Let's Talk Cyclecars

Rally

 

Rally ABC

 

1927 Lombard GP

 

Frazer-Nash

 

Morgan

 

I have now started a collection on flickr with the how to build car articles in it 3 so far more to come

http://www.flickr.com/photos/55288722@N00/collections/72157633067442214/

 

UKAde, and the rest of Y'all,..if you can find them,(Hearst Books, and Dover Publications),. Popular Mechanics put out a series of books titled "The Boy Mechanic", 2 small ones (18.5 x13cm), and one larger, that has some workable plans in them. Several wood framed, (early Bearcat or T looking),and one angle iron, and leaf spring that really got me interested in doing this, again.They provided me with a lot of laughs, ...one was a pedal car that used an 18" x 2" Cast Iron Flywheel,(as if the car wouldn't weigh enough already)with flat belt drive...one bike coaster brake to stop it... and an axle pinch "E" brake....one of the wood framed ones, is a 5 wheeler, w/bicycle motor, with the center rear wheel being the power wheel....a little bit of plug/buck making,if you wanted a sheet iron, or aluminum body and little about aircraft doped fabric bodies.Some of the stuff in there would get you arrested for child endangerment now, or at least cause your insurance agent to have a heart attack, if you built them.

 

Sooo many inspiring pics to study! Thanks.

I have decided to move forward with my project by building a 2-piece shaft with a small tunnel in the floor. Later I plan to build a parallel drive gear box using (3) quick-change straight cut gears(I actually like the whine and don't mind the power loss), spline stubs and slip yokes. This will allow the rear section of the driveshaft to drop below the floor and the front section to remain on plane with the transmission. In the meantime, I will raise the rear height of the car and the seat height a bit for extra clearance, then drop both once I make the box and new shafts.

Thanks for all your input. It's nice be moving forward again on this project.

 

Airhead,I was thinking a part that could be used like the Frazer-Nash,GN bevel box would be a Subaru rear differential.

They are small,have mounting flanges you could bolt cogs to,and they are plentiful.

The pinion flange might have enough material to use the front flange from the BMW drive line.

 

Hi Old mad jack , just bought a couple of these on eBay very cheap ,

Thanks for the heads up

 

A BMW '02 or 3 series is also a pretty small unit. Ratios are 3.91:1 and 3.64:1. Some limited slip units are out there.

 

Glad to help UKAde,....enjoy.....I will be using the '83 VW rabbit LSD,...measures 5-1/2 x 5-3/4,...easy enough to close up, output flanges are either 90, or 100 mm, but I would rather stay crude and go with U-joints......That's what I have coming, I'll keep Y'all posted when I start bolting stuff on to it,..Sprockets, bearings, etc.....right now, I'm thinking wheels,...any suggestions for actual size,the Old Ones used the most? ..the HD wheels I have laying around, are all 16" X 3", 3.5,or 4"...the cast disk "Fatboy" wheels have enough meat in the axle/spindle area to take a bigger bearing/spline core,(I will check first for tapered),...I will have to see what kind of meat the spoke one's have in the spool...Speedway has some spindle mount 16 x 3.5, for 28 - 48 spindles, 5 on 5.5 to take the Old A wheels.....but me and dog would have to go on a hunger strike for awhile to afford them....well maybe just me,.....Mastiff's are not to be fooled with, come feeding time....she will be my navigator, when the thing is finished, and she has her aviator leather helmet and goggles already.......stay back 100 feet, for every 20 mph....she drools a lot ....

 

Bob, that C-6 just makes my knees go wobbly!

 

While exploring options for my driveshaft dilema, I found a couple of interesting parts that might help someone with their own project.

One is the transfer case/middle drive gear for a Honda TRX ATV. This is a divorced gear(2) driven case that could be used to reverse a motors rotation if needed. I'm not sure how robust they are, but they look small and lightweight and they're available cheaply.

The other is the transfer case/middle drive gear for a Yamaha Big Bear ATV. This one is divorced as well and has 3 gears so input rotation should equal output rotation. Not sure about the ratio. It also has traditional Ujoints and yokes at the input and output which would make it easy to adapt. It looks to be more robust than the Honda unit and is also reasonably priced. I might try to get my hands on one for further study.

