Elio Type Vehicle Resurection --- AKA the BEX

[JEBar]

Per Mark BEX ....

I've been having a couple of days off due to the heat, looks like it's starting to turn finally, as it should being August.

[JEBar]

Per Mark BEX ....

Ok, back into it today.

I added simple mounting tabs to the steering rack, arrows, and the keen eye'd who look hard at racks, will notice that all the complicated mounting nonsense from the prototype has gone, and this setup simply bolts directly to the firewall, hope it works out with the steering geometry.

[JEBar]

Per Mark BEX ....

You might have noticed a bit slow going recently, I just want to assure you that it is nothing more than struggling with the peak heat period, and nothing else, and services will be back to normal soon as the cooler change comes.


This week is not looking good, I had to come home today, it's over 110 inside the factory, and little I can do about it sorry.

[JEBar]

Per Mark BEX ....

It started raining this morning, couldn't get to the factory fast enough to take advantage of a (slightly) cooler change, though by late arvo it was scorching again, but at least I got some stuff done.

Took a front suspension spring off, and got the tie rod ends hooked up so I could check bump steer and start correcting it.

It considerably off, so I had to remove the lower firewall, savagely attack it by beating the lowest bend flat with a hammer, and drilling a bunch of test holes to try different mounting heights for the rack to correct the bump steer (that's why it looks ugly).

I settled on 40mm/1.6" lower, and now I will make a new firewall to suit, but this time I will also remove the upper firewall (which is fine), and do a one piece firewall.

The other picture is the relationship to the brake pedal , but they are separated longitudinally by quite a margin

[markiver54]

Marks' persistence is very admirable! Thanks for keeping us in the loop Jim.

[JEBar]

he's proven to be a remarkable fellow .... one who's dedication is inspirational

[JEBar]

Per Mark BEX ....

I have spent quite some time searching for the ideal inner and outer tie rod ends for the steering, below is just some of the ones and combinations I have tried, but got lucky again in that not only I finally found the ideal inner and outer from the same vehicle, it's also the biggest selling car (mini van to be exact) in China over the last 20 years, the Wuling Sunshine, point being that supply will never be an issue.

Oh and Wuling is 44% owned by GM.

Forbes has it at Blogs in their world's best selling cars list ..

https://www.forbes.com/pictures/mkk4...EaL8gXr6fvlkyU

[JEBar]

when asked : "Is it safe to assume that you will detail all of the sources for the parts (used in the mongrel) in some type of repair manual or repair CD/thumbdrive??
Like the bushings from the Chevy Colorado, the tie rods from the Wuling Sunshine, etc."

Mark responded : "You assume correctly."

[JEBar]

Per Mark BEX ....

Just finished the cnc file for the new firewall, hope to get it cut and folded tomorrow, or the day after at most.

Big job to fit it, all the old stuff gets cut out, hope it cools down a bit in the next few days.

I thought I was going to need 2 x sheets of metal, but as you can see, I just squeezed the 4 items onto one sheet, pleased about that

[JEBar]

Per Mark BEX ....

a trunk full of lasered and folded firewall parts.

I had a scare for a moment, folding was the last thing today, and still in the car for tomorrow, but looking at the picture here, there was an optical illusion that had me running out to the car to check it, but all good.

[JEBar]

Per Mark BEX ....

I had to go back to the fold shop this morning and adjust my silly mistake yesterday, luckily it was nothing more than simply add more bend to 2 underbent bends, and it cost me 3 ice creams for the adjustment.

Just loosely sitting on the floor to give one an idea of what it is, very happy the way it's going, and very happy it's all cut from just the one sheet (1M x 2M or 4' x 8'), and 13 of the 16 bends are at 90 degrees.

Not sure what happened with this picture, but how 'Arty' is it!

Also hottest day of the year so far today, well over 100, 3 hours in the factory and I went home, many shops were closed in the streets as well

[JEBar]

Per Mark BEX ....

Ack, I made a mistake, such small mistake but made the firewall unusable.

The issue is my CAD drawing parts have zero thickness and I simply calculate in my brain where the thickness will make the difference, easy enough, but I made the mistake of calculating the 2mm/0.020" thickness on the wrong side of the bend, which made a 4mm/0.040" difference, the difference can be seen at the arrow.

