Honda MadTrax V Twin Quad.. Nearly Finished.. Woo Hoo

[Ian 2,417]

It would seem that somehow today I managed to buy one of these with a shot engine (not this one) late this afternoon...

 

 

 

Well, I needed somewhere to put the spare CX500 engine I have

 

 

[diggerjames 543]

Nice

[meadowfield 1,900]

Five trax??

[Stormin 4,458]

OH 'ECK!  I can only imagine.

[nigel 1,877]

Are he's not telling you the real story here, this has been blocking up my workshop for months it was owned by my boy Karl, now as you all know ime a bit of a grumpy git and have been moaning to Ian for months about it, so today I was ready to take Ian home and was sitting in my truck with the engine running  then I cought Ian doing the deal with my boy he came out with a big smile deal done,hit me right up the ribs he did, bought it from under my nose, caught me napping, 

[Ian 2,417]

On 06/06/2016 at 9:40 PM, diggerjames said:

Nice

 

Thanks James.

 

 

On 06/06/2016 at 9:58 PM, meadowfield said:

Five trax??

 

The quad is a FourTrax but I'm putting a 500 engine in.. Ok, I may have to think up a better name for this project.

 

 

On 06/06/2016 at 10:39 PM, Stormin said:

OH 'ECK!  I can only imagine.

 

You got that right Norm

 

 

On 06/06/2016 at 11:09 PM, nigel said:

Are he's not telling you the real story here, this has been blocking up my workshop for months it was owned by my boy Karl, now as you all know ime a bit of a grumpy git and have been moaning to Ian for months about it, so today I was ready to take Ian home and was sitting in my truck with the engine running  then I cought Ian doing the deal with my boy he came out with a big smile deal done,hit me right up the ribs he did, bought it from under my nose, caught me napping, 

 

It's not my fault you have been walking past it countless times a day and not really noticed it

 

After a lot of faffing about yesterday the quad was dragged out from it's hiding place under a pile of racing mower parts and put on my bench.. It could of gone easier as the quad would only roll backwards but we got there in the end.

 

 

 

The offending engine, it looks quite small for a 250cc..

 

 

 

To make it easier to get around the quad a chopped a foot of the bottom of the bench legs and Nigel welded these massive caster wheels on.. The bench is now easy to move, turn around or even push outside should I feel the urge to work in the sun

 

[Stormin 4,458]

 The hospital bed I use as a bench has wheels on. Really handy to be able to move it about.

[pmackellow 2,738]

On ‎06‎/‎06‎/‎2016 at 9:58 PM, meadowfield said:

Five trax??

 

How about Fastrax ??

 

[moogie 372]

Stretch it out and make it into a drag quad for the dirt. You could put big tractor cleat tyres on the back. 

 

[Stormin 4,458]

6 hours ago, pmackellow said:

 

How about Fastrax ??

 

 

Sounds to much like JCB Fastrac.

[pmackellow 2,738]

7 minutes ago, Stormin said:

 

Sounds to much like JCB Fastrac.

 

Ok then, Kinfastrax !!

[C-101plowerpower 548]

Vquad?

[Ian 2,417]

On 08/06/2016 at 9:05 AM, Stormin said:

 The hospital bed I use as a bench has wheels on. Really handy to be able to move it about.

 

Mines a bed for two

 

 

On 08/06/2016 at 9:43 AM, pmackellow said:

 

How about Fastrax ??

 

 

As Koen says, it's too JCB

 

 

On 08/06/2016 at 1:19 PM, moogie said:

Stretch it out and make it into a drag quad for the dirt. You could put big tractor cleat tyres on the back. 

 

 

The dirt drag racing is fun to watch, I'm going to have to stretch it by a few inches anyway to get the engine in.

 

 

On 08/06/2016 at 4:21 PM, Stormin said:

 

Sounds to much like JCB Fastrac.

 

It does and I'm not painting the quad yellow

 

 

On 08/06/2016 at 4:29 PM, pmackellow said:

 

Ok then, Kinfastrax !!

 

That's more like it Paul

 

 

On 08/06/2016 at 8:55 PM, C-101plowerpower said:

Vquad?

 

I think maybe simply "Hold on" or even HYGLI.... "Have you got life insurance?"

 

 

It hasn't taken long to tear into this project, the bodywork soon came off..

 

 

 

With the aid of a Nigel, a Rex and a scaffold board the V twin was soon on the bench to see how much work is ahead.

 

 

 

Hhmmm, it looks quite a bit bigger than the original 230cc lump!

 

 

 

So... Out come the small engine followed by a few slices to the frame.

 

 

 

The quad now looks very "Mad Max" with the parts roughly piled in place

 

 

 

 

Sorry for the blurred photo, with the wheel under the engine swapped for a small trolley I could prop the parts at more of the correct height.

 

 

 

The bottom two tubes need to be level to line things up..  The engine will hang a bit lower than the original but not by much..

 

 

 

Now this is where Honda had thought ahead for me and decided it would be a good idea if their quad engine had the same splines on the gearbox as a CX500 bike engine

Thank you Honda for making life easy for me

 

 

 

A quick silly photo with one of the first WN exhausts bolted on

 

 

 

Honda put the quad exhaust can about here, but as I have two cylinders and two of these cans it makes sense to put one each side

 

 

 

And of course with every build comes videos.. So here's the first... Enjoy

 

 

[diggerjames 543]

Good start mate that's handy about the splines 

[Ian 2,417]

On 15/06/2016 at 1:56 PM, diggerjames said:

Good start mate that's handy about the splines 

 

Thanks James, yeah it was very nice of Honda to make life easier for me, though the only downside is the engine has to be offset to the left a little bit. Not enough to upset the handling though..

