My Elio Alternate Project Is Underway.

[84mpg]

Hey hey.... coming along nicely!

Just had a flashback when Epcot was in its early years at Disney World. GM had the World of Motion exhibit with their Lean Machine. It looked awesome and boy, did I want one badly. I should have known, GM would never put it into production. I've hated GM ever since....

They also had several demos of crude robotic machines torture testing several components – including opening and slamming a door to see how long the thing would last. My grandkids torture test all of the vehicles' doors in our family. I cringe every time one is slammed.

 

[Mark BEX]

Door hinge mounts lasered, and fitted.

 

[84mpg]

Door hinge mounts lasered, and fitted.

View attachment 25141

Same mounts to be used on passenger door? Just flipped?

 

[Mark BEX]

Same mounts to be used on passenger door? Just flipped?

Upper is symmetrical and simply flipped over left or right.

Lower one uses the same parts, but must be assembled for left and right.

 

[JEBar]

very well designed .... looking forward to seeing pictures of the doors bolted in place

 

[Mark BEX]

Got some done today, but discovered that the front door, lower hinges were wrong, and luckily that was before lunchtime, so I was able to get the 2 shipped to me, and arrived at 7pm.

The hinges are critical parts because I have to set the stiff doors in their right place first, solidly mounted onto the frame, then I can line up and jig the very flexible side panels into place to suit the doors. Seems backwards, but that's how it works.

You could imagine if I took the (yellow) side panels away, the doors would still be mounted to the frame solidly, they are completely independent from the side panels.

 

[84mpg]

Weird….. I would have thought the side panels before the doors. But that’s why I drive cars and not build them!

 

[Mark BEX]

Weird….. I would have thought the side panels before the doors. But that’s why I drive cars and not build them!

Not weird, just seems the logical steps.

The door as a structure is very stiff, you can feel that on any car door, and the side panel is very flexible, it's a large stamped, thin piece of sheetmetal, and when it twists, as it will easily under it's own weight, it distorts the door opening hole.

So I have to secure/jig the sides to the right shape, and it's good that I have the rigid doors to use as template shapes for alignment.

 

[84mpg]

Not weird, just seems the logical steps.

The door as a structure is very stiff, you can feel that on any car door, and the side panel is very flexible, it's a large stamped, thin piece of sheetmetal, and when it twists, as it will easily under it's own weight, it distorts the door opening hole.

So I have to secure/jig the sides to the right shape, and it's good that I have the rigid doors to use as template shapes for alignment.

Makes sense now after the explanation.... thanks!

 

[JEBar]

COMMENT : on February 2nd of this year Mark introduced his project to this forum .... since then his thread has had over 31,000 views .... all things considered, that is nothing short of remarkable and it speaks volumes as to the strong support for his type of a reverse trike