Short version: Went on vacation; discovered an old problem that I made for myself; no broken bones, bloodletting or other trauma.

My most lovely and cool wife was on a road trip for work week before last. While she was gone, it was my plan (plan: n. a specific project or definite purpose that will not go as intended) to get the dragon back on the road, but it was just too freakin’ hot to enjoy working outdoors enough to get off my duff an do it.


Trikes did well with two exceptions.

I finally decided it was more like a loss of spark than a fuel issue and it occurred to me that the alarm immobilizes the bike by interrupting the coil. We tolerated it for another day because I didn’t want to risk tearing into mostly working wiring and making something *really* break.

We were in Pedernales Falls SP, under a bit of shade, with the seat off the bike. I dug in, found the two connections, saw that I had used crimp connectors and gave them a tug. They came loose with very little effort. I know better and have been bitten by crimp connectors before, but at the time I was putting in the alarm, I’m sure I justified using crimp connectors “just this once”.

So, I soldered those two connections and checked the starter lockout connectors, which are also crimped, but crimped better. Gilbert ran great the rest of the day and all the way home today.

The other exception was really the escalation of another known issue. The yellow trike has air shocks. It seems to only want to handle correctly with them fully inflated, to 100 PSI. Trouble was, they would leak down over a couple of days. More trouble now because they leak down in a few hours. I pretty much top them off at every stop, if it’s been a little while since the last top off.

At least I can top them off with a portable air compressor. Almost none of the air hoses out there will inflate over about 70 PSI, and most are more like 50 PSI.

After work on Friday, I picked up the replacement transaxle. From the part number, it appears as though it may be a 1971 or later model 12 volt transaxle, rather than, as it was advertised, a 1963 converted 6 volt. Yea me!

I had a busy weekend otherwise, so I didn’t get to install it. I moved it around a few times, but that was it. Chances look pretty good for getting some work done on it weekday evenings this week.

Sorry these updates are taking so long. Here it is Wednesday and I’m just now writing about last weekend…

Saturday morning, later than hoped but earlier than expected, we headed for Star Of The River. The trike sits low to the ground and the bumper and trailer hitch are the lowest point when the front wheel is on the stinger, a hitch made to carry the front wheel of a trike so that the trike can be towed like a trailer. Sitting still, it was only an inch or so off the ground. Every bump, intersection or driveway forced hard contact between the hitch and the ground. Mere blocks from home, the reinforcing ring around the receiver had been knocked loose, held now only by the top edge. *My* welds attaching the hitch to the bumper held. The Chinese welds on the hitch did not. One point for the home team.

The dirt roads leading into the site were often sand, but usually crushed stone, about 2″ chunks. The tire ruts meant that the higher center of the road spent maybe 60-70% of the time in contact with the hitch. There was not much to be done about it.

Everyone liked the trike; though some questioned why I would make it so complex, put so much *stuff* on it to fail. Shrug. Hey, it’s my hobby. How do you expect to have road stories if your trike runs 100% of the time?!?!

So, on Saturday and Sunday, I was able to putt around the campsite a little, gave a couple of rides. I was careful to park where I could pull forward to leave as often as possible, for reverse was unobtainable. Third seemed the best bet in most instances.

Due to the condition of the roads, I took it all the way up past the bad stuff, nearly to the highway and parked it there. Gabby took me back down to the truck, where we finished up our packing, then headed out, me on Sponge Bob Square Trike. We stopped at the gate, loaded the Dragon on the stinger and headed for home.

Monday afternoon, after Gabby went to work (no such thing as a holiday there), I tore into reworking the shifter.

My original plan was to cut off the old shifter hanger and replace it with a new one I picked up long ago, then reinstall the shaft with new bushings.

I even got so far as to repair the cuts before two things stopped me.

First, I actually would need two shifter hangers because the builders put in two in a row to proper support the shaft before the first U-joint. Second, the U-joints they used, even if I dressed the welds down, would not fit through the bushings.

