37' Stude tadpole 3-wheeler

I am building a very unusual vehicle....It is basically a 37' Stude roadster pick-up....three-wheeler....powered by a turbocharged flathead 6 Stude motor....which is LP powered. The front of the thing is 37' Stude to the hinges. Then from there back, I took a 56' Stude one ton truck body, cut off the top, narrowed it 6", channeled it 6" and cut 6" off the body below the bottom hinges. It will have a bobbed Stude truck pickup bed. Think Morgan 3-wheeler on steroids.


Two questions: What do you call cutting off the bottom of the body? Is this still sectioning or chopping? Second, I'd like to see and hear how others have gone about doing this kind of thing. Thanks in advance for responding. To see the build so far, go to:
http://tribaker.wordpress.com

 

I can't decide it this thing is absolutely awesome or totally fucking scary looking....

 

First 3-wheeler rat Ive seen. Wish I hadn't.

 

front suspension looks scary with the spacers made out of square tubing.

Are you going for the mad max look?

 

So its kind of like a hot rod Cushman Truckster, or maybe like an Isetta roadster.

It is different for sure.

 

i hope to god minnesota has stringent vehicle inspections. to keep this thing from harming anyone but the driver.

 

.....

 

I am speechless. I am without speech.....

 

I've been following this project via updates, and am extremely interested in where it's going. In terms of engineering it's pretty impressive, I like how nicely the stub axle solution is working out, and I flat out love the engine.

The concept originally was a smooth boattailed speedster that was sizewise not far from a big, sporting cyclecar. I'd like to explain to the naysayers that this project is very much a work in progress.
If you'd stopped by the shop that was building your car in the early stages, it might look like this...only not as imaginative.

 

How are you running power to the one rear wheel? I'd love to see a picture.

 

you got balls.....not sure if that is a good thing...

 

Post it up on the Studebaker Driver's Club website. Bet those old dudes will have a fit!

 

I don't get it, but since he has an awesome '53 Stude land speed car, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.

 

Just a wild guess but I would assume that he is going to use a 90 degree drive and run it on a chain.

Just food for thought to the OP is that a rear wheel from a Henderson 4 or an Indian 4 and it could have been shaft driven.

Anyway like I said it is different.

 

No Guts ,No Glory.
Let 'er rip.

 

Three wheelers are cool...

 

Off the hook! Seems pretty crazy to me. Would love to see it detailed out nicely when done though. For me, that is what will make or break it. I thinks it's got a lot of potential. Good luck with it.

Of course I'm somewhat biased with the LP running Stude.

Here is mine:



I use the crap out of the LP commander 245 in my truck. So unfortunately now no longer looks this clean. I need to refresh it and want to change some details on it, change the filter housings to cast Edmunds maybe and some fittings, etc.

 

Well, What you see in the pics attached is a mere mock-up to start getting brackets etc. in the right places. If you go to the website, you will see that this thing has been very carefully thought out and many calcs done with a mechanical engineer who is an expert on three wheel handling. The bodywork may change again, but is heading for a rodded version of perhaps one of the most sought after Stude trucks, the 37' coupe express. Form will follow function. This vehicle may look ungainly now, but I'd bet that it will be more comfortable than what many of you are driving, as I have measured the interiors of many cars to come up with something that has similar dimensions to a Mini Cooper S, Miata and Corvette. Now, it has been entirely taken apart and the frame is up on sawhorses getting sanded, boxed and further gusseted. The spacers in the suspension are temporary until I can do tests on camber changes with the full weight of the car with max suspension movement up and down. That suspension is straight out of a 41' Stude commander which weighed much more. I am using fewer leafs and have spaced the track out to 63" to minimize rollover. The issue with using a transverse leaf as part of an independent suspension (like some corvettes and Triumphs)is that as the spring flattens out, it changes the camber. Though the caster is set in stone by the tilt of the leafs, it will change because I can vary the ride height in the back with screw-jacks on the quarter elliptic rear springs.
The final drive is well documented in the website (chapter one)and entails using a Nisson 260zx independent rear pumpkin with the spiders welded together, coupled to two sprockets of unequal size and a spool holding the rear one in place on the wheel. The sprockets are interchangeable, which, along with 290 ft-lbs of torque and a 3 speed overdrive transmission, allow me to pick my gearing quite effectively. I have calculated the summation of weights and distance from the front axle line to determine the CG height, which, as it stands is 23". That translates to a cornering force of over 1 G. Try not to put down the project until you have looked at the website. Then, if you have constructive criticism, I'd love to talk to you! So far, my shade-tree engineering has resulted in 8 records on the salt........ I don't intend to race it, though the engine has 3 land speed records behind it....Oh, I designed the cylinder head for that.....No, this thing has not just been thrown together. I'd love to hear about other projects that have applied engineering principles being used to direct the build vs just what looks good. I dare you, for instance to use real tires rather than bias-plys..... This thing is well known in Stude circles. My goal is to shake people up, and show that used parts from 1955 can make something that is very fast, handles well, has extremely low emissions and exceptionally good mileage. The TO-3 style turbo was available on tractors in 53'. The differential and discs were cheap and available and are the only pieces from later than 53' (this could have been substituted easily out of older parts, but I do make the rules!).
Thanks
advo53@gmail.com

