[toomanytoys2]

Got a little more done this weekend, once again, mostly trying to see how the engine is going to sit in the frame. Of course there are always thing that you do not see until you start to put the pieces into place. Most of the Polaris conversions I have seen use a trailing arm rear suspension, but my setup is a-arms. There are always two sides of a coin when it comes to suspension design, with the a-arm, you have a very robust system, but it takes up space with the mounting system. The trailing arms take up very little space, but if the trailing arms are not built right, they are susceptible to hard impacts and excessive bottoming can give you negative camber as the arms can twist. Because of my VW background, I am a fan of the trailing arms, I believe that they give better bump compliance, because the wheel moves up and away from the bump. However, since I am running a-arms, the a-arm mounts are playing a huge role in where I can mount the engine. If I was using a standard dirt bike or quad engine with a built in transmission, I would have all kinds of room, but since I am using a CVT system, my choices are very limited.

Both clutches on the Polaris are huge in comparison to a GY6, so between the clutches and the a-arm mounts, I am running into interference issues. Everything is so close, that I would not be able to take off the CVT cover with the engine in the car. This would definitely cause a problem if I ever had to change a belt in the field. So after doing some research and talking with people, I will probably run without the CVT cover. It seems that the Polaris clutches are not that susceptible to dirt and dust, but rather water. Since 99% of the riding I do does not involve crossing water, I plan on leaving the cover off, at least for now. Another problem I ran into is that I cannot center the counter shaft sprocket in the frame. Since I am trying to stay away from using jack shafts, this means that I have to run unequal axle lengths. It looks like a VW bus axle will work for the long axle and I believe that an axle from an automatic squareback will work for my short axle. I’ll find out on Tuesday, when I can go by the wrecking yard and see if they have one. I will hate to buy a set of aftermarket axles and just end up using one of them. I figure that I have a about an inch of play for where I can place the mid axle, so if the squareback axle will work, the next step is to get some pillow blocks and mount the mid axle. Then I can start fine tuning the CV system. After that, build the motor mounts.