 I decided instead to install the shaft and tighten the rings down to eliminate the clearance.

Yes, this makes it a metal on metal sliding contact and it won’t last forever, no matter how well I remember to maintain it.

Still, and I’m sure anyone would agree, that it is WAY better than the way it was.

Another shifting problem is the tendancy of the shifter assembly to flex on it’s single supporting rod, so I added a piece of quarter inch round rod as a brace. I then found that it would then flex in only one axis, so I added another to lock it in three dimensions.

As an aside, I have decided that I definitely prefer gas welding over wire welding. There’s no spatter and very little residue, unless you didn’t clean the metal well before you started. The puddle is easier to control, for me anyway.

Even after these mods, it was still hard to reach 1st and 3rd. I found that there was some previously unnoticed interference between the frame and the coupler on the shaft going in the nose of the transaxle.

This is the clearance before I cut away a little more of the plate.

After the cut, still rough. Sorry, I didn’t take any more pictures after a cleaned it up!

This cleared the way for all four gears and reverse with little or no difficulty shifting.

Well, some difficulty. In reading about shifting troubles, one of the symptoms of clutch disengagement problems is to sit in neutral, idling, with the clutch out. Push the clutch in, count to 3 or even 5, move the shift lever. Any gear grinding at this point indicates that the clutch is not fully disengaging. I do have a bit of that. It’s much easier to downshift while still rolling; not so easy at a full stop.

I remember that the input shaft to the transaxle had a substantial amount of play in it. I could see how the clutch disc might “droop” down, allowing the top edge to contact some moving parts, even with the pressure plate disengaged.

Well, I will have a chance to investigate sooner than later.

With the trike streetable, I rode out to meet Gabby when she got off work. On the way there, I played with acceleration (which it does quite well, once past a bad hesitation off idle) and verified the speedometer against my GPS. I got to her office early enough to have to wait for a little while. There really is not a comfortable place to sit on the trike except the driver seat, not for me anyway. My…ummm…  manparts are quite crowded if I sit in the back seat. Also, since I have still not put the steps in place, my feet and legs hang, putting that much more pressure *there*. I did find a compromise that works for a short wait, perching kind of on the side of rear seat.

On the way home, I played a bit with speed, dropping back, catching up and dropping back again. Then, as we approached a particular intersection about 1/3 of the way home, I was trying to downshift and I suddenly got a continuous grind, whether or not the clutch was in. I shut off the engine, found neutral and restarted the engine; still grinding. I ended up pushing the clutch way too hard and apparently unseated the throwout bearing, for the clutch pedal lost all feedback. The grinding continued. I shut the engine off and found that, except for neural, any gear I put it in would grind when I moved the trike manually. Definitely *something* up in the transaxle.

Gabby went on home to get the truck and stinger and we got the trike home with little more difficulty. I was even able to push it up our steep driveway (with a running start) on the first try.

I priced rebuilding and/or replacing this transaxle, and while $450-500 seems reasonable compared to other transmission work I’ve had done, $150 for a good used one on Craigslist is even better. I should be picking it up tomorrow or Friday.

I’m home sick today. What I thought were allergies hitting me Sunday night after we got home has become an upper respiratory infection or some such. I crashed on the couch about 6:30 Tuesday night, moved to the bed about midnight and slept till about 11AM today. I even cat-napped a couple times before Gabby served a wonderful Asian style salad with blackened salmon for lunch. That was the boost I needed to get in here and write this up!

Over the next day or two, I will be pulling the old transaxle out so that I can put the replacement in as soon as possible after I get it. I really hope to be back on the road for tuning for the weekend.

Short version: I got the trike on the road with an iffy shifter. Rode it a little on Saturday and Sunday. Worked on the shifter on Monday and got it much more functional. Then the transaxle ate itself.

First, a couple of pictures of it all ready to go!

