The Elio Engine

[electroken]

What condition are the cam bearings at 250k miles? There are no cam bearings. It is a steal camshaft spinning in aluminum made of the head and valve cover. Would these two pieces (head and valve cover) have to be bolted together, line bored, and half bearing inserts installed?

Perhaps this is no problem. How is this done in other vehicles? I know this was common in old motorcycles which usually did not accumulate 250K miles. What is the Gold Wing cam bearing configuration? I understand these are suppose to last many miles.

Just for jollies I looked up the cylinder head parts diagram for a Honda GL1500 Gold Wing. The camshafts ride directly on the aluminum cylinder head and I've seen several of them with 200k miles. Same for the Honda ST1100s. The engine in my 2003 Kawasaki Concours (ZG1000) also has the camshaft riding directly on aluminum. That's another engine with good longevity and I thrash that thing.

I'm pretty sure the two camshafts in my wife's old '98 Altima also ran on aluminum. That 2.4L four is an engine that would run forever.

 

[W. WIllie]

My G1 INSIGHT does not have cam bearings, good for ? At 363K now.

WIllie

 

[skygazer6033]

Now if you're really looking for trouble I can see one shortcoming that may need to be addressed. Many aluminum engines develop head gasket problems when they get a little age on them. This problem is actually caused by the threads in the aluminum block pulling out so you loose clamping pressure. I've personally had to address this problem on an Accord, a couple of Acuras and a Northstar Cadillac. They're a couple of fixes for this problem but nothing simple or cheap.

 

[Ty]

Now if you're really looking for trouble I can see one shortcoming that may need to be addressed. Many aluminum engines develop head gasket problems when they get a little age on them. This problem is actually caused by the threads in the aluminum block pulling out so you loose clamping pressure. I've personally had to address this problem on an Accord, a couple of Acuras and a Northstar Cadillac. They're a couple of fixes for this problem but nothing simple or cheap.

Ford Diesels had that problem... HAD. The new engine fixed it. The reason was the cylinder pressure was pretty high in there.

 

[pistonboy]

Yes, I realize there are no cam "bearings". (I stated so.) I don't know what else to call that part of the head and valve cover that act as bearings for the cam.

At 250k miles, new sleeves can be installed or bored and flame sprayed, new main bearings can be installed, new rod bearings can be installed, new pistons and rings can be installed. The engine is now suppose to last another 250K miles. But there is nothing that can be done to renew the cam "bearing". This means the cam "bearings", which is really the head and valve cover, are suppose to last 500K miles (half a million miles). Will they?

Maybe the engine was not intended to be used for half a million miles.

 

[Coss]

Yes, I realize there are no cam "bearings". (I stated so.) I don't know what else to call that part of the head and valve cover that act as bearings for the cam.

At 250k miles, new sleeves can be installed or bored and flame sprayed, new main bearings can be installed, new rod bearings can be installed, new pistons and rings can be installed. The engine is now suppose to last another 250K miles. But there is nothing that can be done to renew the cam "bearing". This means the cam "bearings", which is really the head and valve cover, are suppose to last 500K miles (half a million miles). Will they?

Maybe the engine was not intended to be used for half a million miles.

Replace the heads and the valve cover as part of the 250K rebuild; or just get a new factory motor.
Who knows, they may offer a trade in offer for a replacement engine.

3rd choice, get the 250K miles on before the end of the 3 year warranty expires and let them give you a new motor (that would be about 7,000 miles a week).

4th choice; drive it till it drops and buy a new one.

 

[John-b-gone]

"PWTA can be used to apply a coating to the wear surface of engine or transmission components to replace a bushing or bearing. For example, using PTWA to coat the bearing surface of a connecting rod offers a number of benefits including reductions in weight, cost, friction potential, and stress in the connecting rod". I got this off their web site: http://www.flame-spray.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=73&Itemid=53

 

[Coss]

Yes, I realize there are no cam "bearings". (I stated so.) I don't know what else to call that part of the head and valve cover that act as bearings for the cam.

At 250k miles, new sleeves can be installed or bored and flame sprayed, new main bearings can be installed, new rod bearings can be installed, new pistons and rings can be installed. The engine is now suppose to last another 250K miles. But there is nothing that can be done to renew the cam "bearing". This means the cam "bearings", which is really the head and valve cover, are suppose to last 500K miles (half a million miles). Will they?

Maybe the engine was not intended to be used for half a million miles.

Thought of another way, line bore the cam races oversized enough to take bearings, insert bearings, problem solved.

 

[pistonboy]

All this talk about how to rebuild an Elio engine is interesting, but in reality, I think would rather just buy another engine. Better yet, at $6,800 and 250K wear and tear on the vehicle, I would rather just buy a new vehicle...turbocharged!

 

[Gizmo]

All this talk about how to rebuild an Elio engine is interesting, but in reality, I think would rather just buy another engine. Better yet, at $6,800 and 250K wear and tear on the vehicle, I would rather just buy a new vehicle...turbocharged!

My thoughts exactly. The only reason to keep original one would be for collections sake. Since I'm not a collector and vehicles for me are a tool to fit a need, I'd just replace it with a new one and enjoy all the new features of a newer model.