Elio Type Vehicle Resurection --- AKA the BEX

[JEBar]

Per Mark BEX .....

Slow week for the BEX for various reasons, travel and other things going on.

I lost nearly half a day fault finding the wiring loom because the fuel pump wouldn't (pump), turns out the holes I bored in post 1,176 (holy smoke, that many?) I had disconnected the EFi computer loom to get my drill in there, and forgot to plug it back in, sigh ...

Now I have fuel pumping, I just need to get a fuel line to the engine, make a throttle pedal, mount the gearchange assembly, and it should be driveable.

Part of what is going on is I had to move some older car project stuff out of a friend's factory that has been there for over 5 years, as he has sold his factory, quite a pile, frames, molds, engines, parts etc, which i will sort out over time, no hurry.

This is one of those projects in bits above ..

[JEBar]

​Per Mark BEX ....

Not much to report except a sore back from yesterday's move, and a large lunch function for April 1st .. that included green meat (April Fools' joke = green meat)

But late in the afternoon the 2 bodyshells of the donor cars left, a requirement as part of the cleanup to gain some space in the factory. Always a little sorrowful to see the helpful friends leave, and I am a bit of a hoarder who has to toughen up a bit

I still can't get over that they pay me to take them away, and decent cash too, I have to act 'unimpressed' with the cash they offer me, like it's too small, while hiding the fact that in Australia you have to pay the scrappers to take them away, lol!​

[JEBar]

Per Mark BEX ....

Target today was to get the fuel lines hook up properly, tend to a few small items, and get it started ..


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmRabtHM-OU

[JEBar]

when asked :

This might be jumping the gun a little, but it's starting to look like a real car. I can't help but wonder, if you have started to plan out the interior? Any ideas about the seats, dash, panels etc....?


Mark responded :

It's a bit difficult to explain it, various pictures and concepts in my mind, but it will be simple and sparse.

What is a priority to me is storage bucket space to the immediate right of the driver, and left of the passenger, not just for convenience to put shopping bags and other stuff in, but to keep that extra load weight forward to keep the vehicle as stable as possible.

The driver seat i hope to find a wide, well supported OEM that can be jacked up and down, that not all cars have. I also don't like the ones that do jack up and down, but tilt forward as they jack up (the lower squab). Jacking is a big help to accommodate tall and not so tall people.

Rear seat, the squab at least, is a part of the car, likely molded fiberglass and likely part of a one or 2 piece floor.

[JEBar]

when asked :

do you foresee having a small trunk area with some type hatchback type door for a storage area behind the rear seat ?


Mark responded :

Yes.

.. and no. It will come down to the total sum of storage space.

[JEBar]

Per Mark BEX ....

I got back into the factory this afternoon, drew up a temporary gear change mounting, took it to the laser shop with a box of ice pops for a bribe (hot today), and 30 minutes later back in my factory folding and fitting it.

The gearchange sits high up next to the steering wheel, bit like some mini vans, and the stock cables are an easy straight'ish run to the gearbox, without kinks, twists, or sharp bends, so the change is light and silky smooth.

Won't know if the position is comfortable until I drive it later this week after I get a seat mounted.

[JEBar]

Per Mark BEX ....

Well the first test drive happened today, accidentally.

.. after welding in the gearchange mount and a few other little things, I started it up while sitting on the side of the frame, pressed the clutch in, put it in first, let the clutch out, fell backwards when it jerked forwards, and there I was laying on my back on the frame with the BEX idling forward without concern, heading straight towards the rear of my forklift.

... and that was when I discovered the brakes are working just fine, after just barely getting my toes to the pedal while on my back

.... I had better mount a seat next me thinks!

[JEBar]

Personal Note :

having lived through the time when Elio Motors was actively working on building their demonstration vehicles, its wonderful that Mark hides very little (if any) info about his programs development ..Smile .. I've said it many times, I have no confidence whatsoever that Elio will ever produce anything other than promises .... at the same time, I have a very high confidence that Mark will bring his to production

[JEBar]

Per Mark BEX ....

Today worked out well. The new vertical for the gear change, pink arrows, allowed me to run a tube horizontally to mount the stock throttle pedal to it, was scratching my head how I was going to do it, but got lucky and it was quite easy after all

The office is looking rather complete, as soon as the seat is properly mounted, and the throttle cable connected, I might be able to drive it after an extensive safety check.

[JEBar]

Smooth day today, and some of the good fortune I have been getting with things fitting is uncanny.
Make the seat runner supports, in picture 1 you can see were nothing more than 2 x longitudinals, with some guides for the wheels on the rear halves, and a latitudinal to mount the front of the seat (see the 2 small holes), that also acts as a chassis crossmember.

The left mounting offset of the VW Jetta seat is just perfect (see picture 2), like it was designed for the BEX, and the fore/aft movement, and the huge jacking height can suit anyone from 4 foot to 7 foot tall, simply amazing seat for this application.

The throttle cable is factory stock, uncanny fortune that the brake master cylinder booster mount was the right angle and right place for the cable to come though to the throttle pedal (white arrow). see picture 3. I merely made an extension to reach it with a small heim joint and metal extension (red arrow).

[JEBar]

Per Mark BEX ....

Today bolting things up tight, checking a few things, adding the radiator (have to find a new top hose tomorrow).

I cut the exhaust header pipe and turned it almost 90 degrees pointing out the side (arrow) so it doesn't poison me when I get to drive it.