So lasered and bent a new firewall this morning, but have to be a little careful with the shops I use, they are also dying from the heat, and it wasn't 100% happy faces when I roll up and they have to walk away from their giant fans (laser shop) or their air conditioned office (fold shop) ... don't want to burn my bridges, these people are critical to me at the moment. They did appreciate the ice creams I bought them though

Further good news is though it's still 100 degrees, you can feel the humidity starting to drop the last few days, as it should be in the middle of August.

[JEBar]

Per Mark BEX ....

If you're wondering, likely you are, the heat is beating me, I get to the factory, spend a few miserable hours then retreat home again.

Many businesses are closed, and the laser shop is running half and half staff on alternate days

I just was told that my wife's hometown is rationing electricity to commercial businesses, so residents can have full power for all the aircons that are running.

Odd street number buildings and even number can open only on the corresponding odd or even number day, but not Sunday. That's not in effect in my city, but many businesses are closed anyway, and all the Government offices are closed as well by decree, so maybe they don't think it's required.

I laughed at the headline, because there's 81 million people in Sichuan! https://hongkongfp.com/2022/08/17/five- ... -heatwave/

[JEBar]

Per Mark BEX ....

I spoke too soon!

Our city is doing power sharing, arrived at the factory this morning to be told no juice, and we are on a 2 day rotation, BUT, I did have power yesterday (the 18th), so I don't know.

The official Gov text message here is our factory power is off from 10:07 am on the 18th, until tomorrow the 20th, 10:07 am.

In our factory complex, I was the only one there yesterday, the others were closed, and you can't see my roller door properly from the street, so maybe they didn't bother to turn the mains off thinking no one was there, but they have today. Just hoping they didn't start the 2 days from today ...

[JEBar]

Per Mark BEX ....

I got some hours in today because the humidy is certainly dropping, despite the 102 degrees it peaked at.
I tacked the firewall assembly together, and quite proud of how it's turning out.

It's a hybrid tube/monocoque setup, that uses the advantages of both, without incurring the million dollar costs of stamping dies, that you would have to pay for in the end price. Instead simply creating the shapes from 2 dimensional folds, and tubing where ultimate strength is needed.

I now find I need to make some templates for aligning, so at home in air con doing that now

[JEBar]

Per Mark BEX ....

A stunning drop to 80 degrees today, so a normal day at the factory, yay!

What a mess! Cut and ground out all the other firewall, rails and lower A pillars ready for the new assembly to go in tomorrow if the weather holds, and the forecast says yes it is!

One small concern is these sudden large temp changes have triggered earthquakes in the past, though usually the other way around, sudden large heat increases ........

220828 001 ready for new firewall 001.png (122.93 KiB) Viewed 1336 times

[JEBar]

Per Mark BEX ....

Today I decided to go to the Chengdu Car Show, one of the biggest in Asia. to see if I can sniff out any interested partners or suppliers. Last year they had no minor players, accessories or aftermarket stuff at all, I was a bit annoyed about that, and was hoping they have them this year.

Akk! Chengdu Car Show closed to to local Covid cases, 4 hour round trip for nothing. There's the entrance with security turning people away. Don't they know who I am!!

So back to the factory for a few hours to start fitting up the new firewall assembly, and a stunning idea hit me of how to simplify literally everything, simpler, faster and cheaper, and it's not even red! - looking at it in CAD now

[JEBar]

Per Mark BEX ....

After 3.5 days (long days) in CAD, it's about done, it's exactly the same chassis, I have only changed every single part!

A LOT of detail that you can't see has gone into this one, and I'm genuinely excited this week to stick together what I believe is the final prototype chassis, after simplifying, optimising, and correcting everything i learned on the previous builds, very confident.

[JEBar]

Per Mark BEX ....

What it offers is a wide flat surface that locating slot holes can be laser cut into, that the major component's tabs will slot into and be positively located, jigless, then welded

Though I hadn't planned it, the main chassis rails fit onto just the one 4' x 8' sheet. These little wins always help.

[markiver54]

That's great! My experiences seem to usually revolve around Murphy's Law.