there'll be a couple less water pipes cluttering up the engine.

nice one looks loads better ,cant wait to see a piccy of it with tax an a number plate ;)

It's getting there slowly but surely.  ;D

The alternator and the Radiator are fitted on the trike too.

What she means is she fitted the alternator & re-fitted the radiator after I'd followed Spanner Fingers' advice & sprayed it with Smoothrite. He reckons it's heat-proof enough for rads, so if it all peels off it's his fault!

 ;D ;D ;D I just wanted to let everyone know they were on too thats all  8)  ;D

Nice bit of polishin' MM

Obviously got too much time on his hands, needs another project to consume his time ;) ;)

I don't think so!

Went down to the centre of the the Trike universe (Basingstoke) on the Beach Bastard yesterday, Popped in and picked up saddlebags and went over to Mankys garage to see his Trike. Looking good and nearly finished  ;D

Come on Manky you could have it on the road by august!

Saw sadllebags trike build too and that is looking well tasty as well.

We ( Mr and Mrs Saddlebags and myself) then went to the Alton station meet and met up with Manky and Tazet too but not many others as the weather was a bit pants!

Nice to see you all ;D

The beach bastard is the dogs nuts,the canines cluster,the poodles dangly bits, ;D its sooooo much better in the flesh and to ride in as a passenger is superb,excellent work byz,nice to see Manky and Tazet where were all the fair weather Mankies?

Lack of pennies is the main stumbling block to finishing my trike. I'm working on a budget of literally a couple of quid a week, so it's a slow business. Not going to bodge stuff just to get it on the road cos I know once it's running I'll never unbodge it. It's getting there. At least now you know it's not just a figment of my imagination!
Nice to see you again Byz. I trust you got safely home to Windsor? So we gonna have a bigger trike contingent on next year's MonkeyWorld run then?
Mr Bags, I reckon at your current rate of progress, you'll be on the road before me!

You know it,front and rear footpegs machined up and ready for tacking,ally footrests made up,im using the same phosphur bronze bush set up on my front peddles as on yours but obviously CHUNKIER.Making the brackets to hold the master cylinders then captain spanner fingers is gonna come round and tack weld it all at once,he's also kindly offered to take the engine away and luvly it up for me,what a smashing fellow he is. ;D

You know the rear pegs have to fold for the MSVA test? I think Ska Man's got my regulations manual at the moment if you want to peruse it. Not got much done on mine today but I've got an unscheduled day off tomorrow, thanks to the Post Office union, so will be in the garage all day. Hoping to get the powder coating scrubbed off the yokes so I can nip them back to Newbury for re-coating.

I spoke to byzmax this week and he said the rear pegs dont need to fold,that was only for motorbikes not trikes,clarification anyone before the welder gets fired up please.

I have the sva book. Ill drop it round to manky tomorrow.

Fortunately my trike's a solo so no rear pegs needed. Means I've got to build another one for Mrs Manky though.  >:(
Byz arrived at my lock up yesterday with Mr SaddleBags squeezed into the back of the V Dub. Great to see the trike out on the road at last. Hopefully I'll be joining them by the end of the Summer.

Captain Spanner Fingers views the ByzMobile with bemusement.

How does he see where he's going under that roof?!

Rear foot pegs don't need to fold on a Trike.  Have passed trike with solid pegs no problem. It does not lean so they will never come into contact with the floor and they will be behind the riders legs when they do they pointy bits test so they do not come affect the test.

Cheers Ian your up early,did you get wet wednesday?thanks for the run up to Alton mate ,speak to you soon.

Your welcome! Got a bit wet on the way back but just enjoyed the ride!

One oversight on my part though! If your riding after dark! take some clear or yellow glasses with ya  ;D Sunglasses make it hard to see at night on the motorway  ;D ;D ;D

Ska Man cut the solid rear pegs off my old trike frame when he got it & fitted folding ones cos he'd taken the manual as saying they had to. Some of the wording's a bit vague so it's handy to have someone here who's actually done the test. :)
Yup, Tazet & I remarked when you left Alton that dark shades might not be a good idea! I've got 2 pairs of goggles -Flap's borrowed one set & Ska Man's got the other, which both have interchangeable lenses. I also sometimes wear clear safety glasses. The local tool shop sells some nice sunglass shaped ones for about a tenner a pair.

As we had an unscheduled day off at the Post Office today I put the time to good use by sanding down the powdercoat on my yokes & handlebars. SaddleBags re-worked the yokes for me -shortening the steering stem, shaving a slice off the rear face of the top yoke, moving the steering stops etc, so now they need re-coating. The handlebars need re-doing too cos the coaters hung them on a wire to coat them & left a line of bare metal where the wire had been.
So now the yokes are at the welders in Newbury, Berks to have the old steering stop holes ally-welded up. Fortunately the welder just happens to be the powder-coater's Dad, so he'll pass them on when they're done.
When I got back to my garage I fitted the carb. I've spaced it out off the side of the engine by about 2 inches to clear the tank on a pair of home-made spacer tubes. Run out of stainless dome nuts to actually fit the tank so it's just propped in place to check the clearance.

.

hmmm call me picky but i still reckon forks would look better

That's a crazy idea, but it might just work!

Tis looking smarter everyday, I should be back on the road in a week or so.

I said that once. A long, long time ago. :(

Got a strange feeling I did too!

use the force luke

 ;D

I do hope that handy skateboard will not be discarded after this build ;D I have one in my garage that is used all the time for moving heavy/awkward stuff about, if you no longer want it after the trike is finished I will give it a good home ;D ;D ;D

We found it abandoned in the garage area. Some kid somewhere's probably looking for it now.

Saddlebags, Lunatic's returned the MSVA manual -I'd lost track of who had it, so you're welcome to borrow it if you want.

or if you go on www.chopperbuilder.co.uk theres a gal on there called sooze who has done a page of all the ins an outs and hights for lights ect ;)hope this will be of some help :D just scroll down to the bottom of page when you go on the site

We need all the help we can get!

and there was me thinking you was a ,grand master in the art of reliantus trikus buildus, you will be ok i have my fingers crossed its just a bugger to do any work with em like this :D :D :D :D ;)

Ill peruse the manual know im down to the important parts,thanks to all,Manky have you dug out those calipers yet?

Andy the trike is looking good mate, your right, don't cut corners you will live to regret it in the end.

Andy I would say get rid those extensions, When I had them on my trike was having problems with the carb icing up, get Scott to make something to go between manifold and carb.

maybe some sort of water heated device in the shiny part under the carb?
hehe

Dont give manky any ideas PLEASE. ;D ;D

hehe

Nice to see you back Mr Ska Man.  ;)
Got to have the extensions where they are to clear the tank. I ran them on my previous trike for 4 1/2 years with no problems, but then I did have the heated manifold thingy as well.
I guess I'll just try it as it is & if I get a problem, swap back to the old heated doofer, (I've got 3 or 4 spare ones).
Saddley Bloke- I'll deliver the calipers & MSVA manual to your works tomorrow afternoon. Have you made my pedal connecting rods yet?  ;D
The yokes are at the powder-coaters now by the way.

