If you saw the pic I had here before, you will recognize that, even sitting in the back of the truck, this is a much better picture, showing some of the snakeskin texture.

Here’s a closeup of the seat itself.

A little detail of the back seat…

All that’s left to do is the rest of it!

The engine is running and there’s not much tuning I can do with it until the trike is on the street. I did manage to install a fuel pressure gauge for help troubleshooting. Besides, it looks cool.

While I was typing this, the trim shop called and the upholstery is done! It will be tomorrow before I can get by there, but I’m excited about it…

I am working on chassis tasks, including chassis wiring. The nerve center for the rest of the wiring is the speedometer and the handlebar switch. The speedometer also has odometer, tachometer, fuel gauge, clock, and six indicator lights, all of which are spoken for. The handlebar switch has switches for headlights, high beam, turn signals, horn and a momentary kill switch that I am going to use for the starter. Between these two units, there are 20-someodd wires that need to go *somewhere*. Since they both mount on the handlebar, I started there.

You may recall that the trike appears to have been in a wreck somewhere in it’s distant past. The handlebar was bent in that collision. I’m not 100% sure which, if indeed either, of the two bars is in unbent condition, but I elected to pay my attentions to the righthand and make it match the left.

I must apologize for not getting a ‘before’ picture. Using my newly acquired torch, I heated the lowest bend as evenly as I could and lifted the bar to match the left. This left the upper section slightly higher than it’s mate, so I heated the middle bend and pressed down to match the left. Then, viewed from the driver seat, the end of the grip section was pointed downward. I again heated the middle bend, but this time imparted a twist rather than a simple bend until the two match as closely as I can judge.

Please ignore that the bars are not mounted straight on the forks. That joint is not important to this particular operation. It will be important when it’s on the road, just not yet.

I then layed out the location for the speedometer and cut a piece of 1/8″ mild steel, shaped to fit at an angle between the bars and brazed in place.

While I hope to eventually re-chrome the bars, for now they just need to look better than this, so I sanded them to rough up the old chrome a bit, cleaned it with acetone and applied the same two part Krylon X-Metal treatment as I’ve used on the engine trim pieces.

Due to delays I wont bore you with, the body was finally delivered to Chris’ Trim Shop this morning.

This Blackberry photo does the material no justice, but this is the stuff I finally decided on.

Sorry about the dust….

Perhaps more importantly, I have the engine running! 

The first thing I did tonight was get the body ready for transport to Chris’ Trim Shop for upholstery tomorrow. I go get my material and drop both off for the work.

To protect the four “corners” that generally hit the ground first on the body, I wired and bungied a couple of boards to the low points.

The front still sat a little low, so I added a spacer to the bottom of that board, not shown here.

The board in the back is held on with a couple of ball cords laced through the tail light holes.

Now the body will be easier to handle with somewhat less fear of scraping the gorgeous paint job.

As for the upholstery, it’s pretty much a tossup between the left and middle choices. Since it’s only a couple yards of either, the fact that they are also the most expensive two is kind of incidental, $14.50 and $23.25 per yard, respectively.

It seems to me that the left one picks up the brighter tones of the paint better and it appears to me to be the heavier of the two, so it may well win.

The other option, available from the trim shop directly, is a black covering that has a snake or lizard skin texture, which I think is pretty cool for a dragon themed trike. I found something similar in purple on the internet, but it was so cheap per yard, I figured it probably not good enough quality.

So, unless something really cool jumps out at me, it will probably the the left one above.

I have basically 21 calendar days until Memorial Day Weekend, which is when I want to unveil The Dragon Trike, and only two more weeks after that before Trike Week.

Yikes!

So, tonight I did a bunch of little stuff, so much little stuff I’m sure I’ll end up forgetting to list some of it.

In no particular order, I:

mounted the trigger wheel sensor bracket
mounted the trigger wheel sensor
installed the newly purpled fuel pump block off

determined how to fabricate the CLT sensor

cleaned and painted the trigger ring

painted the distributor eliminator plug

put a coat of purple on the spokes

put the last coat of purple on the wheel hub

located and cleaned the distributor clamp (needed for plug)

put the body on temporarily so I could:
measure for the rear body brace

measure for the relay/fuse/ECU panel
estimated the thickness of the fiberglass where the ignition switch will go
measure the diameter of the ignition switch so I can acquire an appropriate holesaw

Perhaps the scariest,  yet arguably one of the most important things was to make a master list of tasks left to complete the trike.

