The Front Wheels Setup

[tenbsmith]

A post from early January 2014 in the following thread suggested that a "Flame spray process" will be used instead of cylinder liners. Later in the thread someone suggests they may use "Plasma transferred wire arc thermal spraying." The source of that info is not stated so who knows if it is true. Is there someplace where Elio has definitively stated if the engine will use liners or spray?

I believe the squared-off, Kammback design is good aerodynamically. My Passat uses that design and had a very low coefficient of drag.

Three small wheels should help with mpg's through decreased rolling resistance. The road versus mountain bike analogy is good--road bikes reduce rolling resistance by have smooth tires and a relatively small contact patch with the road.

 

[NRB]

Had forgotten about the HD Dealer service charges---you are correct on that! So maybe (?) the auto agency hook up would be better? RB

 

[Autoxdriver]

An interesting fact about 3 wheeled vehicles: if there is a pothole, you will hit it. Learned that from Jay Leno driving the Aptera.

On a related note, these might not be that great in the snow because none of the wheels will follow in the tracks of the others, and even on traveled roads the rear wheel will most likely have to plow it's own path. On the other hand it is front wheel drive with most of the weight over the front wheels so it could do well.

 

[Zipper]

An interesting fact about 3 wheeled vehicles: if there is a pothole, you will hit it Learned that from Jay Leno driving the Aptera.

. . . unless you're accustomed to avoiding stump and rock collisions with your differential while driving the 4WD trails.

 

[LGilbert]

(clipped) if they make this engine without steel cylinder walls it will fail. nano steel cylinder walls are not the way to make a engine expected to last 1,000's of miles. the b/s engine in the vega made it to 25k and fell apart.

The Vega engine did not have a ceramic coating, rather a fragile silicone coating that was susceptible to damage from overheating from scarring as the expansion coefficient of bore and piston ring were not the same. Besides, it was a terrible engine, anyway. The nano-ceramic coating is tougher than steel whereas the Vega was like a teflon coating on a pan. The ceramics are strong enough to be used instead of steel for brake rotors (example, Porsche brake option) and the balls in ball bearing units (example, industrial and bicycle bearings). This is a far cry from Vega technology.

 

[WAYNE]

to be honast i don't think it will see 84 mpg. i'm thinking 55 to 65 mpg the geo metro 3 cylinder 5 speed got on a good day going down hill also they have that sharp back side and some claim it will improve mileage but i don't believe it all these years car makers have been rounding the back of there cars to improve drag and now some german engineer from years gone by made a claim that the squared back is better? if so then why was the beetle rounded in the back? and stayed that way for all the production run. german car german engineer somehow he did not convince vw his idea was better.

Because the Kammback was UGLY. They are widely used today but incorporated into the design. Flat rear trunk lid.

 

[Autoxdriver]

to be honast i don't think it will see 84 mpg. i'm thinking 55 to 65 mpg the geo metro 3 cylinder 5 speed got on a good day going down hill with a tail wind got 55 mpg. and some will argue they got more some even say 65 but then that goes that pissing contest again. i had 8 of those cars and none got over 50 for me so that is the driving style your talking about. most people can't drive 55 to 60 where the mpg's are generated most have to do 70 or 75. and on the other elio sites they are complaining that the car will only do 100 predicted, that tells me they want to go faster that 70 and there goes the mpg's. but if they can maintain 55 to 60 75% of the owners will be plenty happy. also some are already whining about the tire size. for some reason they think they need 60 series tires. when 560's will do just fine. motorcycles ride on 560's and some even smaller and they do just fine. you have to remember it has 3 wheels and with 2 in front the stability goes up. so the smaller tires will allow better mpg's. also they have that sharp back side and some claim it will improve mileage but i don't believe it all these years car makers have been rounding the back of there cars to improve drag and now some german engineer from years gone by made a claim that the squared back is better? if so then why was the beetle rounded in the back? and stayed that way for all the production run. german car german engineer somehow he did not convince vw his idea was better.

At highway speeds the vast majority of engine power is used to push air out of the way. The Elio is half the width of a normal car so it will get much better highway mpg than a normal width car of similar weight and engine size.

Any car that is going to keep up with traffic over hills at 70mph is going to have a top speed of at least 90 on a level surface, the Elio is faster due to it's superior aerodynamics.

I would have thought the tires would be skinnier too.

A raindrop is the best subsonic aerodynamic shape and the Elio's body does a good job of approximating that when viewed from above. The sharp edges at the rear aren't going to make that much difference overall.

 

[zelio]

Whew! Am I ever getting an education. I may not understand everything that is written but I do find it interesting. I used to own a Daihatsu 3 cylinder engine car in the 1990s and frequently drove it between San Francisco and Eureka, CA This meant mountains. I am looking forward to driving my Elio between Sutherlin and Medford, OR. There are 4 passes on the trip. I am not concerned about how fast it will climb mountains. I am sure it will do just fine. My concern is being visible to all drivers (you know, like semis and big "honkin" pickups and SUVs) so I am choosing the creamsicle because it should be visible in all kinds of weather. LOL

 

[Joshua Caldwell]

Way off topic, but raindrops actually have about the same shape as red blood cells, not as commonly depicted in drawings

 

[Double D in Ohio]

Way off topic, but raindrops actually have about the same shape as red blood cells, not as commonly depicted in drawings

Have you ever photographed droplets of blood moving from the person moving away from something......I have many a time, the point on the drop of blood points to the direction it came from......Much like a tear drop just before if forms into a ball.... This is the shape i believe they are referring to.