tweety

Rarely have I gone to purchase items and it all comes together so well. Today I had luck on my side. I had purchased a regular temp gauge from ebay for $16. was reluctant to hook it up on the basis that 1/ I could find an ideal spot to mount it and 2/ I had to find an actual mount for it. With that in mind I entered Autobarn Shepparton Victoria Australia today seeking out a sender unit for my new Davies Craig thermo fan. These switches dont come in the packet and are sold seperately. Armed with a blocking bolt from the radiator to match it up the guy initially told me he'd have to order one. Then he had an alternative. A temperature sender that has its own housing, that is installed between the radiator hose inlet (or thermostat housing) and the hose. He informed me that if I was to purchase also a thermo fan adjustable unit then that item can screw into the temperature unit housing. The bonus was that the monitor on the dash, fitted with velcoe and easily fixed to my van electric brake unit, has a temperature guage as well as a voltage indicator.

Today I fixed the 5 louvre vents in place. Purchased from ebay. They are meant for boats. I am really imprssed with the appearance of these units and there usefullness. Had to cut out the glove box holes (an option from the manufacturer I did not take up) with a jigsaw. then S/steel self tappers. This shot shows the radiator under and more rearward. a small wind deflector will be added to direct the air inward more. This shot depicts both new air intakes. Ignor the plumbing of the expansion tank....small flexi hose will be sought. Tweety is growing teeth!

Busy day today. Both air intakes finished. The length will suffice Thematic fan finished except for a thermo switch to buy soon intakes- view from front Finally I took off the radiator and rubber mounted it.

One of the things that annoys me with custom work is the negativity one gets from service staff at retail outlets. Some are good, others have no vision. Today was no exception. Arrived at a large hardware store where there is prompt service. I didnt want to go through the ordeal of explaining such- VW chopper trike now with Subie engine and have ducts called Hawse pipes and need flexible pipe to direct air to the thermo fan etc etc. But I did say it all and got the common reply- "hope, you wont find that here". "Ill just have a browse then".....my common reply knowing full well I'll find something. In the plumbing section I located a rubber sleeve and a flexible lower cistern pipe. And the rubber sleeve fitted onto the Hawse pipe perfectly. This pic shows the advantage of that flexible section The view from the side is more brighter with the flash. Can paint black Add to that a straight 90mm section and it reaches the thermo fan Not a cheap excercise. hawse pipes x2 $76, flexi pipes and rubber sleeves x2 $96, 90mm pipe $10. total $180 for this. but I think it adds tot eh overall appearance and hopefully a little more air into that area.

sorry alberto, cant open that web address or see photos. tweety

repositioned the expansion bottle so its above the radiator So I found the highest point. And the bottom of the bottle is in line with the top horizontal core of the radiator. You can see here the flexi radiator hoses are installed. one was 60cm the other 50cm. One Hawsie pipe has been fixed. I am happy with this option. You can see here the flow direction of air towards the radiator. Need some ducting. 12 inches circumference. so ducting about 4.5 inches diameter....have to start looking. The temp gauge. I have a favourite spot beneath the instrument cluster. gotta seek our some 50mm internal pipe...maybe pvc and paint it or chrome exhaust tip or similar to house it and protect it from the rain. So what's left. Will get back my engine protection bar and modified oil filler Friday. Then start up and tune the best I can. Get it to the exhaust joint. Ride home!. engineer. camping...cocktails...

More progress. This is a $10 item at Bunnings. A steel shelf type rack. Protects the engine side of the radiator. you can also see the expasion bottle mounted Here is the expansion bottle access to the cap in an opening ormslly reserve for a glove compartment, an option I didnt take when trike was ordered. air filter remounted. The filter will poke out a bit less than this. Too far and it will impede on the roof retracting mechanism. This shot also shows the S/steel plates for the glove compartments. 5 louvre vents to cover these and add forced air to the radiator.

radiator is secure hardly visible from rear scoops found on ebay will direct air from ladder bars

Ordered a Toyota MR2 radiator and Hyundai i30 diesel expansion tank. waiting on those. then can roughly tune it to run better. then off to the exhaust shop. then ride ride ride

She's running now. http://s804.photobucket.com/albums/yy330/eaglefree/?action=view&current=MyMovie.mp4