Only back for a day, back to Hereford tonight, My Grandson,s funeral is in the morning.

Sorry about that Ska man condolences to you and your family from Manky & me.

Byz etc I've been away and yes was good to see you lot at Alton and glad you are enjoying your trike no matter what the weather.

Condolences to you from me too Ska-man

Same here.

Condolences from Weobley too Skaman  8)

And here.

so sorry to hear about grandson, its bad enough when its someone elses but it must be devestating to loose your own.
take care

Thanks very much for all your kind thoughts.

Sorry I hijacked this thread Andy, its all yours again.

Nice to see you today Nige,and you looney.

You too mate, trikes looking sweet! 8)

O.K, to get back to the thread, I was hoping to collect the re-coated yokes & bars from the powder-coaters yesterday, but Loony & I drove over to Newbury in Berkshire to find they won't be ready till next week. Poo.
So we fitted the pedals instead, with help from Dave -Loony Senior, who reemed the brass pedal bushes out until they fitted. Don't ask me why they didn't fit cos they did when we built the thing. Sorted now. Just waiting on Saddlebags to produce the stainless connecting rods to link the pedals to the master cylinders now.
Next problem: I've got problems wiv me head. Got a stripped cylinder head stud. Not the stud itself but the thread in the crankcases it screws into. I've tried securing it with Chemical Metal with no success -it seemed a bit of a bodge anyway, so now we've got to take the tank, carb & head off again & sort it properly. I'm hoping I can find someone who'll sell me one helicoil of the appropriate size. Never fitted one before but Dave has so, he'll be Chief Helicoiler.
A pedal piccie next time I'm in the garage.

I said it before Manky dude, but I'm gonna say it again.......


......YOU MAKE THE ULTIMATE RELIANT TRIKES !

cant really argue with that..........

find the Helicoil size, most of our motor's held together with them, always got spares in the box

Wonerful things helicoils!  I first found out about them when I was rebuilding my old SuperDream........

Never tried them, though know how they work.
Mr Brock, I'm hoping to be at the Victory Wheelers show next Sunday so could bring a spare stud down if you can bring a selection of helicoils & the fitting tool.

My pedals.

Looks darn cool does that.


 8) 8) 8)

Plodding on, very slowly.
With luck, the yokes & bars will be re powder-coated by the middle of the week so I can get the front end back together. Then I've got to strip the head off the motor again to sort out the buggered stud. After that the rear brakes need doing as well as the rear guards, before moving on to brake lines & cables. Still got to build an exhaust system yet too. I'd like a stainless set-up but might have to do it in mild steel to start with. Very short of pennies at the moment.

In fact the only COOL looking car engined trikes around ;D     























 in my humble opinion

Aww shucks guys.
Thanks!  ;D

Having pestered SaddleBags for weeks, he's now made my stainless pedal linking rods -mainly to shut me up I think, & also machined down an M12 bolt to produce a new cylinder head stud with a12mm end. All I have to do now is remove the head, tap the buggered thread in the crankcase out to 12mm & screw the new stud in. Thanks SB, you are indeed a star.

.

That looks absolutely bloody stunning, I've always prefered bike trikes, but I'd have that without even a second thought, proud I would be too ;) 8) 8) 8)

Bloody clever these Postmen 'aint they.

Should have his own Trike shop by now

He should, but then he'd also have another mortgage, business rates, services and utility bills. cuistomers bothering him with silly questions.
No time for himself and Tanya or time to build his own very nice looking trike.

Hey Andy! do you think you might get it done before my GSXR is finished?

Ps if that cheque for the stickers is still lost ( how that happened to a postie is beyond me, you'd think they'd get a posties post to him ) PM me your current postal addy and I'll get another one off to you.

Regards

Gary

No cheque here TT so I've PM'd you the details. Thanks.
I've just sold my flat & finally freed myself of the misery of mortgage payments, so no, no business premises for me thank you!
I keep getting told I'm too eager to help everyone else out & should be concentrating on getting my own stuff on the road, so that's sort of what I'm doing at the moment. Trying to push on & get my own trike done, though time & a crippling lack of pennies is holding things up a bit. Then I want to crack on with my Pop pickup. Can't have Shaun getting his on the road first! We're also quietly collecting parts together for a trike for Tanya. It just isn't the same tagging along behind a bike run in a car! She's more than happy to muck in & do the work herself though -& I'm happy to let her! So I'll be involved more in an advisory capacity on that one.
After that. Hmm, who knows!  ;)

What (if anything) do you need to complete the trike, and I have a pair of forward controls for Tazet when she needs them (if wanted and the tractor seat)

Perhaps you'll build me an exact copy of your latest trike frame ?














I'm now hiding behind the settee in case you shout at me !  :o

                                        NO!!!

                                 
                                                                       maybe.

Thanks for the kind words chaps. Very much appreciated I assure you.
It's quietened down a bit now, but there have been times recently when I've been turning down 2 or 3 email frame enquiries a week. Never sure how many are serious & how many just daydreamers, but there's obviously a market out there. As you can see, we're just working from rented lock-up garages. No power supply so even just drilling a hole becomes a logistical nightmare & involves running about from one mate's house to another to borrow tools. Apart from the financial & admin side of it, what really puts me off ever doing it commercially is the thought that people then expect a professional product, with warranty & built by someone with qualifications, not just a bloke in a shed. If something went wrong with something I'd made for a mate, I'd apologise profusely & fix it. If it was a paying customer they'd be demanding compensation & trashing your building reputation to anyone who'd listen.
I'd rather stay just an enthusiastic amateur, but I'm obviously more than happy to help others build their dream rides.
Doc, thanks for the offer! Tractor seat would need to be one of the lightweight pressed steel ones, rather than the older cast iron type. As she works with horses on a country estate a tractor part would be kinda appropriate wouldn't it. Haven't thought as far as foot controls yet, but it'll basically just be a budget copy of mine. I'm thinking battleship grey gloss powder-coat. Slightly darker than grey primer. Isn't there a vintage tractor company who's machines were grey? Mine's almost the same green as John Deere tractors so would make a nice matched pair! The coaters I use mainly do industrial stuff & have done a bike before for me in Government filing cabinet grey. Lots of polished ally & some gloss black coated engine parts. Maybe a black & grey chequered band down the tank. Going to fit black rubber gaiters on the forks too.
Tanya's not a "girly" girl. She hates all things pink & fluffy so I don't want to build an obviously girly trike. It's got to stand it's ground on an equal footing with bloke's stuff -as she does. So it'll be solid & practical but not overly macho. Sort of. 

Sounds good to me babe  :-*  That last bit sums me up just right  ;D

Ferguson TE 20 Grey Fergie Tractor

Yep pressed steel it is, as seen below.

I learned my tractoring on one of them little old Fergies!

I learned on a Fordson, addicted to easy start when I worked at a riding school.

I moved on from the little Fergie to the Fordson TVO tractors, temperamental beasts, had to leave them chugging away and rocking to themselves in a corner of the field when we stopped for lunch, cos once you stopped them there was no starting them again till they they were cold!

