Friday Blog Is Out

[gottemfeathers]

I enjoyed reading your comments!

Every point you make with regards to the Elio saga is absolutely correct...

The Elio Motors ship has been drifting without a rudder for years... absolutely no sense of direction...

One man's opinion

 

[Johnny Acree]

This post to the "Friday Blog is Out" thread is to say, the Friday Blog is out.

 

[CrimsonEclipse]

I wish Elio and others would stop saying Regular Unleaded. Can hardly blame them though. Even people who should know better (like Maverik) call Regular- Unleaded. There is no leaded gas available at gas stations. Not since - when?

1996

(except AvGas, which is still available)

Fun fact: 100LL (low lead) has more lead that the old leaded gasoline banned in 1996

 

[Coss]

Actually, there are a number of unleaded fuels around, you just have to know where to look; like Here

 

[Jambe]

Uhhh, NO. We are not talking about E0--Ethanol-free gas. This is about LEAD.

 

[Coss]

Uhhh, NO. We are not talking about E0--Ethanol-free gas. This is about LEAD.

It was an answer to CrimsonEclipse to what he had said that leaded stopped in 1996; my statement was to show it hadn't.
You still can get leaded gas if you have the list; great for racers, not so good for anything else. Well I run my lawn equipment on leaded premium, it holds up better during long wet spells and that was last winter here.

 

[CrimsonEclipse]

Actually, there are a number of unleaded fuels around, you just have to know where to look; like Here

Um... wat?
"pure-gas.org is a site dedicated to one, simple task: to list the gas stations in the U.S. and Canada that serve ethanol-free gasoline."

The link is for ethanol free gasoline not leaded gasoline.
Ethanol free gasoline is NOT leaded gasoline.

Leaded gasoline CAN be purchased in limited quantities at certain race tracks, but the fuel is NOT street legal.

 

[Ty]

They could have used an already existing engine for the Elio. They have squandered the money they had on poor engineering decisions, inflated salaries, and over enthusiastic mass marketing campaigns. By the time Elio is actually produced, Yellowstone will have erupted so it won't matter. There is NO Momentum. The only Elio I'll ever get is the one printed on my $1000 bumper sticker.

Excellent point. Which 3 cylinder, 50-60 hp motor currently being manufactured where the manufacturer has the ability to pop out an additional, say, 200,000 a year would you recommend? Oh, it also has to be pretty inexpensive.

 

[Watashiwah]

Excellent point. Which 3 cylinder, 50-60 hp motor currently being manufactured where the manufacturer has the ability to pop out an additional, say, 200,000 a year would you recommend? Oh, it also has to be pretty inexpensive.

This week's Momentum might address this, Ty. And you make an excellent point! Inexpensive and a couple of hundred thousand units. By many accounts designing this autocycle from the ground up, following Paul's basic 'must haves,' specifically 'off the shelf,' still proved to be mighty expensive and we're still not close to being 'on the road' yet. Do you think the biggest cost was the body, frame, drivetrain, or the engine itself? I'd think an engine design, fabrication, testing, and manufacturing would be real complex and particularly expensive. Wasn't there some chatter about an existing three cylinder engine that was a contender but maybe wasn't a good fit for the DOE ATVM loan but made its way into the running prototype?
200,000 units, overnight, or in short order would be hard to fill by any mfr. but I don't think EM would need that many, too quick. I guess Paul wanted to protect his supply chain so he had control and an unlimited supply of engines, he designed (like the Elgin dash) to have for the car when finally rolling off the assembly line at full speed. After a couple hundred thousand maybe a new engine would be relatively inexpensive, until then, it sure seems super expensive.

Edit: if I wee a new vehicle designer I'd want to design the new engine for my vehicle too! Of course, Id like to do it with my own money as well, but to get OPM it might be best to build something people can buy and drive.

 

[pistonboy]

Jeff Johnson is suppose to give technical information about the engine. At last. A very interesting email from EM.

If EM has less than $5,000 in the bank, how do they afford to pay him an keep him around?"