JohnJ
Elio Addict
As long as the front wheels are aimed where you want them the back wheels don't matter.
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My Elio Alternate Project Is Underway.
- Thread starter Mark BEX
- Start date
10 US gallons.
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So decided and purchased a steering rack that I can modified without changing any of the original parts of it.
It comes down to simply cutting out the center tube, swapping the left and right ends over to opposite sides, and mounting them to a crossmember to retain the strength and retain alignment for the steering shaft.
This gets me the steering pinion shaft pointing towards the center of the car rather than away from it, which was the biggest issue for me to overcome.
The only hassle I see a dust cover, maybe a length of bicycle tire tube will do the trick there.
congrats on overcoming this challenge .... just curious, what do you foresee being next ??
I am considering making it drive'able next.
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Oh oh, stupid me. The rack steers the wrong way, if you turned the steering wheel to the right, the car would go left! No problem, tomorrow morning go swap it over for a similar one that steers the right way ........ and the left way too!
The foundation as above doesn't change, the racks are near identical, just that one is for a forward steering arm spindle, and one is for a rear steering arm spindle.
You see the difference here, one has the pinion gear driving behind, one is in front, so the steering shaft goes in different directions.
.... hope that proves to be the case .... 
So went through the parts racks today, and good news: The most suitable rack, that turns the right way this time (and the left way too!), is the same donor make and model as the front and rear spindles, hubs, brakes and suspension I am using, pleased about that ... I didn't consider it to begin with because I thought it turned the wrong way, DOH!
Ze steering rack is going to work very nicely as far as I can see so far.
Simply cut the steel tube off at the red arrow, move the pinion housing to the right hand side so the pinon shaft points to the center of the car, flip the steel tube over so it bush in the swaged section, yellow arrow, is at the left far end, and job done, just make up some mounts next.
The hardest part is stripping it completely down and washing it in gasoline, because it's all greased inside, and cutting the steel tube of course fills it up with grindings, sigh.
It takes time to sought out the steering geometry, it's not just a case of making a rack for it.
Simply cut the steel tube off at the red arrow, move the pinion housing to the right hand side so the pinon shaft points to the center of the car, flip the steel tube over so it bush in the swaged section, yellow arrow, is at the left far end, and job done, just make up some mounts next.
The hardest part is stripping it completely down and washing it in gasoline, because it's all greased inside, and cutting the steel tube of course fills it up with grindings, sigh.
It takes time to sought out the steering geometry, it's not just a case of making a rack for it.
84mpg
Elio Addict
Mark, would it be safe to say…. That working out the steering is one of the more unique and challenging aspects of this 3-wheeled, centered steered vehicle?
for production, will you have to setup an area to make the necessary modifications or, once you need a steady supply, do you think the manufacture may take care of it for you ??
I've done all the geometry plenty of times before, been doing that since I was a teenager, setting up race cars etc, just takes a bit of time, the hardest part is an economically priced rack for center steering.
As I posted above, the few that are available, are either too expensive, or not good enough quality.
Steering, as in the total sum, is very important to get good feel and stability in a car, it's worth the effort put in, and only as good as the effort you do put in.
Either. It's easy enough for me to modify them if I have to do batches at a time. Great thing is there's no modifications required to the existing parts, other than the one cut (and the darn cleaning), or additional parts required. In future, anyone needs to replace the rack, can buy one 'off the shelf', slip the individual parts such as the main shaft, pinion and the bushings out the new rack, and just slip them into the old rack.
I doubt a company would want to make such small quantities, but at least they might supply them un-greased, which is where the largest chunk of time is lost (the cleaning). Maybe even disassembled, i.e. just the parts.
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