When I got onto a Fordson Major diesel it was like going from a Ford Pop to a Rolls!

WOW ! That hurt me eardrums, even though I'm all the way over here !  :o

That "maybe" sounds somewhat promising though ;)....... 8) 8)

Wish I had decent workshop facilities & jigs & stuff.
Or just electric light & a plug socket would do. Tazzie's got a large shed at the end of her garden, big enough to put her frame together in, but it's in a very quiet corner of Surrey & I don't think her neighbours would appreciate me turning it into an industrial trike factory. 
Doc, PM me a price & we'll sort something out about the seat. Don't suppose you're going to the Victory Wheelers rod show at Broadlands in Romsey tomorrow are you?
So who's got a nice old tractor they can do a write up on for the site then?!

I really want an old Fergie 35 ::) ::) ::) I once drove one that was fitted with a Rover V8 mmmmm wonder if its still around ;D ;D ;D ;D

Fergie used to live near here you know. In the local village of Dummer -yes, we've heard all the jokes!
I once knocked her Dad, Major Ronald Ferguson, over. He was Prince Charles top Polo pony chappie. I stepped out of a shop door after delivering their mail just as he walked by & sent him flying. He wasn't amused.

The thing is Manky if you build a custom vehicle for someone it is unlikely to work perfectly first run out and things need adjusting moving changing etc.


Also they take more looking after than a production motor so as long ast that is made clear to any purchasers of your fine machines you should not get any bother!

The more complicated the higher the risk of a cockup or problem and then the more you charge for the build but if people want cheap that's the price you pay!

Saying that if you plan well enough problems will be minimal!  My Beach Bastard  has completed 700 miles now and apart from an oil seal and a couple of adjustments it's all working fine!


To paraphrase someone else.

It's ok to try think "outside the box" when engineering but the box has sound engineering written on it!!  ;D

this is my workshop but still want a bigger one you can never have to much room

BLOODY HELL !

My wee shed would fit in there about ten times over :o In fact, that looks bigger than my house !  :o

What were you doing on the roof for that first pic?
I've always wanted a trampoline in my workshop.  :(

lol m8 the trampoline is my lads i put it there so it doesnt get wet he goes in there to play on it and i wasnt on the roof i was looking out of my office window

Another grey tractor.

Remember my trike build?
Hardly touched it for several weeks now. Been busy trying to sell my flat among other things. To re-cap,, I've got a problem with a stripped cylinder head stud. Saddlebags has machined a replacement with an M12 thread on the bottom so all I had to do was take the head off, tap the casing to M12 & screw it in. Easy.
Except I've tried to bodge it together with Chemical Metal, which only succeeded in filling the original stud hole completely flush with rock hard Chemical Metal, which now has to be drilled out. In addition, I've made the frame such a tight fit around the engine that I couldn't get the damn head off.
So this afternoon I was in the garage & decided to bite the bullet & unbolt the motor again. I Knew I couldn't lower it enough in the frame to get the head off without scratching the paint -& I was right. Slowly wind out the engine bolts while trying to support the full weight of the motor on my own -careful, careful... thud.
Bugger. Several large gouges in the lovely green powder-coat. Quite suprised myself at how calm I managed to stay. I think I'm just resigned to damaging something somewhere before this damn thing's built. Hopefully it can be retouched without too many problems -I've got an aerosol of touch-in paint left over from the last green trike. Spraying some in to the can lid & dabbing it on with a paintbrush handle, before T Cutting it back seems to work fairly well.
So now I need Captain Spanner Fingers to call by with his right angled drill to drill out & re-tap the offending stud hole. Give me a ring if you read this please mate. The engine's balanced precariously in the frame for the time being.
Meanwhile, this morning I nipped over to Newbury & collected my yokes & handlebars from the powder coaters. The bars had to be re-done after they hung them from a wire to coat them & the wire left a stripe of uncoated bare metal. The yokes were re-worked a bit to give more yoke/tank clearance so also needed re-coating. Unfortunately the coaters were flooded out in the recent torrential downpours so have ended up several weeks behind with their orders. They do a good job but there's still a few bits that needed touching in so I've done that & will T Cut them back before fitting.
So sort of one step forward, one step back at the moment -again.
 

If you need a right angle drill give me a bell. I have one at the workshop. :)

Yus please matey. Preferably a battery powered one. I've got a small generator that will run drills, grinders etc, but haven't used it for ages so no idea if it'll work. M12 thread so what's the drill size? 10mm?

Had some time on my hands after work this afternoon so jumped in the van & trundled over to MPS bike spares next to Fox's Diner, near Oxford.
Bought a couple of very tidy little billet ally in-line fuel filters, (one for Tazzie, one for me), plus a pair of these. Made by a local guy, they're tubular tax disc holders. The disc rolls up inside the perspex toob. I'm assured they're legal & they're much tidier than flat discs I think. They come in various colours but I got 2 polished ones.
A bit pricey at 30 quid each but I had some overtime money this week so treated myself -& Taz. I'd already welded a mounting tab on the trike frame with these in mind -so just as well I bought one I guess.

Depends on the pitch! 10.5 - 10.8 I would think.

M12 x 1.75  Only going into aluminium & ally that's already had one buggered thread in it, so will start with 10mm & see how it goes I think.

   dia. minus pitch will get you close, I can't remember the standard and my Zeus is in the shed, but down to 60% odd engagement is acceptable so 10.5 will make life easy.
   Put this somewhere handy,
http://bobmay.astronomy.net/misc/drillchart.htm

Okey doke. Thanks.  ;D

That tax disk holder is stunning Manky dude.... 8) 8)

A bit extravagant but, for once, I had a little bit of spare cash so what the hell. I don't normally do blingy billet bits, but it tucks away behind the radiator very unobtrusively. The guy who makes them had a stall at the 3Bs rally in Bordon, Hants a couple of months ago. Would've bought one then but couldn't afford it.

Yo MM got a phone no,address, web site for the guy who makes em? cheers Fred

Not for the actual guy who makes 'em, but I bought mine from MPS bike accessories shop, next to Fox's Diner, (a well known bikers cafe), at Dorchester, about 5 miles outside Oxford, on the A4074, heading towards Reading. As far as I know they're the only supplier.
The shop number's 01865-343534.
They come either polished or in half a dozen anodised colours with either domed or bullet shaped ends. 6" overal length by 1" diameter. Double O ring sealed on both ends to keep 'em watertight. Nicely made bit of kit.

When i come to measure up your bottom yoke for your headlight mount me thinks i might be taking some dimensions off of that tax disc holder as well. ;D

You were supposed to be making me one as I remember!

