My Elio Alternate Project Is Underway.

[Mark BEX]

My preferred method to extend the lower control arm is to very simply have a steel extension welded onto the stock arm.
As the piece of paper depicts, it's simply a rectangle with folded sides, and a few holes for a 'bolt on' lower ball joint from a common car.

The original is a permanent, welded in ball joint, that you can't replace, only the whole arm (I hate that), so this is also an advantage later on if need to replace the ball joint only.
The original ball presses out easily, and the welded in casing left is very strong foundation for the extension.

 

[DikiJ]

"The Bullworker" was an exercise machine to build muscle, made famous by a comic strip on the back page of many comics in the 1970s, i.e. "before and after" ...

Yea, I remember those ads. We just called them the "Charles Atlas" ads.

 

[Crazydog]

Been enjoying the pics and posts. Brought me back daily to site to see advances in your project

how will this work on production? Same issues Paul had with having to build five for crash testing etc?

next question would be for off the shelf products for any repairs. Will there be a breakdown on parts so it is not like that Johnny Cash song and Cadillacs?

 

[Mark BEX]

There are thousands of lower control arms that suit different models all over the World, so I didn't look very hard for an alternative, I mean how much time do you waste on the off chance?

But anyway, last night I Googled some pictures and almost immediately saw a picture of an arm's dimensions (unusual in itself) and noticed it looked close, measured my arms and it was the same dimensions, couldn't believe it - and it's the Chevrolet Aveo, sold in 120 Countries what's more!

So off to my local shop this morning, and grabbed one to try it. It fits, needs a spacer or 2, no problem, but good news is the ball joint is a bolt in, and very easy to extend out without any welding, move it out one hole, and just add some bolt up bracing, making this item available completely "off the shelf" in the USA

it's unusual to find a dimensional picture of a part like this ...

next question would be for off the shelf products for any repairs. Will there be a breakdown on parts

Part of production is having a parts supply setup as well, takes a lot of money to do that, but of course i's where a lot of manufacturers make profit for decades.

I want to avoid that as much as possible, so the more 'off the shelf' parts I can add into the picture, the easier it is for me and you, and where I can, I will supply drawings and CAD files to make replacement parts as easy and as cheaply as possible.

Here are these arms at Autozone for example ..
https://bit.ly/39MEjhP

Same issues Paul had with having to build five for crash testing etc?

Well they started out crash testing motorcycles back in the 70's, but they soon ran out of volunteers ...

There is no "crash testing" for motorcycles, Elio did computer crash simulations to inspire confidence, if he was genuine about safety, or just to give people confidence to get more deposits, it's only a question he can answer.

 

[W. WIllie]

Glad to see the KISS concept is still a priority. Thank You.

 

[Rickb]

Crash testing no, but there is FMVSS certification requirements for motorcycles. Arcimoto sent multiple Beta FUVs to private testing labs. The testing process and required changes needed to FMVSS certify their production model motorcycle took well over a year. Arcimoto’s CEO called it nightmare experience. Arcimoto also used KISS and the off the shelf parts strategy. They fabricate many parts in house, but are still having various issues with parts and materials suppliers that has slowed ramping production numbers. “It ain’t easy bringing a new vehicle to market.”

 

[Mark BEX]

Today I grabbed a piece of 50 x 3mm box tube, 2" x 0.120", drilled the 12 holes required for the control arm extensions, and also slotting the outer holes for camber adjustment.

Then cut the 4 extensions out of the box with my plasma cutter, bit of paint, and extensions done for now.

These are just temporary, as there is more work to do later to mount the sway bar links, but allows me to move forward to setting up the engine mounts, and start looking at suspension now I know where the wheels will be .....

My machinist friend is turning up the spacers tomorrow needed for the control arm, to mount it to the crossmember. I will laser these later, but was too small a job to annoy the laser shop with.

 

[JEBar]

interesting use of cutouts from box tubing .... your photo makes using the extensions easy to understand

 

[Mark BEX]

interesting use of cutouts from box tubing .... your photo makes using the extensions easy to understand

Just like this.

No cutting, no welding to the control arms themselves, just 'off the shelf', add the simple extensions, and use.

I used the box tube so I didn't have to get the edges folded, later I will laser these out and fold them (many at once).

 

[Mark BEX]

Crash testing no, but there is FMVSS certification requirements for motorcycles. They fabricate many parts in house, but are still having various issues with parts and materials suppliers that has slowed ramping production numbers. “It ain’t easy bringing a new vehicle to market.”

Nobody can avoid compliance requirements bespoke to that Country or State, it is what it is, but Acrimoto's supply/supplier issues you mention have nothing to do with this build.

Example is the control arms I am doing, they are available now, 'off the shelf' in 120 Countries.

Acrimoto has bespoke control arms. That means he has to design and make them from scratch, or enlist a company to make them from scratch. He is at the mercy of that process, I am not, and if you crash one, you are at the mercy of Acrimoto or his bespoke supplier, and hope that they can supply.

I just bought the left hand side* Chev Aveo control arm (seen above) to experiment with, tomorrow morning I will go buy the right hand side*, I don't even have to think about whether they have one in stock or not, they will, and even if they don't, they will have one delivered that afternoon.

*Better still, Chev Aveo left and right arms are the same, it's only the ball joint that's flipped over.