Morgan inspired cyclecar

I've been thinking about this project for some time, ever since Intrepid Wheelwoman started a thread showing vintage velocars and cyclecars over a year ago. Then BarelyAWake posted a thread on the old 3 wheel Morgan (now being manufactured again). As soon as I saw the Morgan I was in love. Pictured below is an early one which was a single seat model. Most are wider and a bit longer having two seats side by side. I like the single seat with perhaps a tandem seat behind for the dog and a bit of cargo.

So that's where the inspiration comes from... that and the desire to have some kind of alternate transportation for going back and forth from my place in the forest to a small town 12 miles away down a paved 55 mph highway. 25 miles round trip for a drill bit at the hardware or a gallon of milk is a killer at the gas pump. My 3/4 ton Silverado is a thirsty girl. I've tried riding a motorbike along the shoulder, but it always feels like a dangerous thing, so I gave that up. The safest way to go is with the traffic on the highway which calls for a somewhat more substantial bike with more power... a motorcycle of some kind. Having just three wheels, the Morgan is legally a motorcycle.

Earlier this summer I was given some old light motorcycles from the 1960's and 70's by a friend... none running and one just a chassis, one wheel and part of the engine.. That one is a Harley Davidson Sprint and the other two are lighter 2 strokes sold by Harley Davidson and made in Italy. I was thinking about giving the Sprint a 420cc electric start Predator engine with a torque converter transmission and building a sidecar for it. I've been bugging Rick at Ricksrides about his WWII tribute bike with sidecar he built for his dad using that same drive line and asking others for opinions and advice.He has given me a lot of good ideas. Of course fasteddy has also had aspirations for a cyclecar for a long time and even owned a Morgan many years ago, if I remember right.

Recently a few new threads have appeared on micro cars and cyclecars... and here I am wondering why I'm thinking of a motorcycle with sidecar when it could be a three wheeled cyclecar in the spirit of the old Morgan? Now that is something to get excited about and even has the possibility of being enclosed with a roadster top.

This build is not going to be any time soon, but I want to have a plan and to start setting aside major components. Then over the next couple of years build it.
(cont.)
SB

http://morgan3w.de/technic/technic.htm

This gives some technical information on the early Morgan. Other than the little windscreen there are no windows. No doors.No need for a radio as you wouldn't be able to hear it anyway. What I have in mind is not high tech, no electric hybrid stuff. Just enough to comply with what is required of a motorcycle, which is what this is.

Many thanks to RicksRides for his inspiring work and willingness to answer my many questions. Here's a link to his velocar build using the engine and rear wheel from a 150cc scooter.What a great idea!
http://motorbicycling.com/showthread.php?t=49035

The donor could just as well be from a motorcycle.

http://motorbicycling.com/showthread.php?t=38578&page=10

And here are some details on the 420cc Predator engine with torque converter going to a jackshaft to power the rear wheel.

There's a wealth of information and plenty of inspiration in these two threads.

(cont.)
SB

SB,
Those three color pics you show in your first post are a PEDALCAR. It was a kids toy re-creation of the Mog three wheeler, built around 5 years ago. I know this because I have been collecting Morgan three wheeler data for years; I hope to one day re-create one.

http://www.morgan-motor.co.uk/sales/pedal_car/super_sports_junior.html

Rather than the Harley Davidson Sprint which is missing a whole lot, I think I'm going to try to get a lost title (or whatever you call it) for this other bike which looks more complete. The story is that I want to restore it. I was advised when I go to the license bureau to make the bike look as complete as possible, so found a Schwinn seat which is just balanced there for the photos. I had a Harbor Freight dune buggy light waiting to be converted to a bike project, so mounted that in place and yes, you are seeing right... that is a China girl peanut gas tank balanced there, too. Ha! Looks kind of small, but who's to say, right?

So, the next thing is to print out the pictures, take them to the local license bureau and see if I can get a title. Once I have a title I'm good to go. I have no intention of trying to use the engine which I believe is frozen and being Italian made would be a headache to find parts for fixing it. And who knows for how much money. I don't even know what the displacement is, but from looking on the internet I'm guess it is 125cc's. Rick has suggested that I might be able to use the gearbox, so I'll remove the engine section and see if a jack-shaft can be set up to power it.

If you look closely at the photo showing the gas tank you will see that the frame has been cut so that the bike is actually in two sections. It was that way when I got it and someone had placed a pipe inside so that each section slides over it. I guess the idea was to weld it back together. I will need to have the serial number & head tube for identification. From the rear of the wheel to the front of the head tube it is 48" That could be shortened up by 6" or so to fit just to the back of the seat in the cockpit. I need to retain the head tube and will incorporate it into the framework of the cyclecar.