Mmmmmm, I'll be watching this space then !  ;)......... ;D 8)

Mr SaddleBags did indeed visit my humble garage this very afternoon. Didn't measure up for tax disc holders but did do so for a headlight bracket for my trike.
The re-worked yokes are now back on with new taper roller bearings, the fork brace from my last trike's been powder-coated black, (it was polished ally before), & fitted, & so has the mudguard. I made the brace from 5 seperate sections of aluminium billet, welded together & hacksawed & hand filed to shape by my good self. Took bloomin' ages. SaddleBags turned one out for Ska Man on his magic CNC machines in about half an hour.  >:(
Can't put the front wheel back in till I've sorted out the engine. As you can see, it's hanging out of the frame at the moment cos I need to redrill & retap a thread in the crankcases to screw a new head stud into.

.

well it looks like ive given you enough time now i'll have to get back onto my build because you havent finished youre;s yet   

 ;D
Welcome back mate.
Nope, mainly lack of money & time holding mine up. Let's see some snaps of yours then.

Hey Manky, how come you can make a trike look bloody gorgeous even before it's finished ?

Well done fella, I really can't wait to see this build finished ;)....... 8)

Nor can we  ;D  :-*

Stopped by at my lock up while walking to the local DIY store today. Haven't even looked at my trike for a couple of weeks. Been laid low by Tonsillitis, which has left me feeling pathetically weak & feeble. Depressing to realise just how much I've got left to do.
The very last outing for this year will be the Reading to Wokingham Barnados toy run in early December & I'm determined to get the thing on the road for that.
So next week I plan to have a bit of a garage blitz & get as much done as I can.
If any local Monkeys see this, I could really do with a hand fellas.

Sorry to hear you've not been well dude, I hope ya feeling 100% real soon bro ;)

Being ill can't be that bad when you've got the lovely Tazet as your nurse eh !  ;)...... ;D 8)

 ;D
You'd be suprised how many people have said that!
Or maybe you wouldn't.

Do I sense a trike-finishing party coming on?  I can probably pop over Tuesday after work?  Anyone else?

Will certainly take a bit more than a few days to get it finished. Still got no exhaust system, no handbrake cables, no rear brakes, no rear mudguards, no numberplate bracket, no brake hoses or cables & a million little brackets that need to be made then powder-coated. Just determined to get as much bolted back together as possible, so it's at least back on it's 3 wheels with the motor properly sorted & bolted back in, tank & bars back on etc.
Think I need an enthusiasm boost. 

Not an enthusiasm boost, but it was all I could find!

 ;) ;D

Hahahaha, its me! ;D

Finally got back to my garage today after an absence of nearly a month due to illness.
I'd almost forgotten where I'd got to with it. One of the cylinder head studs had stripped it's thread in the crankcases, so Mr SaddleBags machined me a new stud with an oversize M12 thread on the bottom end. Today he & I tapped a new 12mm thread into the cases, screwed the replacement stud in & plonked the head back on. Quite suprisingly, it all went back together & torqued up perfectly. Great, so all I have to do is bolt the engine back into the frame & I'm back to where I was a month ago.  :P

Should have finished it by the end of the week then! :D

HHHMMMMM..... which week though  :o ;) ;D

Mind the paint...
scrape, scratch, gouge
......engine's in.
Rang round all the local bods for some help lifting the frame & shoe-horning the motor back into place. Typical -everyone was busy! So Tazet & I lifted & wiggled between us, (she lifted. I wiggled). Engine's back in place with all the mounting bolts finger tight. Propshaft's back on & the front wheel's almost in. Got to loosen off the fork brace & yoke pinch bolts & tweak it all a little to lign up the wheel spindle properly. Still got to come back out at some point though for a new front tyre.
So almost back to where I was a month ago. Just got to spend a week retouching all the gouges in the powder-coating now.

Yeah you can bolt in my Propshaft when mine is at that stage. Bloody thing I'm not doing that again in a hurry.  :(
I'm glad you have cheered up about the trike a bit. At one point I thought you were going to set on it with a sledge hammer and smash it to bits.  :o

Good to see it almost on three wheels. The end is a smidgin closer.  :-*

Keep going not long now!

               

                                   lign   ?

I do apolgise!
Line up the wheel spindle or align it.
Your choice.

Glad too see it's back on track! I now know what you mean about the, what seems like, endless task of filing all the welds smooth as that's what i've been doing all week on mine.

The very best of luck to you mate. Never, ever again! Taz can do her own  :P

OOOOOOHHH Andy....did you nearly "spit the dummy".
 Mellooooowwww out dude ;) sit back and count to 10, hhmmm maybe a 100  ;D

Just spent 2 hrs or so reading this thread from the start :) Bloody Amazing work like the low down look of the frame, everything looks perfect on it hope yer health stays with you, the finishing post cant be far away now for you :) good luck :)

Loads to do yet  :(
No exhaust system, rear mudguards, rear brakes, cables, wiring etc, etc, etc....

Really, really want to get it on the road for the local Christmas toy run. I hope.
Thanks for the compliments by the way -they do spur me on, so keep 'em coming!  :D

 I named my new Trike project today, its a tease for 2008 when I hope to find a local lock up to lay out the bits I,m collecting and start the job properly.

It's going to be the " LAKESTER T32"
 Looking forward to picking up a great BIG chunk of it in 2 weeks.
I know - take photos  ;)

I'm suitably teased -can't wait to see what you've got planned!

No photos today, (forgot to take the camera to the garage & it was getting dark by the time I left).
First day back pounding the streets on my Postal delivery after a month off due to illness, so I fell asleep as soon as I got home. Woke up at tea time & walked the 25 minute journey to my garage. Had time to finish bolting the engine back in, sorted the front wheel spindle alignment out & poured some oil into the forks. Then Taz arrived & between us we wrestled with the fork top nuts. The forks are Suzuki Savage -a fairly soft riding 600 cruiser. They're big diameter tubes but the springs are very weak, so I swapped them for Harley progressive ones with a 4" slug on top of them to preload them a bit. I also use normal engine oil rather than fork oil. Between that lot I end up with a nice firm ride, rather than nose-diving every time I brake. Makes it a bugger to screw the top nuts into place though. Sorted now after a little cursing & bruised hands.
The trike's now back down on it's 3 wheels & actually rolling around the garage -no brakes yet! 

Put the handlebars back on today, plus the rocker assembly & carb, although it may have to come back off again when I make up the exhaust system. Also messed about, connecting a couple of water hoses up.
So very much to do. It's gonna take months & months to get it finished.  :(
Tried the speedo cable in place & realised I should've drilled a hole through the bottom yoke for it to pass through. Bugger. It'll hopefully be hidden behind the headlight but still annoying.
5 inches of ground clearance under the sump.

Standard length Superdream speedo cable will fit, but I've also got a slightly longer one from an unknown model, just in case.
Noticed today that the steering stops on the bottom yoke are moving. Will have to look at beefing them up somehow.

.

.

Looks great.
Havnt read the whole thread, is it Porsch peppermint green.
Sprayed my '53 Chevy Stepside that colour (and a number of bikes with the leftover).....like it a lot.

Try page 29 of this thread. Thats where the bit about the powder coaters is when we took the frame in.  ;D

thats looking very smart,clean lines like the frames minimal look about it ;)

that manifold looks the biz manky ;)

is it nice n snug with the tank on?