 

The trike was a hit at the event. Sadly, I could not take it anywhere due to the shifter issue. I had to fight for any gear I could find and leave it there as long it would stay. The site had what could best be described as decent dirt roads and most any significant bump would make it jump out of gear, a clear symptom of the problem.

After we got home last night, I sat down and looked at Jamar shifters. I think I can adapt one to my situation if replacing the stock shift rod hanger doesn’t work well enough. I think it likely will.

The ones on the trike (it has two to support the length of the initial shaft) were cut in the ring. I think someone chose to do that rather than go to the rather frustrating trouble to properly replace the shaft bushings. To do it correctly, the shaft needs to be pulled out, new bushings installed and the shaft put back in. Because of the welds on the u-joints on this shaft, they don’t fit though the installed bushings. With the ring on the hanger split, you can bend the ring open enough to slide the bushings into place. Trouble is, the ring is weakened when bent and more bending makes it worse. It gets so weak that normal shifter motion can push the ring open. Eventually, it will break.

I have a new shift rod hanger. It should be easy enough to pull the shaft out, cut off the old hanger and weld on the new one. I may need to dress the u-joint welds a bit to reinstall the shaft, but next time it will be much easier.

After that, I hope to have it roadworthy enough to do some tuning on the engine. With what little riding I was able to do, I think it goes lean at higher throttle openings, which only makes sense. I couldn’t experiment there in the driveway 🙂

There will be a much more detailed breakdown of all the good and bad, but here’s a quick assessment from my short test ride.

The engine did pretty well, better than I expected, really. It was drivable. It felt like a standard 1600 with a 009 distributor, a little balky off idle, but it pulled pretty good. At least in the gears I was able to use.

Earlier today, I discovered a problem with the shifter and sure enough, I had to deal with it. In my ride, the only sequential gears I got was 3rd and 4th, and I was going much too slow for 4th. I never actually engaged 2nd or reverse, but I ground them down a bit.

The clutch and brake both take more effort than I’m used to, but I don’t suppose that’s actually a problem.

The worst thing is that the bars are VERY close. Turning to either extreme caused them to meet me in the ribs.

On the other hand, it seems to fit Gabby pretty well…. 🙂

I tried very very hard, but I just didn’t make it before midnight.

It is only about 12:30, though!

I’m about to take a late night test ride… I’m sure my neighbors will appreciate it….

I finished the body wiring, complete with split sheathing…

Headlight and turn signal connectors

Keyswitch connectors

The need to vigorously clean the fiberglass in order for tie downs to stick is apparent. I suspect they still may come loose, at which time I will epoxy on some kind of cleat.

Under seat span

Termination point. Connectors are hanging below

Also evident is my desire to wrap the wiring in *something*. There split sheath, two colors of spiral wrap and one braided sleeve in the this picture.

Tail / Stop / Turn wiring

The two tail light units were slight different, one being quite old, supplied with the trike when I bought it. The older one had a screw in it for ground; the newer one was missing the push on terminal for the turn lamp. I used short jumper wires with connectors to work around both issues.

The taillights need a gasket to properly fit and seal, but they meet the 10 foot rule quite well…

I got about 2 more inches of altitude, and thus fuel pump clearance, for the fuel tank. I started the engine several times, and almost immediately, it was running extra lean andshopwing low fuel pressure. I presumed the filter was probably clogged. Since the tank should have been exceptionally clean after applying the POR15 liner, I wondered if the liner had dissolved due to the alcohol content of our modern gasolines. I fumbled around until I found a light source to inspect the inside of the tank. I discovered that I was suffering not from liner dissolution or clogged filter, but rather a dearth of fuel. Some of those tests must have burned VERY rich.

Besides the other fuel tank bracket, you can see where I elected to put the obnoxiously loud airhorn. It was nearly $50, but wow can it be heard.

I installed a couple of Mr Gasket sparkplug wire loom. Because it’s chrome, it doesn’t show up very well in this photo, but it looks really nice in person.

