My Elio Alternate Project Is Underway.

JohnJ said:

You're lucky to have that girlfriend. Every time I mention the Elio or BEX my wife groans and looks at me like I'm crazy.

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My wife did the same to all the three wheeler concepts I followed over the past 15 years, to include the Arcimoto FUV………right up until an Arcimoto test drive team member encouraged her to test drive the FUV……..instant fan. Your wives/girlfriends might become a BEX fan after their test drive.

Per Mark BEX ....

Made a start to laying new steel.
Will build a whole new frame as I want to keep the other car intact and drivable, don't worry, won't take long as I have the complete design, just making some dimensional changes as I go, some improvements I had considered, and now have the chance to implement them.
Should make them to be faster to build.

I've been lurking and following this thread since about page 25... Told myself that I'd sign up at page 100. Left for a couple days and it was around 105... So here I am at 150. Lol

I voted and watched the YouTube clips... All that said, I'm still excited to see where this goes

Sonoran Sam said:

My girlfriend already knows I'm a bit of a nut (LOL). She is a trooper when it comes to unconventional travel. She is already planning how she set up her cockpit area (behind me)... snacks here, juice there, phone over here, pillow on this side, etc. etc.

I also think she'll sleep better behind me vs. along side of me. I'm assuming the seats will be more comfortable than airline seats and she sleeps quite well in those (when we fly).

She tries to sleep long ways in the back seat of my econo-box car, but she just can't seem to get comfortable.

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You have seen the specs for how much room there is in the back seat area; Right?

The 2 alternate spaces you mentioned are quite a bit larger then either the BEX or the Elio. Both the BEX and the Elio are about the size of the seat with very little leg room. And I'm not dressing it up for you, it is the back seat period. You have 19" wide and maybe 28" long and that's it. You don't have anything extra in the way of space. If she can sleep in that much room, well more power to her. You have to remember both of these 3 wheelers are tight on the inside.
I hate bursting your bubble, but that's the "real" size of these 2 vehicles.

Sonoran Sam said:

My girlfriend already knows I'm a bit of a nut (LOL). She is a trooper when it comes to unconventional travel. She is already planning how she set up her cockpit area (behind me)... snacks here, juice there, phone over here, pillow on this side, etc. etc.

I also think she'll sleep better behind me vs. along side of me. I'm assuming the seats will be more comfortable than airline seats and she sleeps quite well in those (when we fly).

She tries to sleep long ways in the back seat of my econo-box car, but she just can't seem to get comfortable.

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Yes, the last thing I want is for the Boss to be a sardine.

Comfort is a must, lots of cubby holes for the Bosses' handbag and never ending knicknacks, plenty of leg room, ability to snooze on long trips, etc, but most important, I believe, is their own door, for elegant ingress and egress.


As JE mentioned, I am knocking together a new frame, I want to keep the other car intact and drivable, and already going smoothly.

Will be fast because it's only a modified version of the other car, mostly copying everything over, and not much in the way of any scratch designing, or finding headaches along the way .



About the biggest change is I am eliminating the OEM crossmember because I don't need it for the steering rack mounts or anti-roll bar, so it's just a lot of weight and wasted money. The lower control arms will hang directly off the frame instead.

One man show, I know, but I really was looking forward to body panels being fitted.

Ace said:

One man show, I know, but I really was looking forward to body panels being fitted.

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Changing over the the Honda engine made it a "must-do", the frame simply has to be wider, and it's a chance to make some improvements, faster and lower cost.

That doesn't affect the bodywork much by the way.

Mark, I know you've been thinking about the dashboard a bit lately... Do you think there will be room for a DIN / 1.5 DIN / double DIN stereo anywhere? Perhaps some 6x9 speakers in the doors?

I wouldn't mind adding my own deck and speakers if the cutouts were there.

Mark BEX said:

Yes, the last thing I want is for the Boss to be a sardine.

Comfort is a must, lots of cubby holes for the Bosses' handbag and never ending knicknacks, plenty of leg room, ability to snooze on long trips, etc, but most important, I believe, is their own door, for elegant ingress and egress.

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Much thanks... Mark!!

Finally the A pillars were laser cut today after a few issues with some re-arrangement of staff at the laser shop, got them folded as well, and the lower control arm front brackets also cut, so the lower control arms are now mounted.








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Some years back, I was going to another laser guy with a small shop who always looked after me regardless of only having small jobs while developing, he would always fit me in, usually while I waited.

Then he got a partner by way of him buying a 2nd laser for the shop, and that guy also managed the shop. He didn't believe in looking after the little people, and when my waiting time was blowing out to 3 or 4 days, is when I dropped my loyalty, and found the one I have been using for the last few years, who are very kind to me, but they are restructuring at the moment, and my regular laser guy, is no longer on the machine they use for me, and I realised today the new guy ain't that clever.

So weirdly when I was buying the sheetmetal for the A pillars today, I bumped into the original laser guy, who was excited to see me, and I jumped into his car at his beckoning, and he took me to his brand new shop. I would note at this time I explained why I wasn't using him anymore, and he said he had split with that guy for similar attitude reasons.
Arrived new shop, that's even closer to my factory, and Wow!

He's not only got new lasers, he's got a tube laser, sample video below, and has a friend in a town nearby that has a CNC tube bender, that I can certainly make use of.

I'll pop sample videos of both types of these machines below, so you can realise what an great find this is today for me, as I head towards making the BEX in numbers.

This is a tube laser cutter



This is a type of cnc tube bender