 

Progress on this build has been a lot slower than it should of been, but now I have a direction to go in things should speed up..   But first...

 

With the help of Nigel and his bloody heavy pipe bender new longer and stronger bit's of tube were shaped for the lower rails.. Not welded on in these photo's.

 

 

 

 

Up until Monday I didn't really know which direction this build was going in....   Get the engine in, get it driving, I hadn't though any further ahead than that really..

 

Then out of interest I plonked on a Honda Silverwing fuel tank (yes it's from the very same bike that donated the engine to Why Not) just to have a look..

The quad started to look very mean with more than a hint of "Mad Max" about it..   So the tank was quickly hit with Mat black paint and the Honda MadTrax was born

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course this has now created a lot of extra work, but it will be worth it

The big lamp may or may not be staying... I quite like the look of it but others say it's too big.. We shall see

[meadowfield 1,900]

mad max themed.... like it

[Stormin 4,458]

He'll have to get an American highway patrol uniform and helmet. Then he'll really look the part.

[Ian 2,417]

On 29/06/2016 at 9:24 AM, meadowfield said:

mad max themed.... like it

 

Thanks mate

 

 

On 29/06/2016 at 9:28 AM, Stormin said:

He'll have to get an American highway patrol uniform and helmet. Then he'll really look the part.

 

Don't you mean Australian Norm?

 

With the fuel tank braced in the right place I could make a start on rebuilding the frame.. This may sound a strange way of doing it, but I want the frame to be a feature and not hidden away under bodywork.

 

 

 

 

Every cut and join in the frame has some nice thick steel bar inside to make sure it's all strong enough when welded up.. Everything is only tack welded at the mo as I've run out of Mig wire.

 

 

 

I like the "double down pipe" look, the o/s was easy..

 

 

If your thinking the n/s looks a bit close to the carb then you would be right!

 

 

It's so close that I had to notch the inside of the pipe to give enough space to get a fuel pipe on the carbs!

 

 

 

Putting some strength back in the front, roll on Monday when my welding wire should arrive and I can zap all the tubes fully together..

 

 

 

 

[Alan 1,273]

Looking good already Ian.   You sure don't hang around.

[nigel 1,877]

He does Alan he spends more looking at it and giggling to him self than actually doing any work on it

[Ian 2,417]

On 03/07/2016 at 11:03 AM, Alan said:

Looking good already Ian.   You sure don't hang around.

 

Thanks Alan, I should be a lot further ahead than I am really, but life, looking and giggling have slowed me down

 

 

On 03/07/2016 at 8:56 PM, nigel said:

He does Alan he spends more looking at it and giggling to him self than actually doing any work on it

 

It's called visualizing and working things out

 

Well, early Monday morning my welding wire turned which was very nice of it.. Tacking tubes together with a Arc welder has not been fun..

 

As it happened Mig welding was not fun for long!!    A word of warning chaps, always wear gloves when welding even more so if your welding something galvanized!

 

Why??

Well a rather nasty evil big blob of molten weld decided to jump and land on my wedding ring where it most unkindly burnt a hole through it and at the same time super-heated the top half of the ring to a very "ouch" sort of temperature!

 

 

 

Getting the ring off was interesting to say the least, it's always been a very tight fit but still turned, but once my finger started swelling!!    With the help of Google, a good chap by the name of Matt, and a length of fine string we managed to get the ring off without having to cut it!   

This was quite bad timing as it was our 9th wedding anniversary yesterday!

 

 

 

For those of you (Hi Nigel) who are saying I shouldn't wear the ring in the workshop, I've never taken it off as it doesn't/didn't really come off without a big fight!

 

And now onto something tubular..  The quad frame.. A lot of new tube work has gone in to add strength and also give it a bit of style..

 

 

 

 

While my Mig welder did an "ok" job of welding the frame up, it did seam to be lacking oomph and not powerful enough to do a good job.

So Nigel the good chap he is suggested we drag he's welder through and give it a whirl...     Strong welds??   Ooooo yeah baby

 

 

 

 

This was one of those corners with a lot of steel bar showing.. It now be filled with weld

 

 

 

So thanks for the use of your welder mate, I now feel a lot happier about riding the quad

 

A blurred view of the other side..

 

 

 

The rear or the frame is getting a re-shape to to keep the curved theme of the frame going, here's the first part of it.. 3 tubes all with slight bends to get them fitting under the seat lip. When the seat if clamped down only the bottom half of the tube will be showing.

 

 

 

I just love this view from the back, the tank makes it look so meaty and MadMaxy

 

[Alan 1,273]

Finger looks nasty Ian but look on the bright side.  The blob of weld might have landed on your wedding tackle instead of your wedding ring.

[Stormin 4,458]

6 hours ago, Alan said:

.  The blob of weld might have landed on your wedding tackle instead of your wedding ring.

 

OOOOW! Where's the crossed legs smillie?

[Ian 2,417]

The new bit of the rear frame has been sorted, I think your agree that "kick up" gives MadTrax an aggressive mean sort of look

 

 

 

 

Of course as soon as the frame had enough strength put back in to take the weight of a person.. I just had to have a seat

 

 

 

 

 

You know the saying of "A bad workman always blames he's tools".. Well in this case I can rightly blame my small Mig welder..

With the aid of a new welding mask and Nigel's 30+ year old heavy duty Mig I produced the best welds I have ever done This is the start of the lower rear engine mounts..

 

 

 

 

A couple of rear upper engine mounts..

 

 

 

 

MadTrax can now hold it's own weight up including engine

 

 

[meadowfield 1,900]

nice work, loving the welds