Relocated fuel filter; it was too close to the axle and the line was too close to the moving clutch parts. I also rerouted the power lead to the fuel pump.

The raised fuel tank comes pretty close to the shock tower, but at least that’s the stationary end!

That’s all I have pictures for. I also connected the IDM pin of the EDIS module to the tach input on the speedo. I had to adjust the count for 0.5 rotations per signal, but it reads RPM now! I also set a 4000 RPM shift point. At the appointed RPM, the tach bargraph will flash.

I’m almost positive I did more than this, but I think I am too sleepy to remember them just now….

I had several delays and thus started a little late, but I managed to get a bit done.

What’s left on the body is to mount and connect the tail lights and secure the wiring to the body. I see JB Weld in my near future.

I have a plan that might work to mount the turn signals on the body, but I’m pretty sure they will go on the front end. I think they will look better there.

Along with few ‘little’ things like relocating the fuel filter (the filter is too near axle and the fuel line too near clutch lever), mounting my obnoxiously loud horn and installing the bumper (besides the protection it provides and the trailer hitch, the license plate mounts on the bumper), the major things keeping it off the road will be building the throttle cable and the front wheel/tire.

I say wheel/tire because if I don’t get the new(ish) wheel relaced in time for the weekend, I need to at least change the tire on the old wheel.

The throttle cable shouldn’t be difficult, but it cannot be skipped!

The only purchase I think I will need to make is grips and a second mirror mount.

Of course, once it’s actually on the road, I still need to tune the EFI system. I think I can have it running reasonably for the weekend, though probably not optimally.

Hey, if I don’t get stranded in the median on I-20, I’ll be well beyond pleased.

After setting out some grass in the front yard and doing so overdue pool maintenance, I got to wiring. By midnight, I had reached a hard stopping point, though slightly short of my goal. I had wanted to have *all* chassis wiring done, but I am short a horn, need to do some ECU programming before I hook up the N light and I need something to make the alternator light work right.

A Volkwagen alternator needs a filament bulb to make the built in voltage regulator work right, so you can’t just put an LED on it. I have a generic indicator light that I have been using. It’s pretty common to put an LED indicator in parallel and put the LED on the dash. However, the voltage that lights the light is low enough that it wont light the LED on my speedometer. I will need to investigate, but in the mean time, I will put in a temporary switched 12V lead to my generic indicator because it won’t charge without the bulb in place.

I replaced the “standard” electronic flash that I had with a flasher made for LEDs. Where the other flasher needs a load of about 1A to flash correctly, this one is rated for 20mA to 25A. It works perfectly with the relays. In this setup, the relays and the LED turn indicators on the speedo are the only load on the flasher. It drives a relay and the lights are driven from the relay.

Since I am out of Tyco sockets for the Bosch relays (who’d have thought eight wouldn’t be enough?!)  I used a relay with a mounting tab and a regular pigtail socket for the horn circuit. Since the pigtail sockets also have a facility for connecting them together, I put the flasher in an adjacent connector and ziptied the flasher to the relay, which is mounted to the plate with the other relays. It looks better than it sounds. All I need now is a horn, hopefully a loud one.

I put wire and connectors on for the body wiring, headlights, taillights, brake lights and turn signals, along with a spare wire that I envision as being for some kind of accessory lighting. I also connectorized the keyswitch, which will also be on the body soon.

I spent a significant amount of time cleaning up the wire routing and putting in zip ties and spiral cable wrap. Some of the wiring cleanup involved making an extension cable or two so that certain wires weren’t stretched like guitar strings.

All in all, I have very little chassis wiring left before it’s inspection ready. The alternator and N indicators are really optional, as is the tachomter (need some diodes to wire than in) and the speedometer sensor (front wheel; electrically very simple, but I’d like to hide the wiring to it as well as I can; it will be running down the chrome springer front end.

Tomorrow, a couple of mechanical issues and body wiring… Hopefully I won’t have to stand and stoop the whole time!