My Elio Alternate Project Is Underway.

[Mark BEX]

(1) Will there be "cam bolts" in the quick strut for adjustments??

Nope, but adjustable none the less.

(2) What style of front wheel bearing do you think you will use?? The bolt in style or press in style??

Press in. I doubt they will ever need replacing in their lifetime since they come off a car twice the weight.

(3) Last question is from my girlfriend, she wants to know how wide are the new seats??

I aim for 500mm+ or 20"+ when later trimmed as I want them. This is a standard sort of size in a compact car, depending on model..

Support is more important than size.

 

[Mark BEX]

Or something more like this maybe?

Very clever.

2 'flip back' levers to the sides to stop your feet from sliding to the sides.

 

[JEBar]

I feel a bit defeated, for a couple of days trying to make a good looking front suspension mounting, and just gave up. For the moment it's a bit agricultural, but strong and functional, will come back to aesthetics later.

I don't anticipate being able to see much of the front suspension once the body panels are installed ..... strong and functional sound good to me ....

 

[Mark BEX]

I don't anticipate being able to see much of the front suspension once the body panels are installed ..... strong and functional sound good to me ....

Yes, sure, but it's not a fit with the rest of the reasonable aesthetic levels either.

People still look, and some do make decisions based on the workmanship they see.

 

[Mark BEX]

What a frustrating day. Went around to a couple of car seat and furniture upholsterers, but could not get them to understand what I wanted, clear case of them putting round pegs in round holes day after day, and not wanting to understand anything else.

So I grabbed an old seat cover, bought and cut some density foam to suit, and will do the rounds again tomorrow using it as a sample of what I want done, eg; wider, longer and thicker.

I really didn't think it was rocket science ..

 

[JEBar]

you've reported several times that as a whole, those workers are much better at copying an item than they are at designing it .... hopefully they will be able to do so with your seat

 

[Sonoran Sam]

...but could not get them to understand what I wanted...

Could you have made a cardboard template for the upholsterers to follow??
When I made my arm rest (for my econo-box car), I took a card board box and trimmed it down until I found the perfect height. At that point, I cut it out of foam.
Personally, I think I'm a bit of a visual person and do better when I see the item (I'm making). I always keep old large boxes around for making templates.

 

[Mark BEX]

Annoyed about the seat yesterday, to a win today!

I made some simple overlap brackets that pushes the seat squab 50mm/2" further forward (or the backrest 2" back), and that mod has changed the seat's character completely. It now has support under the hamstrings, and feels wider, and for some reason gives more lumbar support even though the backrest hasn't changed.

I feel it still needs more cushioning on the squab, but that's no problem, some bespoke cushions with high density foam will fix that.

You can see it takes 4 bolts to hold it on rather than 2, no big deal, I'll laser some brackets later to shape that can be welded on. You can see the obvious air gap now between the squab and backrest ...

 

[JEBar]

I like the look and your comfort mods sound spot on .... do you foresee a flip down arm rest ?

 

[Joshua Caldwell]

I like the look and your comfort mods sound spot on .... do you foresee a flip down arm rest ?

I hope at least on the right where the center storage is common in cars & used as an arm rest, but in this vehicle it's open space for the passenger's legs and cargo.