Elio Type Vehicle Resurection --- AKA the BEX

[JEBar]

Per Mark BEX ...

the mounts are cut from 3mm or 1/8" steel and serve 2 purposes .... they are the attachment points for the door hinges, and secure the A-pillars to the frame .... here is the prototype ..

[JEBar]

Per Mark BEX :

Got some work done today, but discovered that the front door, lower hinges were wrong, and luckily that was before lunchtime, so I was able to get the 2 shipped to me, and arrived at 7pm.

The hinges are critical parts because I have to set the stiff doors in their right place first, solidly mounted onto the frame, then I can line up and jig the very flexible side panels into place to suit the doors. Seems backwards, but that's how it works.

You could imagine if I took the (yellow) side panels away, the doors would still be mounted to the frame solidly, they are completely independent from the side panels.

[JEBar]

COMMENT : on February 25th of this year Mark introduced his project to this forum .... since then this thread has had over 4,000 views .... all things considered, that is nothing short of remarkable and it speaks volumes as to the level of interest in his type of a reverse trike .... over the years I've followed a couple of other such projects, and for a while had high hopes for one of them to make it to production .... it didn't and in the end it squandered millions .... I have high hopes for the BEX and hope to one day in the not tooooo distant future hope to have one in the driveway

[JEBar]

Per Mark BEX :

Not very good pictures today sorry, the glare in the factory today was blinding, but that's all I got.

Front doors are bolted to the frame, and it only took a G-clamp each side to align the side panels around the doors, but the weight of the rear half of the panels is still too much, so now I have to put the rear doors on as well.

This is a hassle.

I need the main roll hoop to mount the rear doors to, but I need to set it all up with the doors in place to understand the exact width of the bodyshell at that point, which includes then knowing the roof skin dimensions, but I need the roof skin on to strengthen it all up and into position so I know the width for the roll hoop, that i mount the rear doors off, but there is no roll cage to mount the doors which need to be mounted to figure the roll hoop ..... confused yet?

Hope so, because I am, and it's a catch 22 situation ....


I'll probably make up some temporary jigs to line it all up and maybe temporarily screw the doors into place.

[JEBar]

Per Mark BEX :

Some feeling when I started cutting up the frame of the prototypes today, hard not to when you have put so much time into something, then execute it .... The reason was to retrieve the main roll hoop, stick it in the new car to get dimensions from the new one I will make the next few days.

It may look like it fits the new car, but it doesn't, close but not usable.

[JEBar]

Per Mark BEX :

Well it might look like the same picture as yesterday, but it's the new main roll hoop I bent up today using the old prototype roll bar as a pattern, almost the same bend's degrees, but some difference in distance between the bends.

[JEBar]

Per Mark BEX :

Yesterday someone asked me about the side roll bars plan, and I was hesitant to answer.

The reason why is that the prototype side roll bars had 5 smaller bends in them, 2 of them only a couple of degrees, and I wasn't happy with that, as replicating them consistently would be a hassle, especially matching left to right, so I had been considering another way to approach the roll cage.

However today, I did some experiments, and realised that the Hyundai roof has a lot more area above the doors than the prototype did, and I believe I can get the side roll bars in there with only 2 bends, will be great if I can, more work in that area tomorrow.

Also, not sure yet, the front and rear down legs, which add 2 more bends each side, looks like I might be able to get all 4 on the same flat (2D) plane, that would make life so much easier, and of course there wouldn't be a left and right side then, as they would be both the same. If not it looks like I can get 3 bends on the same plane.

Picture shows today's 2 bends, Vs the old 5 bends.

Also if I do an open Acrimoto type model, the 2 bends will look a lot neater as they are also near level to the horizon.

[JEBar]

Per Mark BEX :

I impressed my self today, which is fine until I look in a mirror and get back to reality, I think I can do just 3 bends for each side of the roll cage, which is quite a reduction from the 7 bends I used on the prototype cage ... and the 3 bends are on the same plane as well, how easy is that!

The bends on the prototype were not all on the same plane, making them hard to replicate, and especially hard to match left to right, with them on the same plane now, there is no left and right, as they are interchangeable.

I was worried I was going to have to find a CNC bender for production, but now being so simple, they could even be bent by hand and eye accurately if required

Still some fiddling to do to get it right, but worth the time and effort by the look of it.

[JEBar]

in answer to a question about roadster version

Per Mark BEX :

the profile of your new bars will look good on the roadster version!


Eggzaktlee.

Unlike the picture where it makes the center section of the sides bars look angled, they are pretty close to being being horizontal actually.

[JEBar]

Per Mark BEX :

Just doing a lot of measuring, designing, drawing and test fitting of the roll cage. Taking a bit of time, it's measure twice, fit once, or in this case, measure 43 times, fit once.