There are basically four categories:

1. Things needed to start/run/tune the engine

attach and adjust trigger ring
connectorize EDIS sensor
mount EDIS module
mount coil pack
cut plug wires as needed
wire relay/fuse board
mount ECU in weatherproof box relay/fuse board
wire all sensors etc to ECU
mount fuel pump and filler spout to tank
mount fuel tank (possibly higher off ground)
connectorize fuel pump
get fuel filter
connect fuel pump to filter and TB
build CLT sensor
connect vacuum to MAP; plug unused ports
mount O2 sensor
wire OS sensor module
baffle in stinger (for my ears)

2. Things needed to make the trike driveable/testable

build throttle cable
connectorize and install switch pod and speedo
install throttle
install grips
wire alternator light
wire oil pressure light
wire alternator to battery
mount and wire ignition switch
modify/build rear body bracket
mount relay board to body bracket
finish front wheel

3. Things needed to make the trike roadworthy/legal

wire headlight
wire tail/brake/turn lights
find front signal lights
wire front signal lights
find backup light
wire backup light
wire license plate light
find license plate
get and install front brake cable
mirrors
inspection
build footrest
install bumper

4. Things needed to finally finish the trike (mostly cosmetics)

fenders
polish rear wheels
through body filler tube
This as complete a list as I can imagine at the moment, but I’m sure I will remember other points along the way!

What’s more tedious than wire brushing 36 spokes? Cleaning them individually with acetone and taping the threads so you can paint them.

I also base coated and painted the hubs. Once the moving hub dries, I have one coat to do on the side hidden in this pic.

A coat of purple on the spokes and I’ll be ready to give lacing the wheel a try.

We stopped at the local motorcycle boneyard and found a front wheel that should work for the dragon trike. It’s a 2.50×17 from a Honda CL70 Passport scooter/moped.

It was probably serviceable as is, but most of the spokes were lightly rusted, and the hub was a bit unsightly, so I elected to unlace it. Having trued a wire spoke wheel in the past using these and other directions, I think I can rebuild it. Besides, now I can paint the hub purple like the engine pieces.

If it sounds tedious to remove 36 spokes, wire brush each and sort them by the bend in the head, don’t try it with 120.

The same boneyard had a new tire of the proper size, a Cheng Shin moped tire. It was only $7, so it was hard to pass it up, but upon reflection, maybe I should have. It’s rated at a maximum speed of 50 km/h. That’s 30 mph for US. I found a nice Michelin Gazelle rated for at 93 mph from BikeBandit. It’s on the way.

Beginning with this post, I’m going to start displaying most pictures inline rather than with links. I’ve had a little feedback that indicates that people who look at these updates almost never click on the links, so they don’t see the pictures.

Unfortunately, I again neglected to take any pictures until I was finished.

Because of the location of the exhaust, the hitch is a bit to the right of the center line. I don’t expect this to be a problem and it was far less complicated that trying to both center it and stay out of the way of the header.

After mocking it up on the bench in several ways, I decided that the easiest would be the simplest, too. I cut a piece of 2″ x 1/8″ flat mild steel and cut a semicircular hole in one edge. I then ground it to match the profile of the bumper tubing at the angle where it meets.

I sanded all the paint off the contact areas of the receiver tube, clamped the plate in the proper spot and welded the plate to the receiver tube. I then mocked it back up with the bumper and tack welded the flat to the bumper tubing and the back of the receiver tube to the bumper tubing there.

I flipped the bumper over and welded the flat to the bumper tube and as much of the contact area at the back of the receiver tube as possible. This back joint looked too small to me, so I sanded more paint off the bottom of the tube and welded a small flat piece to bridge between the receiver tube and the bumper tube.

I also added a mounting tab for the license plate. By its location, it will also probably hold the interface for the O2 sensor. Sorry for the funky upsidedown pic. No, that is not a small anvil stuck incongruously to the bumper tube. It is actually sitting on the step of the workbench with the face on top, but I wanted the license plate bracket to look “normal”.