 

I've always liked your setup and would like to see it in person some time!

 

I spent a day on the phone with the Minnesota DMV. First, determining whether this would be judged as a car or motorcycle, as the rules were different. It is a motorcycle. I have been building motorcycles since 66'. I asked if they had a technical inspector who would follow my project along, as in some other states and Australia. No, they didn't, and nobody would look at it until the time of title issuance. I tried. Instead, I have been talking and doing calcs with a mechanical engineer from the university, who wrote the book on three-wheel handling criteria for the Sun-Rayser project. He races a Morgan. So my guess is that I am less likely to harm anyone than many who haven't given much thought to the engineering of their projects.....

 

Thanks, likewise.

My truck is just an old beater but runs pretty well on the LP. Was more just something fun to do when redoing the motor with speed parts I had. No real cool engineering like with your projects. I'm don't really have the skills like that. I could figure out how to do the LP system, but even that was somewhat of a challange starting from not really knowing anything about it.

I've checked out your stuff before and always impresses with your ideas and just doing it as well. To me, part of a true hot rodding spirit is doing something different, not just following well heeled formulas. You've got that for sure and with good solid reasons for it. Not just being different to be different. But doing it with a solid legitimate purpose and thought process.

I'm going to keep my eye on this and look forward to the progress. Thanks for sharing.

 

This is what a 1937 Studebaker Coupe Express looks like. Rare and beautiful - did you really have to use the cab of one of these???

 

"And this is what an original 1937 Studebaker Coupe Express looks like - did you really have to use the cab of one of these?"
No, I'd never cut anything that rare up. In the website, you will see that I grafted the cowl from a really shot 4-door to the body of a one-ton Stude truck. That meant cutting off the top, narrowing it 6", trimming 6" off the bottom, and channeling it 6". I had to recountour the gutted doors and build door frames that would bolt to the 1937 Stude hinges that I brought back from the dead.

 

Okay - thanks for the explanation - I can now throw away the Kleenex....

 

ok. i retract my previous statement. i was incorrect. the spacers are what scared me. ill be checking this out in the future.

 

Don't condemn this one out of hand. There are many advantages to 3 wheels - not least that they are lighter and have less rolling resistance.

It's also a bit early in the build to be throwing around the RR words. Lots of rods, trad or otherwise, look pretty rough at this stage.

I'm a long term Brother of the Third Wheel and have driven over 75,000 miles on three.

 

Henderson and Indian 4s are chain drive

 

Thanks Brother Blackjack,
It should weigh in at about 1900#. The tire sizes are not set in stone yet. I'd actually like to go thinner on the front, but I'll be relying on them to stop this thing, and need more than a Moggie offers. Unfortunately, tire companies don't release slip angles, so I'll have to experiment to get oversteer/understeer where I want it . Then maybe I'll have more rolling resistance data too.