Texas Show Apr. 22-24: Post Your Questions

[Ekh]

The answer I got when I went to the Shreveport show from Gerome, the national sales manager, was NO, it would be distracting to other drivers. Reflective tape was his suggestion. I thought it would be cool to have some type of driving lights so when you turned a corner you could see around the corner as well as be seen by other motorist. Since the fenders move left and right as well as up and down it would draw attention to those lights moving around and could be distracting to other motorist is the explanation I got. So I may add something my self.

That's a change from his answer in January, when he said reflective tape would be standard and they were considering marker lights as an option -- they didn't want the cost of running the wiring to a bouncing moving surface like the wheel covers.

 

[Ekh]

I will ask about that and power steering. Its been bounced around too.

I think power steering is out -- expensive, and not needed in a 1250 pound car. Putting it in involves dealing with a slew of other components, such as belt type and length, mounting point for the pump, routing the plumbing, upgrading the steering box itself, etc. It might conceivably be an aftermarket option, but I'd be astonished if anybody wanted to fork over an extra thou or so for it once they've test-driven an Elio. The only time you'd den notice the lack of it would be turning the wheels while at a dead stop. As a percentage of your time in the car, that isn't very much!

 

[Ekh]

When someone is at the next Elio display would You ask the ? about a car cover that would slid on to our Elio's

Reply
Something like this one?

 

[Ekh]

Ask about the engine.
What further testing has been done and what were the results?
Has any testing done required any drastic changes in the original design?

The answer to that is no. Minor tweaks only, and the P5 has the second engine they built when they built Engine #1 a year and a quarter back.

 

[WilliamH]

I think power steering is out -- expensive, and not needed in a 1250 pound car. Putting it in involves dealing with a slew of other components, such as belt type and length, mounting point for the pump, routing the plumbing, upgrading the steering box itself, etc. It might conceivably be an aftermarket option, but I'd be astonished if anybody wanted to fork over an extra thou or so for it once they've test-driven an Elio. The only time you'd den notice the lack of it would be turning the wheels while at a dead stop. As a percentage of your time in the car, that isn't very much!

Power steering isn't necessarily hydraulic anymore. Many vehicles now have electric power steering. Cheaper and simpler.

 

[TCBronson]

I think power steering is out -- expensive, and not needed in a 1250 pound car. Putting it in involves dealing with a slew of other components, such as belt type and length, mounting point for the pump, routing the plumbing, upgrading the steering box itself, etc. It might conceivably be an aftermarket option, but I'd be astonished if anybody wanted to fork over an extra thou or so for it once they've test-driven an Elio. The only time you'd den notice the lack of it would be turning the wheels while at a dead stop. As a percentage of your time in the car, that isn't very much!

Unless maybe it's electric power steering?

 

[Coss]

I was just going to say that.
Electric Power Steering is now the choice of a lot of custom car builders too.
It's a 1 piece unit that you run the wires and then connect it to the steering rack.

I think it's called Electric Power Assist Steering.

 

[Kuda]

I was just going to say that.
Electric Power Steering is now the choice of a lot of custom car builders too.
It's a 1 piece unit that you run the wires and then connect it to the steering rack.

I think it's called Electric Power Assist Steering.

Any idea on cost...?

 

[Coss]

Here's a really good page on all of the different systems; and there are a lot of different kind
The prices I found for a new kit were from $600 to $1,500

http://www.jtekt-na.com/assets/ce/Documents/(S1001ex) Electric Power Steering Systems.pdf

<Give it a couple of seconds to load, it's a big page>

 

[Coss]

Any idea on cost...?

I want to have the camera on the joint when he's steering it, that's not a ball joint.
That's way too radical of an angle to work right.

Something just doesn't look right in that video.