I dressed and sanded all the joints and it’s ready to hand off for powder coating!

I got the chrome stinger and baffle on the way home from work. It seems almost silly to pay $40 for what is essentially a slightly flared pipe with a flange, but I couldn’t make one anywhere as quickly as I picked one up. It is the swivel type and bolted on nicely, though I didn’t cinch it down permanently. I will need to remove it to drill the stinger and baffle for a retaining bolt. Sadly, this counts as the best picture I took of it. I will take a better one in the daylight and replace it.

I carefully but temporarily placed the bumper to test the clearance with the new O2 sensor bung. It clears nicely!

I dropped the body on to the frame to make sure that it clears the bumper. While it was there, I checked clearance at several other key points, such as the throttle body and air filters, the body mount under the driver seat (which will need about 1/2″ of shimming and the nose. I also looked around for open space for mounting the EFI controller. The jury is still out.

With the fit verified, it was time to make the permanent fitting for the bumper. The first step was to bend the upper mounts to coincide with the angle on the shock towers. With my anvil back in place, that was nearly trivial. I would rather have bent them hot, but I was pretty sure my torch is not big enough to heat as large an area as needed.

Of course, one shock bolt was in “backwards”, at least for my preferred mounting orientation, but it was easy enough to flip. When the bumper comes back from powder coating and is permanently installed, I will need to switch the bolts out for some that are slightly longer to account for the bumper and the washers it needs to be mounted with. I may even set it up such that loosening the bumper nuts won’t affect the shocks. Anyway, I snugged them down tight enough to stay, but loose enough to adjust if needed. I squared and leveled the bumper and made a few measurements to be sure it was as well centered as I could get it and tack welded the bumper to the upper mounts.

The lower mounts will secured with pins so that the bumper can be removed without dropping the transaxle and engine, which I nearly did accidentally with the yellow trike!

I lugged the bumper back to the bench and welded all around the top mounts and dressed the welds in preparation for powder coating. I rounded the corners of the bottom mounts, especially the ends of the tabs that go under the big bolts. I also welded on a license plate mount.

One thing I neglected was to drill a couple of holes in the top tube of the bumper for wiring. They can be drilled after powder coating, but it would probably be a neater job to drill them first.

My plan is to have a 2″ receiver hitch on the bumper. The way the stinger fits, it will be nearly impossible to use right away, but I think I will go ahead and put it in anyway, the long term plan being to have a custom exhaust that will clear the hitch. The biggest trailer it should ever be pulling is a small motorcycle cargo trailer, so it doesn’t need to be rated for 5000 lbs, but I like the flexibility of the 2″ receiver. Besides a tow bar, I can put a cargo tray or a bike rack or even a grill.

As I suggested before, I tried to heat the area around the O2 sensor bung so as to adjust the angle at which the sensor sits, due to it’s interference with the bumper. My little torch can’t heat enough area to make that strategy viable, so I decided to go with plan B, which was to plug that fitting and install a new one on the other side of the collector.

Well…

I suspect that some steel shot from the Wheelabrator must have gotten in the threads of the sparkplug, which was ironically there to protect the threads, from inside the collector. It turned about one quarter turn and seized firmly. Ratchet, breakover, 2 foot cheater and hammer impact wrench couldn’t touch it. I spent nearly an hour struggling with it before I adopted a new plan C and took it to the BTW clubhouse to use the *real* torch to cut the fitting out.

I brought it back home and welded in an actual official O2 sensor bung, as opposed to the chopped off spark plug anti-fouling device used before. Even though the torched out hole was significantly too large, I did a somewhat better job putting this one in. I think I even got the angle right. I did have to use a bit of 3/16 rod as filler around one side of the bung. Oh, and here’s a tip: don’t poke yourself in the neck with red hot metal.

I spent a bit of time chipping  and sanding off sputter and generally cleaning up the joint. I then degreased the header and sprayed on a coat of paint. I will let that dry overnight, then flip it over and paint the other side.

So, basically I spent an entire evening working on one little thing. Ugh.