With some modification, drop boxes out of snowmobiles like the one used in a Yamaha Phazer look to be a good chain drive option.

I am also exploring the idea of attaching (2) MC final drives together, rotating one 180 from the other with a short tube/driveshaft housing bolted between their flanges to acheive my desired drop. Not entirely sure how I would adapt a yoke to the drive gear that would normally engage the wheel. It's just a whacky idea at this point.

I like the Samurai transfer case, however it is oriented opposite of my needs and is quite a bit bigger and heavier than I'd like.

It's looking more and more like I'll end up making something from scratch specifically for this build. At first I wasn't sure because of the cost of raw materials -specifically aluminum. However there seems to be some great deals on Ebay for new/surplus thick aluminum plate.

Thanks for the help and suggestions. Those '02 differentials are great. Had planned at one time to hang one off the back of a VW pan so I could run an Airhead motor up front with driveshaft and still be legal for road use. In the end, I got lucky and scored the Austin chassis.

 

Do a google image search for "drop box". Lots of stuff out there. Here's one.

 

The other thing that maybe of use is the reduction box vw used on split screen type 2 vans on each rear wheel,

These reversed direction and lowered ratio but , I expect there are a few around and they would e cheap as most are removed in favour of a more modern style back end

Sonif you used a pair one at the engine to lower or off set the drive train then the other at the rear to recenter bring the drive direction back to normal and he ratio would the same as engine ratio

 

Well, that didn't work. Try "drop box transmission".

 

Thanks. It seems half the battle of finding things that exist these days is knowing the proper term! When I searched Ebay for drop box (as suggested by bobadame) I found a bunch of snowmobile stuff that looks promising that I hadn't yet come across in my previous searches. The ATV manufactures call their transfer cases middle gears, and once I started searching using that term I found a variety of examples. Didn't know VW reduction boxes existed, once I started searching using that term as UKAde suggested I found more possibilities. The PTO heavy equipment industry calls them parallel gearboxes and so on. The internet sure is a great resource once you know what you're looking for and what it's called within the industry it was designed for! I'd like to think that I'm sticking to cyclecar tradition somehow by sourcing and modifying parts made for other applications

 

well today , i have spent most of the day finishing drawings for the jappic wiping my nose and sniffing ,
today had three books arrive two with the same title "the boy mechanic" how to build stuff from popular mechanics , some great stuff in there and very cheap
and how to build a racing car by K J Domark reprinted in 2010 by velocepress
also includes a reproduction of an offenhauser catalogue , nice

also delivered my drawings and the steel sheets to the cnc cutting place , he said hmm we are very busy , would tomorrow be OK ? who said you cant get good service today ?
might if i have time put together a tech article for the up and coming tech week "how to build a wooden chassis"

 

LOL, I thought you would get a grin from those books! I bet those wheels are turning, for your next build, already. I've ordered way to many parts in the last few days,...but I may try and find that Domark book, here.

 

I really think that air trike could use a little bigger prop.....but , as the med guys go,...where there is a will, there is a way!

 

new article on building streamline bodies from 1925 by Jarvis of wimbledon london

the people that designed and built the Jappic

more stuff like this on my flikr page

 

today the weather was ok so managed to get some work done on the Jappic

managed to get two pedals in the footwell brake and clutch, the throttle is by hand on the steering wheel ,

 

Where will the shifter be?

 

Could this be the start of my cycle car project.

Howard Cultivator V twin currently for sale in NZ

Apparently 1300cc !!

 

Kume,do J.A.P. parts interchange with the Howard?

 

Jappic controls are

on steering wheel, throttle, ignition advance/retard, choke , decompressor

pedals clutch and brake

two levers on RHS , gear lever and handbrake

 

Mr. & Mrs. Marc in their 1927 Lombard GP.

 

combined spring clamp and friction damper mount for the Jappic

 

Nice work Ade!

Found this photo somewhere, don't believe it was here but honestly after 199 pages I can't remember.

I'll be fabbing a tubular substructure of similar design.