V8 Trike

Welcome to my V8 trike site

I am using a 1977 350 engine from a 1/2 ton pickup and the 350 auto transmission. The rear-end is out of a 1986 Lincoln with a 2.73 gear ratio and has disk brakes.

If anybody has any trike pictures that you would like to share on my site I would be more then happy to place them in my gallery. Please email them to me at bojo@billswebb.com Be sure and check out my Gallery

This is a piece of aluminum plate I started with when making the triple tree. One piece was 3/4 inch thick and one was 1/2 inch thick. I cut it using my band saw.

The triple tree is not a very high one but the bottom of the tree is about 20 inches long.

Instead of using handle bars here I cut another piece of aluminum to accommodate the steering rods. My
handle bars are going to be mounted on the rear triple tree. I do not like the long handle bars that a lot of trike builders use. I later changed this aluminum bar to a steel bar because the aluminum was too soft and was showing to much wear the tie rods were fastened on.

A side view from the rear shows how I am building the frame.

Another side view of the rear of rear of the trike. I am using square tubing instead of the round like most other builders use. Most of the square tubing is 120 and some was a little thinner and some a little thicker depending on where I used it.

This picture shows the auto shifter I am going to use. It is setting in the approximate location that it will be mounted. I bought a master cylinder from a hot rod place and am not using any kind of power or vacuum power booster on the brake system. I do not think a power booster is needed on something this light.

The frame is not finished yet and as you can see I used 2 X 3 inch rectangular tubing for the A frame and the two rails.

I have not done anything to the engine as of yet. Do not know if I will rebuild it or not. Everything checks out good so might just wait and see how it runs.

This picture shows the springs I added to the front forks to make them stiffer. The Harley front-end just did not have what it took to hold this engine. I had cups cut out of steel and put them right over the dust covers and an aluminum bar on top to hold the springs and also took care of my light bar problems. The springs really helped because after putting the full weight back on the forks it only settled about an inch and a half

I tried running the trike with no fans on the radiator but it did not work and the engine was heating up in just a few minutes.

I added fans to the radiator and it really helped the problem I was having with the engine heating up. I used dual fans and put each fan on a separate switch and later I might fix a electronic fan switch so the fans will come on automatically when needed.

This a side view of the trike without the back seats on it.

I ended up taking the spring loaded shocks that I was using on the back and replaced them with air shocks. It helped stabilize the back but still getting a lot of side role on corners. I am going to build a pan hard bar and play with that a little to see if I can stop the rocking and rolling.

I did not build or use a pan hard bar but did buy a torsion bar through a hot rod shop and it did stop the rocking and rolling. It only took about a day of work to put it on and make it work right. Well worth the extra trouble because it does ride a lot better now.

I am getting a lot of positive feedback from other bikers and also non bikers young and old. They actually stop me on the street and want to take pictures of the trike. Many people are saying how awesome of a bike and can I go and look at it closer? The other day I was riding down the street and I heard some one yelling so started looking around and finally found guys working on a roof top three stories up waving and giving me the thumbs up and yelling awesome./p>

You can probably see the mirrors I have added and it really helps see behind you. You are probably saying what the heck has he done put truck mirrors on a motorcycle? The answer is yes but have some fine tuning to do on them because now it blocks me from turning very sharp.

This is my dash board showing all the gauges and switches. I still might make a lot of changes to that because I am going to use a different set of handle bars and they have the switches where they belong on a motorcycle.

My insurance company said I had to have a front fender so I built one out of diamond plate aluminum. Not like a factory job but does not look too bad.

I have changed the linkage setup for the steering and also changed the rake of the front end. I now have a 23 degree rake and it does make it steer better. As you can see I have reversed the triple tree that the handle bars mount to and also put the steering rods under the front steering arm. This in turn makes the steering arms almost level. The reason I changed the angle of the rake was one day I was backing up and the front wheel dropped in a small hole in the ground and jerked the handlebars sideways and it bent the front forks so had to replace them. The hole in the ground was only about 2 inches deep so from now on I will be a lot more careful when I am backing up out of a parking lot. If this happens again I will scrap this frontend and go to a home made set of springers. You can buy springers but none of them will guarantee they will hold up a Chevy v8 engine.

People ask me if it will light up the tries now and the answer is still no because all it wants to do is jump out there and be first off the line. I think it is too light to be able to light up the tires which is OK with me because rubber costs too much money. Changed the handle bars and put on ape hangers instead of the short ones and i think it makes it look cool.

I added the other two seats behind and it really balances it out a lot or at least I think so.

I have also changed the carburetor and bought a new Eldobrock carburetor and it really helped the power off the line.

Every time I ride this trike I come home and go back to the drawing board and make some more changes. My drawing board is in my head so do not really know what or how to change something when I start.