Everything is nice and snug on it. Just a bit too snug in some places though.  :)

Yeah, "snug" would be a good description!
Everything's on the limits of snugness. Any snuggerer & it wouldn't fit together at all.
The carb does indeed clear the tank -just. The inlet manifold sits on 2 1/2 inch extensions that space it out from the side of the engine just enough. I've routed the water pump to cylinder head water hose under the carb, so hopefully there'll be no problems with carb icing.
As stated elsewhere in the thread, the colour's an industrial powder-coat colour, most often used on children's playground fittings.  :)

It's gonna be a real show piece is that, and it's a total credit to your skills Andy, it's bloody gorgeous !  ;)........ 8)

im using a stock manifold with a much buggered around with mustang

i really sould borrow a digi cam to post some photies

im trying to emulate the quality of the other monkey trikes........

i likes it sticking out the side ...........


fnurk ;D

 ;D
C'mon, show us what you've been up to!

Nipped over to Reg's place today, (forum member & local Chap With A Lathe In His Shed, (& therefore a jolly nice chap to know).  ;)
He's knocked up a pair of ally oil filler bungs, one for my trike & one for Taz's. They have right angled breather pipes, unlike the vertical ones on the originals, & are as low profile as we could make them to give all important extra millimetres of clearance under the petrol tank. A tenner each. Bargain.  :) Thanks Reg.
The rocker cover's a standard Reliant one powder-coated in gloss black.

Do I sense a De Ja Vu with your green trike outside the lock up?  Rewind 3 years......

The green thing almost lives - yippee!

can he make anymore andy

Breathing life into the wee green beastie's a little way off yet Janie, but it's getting there.
Dave, yeah, I'm sure Reg could be persuaded to make another.  ;)

Taz & I only spent half an hour in the garage today -busy trying to sort the sale of my flat out. Time enough to check the rocker cover & breather will fit, bung the tank on & make a few well chosen brumm, brumm noises.  :D

.

.

Brumm, brummmm.  ;D

is that a little grin starting to happen in the last photo ;) ;D

i do like the look of that :) the frame is spot on not an ounce of clutter on it, and i think he was farting not smiling :)

 ;D ;D ;D LOL  ;D ;D ;D

Thats his rufty tufty look,  ;D ;D ;D LOL  ;D ;D ;D

I'm too cute to be ruffty tuffty.  :-*
Heaps of stuff still to do. Need to make a bracket to hold the choke knob, another for the throttle cable, one for the number plate, plus finish making the one for the coil. Also got to weld up the rear mudguard stays & cut the ally guards to shape, then take it all down to the powder-coaters for some gloss black powder.
No exhaust yet, no brakes, no wiring. S-O-O much to do.

Thats not that much! Be positive!! Ive been poking my volksrod and have turned up rotten holes in every panel including the roof and the steel sunroof! Knew I should have just left the paint on!!
4 brackets, 4 mudgaurd stays, 2 gaurds to trim, a day on exhaust, day on wiring, day running the brake lines, etc, looks like a weeks solid work. Even though it will be done in bits, look at it that way. Doesnt look so bad then! ;)

i think its fair to say anyone would luv to be in yer position"trike build wise" and although wot u describe sounds like alot at least u have the experience to know how to finish it off,not like say someone like me who's never done a fresh build,if u get my meaning? keep yer chin up :)

Ahhh bollox I hate you again now

 ;D
That's cheered me up Borgy!
Money & time are the biggest limiting factors at the moment. Once I've sold my flat I'm going to treat it to a proper, professionally built, stainless exhaust system, including a tubular manifold to replace the pig ugly cast iron one. Brakes always seem to be a nightmare to sort, but will be done in Goodrich hose, running inside the frame rails, & Brock will be wiring it for me -though he doesn't know it yet.  ;)

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Where will the exhaust come from?

From the exhaust ports on the side of the engine!  ;D

rofl "sorry" couldnt help me self

suppose it could have been "wind"  ;) ;D

The trike is absolutely beautiful Andy 8)

I think you've designed the perfect Reliant trike 8)

Nah, just trying to eliminate the faults of the previous one with every new one I build -& managing to build in a whole new set of problems in the process!
Tazzie reckons her one will consist of all the ideas I didn't use on my own!
She could be right!

Another step backwards today.
Started the day hacksawing out the rear number plate bracket from a lump of 5mm angle iron. Trust me, it'll be prettier than that sounds! It'll bolt to the back of the axle diff & carry a steel backing plate for the number plate.
Then Reg arrived on his Beemer to deliver the new steering stops he'd made for me. Great -except they won't fit. The previous ones were moving when the bars were dropped onto full lock. 14mm stainless steel pins with 8mm studs that screwed into blind holes in the bottom yoke. Being an ally yoke, finished in powder-coat, which is a fairly soft finish, the force of the stops hitting the central pin on the headstock was gradually straining the threads in the yoke. Solution One was to make new stops with a wider flange on the base which would hopefully spread the load over the yoke. Being wider we couldn't get them past the headstock to screw them into the yoke though. Bugger.
Solution Two is to drill the bottom yoke again to take a recessed allen bolt from underneath, which'll pass right through the yoke & screw into the underside of the steering stop. Much stronger. Hopefully. Sorry Reg! That'll be the third time he's machined those damned stops!
Only problem was, that meant jacking up the front of the trike & taking the front end off again to remove the bottom yoke. Bugger x 2.
Left by myself I'd have put off doing that for the next week & probably eventually convinced myself it didn't need doing -then cursed myself for ever more that I didn't. Fortunately help was soon at hand. As Reg left. Lunatic arrived -& he had choccie donuts! Top chap.
Forks & yokes removed & bottom yoke delivered to Reg for re-drilling. I'm praying he can do it without destroying too much of the powder-coating. Minor damage can be retouched with the aerosol of touch-in paint I've got left over from the last trike. While he's got the yoke he's also going to drill a hole for the speedo cable to pass through -another job that got overlooked during the initial build.
So no piccies, just go back & look at the ones before I fitted the front end -it looks the same now.  :( Thanks Lunatic & Reg for your help.  ;)
   

Collected the bottom yoke from Reg this evening. He's drilled & counter-bored it to take a pair of stainless M8 allen bolts. They screw into the underside of the steering stops. He's also drilled the speedo cable guide hole &, quite amazingly, managed to do it all with hardly any damage to the powder-coat. All I need to do is retouch the insides of the holes with a little dab of green paint. Payment- a couple of MMMotors T shirts. Thanks Reg.  ;)
The other countersunk hole's the headlight mount by the way.

Bloody good work. Reg is a genius.

Thought he would leave that to you did he? ;)

Our next bike show is in April 08, do you thinkthat you'll have that trike finished by then to show?  ??? ???

It should be. Wether it's registered or not will be another thing.

you forget mate im a technichal ignoramous ;D

i will one day when ive sussed out how to use the fekkin digi cam ive aquired...

