Other three wheelers of interest

Zoleco

Mono

or just two wheels
Gyro

or old school

Dymaxion_car

enough for today...

Rough Frame is done.

Looking good!

The scooter parts are working better than I thought. The cable for throttle and brakes are long enough, I thought I would have to make them longer. Nice surprise! One of the front brake calipers will be upside down, only down side is I will need to pull it off to bleed it? Next weekend to work on the floor and battery location.

Welding at last!

Okay, the plasma cutter and welder are hard at work. Still working on wheelbase, front axle came out nice.

Only odd thing is scooters let the bearings float from side to side to align with the disc brake caliper. Interesting, should be fine once the calipers are mounted.

Looks like the Sceadu, only with skinny tires.

And, cut the scooter in half and a quick test fit!

Now to install the steering from the scooter and decide what to use for front shocks and where to place them. Using the scooter makes all the support items much easier than the Sceadu design.

Stay tuned for the next phase!

more stuff

Now have a second scooter, of course you need 2 front tires to make a 3 wheeler. Have the first scooter engine all rebuilt and ready to go. So now its time to lay it out! Pictures soon.

So Toyota is looking at a three wheel electric, but only seats one. Again, their customer have no friends to take for a ride? The see through doors are interesting.

Here is a new idea, wait 1960's. This might be the car that sparked my interest all those years ago,
turbo-phantom

Okay, now I need to decide to make a more exact Sceadu with scooter power, or modify the floor to not have the two humps to stradle for the bottom frame? Stay tuned.

Okay, a few dollars and craigslist and here are all the parts I need! Two engine choices, several tires, seats, and more.

The scooter drivetrain is interesting. I guess every 50 cc scooter made uses the same engine designed by Honda in the 60's. Made in China. Parts are cheap. Found another car built on a scooter called the Zoe Zipper. Would like some close ups of the chassis, but cannot find any. Looks like it's built like the Scoot Car aka GoCar I drove last week. But only one seat.

Getting close! Stay tuned.

Out for test drive

So, a business trip to San Diego and what do I find? A three wheel car. 80 bucks later and I get a 2 hour test drive! Only 50 cc motor, but got to 30 on level ground. A little shy up hills. I kept trying to straddle pot holes and man hole covers. That third wheel in the middle hit every one! But now I am even more excited to build my own.  But mine will have more foam in the seats.

Guess they are made by Scoot Coupe, Here is the new model.

Plans and weight

Okay, pencils and papers down. I now have a couple of drawings. Front axle placement appears to be the biggest question. Might move it back once the frame is assembled and the seats are placed. Anyway, here are the drawings.

If my calculations are close, the whole vehicle should weigh in less than 250 lbs. We shall see.

Also, found another interesting reverse trike.
reverse trike go kart video
Even more basic than Sceadu design.

Craigslist to the rescue. I now have a drivetrain, wheels, a seat, and spindles for less than 200 bucks. Pictures will follow. Also doing some surfing found this, but appears to be dead in the last 6 months.
http://switchvehicles.com/switch-electric-vehicles-0
Do not like the one seat in the front and two in the back. Shorten it up and make it a side by side. Has not the ATV trends taught you anything. We like to socialize!

Also found this interesting camper
Single camper

Okay, off to the steel yard for 1 1/4 inch square tubing!

2 in the front or 2 in the back?

So, I know how many wheels I want, but where to put the wheels? I know I can cause a Miata with slicks to understeer so I think my only choice is 2 in the front! I imagine that with one wheel up front I will miss a lot of turns or look like Jeremy on Top Gear in a Robin! This is nice start. It has plans!
http://www.finkbuilt.com/blog/suburba-car-diy-3-wheeler/

This is real nice, but looks like many years of work
Roopod

This is what I think I will attempt. Looks like he has been making plans for a kit for many many years. But with the PM plans and a bit of guessing I should be able to make it work.
Sceadu


So off to craigslist to look for parts!

The start

Ever since second grade while reading a popular mechanix or popular science I wanted a 3 wheel car. A long lost friend and I would draw for hours all of our ideas when we were suppose to be doing school work. Some were simple, others had large bubbles covering the top, Some were single seaters, other were more like vans. Some came in two parts so you could just drive the front half alone. Now some 50 years later I am going to give it a try. Follow here for the journey. And the other thing I always wanted to build is a rocket ship. Guess I will see how the 3 wheel car goes first. This is also my first blog!