three wheeler progress

[GordonBH]

Gorgeous work!

[hogv8]

Take it from a retired Tool maker , that's nice workmanship !

[Imzz4]

Thanks Jack, I'm good at hiding my mistakes. I heard decals can make the parts more reliable ,so I'm trying that too !

[hogv8]

Mistakes on home made parts is easy to fix Jeff when you not working to a blue print that may have a tolerance of + or - .0001 haha

[Imzz4]

I gave it a partial bath today before taking it out on the highway. All was good except the rear brakes act more like manual and not power brakes. I need to get it sorted out before I can get serious miles on it. The diameter of the 1" master cyl piston is making me wonder if that's a large part of the problem. I'd feel a lot better if I could get the tires to lockup or come close to it.

phpBB [video]

[Imzz4]

phpBB [video]

[V8Norm]

That sounds very good.

You do nice work

[Carl La Fong]

One inch is an awfully big master cylinder. I'd drop down to a 3/4 or even a 5/8

[Imzz4]

Carl, Thanks for your input. I value your suggestions. I probably started this whole power brake install on the wrong foot from the beginning. In hindsight I should have read more than I did and not "willed" everything to work right.
Now the 7"brake booster is also suspect. My travel at the booster input is about 1/4". I wonder if the internal valve never travels quite far enough to port the atmospheric air into that side of the chamber. Or something related is wrong. When I press and hold the pedal then start it, the pedal doesn't move. I put a new check valve in it when I put the latest master in. I'll try more play between the master cyl and the booster and if nothing changes I'll remove it and go from there. Thanks

[Imzz4]

New plan. Get rid of the power brake booster and correct my other mistake. Instead of replacing the booster( if its bad or not) , I bought a Wilwood 3/4" master cyl with the option to mount the res. remotely. I talked with one of their techs for some assurance. I also found my overall pedal leverage was 3.42 instead of 4.0 for power brakes.( My fault again). I'll need to change it to 6/1 for manual. Luckily I can make an adapter to lower it and move it forward using the holes from the booster. This will be master cyl. no. 4 this time . Maybe the last one !

[Imzz4]

The Wilwood is in place, pedal ratio is 5.7/1, reservoir is mounted behind the fuel tank, rotors and pads cleaned and sanded lightly with 120, and bled. Today I drove it in my garage since it was raining. My garage is 22' long, so the ride only went about 6 ft in each direction, but it stopped and held in gear when I gave it some throttle. I even got insurance and tags for it !

[Orlando606VetteTrike]

Jeff,

Your a Master Craftsman. Being an airline guy i know attention to detail, and your is second to none.

Beautiful job.

[Imzz4]

Thanks ! It won't be long now. (other than paint)

[Imzz4]

I rode it for about 8 miles with the ability to stop finally ! Everything went better this time around. Fuel inj. needs a lot more learning miles since it likes to almost stall when I come to a stop sign. That servo shifter likes to fault out when it leaves Park to reverse sometimes. I made an "all beef" brake pedal to get my foot a bit farther from the pipes since I found a nice chunk of stuff in the toolbox. Getting there....!

[Iron Maiden]

Wow !

[Imzz4]

What a surprise to find out the painter worked on my pieces on Easter day, thru the night until early the next morning. A week before, I had sent him 2 pics of it parked with all the lights on in a huge nearby empty parking lot. The text said " a Statey pulled me over and I lucked out. He gave me a warning for no seat, but a ticket for no paint. I told him to send it to your address.." Either that helped, or he was gonna work on it anyhow. It still needs sanded and buffed but it is that much closer !

[Paul H]

Jeff, I know you've waited to long for the painter to do something, BUT I really think it just might be worth
the wait. I love those style flames. You chose a great painter and he did a very good paint job.

Paul H

[V-MAN]

Glad to see it all coming together ... your seeing the light now!! Soon the trike will have all the body work on and the weather will be warming up. Just take the time for pics, I know you'll be busy riding!

[Imzz4]

Here's some pics of the grill that will give some fin protection without being too restrictive, and help take that flatness look away a little bit. The "8" was from the old chain the motor was installed with. Polishing each piece as it was done helped a lot, but it was still about as touchy as polishing the radiator. One slip and its messed up. I'm glad this is done !! All this work just so bug guts can smear around.

[hogv8]

Jeff , your trike is definitely a precision made masterpiece.

[Imzz4]

thanks Jack ! yep, snow flurry's here tomorrow so no testing

[Imzz4]

The painter texted it will be done this week. I got the text last week..
That saying goes something about 'good things happen to those who are patient ." My saying goes " when it's that close, stop screwing around and finish it .Make someone else be patient "

[Iron Maiden]

[Imzz4]

I'm happy to say mine now has a one of a kind bowtie emblem with the same screen mesh as on the radiator. I knew if I just gave him 20k in cash he would get going on it ! I haven't seen it in person since surely everything is probably being sanded and buffed while I type, (or not).

[Iron Maiden]

WOW!!! Long time to wait for paint but looks like it will be worth it!!