Walked straight to my garage after work today, (a 3/4 hour trudge across town, followed by a 1/2 hour walk home afterwards), & re-fitted the yokes. The new steering stops seem fine. Unfortunately I think I'll need to remove the yokes yet again to fit the headlight bracket I'm waiting for saddleBags to make, as it's base sits under the centre steering stop. Bugger.
Just don't seem to be getting anywhere with this at the moment. S/Bags is snowed under with work. Anyone out there got the means to make me a stainless headlight bracket if I send them a sketch with dimensions? I also need a pair of polished ally domed fork top nut covers.

Flap resurfaced today to borrow my generator -haven't seen him for ages. So I nabbed him to help me refit the forks on my trike. Standard Honda SuperDream speedo cable seems to fit but I need to solder longer wires on the instrument light before I can actually fit the speedo.
Spent several hours this afternoon trying to cobble together a choke cable fitting on the side of the carb & failed dismally. The bars come round far enough on full lock to clout the choke knob in the position I wanted to fit it. Think I'll fit a knob direct to the operating lever on the carb then try to make some sort of ratchet to hold it in half & full choke positions.

.

Send me a sketch and I'll see if I can do anything for the headlight bracket

Thanks matey. It's in 3 pieces that I'll have to get TIG welded together. Basically a T shape in round bar with the top bored to take the headlight pivot bolt, with a round base to fit the recess in the bottom yoke.
I'll have a measure up over the weekend.

tis looking a sweet ride now mr mankey ,soon be on the road  ::) ;)

Thank you Sir, but not this side of Christmas I fear.
Several large jobs left to do -brakes, mudguards, wiring etc, plus a million smaller ones.
This isn't a mega budget build -probably less than a 1000 quid at the moment, spread over several years, (I've re-used as much of the previous trike as I can & made or blagged all the one-off parts), but it needs a few bits buying for it & at the moment I'm literally counting pennies. Not planning a major spending spree, but as soon as I sell my flat I'll be able to buy the last few parts & push on.

Looks great mate.
If I could find a French registered donor Reliant I would be asking you to make a frame for me.

is a universal choke cable any good to you

Got one thanks mate, but can't find a way of mounting it that'll work. Thinking of bolting a knob direct to the lever on the side of the carb that the cable would operate, but that'd need some way of holding it in the On position.

didnt the austin morris ones have that twist/hold choke?

thats what my cable does

The one he has is a twist/hold one. That's not the problem. The problem is that where it's supposed to fit for it to operate properly, the handle bars hit it when they're on full lock. We could put it somewhere else with a longer cable but it looks pants.  

"but that'd need some way of holding it in the On position" I used to have the same problem and I used a Clothes Peg to hold it open, How about an Aluminium Clothes Peg?

 ;D
Very high tech!
Ska Man uses a Post Office elastic band.
I was thinking maybe a strip of sprung steel bolted behind the operating arm on the carb, with a couple of holes drilled in the appropriate places, so that the lever pops into the holes as you pull it up.

locking lever of a quad or something maybe

That's an idea. I'll have a look at the gamekeeper's quads on the estate.  ;)

I remember the clothes peg - that's what I used to use on my Anglia - or was it the Moggy Minor?  So long ago..........

 ;D
One of my old Moggies had one. An ex Police Panda Car.
Maybe clothes pegs were standard fittings?

Our Maestro had a peg on the choke cable too after we changed it to manual form auto choke! And the mini too! :D

Maybe UniPart sell 'em. :)

BMC part no: 6239 - All natural material choke cable locking accessory! Fits minis, minors etc! ;D

will check my box of bits might have one and the lever that is lol

not got one mate lawn mower placew or push bike shop brakes for  tricycles

if tp cant help you andy ive aquired a lathe and miller from toad....

now im not up for doing it yet , but my mate who's teaching me is timed served from bae.....

he said he would do it for me for lathe time ;)

Many thanks for that Critch.
I'll shout if necessary, but may well call on your help for Taz's trike -don't want to outstay my welcome anywhere so I try to spread the blagged favours around a bit! ;)

i owe you loads mate ;)

Number plate bracket.
3mm Steel plate, plasma cut by Brock last week. 5mm angle iron bracket, hacksawn and filed by Tazet and I and welded in the garden. Will be powdercoated black and bolt directly to the diff casing on the back axle.

I hate you even more now, if we ever meet I shall go 'Huufff and turn my back on you :(

I shall be deeply hurt if you do mate.  :'(
That welding looks bloody awful -it's not that bad in real life. Honest.
Took me ages to balance that plate on edge like that.

Next job was to make the rear mudguard struts.
They're 1 inch bore heavy weight ERW, (4mm wall thickness), same as the frame. The triangular braces are in 3mm steel plate, plasma cut by Brock. Sounds posh don't it! Not really -I just happened to be visiting his workshop when they were needed. Normally I'd just hacksaw this kind of stuff.
The clamps are cut from offcuts of the 2 inch bore ERW I made the frame axle clamps from & bolt to tabs welded to the axle itself. That means they can be powder-coated black. If they'd been welded to the frame they'd have ended up green, which would've made the frame look much wider. In black, they won't be invisible but will certainly blend better with the tyres. Colour can make a big difference to a build -worth spending time considering your options. Being removable also means the guards & struts could be easily changed if I were to change the wheel/tyre combo at some point.
Next, I need to take the struts back to my lock-up in Basingstoke & check they fit, find some washers to weld in the open tube ends, (I've got some domed marker lights to go in them), & work out the guard fixings.

These where just the thing I was thinking of doing on the XJ 900 trike, but now its for sale I didn't bother.

Can't wait to see this one finished, then I can grumble and groan in a ' shuffle feet I'm not  jealous 'manner.

:)

I can't wait to see the damn thing finished too mate! Already collecting parts for the next one. Just hoping the struts aren't too heavy -don't want them drooping, but got to be vibration proof & strong enough to withstand the fat muppets that inevitably sit on the bloody things at shows.  >:(
I'm not worthy of your jealousy I assure you! ;)

Bugger.
Having made the mudguard struts in Guildford, we brought them back to my garage in Basingstoke this morning to trial-fit them. There's enough clearance between the top of the tyre & the strut, but the underside of the bend in the tube sits on the back corner of the tyre,
Bugger.
Neatest solution is probably to slice the underside of the tube so that it's semi-circular, rather than round, then weld in a flat section. That'd hopefully give enough clearance, though it'll still be tight, & also give a flat surface for the guard to bolt up to. The end of the tube needs to be round though to take the marker lights that will push into them.

What a pain!
Wont cutting back the tube at that point weaken it just where you dont want to?
Wheel spacer an option?

Yeah, 'tis indeed a pain. It's 4mm wall tube so probably up to the job & with a flat surface for the guard to fit against will look like it's meant to be like that -but still a pain.
Spacers would solve the problem but would have to be about an inch thick & involve counter-sunk wheel nuts & another set of studs. SaddleBags is too busy to machine his own trike parts at the moment, let alone mine. I'll jack up the back end though, loosen a wheel & have a measure up & see what it looks like.

