Elio Turbo

Ok, just dug this out of a very recent article & I think you peeps will like this one

"Once they’re up and running, more powerful versions of the Elio are likely. The engine has been designed by IAV with a turbocharger in mind. Paul Elio told me that Comau, which is providing the machinery and automation for the assembly lines at the Shreveport plant, has left a spot on the line empty for the time being so that a turbo installation station can be added later."

When you build a new engine, you can add all sorts of other design goals.
I would of been shocked to think the design team did not conceive many possible upgrade paths!


Moderator Comment: Merged into existing turbo discusson thread

I hope that those of us who buy a Elio first year will have the option to buy the kit later on.

I might consider it--depending on price of course

TKVancil said:

When you build a new engine, you can add all sorts of other design goals.
I would of been shocked to think the design team did not conceive many possible upgrade paths!

Click to expand...

having it designed to have a turbo sometime down the road will most likely cause aftermarket companies to jump in rather quickly .... I suspect that adding one could void the engine warranty

Jim

JEBar said:

having it designed to have a turbo sometime down the road will most likely cause aftermarket companies to jump in rather quickly .... I suspect that adding one could void the engine warranty

Jim

Click to expand...

I hope whoever will build the factory turbo Elio will honor the warranty if we use OEM parts

Perhaps if it's not approved by the factory.
It was just cool to hear they have plans for this in the future and are baking in the process now, while everyone on the design team is still playing in the sand box. At some point the teacher will ask all engineers & designers to put their pencils down as production must be kicked off.

I have a '13 Sonic RS with the 1.4L Turbo engine, 6 spd auto... I'm not sure that a turbo adds a whole lot to the car's get up and go. Certainly not the Sonic. Other than my lawn mower it's the smallest car/engine combination that I've ever had. The mileage isn't all that great, 33 mpg average. My '08 Cobalt XFE, 5spd manual averaged 42 mpg and it was a bigger engine. There is a difference in transmissons between the vehicles but I wouldn't expect that to make that much difference. An engine tune would probably make some difference but that's a lot of money for so little return.

JP said:

I hope whoever will build the factory turbo Elio will honor the warranty if we use OEM parts

Click to expand...

that is possible but I'd not want to gamble on it .... I'd want something in writing before taking on such a modification .... with a factory install, they have control over the quality of parts and labor .... with an aftermarket install of the same parts, they have no control over the labor .... one can wait until the factory warranty is over to install it or they can just take a chance

Jim

It has been posted that the engine castings are strong enough but that the internal components are not. That said, I'd think upgrading the engine that came from the factory would become essentially a full overhaul of the engine. It is a small engine and EM is minimizing parts but I still think that by the time you bought all the upgrade parts and had the motor professionally rebuilt that you might be better off just buying a new turbo motor from EM and just swap the motors entirely. I think that EM would provide warranty on the new motor. The only question would be if EM would sell you a motor.

Besides, if you leave the original motor in tact you can always put it back to have a "numbers matching" elio

I have no idea why some here think a turbo has little effect. Of course, one can set the turbo
up with a variety of boost levels in mind, but boost is where it's at if you want power. Forget stupid
high flow airfilters, louder mufflers, etc A turbo typically is set up for a 30% to 40% HP gain.
Assume the Elio engine at healthy tune is making 65 HP (which the engineers can do with a few
adjustments to timing, etc) Now apply a 35% more power boost level. The car is now producing
87 HP. Now go find a test review of the "new" three-wheeled Morgan, which just happens to weigh
exactly the same as the Elio (1200 pounds) ,and sports an 82HP 4 cylinder, normally aspirated engine.
That car runs zero to sixty in 5.8 seconds, leading to the inescapable conclusion that the Elio will do
just as well, probably better. At a still-reasonable 40% more power turbo boost level, we're looking at
91 HP, folks, probably closing in on a 5 second flat 0-60 run, making the Elio turbo faster than most
everything out there on the road. A true pocket rocket.
I don't know about you, but I'm waiting for the turbo. Period. End of story.