(cont.)
SB

atombikes said:

SB,
Those three color pics you show in your first post are a PEDALCAR. It was a kids toy re-creation of the Mog three wheeler, built around 5 years ago. I know this because I have been collecting Morgan three wheeler data for years; I hope to one day re-create one.

http://www.morgan-motor.co.uk/sales/pedal_car/super_sports_junior.html

Click to expand...

Ha, the joke's on me. I was trying to find photos of the single seat model and everything was later with two seats. Anyway, that's the basic look I'm going for and it won't be all that close to the Morgan anyway since I'm using a Grumman canoe for the body. I thought that Morgan looked really small. That's funny! Thanks!
SB

hmmmm,...... you just gotta one up me dont ya, SB. LOL. I like it! Ive often thought about doing a morgan w/ v-twin briggs rather complicated drive line. nothing quite as simple as chain or belt.

Silverbear you have more plans than a blueprint library..get building something!

Here are a couple of real ones unless that guy is pedaling really fast.

Looking back at the pedal car it is obvious the engine, exhaust and such are fake. I should have paid closer attention.

(cont.)
SB

Boy, I must be getting tired. Posted a photo of Basswood Lake instead of the guy pedaling hard. Try again...

And then I think I'll continue tomorrow rather pulling something else dopey tonight.
Later,
SB

racie35 said:

Silverbear you have more plans than a blueprint library..get building something!

Click to expand...

Actually I'm mostly getting ready for winter and then will get back to the "kindalikeawhizzer" build once snow is on the ground. I'll work on it inside my trailer over the course of the winter. The sheave and belts arrived from Chainmaker and I'm anxious to get the sheave in place to see what it looks like.

This cyclecar project has kind of been in the works and then not and now back again, but off in the future. First have to see about getting a title. Have the basic body and front axle assembly. Fasteddy & I have been talking about this for a year now. This would be instead of the motorcycle with sidecar. But yes, you're right, I need to finish up what is already started. I almost gave away the canoe, offered the front axle to somebody who didn't need it and have been trying to figure out if I can use these motorcycles for anything and if not, get rid of some stuff. My other builds started out as daydreams, too. The dreaming part is stage one and a whole lot of fun!
SB

RicksRides said:

hmmmm,...... you just gotta one up me dont ya, SB. LOL. I like it! Ive often thought about doing a morgan w/ v-twin briggs rather complicated drive line. nothing quite as simple as chain or belt.

Click to expand...

Hey Rick,
When I say Morgan inspired... mine would be like a crayon drawing of a Morgan done by a 3rd grader. I don't think anyone would ever think it was a Morgan. The body will use the remains of a 17 foot Grumman canoe which had been damaged in a rapids. Fasteddy & I made a sidecar out of one end to use with my American flyer. The aluminum part of the body would be about 9 1/2 feet long without the cowl section where there would be a radiator on the Morgan. No engine in front for me; it will be under the hood.

I don't have the metalworking skills you have or the wood working ability of fasteddy, so I scrounge and adapt. And I don't have a garage to work in either, so it will be an approximation, but I am hoping that it will also look good and be a lot of fun. Here's one photo of the body as it is, more tomorrow. Tired old man...
SB

Yes do it Silverbear! This will be a seriously amazing project as well as being a lot of fun to build as well.
Using the rear half of a motorcycle is a great way to simplify setting up the drive and i would think that using some front steering and suspension parts from a scrap quad bike just might make building the front end a lot easier too.

Photo didn't load... try again.
SB

That canoe half is going to make an amazing cyclecar bodyshell.

Silverbear, glad the parts arrived. Like I told you I have been thinking the same about a Morgan. Try digging around the builds on this site http://www.cyclekartclub.com/phorum/ there aren't any Morgans but there is a lot of info that could be used on a Morgan build. Also if you send me your email address I can send you a set of plans for something that could work for a Morgan type frame.

I like this Porsche 356 Speedster inspired velocar......a lot.

Ahh, SilverBear. Once upon a time I lived a northern rural life like you're living. Though not quite as remote. I took it for granted and it never occurred to me that the gravy train might end.

For the last 30 years now I've been a more urban type. In order to make a living. But I still remember those glory days fondly.

I envy you your ability to live among the evergreens and dream of building Morgan tributes. I dream of stuff like that, of course. But not in God's country like yours.

Thanks for all of the encouragement.

Intrepid, I think your build is inspiring others to think more seriously about what they would build if they took the plunge. Like you, I tend to look around at what I have to see what I can do with it. Repurposing things is satisfying on many levels.

That Porsch is pretty cool, modern for my tastes, but cool for sure.