This is the problem. One step forward, several back as usual. Mudguard mounts look good, (well, I think they do anyway), plenty strong enough & fit well to the mounts on the axle. Unfortunately they foul on the tyres. Poo. I'm working kinda blind here, cos I'll be using different wheels & tyres for the MSVA test. Apparently there's a maximum age for tyres for the test, (5 years I think), & mine are something like 15 years old, although they look like new -sidewalls are fine & there's tons of tread. So I'll borrow SkaMan's for a day or two. Same tyre size but a different make. Bet they don't fit  :(
Having spacers made & getting them powder-coated, as well as buying another set of wheel studs & nuts, ain't the cheapest or quickest option, but probably the tidiest. A bit drastic just to fit the mudguards but never mind.
I've been thinking about indicators today. I was planning on fitting car type oval side repeaters as the front flashers, mounted to the front tube of the mudguard struts so they point forward, which is perfectly within the MSVA regulations. Trouble is, I'm not keen on LEDs, (a bit too modern & boy racer chavvy for me), but the tubes aren't wide enough to accomodate a bulb holder. That means the oval lights would have to be on stalks, standing out from the mudguard struts an inch or so. Might look O.K, but would probably look icky.
I don't want to spoil the lines of the front of the trike with normal bike indicators -so anyone know if Bar end flashers would comply with the MSVA regs?

And before you say it, yes, the struts will be trimmed back flush with the front of the tyres!

Discovered today that my speedo doesn't need longer light wires soldering on before I fit it into it's handlebar pod as it's already got 8 inches of wire. Great. Then found the new Honda speedo cable I'd dug out of my spares box has an end that's too small to locate in the square drive on the back of the guage. I've got another new cable that'll fit properly but it's 6 or 7 inches too long. Looks like I'll be sending it to Speedy Cables to be shortened when I've got some money.
Another step back.  :(

thats the sort of s**t that happens to me manky  >:(

you could ease those with oxy acet,for a perfect fit mate ,to follow the radius of the tyre.simple job if its 4mm wall tube.

I just know I'd bugger that up if I tried it.

   and why not just move the mounting along the axle, closer to the lights ?

Cos the mudguard struts bolt to tabs already welded to the axle tubes & very nicely painted by Mr Lunatic.

What about just using a hot spot on the verticle tube and quenching the spot. Put the heat on the side you want to shrink(Inboard side away from the tyre) heat a spot cherry red and quench with a cold wet rag. It's surprising how much things will move.
When there is enough clearance up the side of the tyre then do the same to bring the horizontal part parralel to the tyre tread. Apart from the heat dicolouring no hammer marks or signs of brute force that you have manipulated the tube :)

The tubes will be powder-coated black so discolouration's not a problem.
I've never used Oxy, or heat of any sort. Would need to find someone who knows what they're doing, has a set of bottles & can bring them to my garage so it can be done in situ. I think Reg, who machines small trike parts for me on his lathe, has a set & maybe Lunatic too. I'll enquire.

hhmmmm oxycetalene....much better than a bbq ;D ;D ;D

and quicker too,nought to toast in 3 seconds  ;D

   remake the bottom bracket on the stays with an off set built in, still bolt to the original axle plate and move the tubes over 3/4"

there's a MAN WITH A PLAN :)

Yeah, annoying ain't he!  ;D
Haven't got any more 2" bore tube to remake the bottom bracket. I'll have to have a hunt about through the spares bin at the weekend.

Bit of a pain but at this stage there's no point spoiling the ship for a haporth of tar as they say, you've put so much effort into making it all absolutely right.

Can't see it getting on the road before the Spring now, so yeah, worth doing it right I guess.

Andy.
I want to nick your idea for axle clamps. I have tried scrounging some 50mm ID tube at my usual places, but with no joy. Where do you get yours from?

"Pipeline" here in Basingstoke, Hants. (01256-868200).
I haven't bought any for a year or so, so no idea what the current price is -it was about 2 quid a foot last time I checked. I asume Pipeline's part of a national chain & not just a local business. They sell ERW tubing in 4 metre lengths, but often have half lengths knocking about. If I'm lucky they'll cut it into manageable lengths for me so I can get it home. If not I have to hacksaw it up in the carpark! -no, I'm not joking! I could do with a couple of feet to sort out my mudguards & for Taz's trike, but don't really need a full half length. Shame you're not nearer.   

I have only been to two of my regular places so far, and both of them say you can't get 50mm ID stuff. Obviously its out there somewhere, or you would'nt be using it.

Definitely 2 inch bore.

Run it without guards, go on Manky you know you want to :P :P

'Course I want to, but the MSVA regs state there must be "adequate" coverage to prevent spray. Wonder if an umbrella would count?

so people must just take them off then? like the flapters

 Hi








hi andy i have some spacers fitted to my trike at the moment,your more than welcome to borrow them and trial fit them to see if thats the route you'd like to take,their about 20mm to 25mm thick just right i'd say.

'Ello stranger!
I keep thinking about this mudguard prob &, to be honest, a wheel spacer's probably the simplest solution -requires no re-fabrication of the trike, won't make it obvious that I've messed up & had to bodge up a rehashed strut & won't be visible when they're fitted -just bolt 'em on & the problem's solved. Seems a bit radical just to give clearance for the guards, (if I ever sold the trike the new owner would be baffled as to why there were spacers fitted! -NO, I'm NOT ever selling it!), but would work.
Mr Bags, I've measured up & a 1 1/4 inch spacer would do the job.
VB, yup, bolt on whatever you need to pass the test, (mudguards, super quiet exhausts etc), then take it off afterwards as long as you still comply with the MOT regs -but then, once it's MSVA'd it's classed as a brand new vehicle & doesn't need an MOT for 3 years.  ;)

Remember my trike? I'd almost forgotten it myself.
About a month ago Doc Senior in Taunton, Somerset, made a headlight bracket for me. He delivered it to Lunatic's workshop in Basingstoke, Hants. Then it went to my brother, Brock's workshop in marlborough, Wilts, to be TIG welded together. He didn't have any stainless wire so he delivered it to a welding shop I use in Newbury, Berks. I collected it when it was done & took it back to Basingstoke, Hants. The mounting underneath was slightly too long, (a miscalculation on my part, not Doc's), so the bolt wouldn't tighten up fully, so I took it to Reg's workshop on the other side of Basingstoke to be remachined. Then it was back to my lock up to be fitted. The bracket fitted fine, but the mounting tab on the headlight shell fouled the steering stop, so it was back to Lunatic's workshop to shave the tab with the angle grinder & retouch the paint.
Finally back to my lock up to fit it all. And it still bloody fouls the steering stop.
Argh! The poxy thing's travelled halfway round the South of England in the last couple of months & still doesn't fit. Well, tough, I kept moving the forks from lock to lock, tapping the light mount each time & now it just about clears by the merest whisper.   

.

The radiator hoses are made from a pair of standard Reliant bottom hoses, cut up & turned around to clear the frame. Today I also fitted a pair of billet ally hose connectors from Demon Tweeks.
I don't finish work until 2pm these days & by 4 it's getting dark, so progress will be slow but I'm determined to get this damn thing finished in time for the Spring -& yes, I know I said that last year too!

