Informative Video

[Maurtis]

I did custom cars for a long time, and I know what it takes, most people have never touched a dash before. So the first thing you have to do is convincing yourself that you can do it. Then it's easy.

Agreed. I replaced all of the SMD LEDs in my Kia Rio gauge cluster from the stock radioactive green to red. I think it was 24 LEDs in all? It seemed like a daunting task at first but ended up being pretty easy once I got past the mental aspect.

 

[Coss]

Agreed. I replaced all of the SMD LEDs in my Kia Rio gauge cluster from the stock radioactive green to red. I think it was 24 LEDs in all? It seemed like a daunting task at first but ended up being pretty easy once I got past the mental aspect.

That applies to whatever you're doing.
As soon as you tell yourself "you can't do this" you can't.
I've had a lot of helpers I taught that too; they sit there and get frustrated, and "I can't do this!" attitude.
So I have them take a walk with me, come back in, and babysit; I'll go "show me what you're doing" and they'll start working, hit the same stumbling block and go "see; I told you it was messed up" and that's where I'll show them what not to do, and what to do different. I come back 15 minutes later, and it's done and they're standing there with this S. Eating Grin. Gee that wasn't so hard was it? Then I have them buy dinner and drinks.

 

[Gas-Powered Awesome]

They should offer a non-Elgin dash for an FU price of $1,000.

Nah, I'll either deal with it or give a several hundreds to Coss. I'd like to be able to give it to Paul. I do understand it's his car, but "the customer is always right." Or maybe "the majority of customers are always right" as indicated by this survey: http://www.elioowners.com/threads/elio-gauge-cluster-lord-elgin-other-options.803/

Really, I think the most positive way to deal with it is "normal" dash as standard and offer the Elgin dash as a no- or low-cost option. That would be the least negative combination, satisfying the most people based on what appears to be what most people want. Paul has said this vehicle is all about offering a long list of choices and being field-upgradable.

 

[DeltaMike]

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-rele...p-toward-commercial-production-300292851.html

This is a great video. Unfortunately I do not have a picture to post.

At 46 seconds and 58 seconds they show the brake pad thickness. They are very thin. They look like the back pads of my hayabusa. Granted, the elio will be easy to stop, but the thicker the pads, the longer they last.

At 56 seconds, they show the radio. It was suppose to be a single DIN made of standard off the shelf components I thought. I wonder if this is unique to elio.

I do not know automotive engineering testing. However in aero engineering brake testing must be done at maximum brake wear.

 

[Coss]

Nah, I'll either deal with it or give a several hundreds to Coss. I'd like to be able to give it to Paul. I do understand it's his car, but "the customer is always right." Or maybe "the majority of customers are always right" as indicated by this survey: http://www.elioowners.com/threads/elio-gauge-cluster-lord-elgin-other-options.803/

Really, I think the most positive way to deal with it is "normal" dash as standard and offer the Elgin dash as a no- or low-cost option. That would be the least negative combination, satisfying the most people based on what appears to be what most people want. Paul has said this vehicle is all about offering a long list of choices and being field-upgradable.

Funny part is; if you ever go to one of the tour stops and listen to the people that just got done sitting in the P5; next to no one says a thing about the dash. If you ask you'll find that the look and function of the dash doesn't even register to the majority of people.
Or they'll say "oh I thought it looked ok" which translates to "oh, I didn't even notice the dash because I was too busy taking in the rest of the feel of the Elio interior". I'd bet they wouldn't even be able to tell you what color the armrest was on the door.

So the dash is going to become an issue AFTER people buy their Elio's.
We notice it here because we have time to dissect every square inch of the Elio. (And we have, many times)

 

[Coss]

I do not know automotive engineering testing. However in aero engineering brake testing must be done at maximum brake wear.

A grinder can help there; just put the pad in a vice, and grind it down to the noise maker.

 

[DeltaMike]

A grinder can help there; just put the pad in a vice, and grind it down to the noise maker.

Yep, I suspect that is what they did, the reason I suggested is the why, which may respond to the concerns of pistonboy for apparently thin pads.

 

[booboo]

ELIO finally put the "Informative Video" on the Tube.

 

[pistonboy]

At time 1:02 in the video, it shows the right side panel of the vehicle, and a large part of the panel where the bulge goes, is open. This looks like the area under the shifter is open to the bulge.

I suspect the bulge carries a lot more than the small exhaust pipe. It probably also carries electrical cables, brake lines, fuel lines, perhaps shifting linkage, and other things. This would help explain why the bulge is the size it is. Though I am not sure about fuel lines near the exhaust and "inside" the vehicle, so there may be more.

A storage area protruding into the bulge but accessible from inside might work.

 

[cb88]

Funny part is; if you ever go to one of the tour stops and listen to the people that just got done sitting in the P5; next to no one says a thing about the dash.

It's understandable though... But frankly I've only just seen the elio recently. The dash cluster is one of the things you have to live with and the elgin is a deal breaker for me. Elgin makes me think of anolog watches... so I'm further offended > ! I like Lexus clusters (my boss had one), my CL 3.0 has a decent enough cluster but nothing fancy, my dad's old Mazda B2000 SE-5 even had a decent green cathode lit cluster... now how they they go an mess this up so bad with this pseudo analog elgin I'll never understand! I'd be happy with a very basic analog cluster, or something reminiscent of a VW fastback etc for a retro look.

In any case if I get an elio, I'll be ripping that elgin out and replacing it even if it means I have to design a PCB in KiCad to interface with the can bus and move my guages around with little stepper motors! On the other hand... an epaper cluster would be pretty sick. Something like an epaper screen with analog guages sticking up from below and changeable text on the dials (different fonts etc) Unfortunately the epaper is a bit sluggish for displaying the dials themselves. Ahem... for the tehnically minded http://essentialscrap.com/eink/ that link has details on controlling eink screens from custom circuits (other than an ereader)

VW Fastback

Mazda REPU

The mid 80's mazda 323 and SE5 instrument clusters aren't bad IMO fuel and temp on left , speedo on the right square illuminated indicators in the center, green cold cathode illumination. Maybe it's just my nostalgia kicking in though