Chainmaker, the cyclekarts give a wealth of useful information I'm just digging in to... how they are doing the front wheels and steering, body constructions, etc. As they are a cyclekart with three wheels would be very neat. Of course they have four, but it seems to me that going to all of that expense and effort and then not being able to drive it around legally is kind of a waste.

bluegoat,
Yes, the forest is home for me. I don't have many neighbors and most of them have four legs or feathers so we get along fine. I live in an old aircraft aluminum trailer made by Spartan in 1957. John Paul Getty owned the aircraft company and started making trailers after WWII for fifteen years or so. I heat it with a wood stove and live a pretty simple life which suits me. About a football field's distance away is a thousand acre clear water lake and the paved road through the forest to Bearhead State Park five miles away makes for a great motor bike ride. I don't have much material wealth, but live in a great environment and consider myself a rich old fellow and very fortunate. Perhaps someday you can leave the city and go back to the woods again. That would be good.

Below are a few more photos of the canoe, or what's left of it anyway. I bought it with a gash midway in each side from having been wrecked in a rapids. Paid the kid $20.00 for it and from it fasteddy and I made a neat sidecar for one of my bikes. I had thought maybe to make another sidecar, but as Steve says..."you've already done that, so you need to do something different. Maybe so. Anyway, I believe there is enough left of the remainder to make the body for the cyclecar which would save me a lot of fabrication work.

Something is wrong with either the site, my machine or my connections... foggy with rain so it is probably on my end, but at any rate I can't load pictures at this time. Will as soon as the cyborgs , gnomes or Paul and his gremlins allow me to send them along.

Steve and I have been chatting about the project and we have different perspectives. Like the cyclekart people he believes that first you build the chasis and make it work and then build the body around it. That is a sensible approach I think, but I'm not a very sensible person or I wouldn't be doing this in the first place. Ha!

I have the canoe. So that is my starting point and everything else needs to conform to those constraints. Besides having it already there are other reasons I want to use it. I first starting using a 17' Grumman canoe on my own when I was 6 years old. My father wouldn't let me operate a boat and motor until I was older, so I have a long history with a canoe very much like the one which will become a cyclecar.

Also I live in northeastern Minnesota where there are more lakes than most people can even imagine. Minnesota has over 12,500 of them at least 10 acres in size. Smaller than that they are considered potholes. Creeks and rivers are everywhere. Most of the state's lakes are in the northeastern part, the Arrowhead, where I live. Further south is farm country.

This is like Canada with little topsoil and a lot of glacial rock covered by a dense forest of paper birch (what birchbark canoes were made from by the local Indians) pine trees and other evergreens. My local town, Ely, is a launching point for the million acre Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, a federal park which is non motored. On the other side of the border is Canada's Quetico Provincial Park, a mirror image of what is on our side. These are fresh water jewels with water you can drink and abundant fish to catch, moose and deer browse along the shores. To me it is paradise and to many others who come here as tourists or to take a canoe trip into the wilderness it is a glimpse of raw and beautiful nature as our Creator made it.

For any of you older people, you may remember the newsman Eric Severeid... as a high school graduate back in the 1930's he and a buddy packed up a wood/canvas canoe, a tent and crude camping gear and took off from my part of the world on a canoe trip to Hudson's Bay leaving here in May or early June just after school let out and made it to Hudson's bay at freeze-up in the fall. He later wrote a book about his life changing experience called Canoeing With The Cree which is a fine read. This is the land of the fur trade voyageurs. In other words, it is canoe country and the canoe is as much an iconic image of the north woods as the loon or the bald eagle.

When I ride my motorbike in town (a 50 Schwinn Panther frame with the canoe sidecar)... my dog Aaniimoosh (Ojibwa for "dog") as passenger wearing her doggles and looking out at the gawking tourists as we ride by... well, it is great fun and it makes me feel like the ambassador of perpetual childhood. If the bike and sidecar stop traffic, imagine the response of a Harley/Grumman looks a little like a Morgan cyclecar on unsuspecting tourists? Ha! Can't wait.
But will wait.

So you see, I really do need to use the canoe.

Looks like I still can't post photos. Ah well. Patience.
SB

EHHHH...EHHH...EHHH...
THIS IS A TEST...EHHH...
THIS IS A TEST OF THE EMERGENCY CANINE COMMUNICATION SYSTEM...
DO NOT BARK...DO NOT CHANGE YOUR DIAL...
THIS IS A NO BARKING ZONE...
EHHH.EHHH...EHHH...

By authority of Aaniimoosh The Wonder Dog, your Supreme Leader and recipient of the Intergalacic Pluto Award Of Canine Excellence ( a real good dog in other words)