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[Dan_Lockwood]

I'm just doing some "play" research right now and I'm looking for an adapter kit to be able to use a flywheel and disc clutch right on the crank output.

I'm sure they're made somewhere.  The new Morgan Three Wheeler uses the S&S X-Wedge in a 120'ish cube size and mate that to a Mazda 5-spd.  Ace/Liberty out of WA state do a Harley or HD clone motor to their car transmission, but neither of these are forthcoming on what, where or how they do the adapters.

I see kits for Moto Guzzi's to VW transaxles, but have not been able to find a current maker of a HD to anything else kit.  If I could get the general concept I'm sure I could draw it up for our machine shop to make, but I've only got some basic general ideas.

Also on such a system, when the clutch is thrown out, peddle depressed, it's going to be pushing against the pressure plate which in turn pushes the crank forward.  In a car motor they have one of their main bearing set up for side thrush loads.  On a HD motor as currently supplied, I'm not sure the standard primary side crank bearing would do the job to keep the crank from moving sideways in the block.

But with a Timken setup that has two apposing tapered bearings, I think that this would do the job.  It's not like you're going to run for hours with the clutch in.

So does anyone have any ideas on the adapter kit or know of someone that could help me out? 

Do you think a motor with the Timken bearings on the primary side would be more than enough to support the crank from moving while the clutch is in?

Any ideas on either of the above subjects would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance...

[Dan_Lockwood]

Okay, maybe a picture or two will get you guys talking...

This is the Ace Motor Car out of WA state.  I believe that Morgan purchased the design to get back into the three wheeler market.  The Ace uses a HD motor and the Morgan uses a S&S X-Wedge 2L.



Another couple angles of the Ace





And then here is the new Morgan Three Wheeler with the S&S motor





So let's forget about the flywheel adapter as I'm sure that I can design one if need be, but what about the throughout bearing pressure against the Harley crank?

My gut tells me that if I had a motor with the twin facing Timken bearings that the crank end play under the pressure of the throughout bearing and pressure plate, that for what little time the clutch would actually be pushed in would not be an issue.  I really don't want to have to worry about having some sort of thrust bearing between rotor and the crankcase.  The Timken solution sounds a lot better.

What does everyone think?  Thoughts please...

Thanks for looking.

[LC110]

I found this patent that may help you.
http://www.google.com/patents/US5566591
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/5566591.pdf    with drawings

The RAWACO Trike company made the one in the picture.
I think this is the website. Could always call or email and see if they did make this.
http://www.rewaco.ca/welcome.html

[LC110]

Maybe you could try and contact this guy Larry Smith
here is link to his photo pages. I don't know anything about him or his project HD car just found this stuff surfing the web.
http://s272.photobucket.com/user/evolyn80/library/?sort=3&page=1

[Dan_Lockwood]

LC110, thanks.

I found the patent and the Larry's build thread on the Volksrod forum.  I printed out the patent with pictures.

I'm thinking that the smallest flywheel that I could get a way with would be one from a VW.  Some of the hot Bugs use a 200mm diameter clutch instead of the the more standard 180mm size.

I belive that I could come up with the hub from maybe a compensator and machine and weld on the hub to bolt the flywheel to.  I know in the old days I had a VW sand rail and I had the 8 dowel pin mod done to the crank and a lightweight flywheel, 4 is standard like in the pictures you found.

Then making the bellhousing would be more billet than casting.  I'm thinking about maybe a T-5 S10 or 4-cylinder Camaro trans and building from there.

I also thought about how hard it would be to start a V-twin with a direct drive starter flywheel ratio.  It would crank easier, but would turn a lot slower than the step-up ratio you get from the clutch basket through the primary chain to the compensator sprocket.  It must work though as that's how the Morgan and the Ace are set up.

Thanks again.

[hogasm]

Dan there is a member that was/is selling a corbin roadster. I believe he is from the west coast. That set up was a twin cam motor.

[LC110]

Dan I wish you well with your project. As time permits I will do some more searching.

[Dan_Lockwood]

Steve at GMR Performance sent me a PM and we just got off the phone.  He brought up some good points to consider.

After our talk and then reviewing the pictures of the VW to HD clutch assembly, it looks like the flywheel and splined adapter is no supported by the solely by the HD crank.  The big arse roller bearing in the aluminum housing looks like it carries the weight of the flywheel and the spline then just bolts together with the roller bearing offering support for balance and end loads so the HD crank doesn't see them.

BUT what Steve said is very true, with the pulses of the HD motor and without any type of compensator the spline or transmission is going to have a beating from all the pulses.  Maybe if the stock compensator could be used to drive the flywheel spline assembly, that would be better...

