Manky Monkey Motors

Hi All.
I have gone over to the dark side, (no I'm not gay) but have bought a VW instead of a piggy lump.

I swapped some scrap box section for a Fiat 126 engine, decided I could'nt use it and put it on fleabay.
From the proceeds I bought this locally.

With all the cooling tin removed.

Ooh, a Swedish style V Dub. I quite like those. Is that the old Cossack frame?

Yes it is. I have had to lay off for a few months because of skintness, but I'm getting back on track now.
It won't be a full on Swede, just a budget version with Rascal axle, but I will probably use the reliant gearbox as the frame is so short.

a 5 speed box would be a good update no idea what would fit though good luck with it.  skintness seem everyone has a bit of that ,worse tha the summer colds(man flu)

Well I would like to fit a Bedford rascal box, which would match the axle, but I'm not sure if there is room for it in the frame. Pity as I had two in my garden but my mrs made me bin them.
What I will probably do is to find a bell housing off a VW T25 gearbox, which unbolts, and sandwich it with a piggy box.

be interesting to see if that actually matches up so that it works :) most peeps use 2 type 1 vw gearboxes, good luck m8e ;D i'll watch with interest :)

I have looked at that, but I dunno if two boxes would fit in the frame.

try this m8 will have the frame dimensions on it at least so u can compare
http://www.britchopper.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6937

Thanks VB.
My mate has just bought a Beetle to Swede, and I am going to take dimensions from his bits.

Result!!!!!!!

My luck must be changing.
A bloke near me has two VW vans outside his house and I went around to ask for some advice.
It turns out he had a bellhousing in his spare van and I grabbed it for fifteen quid.
I brought it back expecting to have to make an adaptor, as I have read on the net that the later boxes will not fit a Type1 block. Tried it against the flywheel and it slid straight on, holes as well!

With Reliant box.

That's an interesting combination.
Is the output shaft on the V Dub bellhousing offset towards the top? How will you mate that up to the Reliant box?

Well, thats the next job. The two input & output jobbies are lined up, but I am not quite sure how it is going to work for now.
I have also tried the piggy box further back, up against the diff flange, and could possibly have a long shaft with two U/J's from the VW clutch to the Reliant input end.
I would like to use a U/J between the diff flange and gearbox, but have been told it would be better if there was a rubber donut in there.

Any suggestions?

Rascal/Reliant U/J.

That's a tidy UJ set up -possibly the shortest linkage yet?

Still playing with it. If I can solid mount the front of the box I should get away with it.
Got to do some sort of shaft from the clutch to the gear box.

Today I spent twenty five quid on a piece of 10mm thick ally plate, 16 x 13 inches.
It's going to be bolted into the middle of the frame, and the Reliant gearbox will be bolted to that.
Got to cut it up with just hand tools, so that should be a laugh.  :D

Most of my stuff is hand cut & filed as that's all I have access to -plus I find it kinda satisfying to create something from nothing like that. Plenty of hours of sweat & toil ahead for you then Doug!

Cheers.
To be honest there is not a lot to do, apart from drilling the holes to mount the bellhousing.
The hardest job is going to be making sure all the surfaces are square so the U/J flanges line up & don't vibrate.

Tombstone anyone?

I chain drilled the top corners and gave them a quick going-over with the grinder. I will tidy it up with the correct file, if I can find it.

That's a big ol' lump of plate.
I've got to try & find a couple of square feet of 3mm steel for various mounting brackets on the Pop & strengthening gussets on Taz's trike frame. 

I usually go in and scrounge bits off the storeman in our local fabrication company, but they only have a limited supply. I had to go further afield for the ally plate.

You dug it up from a field?
Didn't have to go too far to find my steel plate in the end -I blagged some from me brother Brock last night.  ;D

Looks like I dug it up, does'nt it?
I dunno how long it was in the back of the stores.

I have another bit of ally for the back of the bellhousing. Ten quid for 12x12 Inches.

Bargain. :)