Ready to strart up in the morning only for a few seconds as I havent got a radiator yet. Electric fuel pump hooked up (safety cut off switch to come), all electrics at this point seem ok (labelled most things) Exhaust is to get me to the exhaust shop only. roo deterant I had made a small pulley arrangement for the throttl BUT too much friction. ended up making this set up witha cable that doesnt snake and a lever that is simple. I have swapped ideas on radiator location mant times. finally I am to order a custom one that will fit vertically over the transaxle. even though I reversed the oil filler it is still too far to the front so will get my engineer to alter it to angle rearward clear of that radiator. Radiator to be about 850mm wide, 260mm high and up to 40mm 3 core thick. plenty of wind from the sides available. two small thermo fans maybe 3 or 4. Bit nervous starting it up. I'm no mechanic, in fact I'm a poor back yarder too. When younger I owned a Lotus powered car. It needed head work. I ended up pulling that head off 4 times before I got it to run. 1/ forgot to install a oil drain tube that sandwiches between head and block 2/ chain driven twin OH camshafts and chain had a split link...dropped it as I tried to connect it and down to the sump it went 3/ didnt syncronise the cams and bent all 4 inlet valves on the pistons 4 forgot to cut out the S/steel off the cheaper headgasket that would have coroded the alloy head. was an expensice excercise. hope I have success in the morning...

A top adviser for me is a fellow from Western Australia. "Toonga" told me today that the valve breather hoses hooked up that way wasnt right. The hose on the dizzy side sucks clean air in at the original air filter housing. Then the air circulates and comes out the other valve cover hoses (alternator side) to go back into the engine through a PCV valve. Prior to that PCV valve air also comes form the air cleaner housing to meet up with these fumes so the engine isnt saturated with gases, effectively making the mix less toxic. The easiest way to rectify this with a weber conversion is to gwt two mini filters http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/MINI-AIR-CRANKCASE-VENT-BREATHER-FILTER-15MM-CHROME-RED-/250814188569?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3a65b0cc19 place one on the end of the breather hose of the dizzy side. I will then secure the filter to the top of the adapter plate. The other filter I'll use a "T" peice prior to the PCV valve so air can be sucked in there. Essentially though they are treated as two seperate systems, one sucking the other blowing.

I purchased the engine minus the Hitachi carbie and electronic dizzy from the owner. Then I was lucky enough to want those two items and they were for sale on our Aussie Ausubaru forum that night. With the carbie came the alloy top adapter and that air filter. I bought the blue extendable hose (76mm) from a speed shop. Sorry cant be of much help sourcing out where you'd find them but all these items and the weber 32/36 carb were from the states. Also one of our local assistants on forums looked at my valve cover hose pics and found a fault. One hose should go via the pcv valve and one hose sucks clean air in like a circuit. so more plubing to come there.

Got the seal removal tool today and the new seal just pushed in nicely connector for breather installed This pic shaws the breathing tubes from the valve covers around the rear of the engine out of sight from rear of trike automatic kickdown switch home made throttle cable mount Engine on wheels ready for rear main seals before installation. Extendable air filter system to avoid radiator hot air Pretty simple stuff but there might be other novices like me out there that will benefit...

Nah, the blonde is a model and they wanted pics of her on trikes at a show. The exhaust is the standard fare you get with Panther Australia trikes. Absolutely hopeless system that severely restricts the performance. It was quiet though. the whole engine unit was sold couple of weeks ago. I would suggest a simialr system for the Vw engine but bigger pipes and outlets. The 1916cc engine didnt pull the camper all that well. Its HP was down although the engine was sound and had been rebuilt under warrantee. But I got the impression that to rebuild one of those engines you really need to do it fully and properly. Half measures like keeping the original cam and not installing a better exhaust really suffocates the performance. So I cut my losses and went ea81 for that reason. Horses for courses though. I just wanted a bit more power/torque, bit more reliability etc. EG adjust tappets on the Subaru every 20-30,000kms on the VW every 3-4,000 kms, etc. What didnt turn me on was the thought of EMU's, clutter, etc. I like my engines simple and am not a rev head.

Here are a few more needed a rear vision camera as mirrors would be too wide. This is a shot of the demister!!!! two 12v hair driers inside two exhaust extensions and the blonde? Tony

yeh great to have so many forums and heaps of advice from everywhere bennie. And I'm not far from you as am in Strathbogie near Euroa. you must come for a brew....

Thanks ShawnW. I love the uniqueness of this trike but in my view the 1916 VW engine wasnt the powerhouse I expected. So a Subaru EA81 is now on the cards and is about week or two from installation. I chose it for its simplicity with a little more power and torque. Engine as it was delivered Engine as it is today cleaned up and waiting on some seals and heater tubes etc. after all 19 years of deteriation would make perishables likely to fail in our outback. The adapter is on the engine now and will mate to the VW type 3 auto trans. I've rotated the oil filler and dip stick to allow for ease of access from the rear of the trike and away from where I plan to place a Jeep cherokee radiator which is only 9" high. The van weighs 380kgm dry. has all the necessities. the trike even became a weddign cake item... escorted by a 47 Plymouth

Hi. My customised Vw trike made by Panther Australia is in the process of having an EA81 transplanted into it. The VW 1916 engine is gone- sold. The transmission is the old VW type 3 automatic. Glad I can browse your pages for information like I do with the Aussie forums. cheers.