I also saw a YouTube video of this guy on his first test drive with the HD in the rear.  He said that he had a lot of clutch chatter in first gear.  So maybe that's a problem.  I'll try to get in touch with the guy and see how it's all worked out for him.

Thanks again for the input.

[Starfish1991]

Guys
Sorry to bump but this is exactly what I’m looking for so I don’t want to start a new thread.

A friend of mine with disabilities is looking to find an adapter kit for the Harley to VW.

We’d be happy to pay for even just measurements of the kit itself. I’m unable to follow most of the leads as when I register for the forums either the members aren’t active who have mentioned it etc

Does anyone know where I could find one?

Starfishy

[Dan_Lockwood]

Guys
Sorry to bump but this is exactly what I’m looking for so I don’t want to start a new thread.

A friend of mine with disabilities is looking to find an adapter kit for the Harley to VW.

We’d be happy to pay for even just measurements of the kit itself. I’m unable to follow most of the leads as when I register for the forums either the members aren’t active who have mentioned it etc

Does anyone know where I could find one?

Starfishy

Starfishy, there are a few of the VW kits that have popped up in YouTube and around, but I've never been able to find who makes them or sells them. 

But the problem that's going to be there with like the adapter kit shown above is that there is no compensator, it's direct drive between the motor and trans.

Maybe if you use a "B" motor you would not need one, but my guess is that you'll still have issues.

I've given up on making my own.  I'm going to just purchase the Morgan adapter through a Morgan dealer in Chicago.  The newer revision that Morgan has now for the compensator removed the Harley converted primary comp and replaced it with a Centa rubber rod assembly similar to the new cush drive rear hubs.

I'm going to be using a Miata 5 speed and it bolts directly to the Morgan adapter assembly and then there's a small bell housing with the compensator inside of that.

I'll be using an '02 "88 "B" motor from a Softail.  The '02 was the last year for the left side Timken bearings and they had the heavier crank, forged I believe.  I may upfront go with a big bore to around 97" and maybe later, depending on the how well it turns out, go to the S&S 124" Hot Setup.

I've also changed a few times the path of my project.  Originally it was to replicate the Morgan Three Wheeler and I have tons of parts for the rear drive setup, both if I went with a Harley style or I also have the Gold Wing GL1800 rear swingarm assembly and rear tire/wheel.

Now it's still going to be a Harley powered, but it will be a four wheeler, not three.  I plan to somewhat replicate the early 30's MG M-Type with open wheels.  I plan to do about a 10% oversize for my big fat butt and the wife's now little skinny butt!!!

This is what it may look like sometime in the future.

Imagine the Harley motor out front fully exposed with the shortened hood and grill shell just behind it.







You can see from the last picture that having it a bit bigger will be a plus for our generation of drivers...

I've got a MGA rear axle assembly with wire wheel hubs to rebuild and I'm picking up MGA front LH/RH spindle with brake assemblies.  Both front and rear brakes will be drums as they should stop a 1300# car very well with little wear compared to the 2000#+ MGA they used to stop.

Should be a great little bop around vehicle when done.

Good luck with your buddy's VW project.

[bolt-on-bandito]

Is this still alive? Any updates? Brand new member.

[bolt-on-bandito]

Not sure if you guys can see this, but i just built this, and I'm building a second one this winter. 

[dayne66]

Advanced Adapters had some adapters for a starnge project we did years ago.

[73opelgt]

I know this is really old but it is very similar to what I need.

I have a classic Opel gt.  I want to install a Yamaha rx-1 turbocharged snowmobile engine into it.  It has a 6 bolt pattern before the tapered output shaft.  The tapered output shaft is similar to an air-cooled vw engine so I'm hoping the flywheel and clutch would work on it but might have too much power and cause it to slip.

Anyway the thread is about a Harley motor that has a 6 bolt pattern like what mine uses.  I'm interested in finding an adapter to be able to bolt to a t5 transmission as well.  The big difference, my motor with the turbo is putting out 220hp and 180ft-lbs torque.

The tiny 998cc motor is very light and would compliment the very light car.

I don't want to offend any Harley guys on here by posting a Japanese motor and German car in an American Harley forum but I'm hoping you might take putty on me since I'm a  woman in Canada, (don't shoot, lol), and give me some suggestions on if someone has been able to build or find a good adapter.after this is done, I'm going to be looking at a turbocharged Harley motor in a Berkeley so this will help with that as well.

Thanks guys.

[Dan_Lockwood]

I know this is really old but it is very similar to what I need.