Besides a top hose and water in the radiator, along with more checking, it's almost ready to do a few test runs up and down the driveway.

[JEBar]

in regard to the picture above, Mark was asked, "Will the offset radiator be centered in the final version or will the body inlet to the radiator be blocked on that side? For some reason I'm picturing an "after" market funnel for the air intake."


To which Mark responded, "Radiator to the side is quite common for transverse engines, where the weight of the engine typically falls more to one side than the other. The battery, washer bottle, fuse boxes etc are also often on the opposite side of the engine to counter the weight.

No reason to block the flow to the exhaust manifold on the right side, the radiator will get enough, and anyway, airflow requires 2 parameters, high pressure to move to low pressure, so what's behind the radiator, or rather what isn't, is critical, and there is a lot of space around the small gearbox behind the radiator.

Oh, and the radiator is actually more centered than it was on the donor car, hence why I need a new, and longer top hose."

[JEBar]

Per Mark BEX ....

It's been raining for 3 days straight, which foiled my plans to go for some runs out on the street on Thursday, so I am revamping the steering at the moment, mainly reviewing the steering ackermann angles.

For those unfamiliar with ackermann, in general terms, the steering mechanism must turn the inside wheel exponentially more, the more the wheels are turned. I was unhappy with the ackermann amount I had.

[JEBar]

having never heard of an Ackermann Angle I asked Mark how do you adjust it ?


Mark's Response ....


With some difficulty, and trial/error. Of course there is a formula, but that is for solid wheels, most of us drive with tires on our wheels that have large varying degrees of slip angle that has to be taken into account.

You see the angles of the steering arms are not parallel, red arrows, that angle must be changed, but you have to get tricky when you have cast spindles with integral steering arms.

You can move the steering rack back or forth some longitudinally, and up and down a little keeping bumpsteer in check, that will change the tie rod to steering arm angle relationship, and/or make some adaptors to relocate the tie rod end pivot point. That is convenient because you can change the steering ratio as well for more, or less, turns of the steering wheel 'lock to lock'.

I initially erred on the lighter side of ackermann for the BEX because being a 3 wheeler, I didn't want to inside wheel 'anchoring' too much in an emergency swerve. Look at my picture and you can see what I mean by "anchoring", the more acute angle grabbing, like throwing an anchor out to one side (and steering the car to the left in that case). But I simply didn't give it enough, being on the side of too safe.

[JEBar]

Per Mark BEX ....

Depending which way you look at it, I had good luck and or bad luck today.

I mentioned I have to modify the rack housing and mount for the new ackermann setup, well I messaged my parts store to get a new rack out for me, I'm on my way, and he replies that "they don't have any", and "they have stopped making them"!

I said "Wadd da?, I see plenty of them on the road", and sent him a picture of one parked in front of my neighbors factory .. "oh you don't mean the Ben Ben, you mean the Ben Ben Mini (series 2) .... got plenty of those".

Seems I had ordered the older model, and this mucking around with the ackermann has caught out that fact before I committed to using that rack, and the later one is even a better setup, and still in production today in the series 3 Ben Ben, which is stupidly called the Ben Ben 2.

"Better setup" because it has a slightly faster ratio (less turns lock to lock) and you can see the huge mounting flange with 2 bolt holes, can't get much simpler than that! Also the pinion will be closer to the car's center, reducing the steering column shaft universal joint's angles for smoother operation.

As you can see I bought that one, stripped it and cut the end off, now at home measuring it and putting it into CAD 3D so i can design a new, and easier, mount for it

The mounting, green, is just so much easier than the other rack housing, off to the laser shop tomorrow

PS: This is the last thing to do before I can give it a test drive.

[JEBar]

Per Mark BEX ....

my laser shop guy was not there today, so has to wait until tomorrow before I get my parts.

[JEBar]

Per Mark BEX ....

I didn't get my laser cut parts until late in the afternoon, as the worker had yesterday off, and was playing catch up today. I very much appreciate they do such small jobs for me.

So I welded the main mount up, will adapt it to the very simple mount to the crossmember tomorrow. You can see how simple it is.

The 2 parts on the left are the steering arms extensions, and are an effort to increase the 'Environmental Friendly' standing of the car, by being more 'Green'.


YouTube video of the parts being laser cut ---- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2zAMVjjdD4

[JEBar]

Per Mark BEX ....

Finally.

Just a simple drive out and back in to feel the steering, but still a few checks and small things to go over before I take it onto the street, but hey, a first drive is a first drive.

Observant people will notice immediately that my anti-dive in quite effective when braking, and speaking of braking, very strong, good feel, even at that slow speed you can tell.

short video ===> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nAg_FZUlds&t=46s

[JEBar]

when asked : Any odd feeling on steering "Lock to Lock"?

Mark responded : Nope, pretty darn smooth actually, the rack has been moved to the left more, and now the steering shaft gets a very straight run at it.

The steering rack is now it's own module, can build them, set them aside until ready to drop onto the crossmember's 4 bolts at anytime.

[JEBar]

Per Mark BEX ....

Chipping away at the driving issues, steering is good now, brakes are great, feels very personal to drive with just the one seat up front, nice feeling


Weird vibes through the phone camera distorting the clarity, but be patient as it gets to external view later in the video.

I should really do a full safety check before I drive it next, a full check on every single nut and bolt, but excitement overcomes sensibilities!

PS: It's not slow!



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9-RVzfhWZE