Bulge

[WilliamH]

What about the electric assist steering instead of the old power rack and pinion ?

It doesn't have power steering. Electric or hydraulic. No loss.

 

[Bert]

I think the rear swing arm is bushing mounted. No zert needed!

 

[Ty]

I don't mind the "bulge" at all . Makes for a cool custom look . I would even consider wrapping the bulge in carbon fiber or drilling spaced cutouts to show the exhaust pipe through the bulge . Either case , I will have to dress up the hole with a polished alum tip of sorts . For me, this is half the fun of buying the Elio .

Sounds like that'll be an option on the Elio at time of purchase.

 

[goofyone]

What about the electric assist steering instead of the old power rack and pinion ?

The standard steering is manual rack and pinion steering which is all most people will need with a vehicle this light. For those who want it EM has told us that this steering can accept an optional electric power assist module.

 

[Ty]

Having the exhaust exit down the side makes cleaning up the bottom of the vehicle (smooth belly pan) for aerodynamic reasons MUCH simpler. I'd really like to see a pic of the bottom of the Elio (P5).

Having the exhaust exit down the side makes cleaning up the bottom of the vehicle (smooth belly pan) for aerodynamic reasons MUCH simpler. I'd really like to see a pic of the bottom of the Elio (P5).

This one is from Goofy1

 

[AriLea]

The standard steering is manual rack and pinion steering which is all most people will need with a vehicle this light. For those who want it EM has told us that this steering can accept an optional electric power assist module.

I'm going to revel in the manual steering. I had this on the 1976 Ford Fiesta. It was one of the things that made the car so fun. The connectivity, feeling of being there and fine control was at least partly because of that R&P in such an agile light car. The Elio is maybe 67% the weight of the 70's Fiesta.

 

[DeltaMike]

I'm going to revel in the manual steering. I had this on the 1976 Ford Fiesta. It was one of the things that made the car so fun. The connectivity, feeling of being there and fine control was at least partly because of that R&P in such an agile light car. The Elio is maybe 67% the weight of the 70's Fiesta.

Interesting...thoughts as to how the Elio front wheel loading compares to the Fiesta? (PS...sure have enjoyed your posts here in the many months before my signing on, particularly your understanding of the aero aspects.)

 

[WilliamH]

What I find really interesting when I see all of these posts about power steering is that from the time I started driving in '61 until I leased a '97 Concorde, I had driven only one car with power steering. That was my mothers '56 Olds Super 88. And that was out of 12 cars. Somehow the idea of a car without power steering feels like a lot of fun.

 

[AriLea]

Interesting...thoughts as to how the Elio front wheel loading compares to the Fiesta? (PS...sure have enjoyed your posts here in the many months before my signing on, particularly your understanding of the aero aspects.)

The Fiesta is maybe about a 55/45 weight to the front. The Elio will be more like 65% to the front. The two, being FWD will handle very similar, with the Elio having better traction in poor climate weather. Most cars have about the same steering gearing, about 2.5 turns lock to lock. So a lighter vehicle is almost always less effort to steer. The Elio is a lot lighter than the Fiesta. There will only be effort involved when stopped, as a guess.

The Fiesta when moving had a very light and controlled feel as did the light weight 67 Ford Cortina(RWD). Both did not have power steering assist. Between the two, the car most indicative of what to expect in the Elio, is the fiesta since it was FWD. The real driving differences between the two cars was when being a bit, ok racing on the street. You could play power control tactics in the Cortina, but the Fiesta, you just couldn't go faster around a turn than some threshold. It would just simply squeal more tire. It was possible make a tactical control failure in the Cortina, but not the Fiesta. Your possible mistakes in the Fiesta was limited to just plain going too fast. That's typical for FWD (below some power power/weight ratio threshold). In many ways the simplicity of FWD dynamics, is better for common driving since it means it will act very predictably in emergency situations.

Racing is interesting to us because emergency situations turn up many of the same issues.

The only two questions remain for me, is if the CG is low enough in the 3 wheel layout to keep that predictability in all oddball dynamic events you will commonly encounter? At a 6ft width, it seems likely to be pretty good. I designed and built a 3wheel reverse trike in 1984 but with RWD. The 6ft width I had made it easier to loose traction before I had any roll over, so I'm reasonably optimistic about the Elio roll-over metrics. We know it at least will be better than an SUV.

The center of gravity maters hugely in a trike. The higher it is off the ground, the more weight transfers from one wheel to another in turns, as well as braking vs acceleration. If for example, you had 90% of the weight toward the front end of the car, and just a little bit of altitude for the cg, you stand a good chance of 'standing' the car up on the nose when braking, or at least spinning back-for-front. This would be true for both 3 and 4 wheelers. Although it would be difficult to get 90% while you have two wheels at the other far end.

I also don't prefer sociable seating in a light weight, 2 seat, trike. In that config, the handling differences between having a passenger and not, will be very noticeable. In tandem seating, most likely very little change. And hey, If you sit side-by-side then what's the point? You won't get much of anything better than my old Ford Fiesta. And it would seat 4.

 

[KenK]

Pop quiz ........
Wonder how many people noticed .....

The zerk fitting on the upper "A" arm ........
The braided brake cable routing along the upper "A" arm ..........
The lack of a grease fitting on the rear swing arm .......​

Just minor details to tweak in production.

I am curious to hear your interpretation of the problems these things pose for a production vehicle.