Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

The book calls for 'soft iron wire' for the safety wire
on the little bolts that lock the shift forks to the shift rods
inside the transmission (iron case 4-spd).

Why soft iron? (safety for the gears if pieces fall in?)

What do you use (what about normal stainless safety wire)?

(Got a cold, no working on the car for the moment)
David Anderson, S4
[PS: all the ball bearings in the trans were pitted badly
as were the races. No wonder it was noisy).

I believe that "soft iron" is British for mild steel.

Stan

The book calls for 'soft iron wire' for the safety wire
on the little bolts that lock the shift forks to the shift rods
inside the transmission (iron case 4-spd).

Why soft iron? (safety for the gears if pieces fall in?)

What do you use (what about normal stainless safety wire)?

On Thu, 9 Dec 2004 23:13:17 -0600 "Stan Aarhus" <***@***.***> wrote:


Well I've never heard it used that way, and I spent a 4 year
apprenticeship with British Steel Corp, and several years after that as
a designer on a drawing-board. However at the time stainless lockwire
would only have been found in aircraft manufacture, much too exotic and
expensive for car use. And a lot harder to handle, you need the right
tool to twist stainless but a soft iron wire can be twisted with the
fingers.

Soft iron wire was used over hundreds of years for music instrument
strings, and historically has a high phosphorus content and almost no
carbon. There's a detailed article about it here:
http://real.uwaterloo.ca/~sbirkett/iron%20wire.pdf


Mike
--
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Probably because it is a heavier gauge and too hard of wire would be
difficult to twist.


I used the largest safety wire I could get since the original wire was a
pretty heavy gauge and safety wire is a known factor.


Bummer. Get well soon.


Yeah that would be a problem. My bearings didn't look pitted, but I replaced
all of them before I put the car back on the road, just to be sure. Too many
unknowns when a car has sat in garages in Michigan for 20 years. It's been
pretty good for the 6000 or so miles since, although the synchros aren't as
good as my 2002 car. Of course I am pretty sure the 2002 has dual cone
synchros, so it is not a great comparison.

Rob LaMoreaux
Ann Arbor, MI USA
(734)-971-5583
Cell (734)-604-9280
Email: ***@***.***
Too many Hobbies.... Too Little Time
1969 Lotus Elan....It's not a restoration, it's a never-ending adventure.

Well, it seemed reasonable at the time ;>) Very interesting.

Stan