.

Looking Good!!!

 ;D Hi Doc. See, your workmanship got fitted eventually!
I could unscrew the stainless steering stop from the headstock & trim it down for more clearance, but I can't shift the damn thing! It's a stainless cap screwed onto a mild steel stud welded into the bottom bearing cup. I've got a feeling I thread-locked it & there's a spring washer on there too, but even clamping it with mole grips won't budge it. If I could get it off without damaging anything around it I could make a new one 5mm shorter for a bit more headlight/steering stop clearance.

Nice moody night shots there.

 ;D
Taken about half past 3 in the afternoon!

I found a brand new Honda speedo cable in my spares box, but it was too long. I think it must've been for the CB1000 I had last year. It had the right drive fitting on the bottom end & the inner cable fitted my mini speedo, so I sent it off to Speedy Cables in Swansea, (01639-732213). For 13 quid, including postage, they trimmed about 6 inches off it. A perfect fit.
The speedo's wedged in it's housing with a sleeve of thin rubber sheet, no mounting bolts, but if it vibrates & moves I'll use a dab of mastic to hold it in place.

Next job is to persuade Doc to machine me a nice pair of polished domed forktop nut covers.

Stainless steel LED "Lightning Bolts" from "Pop Browns" act as both number plate bolts & illumination. They come in either domed, pointy or piston shapes.

thats looking way too cool for you mank  ;D ;D

 ;D It's way too cool to do much in my lock up at the moment. No light, power or heat in there. After trudging the streets all day delivering mail, it was already starting to get dark by the time I got there yesterday. By the time I'd buggered about cutting rubber grommets to fit the cable guide hole in the bottom yoke, then fitting the cable & guage, I couldn't feel my fingers any more, so gave up & went home. Still got the front brake caliper to go on, brake hoses to make up & feed through the frame, (that's gonna be fun), throttle cable to make, plus it's mounting bracket on the carb, distributor to fit & tappets to set etc etc. And that's just what I can see from those last pics. Loads to do on the back end yet too.
I'm determined to have it registered & on the road for the Spring, so I'll just keep plugging away at it, a bit at a time between other projects.

thats a great looking trike m8 wish i could build as good :'(

 ;D Wish I could get the damn thing finished so I could get out & ride it.
Got to build another for Tazet afterwards. Hers will be fairly similar but a quick, (ha, ha, ha!!), budget version.

m8 if you lived closer you build them in my workshop that way i could learn how to build one

 ;D We could all live in your workshop!
That's why I'm trying to show the build in every detail here, plus the frame building chapters in the Motors, 3 wheels bit of the site -so that people can see just how they go together. I'd like everyone else to detail their builds too -the more ideas & info we can share, the more customs will be out there on the streets &, (hopefully), the better & safer they'll be built. We're certainly not experts or even professional builders, just a bunch of muppets messing about in sheds, but everyone has knowledge that can help someone else.
Lunatic & PD are due to go look at Toad's supercharged Reliant trike project in Swindon today, hoping to buy it. I'll badger them to start a thread here & keep us informed of it's progress.

lol i hardly use my workshop but i do read everything on this site and to be honest this forum i use more than any i hardly post on others now

just a thought mank,is it still ok to make up your own brake lines ? ive heard that they need to be crimped for the sva test..........anyone ?

Yeah, still trying to find a definitive answer on that one. Anyone got a contact number or email address for the MSVA guys? I thought about doing it in copper pipe like cars, but that's still compression fittings, the same as Goodrich hose.

I have enquired about this recently, and apparently any MSVA inspector worth his salt will insist on brake lines being swaged/crimped, so, I intend to use motoflex ones as you can get these made up to any length with swivel connections crimped on. Try  `aerotek` for a vast selection of bits and pieces.

Bugger. Don't think they're going to fit in the holes I've drilled in my frame. Wonder if anyone does on-site crimping, so I could feed the hose through the frame then have them fit the ends on.
Got a link for Aerotek?

I just googled `BSR-aerotek online store`

http://www.bsr-aerotek.com/

Can't be long now Andy, and looking so sweet too!

Glad the bits fit ok.

As soon as I find the old fork top nut covers I'll send you one as a pattern Doc. Some nice domed shiny ones please!  ;)

with referance to the hose crimping you could try pirtek thier primarily mobile units and will call out free if you buy the bits from them! thier also agents for goodridge. hope this helps.

Thanks Toad. Once I've got all 3 calipers fitted I'll give them a ring.

OK chap no problem.

Hmm, a perfect example of how going straight to the source of information can save you an awful lot of hassle.
This afternoon I rang Chris, the MSVA tester who posts on the 100% Biker forum. A very nice -& helpful, guy. So, the official answer- there's NO age limit on tyres for the MSVA test. They just have to be in roadworthy condition, (no cracks in the sidewalls, sufficient tread depth etc), & have the correct speed rating for the performance of the vehicle. So although my tyres have already seen 4 1/2 year's service on my last trike, they should be fine.
Secondly, brake hoses DON'T have to be swaged. Goodrich type flexible hoses with compression fittings are fine. They won't accept aluminium end fittings though, they have to be stainless or chromed steel. Also the compression part of the fitting must be rigid -it's not allowed to clamp on the flexible hose. Goodrich style hoses have a rigid spigot that pushes into the inner hose & the collar clamps onto that with a copper olive, which is fine. Chris said the examiner would need proof that that was how they worked. He said a sales leaflet from the hose company with an exploded diagram of the fittings would be sufficient. I asked if taking a spare fitting along to show it's component parts would be O.K. He said yup.
I also checked that mounting front indicators on the front face of the rear mudguards would be alright -yup. Bar end indicators are also allowed -but only as front indicators.
Finally I asked if there were any common stumbling blocks that led to MSVA failures. Chris said the most common was handbrakes only operating on one rear wheel -they must be on both rears or the front.
Oh, & as we were saying Goodbye, he said "You're not from Manky Monkey Motors are you?  ;D   
 

A little fame is a wonderful thing!  And why not, it's generally agreed tha Many trikes are great trikes!

Not sure being known to the DVLA is a good thing, but yeah, felt good!
First step on the MSVA trike registration trail:
tomorrow I've got to write to the nearest DVLA office, (Wimbledon. The same ones I had to contact about my Pop), & ask for a VIN number for the frame. Doesn't matter that the frame's homebuilt, but it can't be MSVA'd until the frame's got a permanently attached VIN number that makes it uniquely identifiable. They will issue a number or I can make up my own, between 9 & 17 characters, a mix of numbers & letters, not including those that can be misread like O, I etc. 
Any suggestions?!

Can't wait to see your finished trike at our bike show in April ;D ;D

hahahaha







(that was a hollow laff, in case anyone didn't recognise it)

It was recognised.

vin how about manky3monkey um is it 3 trikes u have built? one other thing if u talk to the mvsa guy again can u ask him if Q plate transport is regged as 1971 so dunno if im right but u dont have to have indicators... ar im prolly wrong...forget it :O