I have a classic Opel gt.  I want to install a Yamaha rx-1 turbocharged snowmobile engine into it.  It has a 6 bolt pattern before the tapered output shaft.  The tapered output shaft is similar to an air-cooled vw engine so I'm hoping the flywheel and clutch would work on it but might have too much power and cause it to slip.

Anyway the thread is about a Harley motor that has a 6 bolt pattern like what mine uses.  I'm interested in finding an adapter to be able to bolt to a t5 transmission as well.  The big difference, my motor with the turbo is putting out 220hp and 180ft-lbs torque.

The tiny 998cc motor is very light and would compliment the very light car.

I don't want to offend any Harley guys on here by posting a Japanese motor and German car in an American Harley forum but I'm hoping you might take putty on me since I'm a  woman in Canada, (don't shoot, lol), and give me some suggestions on if someone has been able to build or find a good adapter.after this is done, I'm going to be looking at a turbocharged Harley motor in a Berkeley so this will help with that as well.

Thanks guys.

I'm still here guys!  Just not too active on the site anymore.  Moved from MO to MI back to my family roots area, Mid-Michigan.

As far as the Harley powered car goes, it's still on the books to be built.  I've changed directions many times and have settled on a 4-wheeler similar to a MG M-Type from '28/'32.

My Harley motor ended up being an '05 CVO Softail with the "B" motor displacing 103".  This gets me the larger displacement AND the "B" motor's smoother torque pulses with tons less vibration.

As far as the adapter goes, S&S "made" their Wedge motor, now deceased, and it utilized the original Harley 4-bolt pattern for the primary side.  Also has the course spline crank with external threads.  So the pre-'06 Harleys had that same left side setup.  Rather than making an adapter for my application, I bought the Morgan Three Wheeler's adapter along with their cush drive coupling system, not perfect, but good enough with some maintenance now and again.  The adapter bolts up to the Miata NC series trans, I think '04/'15'ish.  This is a 5-speed and plenty stout enough for the 80'ish hp I will have at hand.

I will build a 2"x3" ladder tube frame.  I have an early MGB banjo rear end assembly with 3 diffs, 3.9, 4.3, 4.55.  Don't know with 29" tall tires just which one will work the best for me.  I have Motor Wheel Services 2.5"x19" wire knock off wheels for the MG splines.  I have early MGA front spindles and will be making a front solid axle assembly.  Also picked up a full set of reproduction leaf springs for the MG M-Type from Jones Springs, also in the UK.  It will have an aluminium body, mainly flat sheeting, as seen in the picture.

For the past year I've been working on my new to us, sand rail.  Only a year late on hitting the road, but it WILL hit the road next spring.

Still have the O/B '09 SERG.  I did the upgraded screen radio and now have a 7" very viewable screen that runs off Apple Car-Play.  Second best investment to the bike; the first being the 30 tooth drive sprocket on the trans.

I'm no 75 and still in great condition, so to speak, but riding the Harley and stopping in parking lots with some gravel or gravel parking lots, I've been close to dropping it and I REALLY don't want to do that.  SO, in the spring I will probably put it up for sale and get something with a bit lower center of gravity.  I have two of the Honda 250cc scooters, a '98 Honda Helix and an '85 Elite.  The Helix is a blast to ride and I prefer it to the Harley for short rides into town to get "stuff".  The Elite is less of a scooter and more traditional in design, short wheel base.  The Helix is just one inch shorter than the Harley and rides tons better.  My next bike replacement will be a Maxi Scooter.  I'm looking at the Suzuki Burgman 650 Exc and the BMW C650-GT.  Both are frame mounted motors with swing arm rears.  Both are auto-drives, no clutch.  Both capable of over 100 mph if needed.  Both have a very LOW center of gravity and should make a good addition to my stable.  Linda is saddened that I'm going to sell the Harley; she's a Harley snob...   What will she do with all of her Harley shirts???

So, I'm keeping busy in my new digs.  Have a 50'x56' workshop/garage with a 13' ceiling.  Have a 2-post 10k# car lift, CNC plasma cutting table, 20 ton press, torches, TIG and MIG welders and NOW, a 2D Squared hydraulic tubing bender with 1.5" dies.  Got to have that to add my 130' plus new tubing to my sand rail.   OH, it has in from hot water radiant heat as well.  Keep it around 61 degrees in the winter.  The house also have the same in floor hot water heat.  The house has overhead central AC, no AC in the workshop though.  But I do have two 8' overhead fans that keep things fairly cool in the summer.

Enough rambling for now!

Dan