Will The Elio Have An Interference Engine?

[goofyone]

The use of a timing chain on the Elio engine translates to a low-maintenance long-running engine. Timing chains typically last the life of the engine without requiring servicing. There are scads of cars with hundreds of thousands of miles on them still running on the original timing chains, while there are many in the junkyards from having a timing belt shear teeth and wreck the interference engine.
I am more interested to know what the cylinder walls are going to be. Has anyone read about that?

Welcome, Here are some good links from another thread where we have discussed the Plasma Transferred Wire Arc process which will line the cylinders.

This article has more information. Ford spent a lot of time and money developing this technology and say they have tested engines with this lining to over 250,000 miles and found that the hone patterns still looked new.

http://jalopnik.com/5467038/the-ford-engine-technology-good-enough-for-the-nissan-gt-r

I was also able to find these two videos. The first one shows the PTWA lining being applied to a Ford F-150 Ecoboost V6 and the second one shows Comau's PTWA system which is very likely what will be used by Elio Motors in Shreveport as we already know Comau is EM's equipment and tooling provider.

 

[DWR]

I do use the reply button if my post isn't next on the page. Otherwise it's just a waste of bandwidth and I prefer to be economical, just like the Elio.

I agree about the timing chain which hopefully negates any chance of valve to piston arguments. I've owned both types of engine and never had trouble in that respect from either, possibly because I over-maintain my vehicles.

Anyway, I'll leave you to it because I'm in southern Turkey on my summer vacation. It's been almost 40 Centigrade here today and I need a cold beer very urgently!

Maybe its wrong of me, but when I read your post, I try to do it with an "English accent" in my head. Cold beer I understand (maybe to well), but 40 Centigrade?!?!? LOL. Oh by the way, I love your homeland's bikes and cars. Please keep up the good work!

 

[Folks]

The use of a timing chain on the Elio engine translates to a low-maintenance long-running engine. Timing chains typically last the life of the engine without requiring servicing. There are scads of cars with hundreds of thousands of miles on them still running on the original timing chains, while there are many in the junkyards from having a timing belt shear teeth and wreck the interference engine.
I am more interested to know what the cylinder walls are going to be. Has anyone read about that?

I thought putting steel sleeves in aluminum alloy castings is all there is now days.

 

[wheaters]

Maybe its wrong of me, but when I read your post, I try to do it with an "English accent" in my head. Cold beer I understand (maybe to well), but 40 Centigrade?!?!? LOL. Oh by the way, I love your homeland's bikes and cars. Please keep up the good work!

I'm not from the BBC and the family on my mother's side was surname of O'Flaherty so you might mistake my accent for something other than English!

40 degrees centigrade is about 105 Fahrenheit, for those without a metriculated brain. I grew up in the time when UK was changing from Imperial to metric so had to know both. Anyway, it was too hot for me.

 

[Ty]

Over reving an interference engine can also cause piston to valve contact. For the less mechanically inclined, let me paint a picture. The piston goes up and down in the cylinder. At the top of the cylinder is the valve. That valve has a stem (like a daisy flower) that goes through the cylinder head and moves open and closed by extending slightly into the cylinder or retracting flush into the head. It is extended by some type of connection to the camshaft. There are many ways to do that but it isn't important at this point. Just know that there is a lobe on the cam that, when it comes around, ends up pushing the valve open somehow. Now, as the lobe goes past the valve, the valve is moved closed by a coiled spring. That spring is the point here. In high reving motors, it is important for that spring to be very strong in order to snap the valve shut and keep it in contact with the cam. Unfortunately, the stronger the spring, the more power it takes to open the valve and that lowers efficiency. You need the spring strong enough to close the valve but not so strong that you kill engine efficiency. The Elio is going for efficiency above horsepower so I would suspect the spring will only be as strong as it has to be. If someone revs their engine too high, it could cause the valve to not close fast enough and the piston could contact it when it comes back up. Cars usually have some form of "rev limiter" to help prevent overspinning the motor but springs weaken over time and the effective rev limit could end up still being too high.

Interference motor - needs to close the valve before the piston comes back around or they will contact which will bend the valve so it doesn't close completely, possibly break the piston, and even ruin the whole motor - depending on how it hits. They are pretty efficient and don't cause problems when properly maintained and driven unless there is part failure.

And that's all I got to say about that.

 

[wheaters]

Having got home at 0330am today, I had to get up after a couple of hours sleep because a man was coming to fit an "EV" charging socket to the garage wall. (EV = Electric Vehicle).

Not that I intend to buy an EV, it came as part of a package deal to buy solar panels for the garage roof. Our government is trying to incentivize folk to fit these (hey look, my first American word) to offset our fuel bills and we had them fitted just a few weeks ago.

So far they've produced 530 Kilowatt Hours of 'lectric. Possibly nearly enough to keep an American V8 going for a day!

 

[zelio]

I'm not from the BBC and the family on my mother's side was surname of O'Flaherty so you might mistake my accent for something other than English!

40 degrees centigrade is about 105 Fahrenheit, for those without a metriculated brain. I grew up in the time when UK was changing from Imperial to metric so had to know both. Anyway, it was too hot for me.

I think you are lucky you learned both. I have done garment pattern drafting and, of course, was taught with inches, etc. but taught myself to do it in metric. So-o-o-o-o MUCH EASIER! Why do we hang on to these outdated techniques when there are much better ways of doing things. :-) Z

 

[BlioKart]

I think you are lucky you learned both. I have done garment pattern drafting and, of course, was taught with inches, etc. but taught myself to do it in metric. So-o-o-o-o MUCH EASIER! Why do we hang on to these outdated techniques when there are much better ways of doing things. Z

 

[Terrence]

Welcome, Here are some good links from another thread where we have discussed the Plasma Transferred Wire Arc process which will line the cylinders.

My Elio is going to reduce mileage I have been accumulation on my 2003 Honda Accord. Purchased new, this year Honda Accord came with a double row timing chain, I now have 186,000 miles on it (11yrs). Cheers for Elio going with the double row timing chain! Efficient, low maintenance & realibility. The Elio is a dream come true, afforable, lightweight, safe, comfort-> 84mpg!
Terrence

 

[Johnapool]

Thanks, Zelio, I did find that TechTalk about the flame-sprayed steel lining. We Americans are accustomed to long-lived engines that don't burn oil. I remember some of the aluminum engines that weren't so good, and this little car needs to build a positive reputation right off.
I will say, we are all brave to be buying first model year machines. They should call us their Beta team. At the very least, we'll be enjoying motorcycles with air conditioning and a dry seat.