CYCLOPS

It looked like this and had a rather incontinent engine. After fitting a new set of flywheel seals. And then finding that it only threw out the oil when it was in gear. It was decided it would be cheaper to fit another engine than strip and recon' the old one.

During the Christmas holidays it was dragged (kicking an' squealing) into the workshop to have the replacement, 1300cc engine and gearbox, installed.

After the insertion (OO, err matron) and brought back in the garden, "Herself" ( The D.O) decides it needed a make over from tip to toe. So putting on my Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen jnr make over artists kit and the D.O doing her best smiley smiley Carol smillie impression, we set too with the mdf and a Handy Andy tool kit.

First thing to be altered was the foot rests and seating position. Brought closer together (Whispers from behind hand. She's vertically challenged. T) The rear brake controls were moved from being hand operated to a more conventional foot operation. She has more power in her feet ( Yeh! vertically challenged I maybe but I can still kick you up the arse. D.O) The D.O gave the redundant hand operated brake mechanism to Mike "The Trike" another club member to use on the trike that he is building.

While I painted the bodywork The D.O took at the frame with a wire brush and a tin of black hammerite.

After painting and the fitting of new ally chequer plate foot boards. The D.O had a test ride around the back garden.

I then constructed a duel passenger seat

This is the mk1 seat that looked like a boil on a billiard ball the mk2 is smaller and only looks like a pimple. It's designed to be fitted or removed quickly and to tilt forward to allow access to the engine. The trike was used in this configuration for a wedding of some friends from another club.

As you can see from the following photos I remade the solo passenger seat and made a rack that fits behind it and over the engine.

It can now be used in either a solo, duel or three seater configuration

It may seem as if it was as easy as slapping on a couple of coats of emulsion and dragging next doors cat over it to get a paint effect, but it wasn't. ( Couldn't catch the cat) Automatic mini engines and early metro ones may look very similar, apart from the obvious differences such as engine mounts and radiator, but they are different in many small ways. For instance, the starters are obviously different. "So just swop them!"

"OK." so I did that and when I tried to start it all that happens is the starter jams as the drive gears on the starters are slightly different and aren't able to mesh with the teeth on the flywheel. So not only did I have to refit the metro starter but as it's pre-engaged also rewired the starter circuit too! Another was when it was running I then put it in gear to check the gear selection only to find it wouldn't move, in any gear. After the usual "incantations" and investigations I found that the near side drive shaft was not engaged fully in the diff. After measuring the dive shafts and coming up 1/2" short, this was replaced after a hunt around the scrap yards. These were just some of many small but time consuming jobs, which are all part of the "Fun" and hair loss of customising.

The first run the D.O did on the trike was to the Offers Dyke rally nr Hay on Wye. This exposed some more problems such as the trike turning it'self off, as she was going along the A49 and making her feel like the meat in a artic sandwich. And not being able to go any faster than 60mph

The ignition problem was cured by fitting another ignition switch (Thanks Paul and Jayne) the other by fitting a new throttle cable and mod'ing the twist grip. She now needs a speedo measured in warp factors ( only jokin' officer.)

"Oh! Can ya just do this........"

Click on pics to enlarge