Speedometer and nose cone

Rather than use the drill again, I wound this coil by hand. It's not necessarily better. I was at home and didn't want to go to the clubhouse that night. :)

Once wound and connectorized, I put the meter on it and it read 22 ohms. The other was 14 ohms, so this one really only has 57% more turns. I was hoping on doubling it.

I installed and tested it. It works *better* but still not right. Now I only have to get it to about 20 MPH before it indicates. I didn't have my GPS with me to test for the actual speed, but it feels about right.

Consequently, I ordered the actual VDO pickup coil from eGauges. It should be here next week. I will need to make a bracket for it, but it should be pretty simple, little more than a flat with two holes in it.

Speaking of speedometers and things gaugey, I ordered the Acewell speedo that I want to use for the dragon trike. It has most, if not all, of the instrumentation I will need. It shows speed and mileage, engine RPM and fuel level in addition to indicator lights for left and right turn, oil, neutral, highbeam and "trouble", though I will probably use the neutral light for the alternator and trouble light for MegaSquirt. It also has some other cool features like two trip odometers, average and max speed memory, a clock and ride timer. By having all that in one unit, I hope to mount it on the handlebars and avoid cutting any holes in the fiberglass, but I digress....

I replaced the transaxle nose cone on the yellow trike last Friday night.

Per Doug at Qualitat's suggestion, I used high temp silicone to seal the nose cone and installed it on the transaxle with little trouble. As is often the case, things went downhill from there.

Long story short, we had the front transaxle mount for a '66 to '72 model and the frame is apparently a '62 to '65 model. The older mount has a smaller center post. I thought the old mount was completely trashed but when I looked closer, it was somewhat trashed, but was also the newer model that had been modified to fit the older frame. So, I did the same modification, else I would have to wait until the next day to buy another one.

Since the nose cone has the mounting hole for the back up light switch, I opted to install the switch and will at some point wire it up. Besides backup lights, I think a dashboard 'reverse' indicator would be neat.

So, the new nosecone tightened up the shifter even more. The only thing left that could do much more would be to replace the hockey stick. It's a little worn where it goes through the nosecone, but the gearshift works better now than it did and it was already acceptable. I will say that, if the transaxle has to come out for something else *anyway*, maybe I'll replace it then.

The new front mount tightened up the transaxle and stopped the disturbing and potentially damaging banging of the nose cone to the frame during rough shifts and on rough roads. Every little thing like this that we fix makes it rattle less and tightens up the feel and generally improves the driving experience.

Gabby was planning to take it to work tonight. I have not yet received an email verifying whether or not she did, but she most likely did. It will be her first time to do more than just run up and down the street or around a parking lot with it.