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+2 wheels

PostPosted: Mon Sep 26, 2005 5:36 pm
by cusword
I know that +2 wheels are 5.5 inch, rather than the 4.5 inch on the
baby Elan. Can someone tell me the offset? Are the steel, and alloy
+2 wheels the same size, or does the alloy version have less A frame
bolt clearance, because it's thicker? I have seen them fitted to
baby
Elans, but where are the problems. I know it will depend on the tyre
size, but is clearance a problem on the rear spring perch, or wheel
arch, or both? What about the front?

Regards,

David

+2 wheels

PostPosted: Mon Sep 26, 2005 7:52 pm
by elansprint71
David,
I tried +2 Alloys on my Sprint, on the +0 hubs the tyres rubbed on the
spring perch, so I put +2 hubs on, one side was OK but as the body was
skewed on the chassis (normal Lotus practice!) the tyre rubbed on the
inside of the wheelarch on full compression. This was with 165 tyres; I
bought some Minilites and Spyder twin wishbone suspension and now run
175 tyres, I had to shave the wheelarch lip though.
If you are looking at the +2 wheels on eBay for your S3, I think that
the tyres would foul as the arches have more clearance on the S4, all
the race cars I have seen with +2 wheels have been S4.

Cheers,
Pete

david_cusworth wrote:


+2 wheels

PostPosted: Mon Sep 26, 2005 10:28 pm
by "e s"
It would seem to me that if you wanted wider tires on the elan, going to a smaller diameter spring/perch is an easily reversible mod. If it is close to fitting in the perch area, you can cut the outer part of the perch off with no ill effects, did it 20 years ago on my +2 to fit 205s....

tires of the same aspect vary widely in actual overall width, at least 3/4 of an inch at the fat part of the tire, between brands.



----- Original Message -----
From: "Pete Taylor" <***@***.***>
To: ***@***.***
Subject: Re: [LotusElan.net] +2 wheels
Date: Mon, 26 Sep 2005 20:52:25 +0100



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+2 wheels

PostPosted: Tue Sep 27, 2005 1:51 am
by frearther
When my S2 was running (oh, so many years ago!), I used 185-70
radials on 5.5" plus 2 wheels. Both the rear spring perches and the
wheel openings had to be modified to fit this combination.

Yes, I know it screwed up the speedometer readings, but I considered
the gain in handling worth that minor administrative matter.

If nobody else knows the offset, I can measure mine and see.

Art
26/4934


At 01:35 PM 9/26/2005, you wrote:

Arther H. Frederick
Initial Reaction - embroidered and decorated apparel
3869 Route 66, Chatham Centre
Valatie, NY 12184
518-392-4287
***@***.***

+2 wheels

PostPosted: Tue Sep 27, 2005 7:45 am
by cusword
When you say you modified the "wheel openings" do you mean you
ground some of the outer arch lip away, or something more drastic?
On the spring perches, did you fit narrower springs, or modify the
standard perch?

Regards,

David

--- In ***@***.***, "Arther H. Frederick"
<initialreaction@t...> wrote:








+2 wheels

PostPosted: Tue Sep 27, 2005 12:10 pm
by frearther
Actually, what I did was to flare the openings
somewhat to accept the larger tires. I was a
serious autocrosser at the time, and our local
rules didn't disallow that sort of modification.
I was already rebuilding the entire body because
the car had been totaled by the PO's insurance
company due to the inordinately high cost of the
fiberglass replacement parts, so a little extra
work didn't seem like so much of an effort. And
the crash that caused all the torn fiberglass had
pretty much taken care of the originality issue.

To do the flaring, I used a trick that someone
taught me. I cut radial slots outward from the
wheel openings and bent the fiberglass gently
outward, then reglassed and recontoured the area
so that it looked almost original. That process
gave me the space for 185 width tires at both
ends at the expense of a tiny amount of rubbing
in front at full lock with certain tire brands.

You probably don't want to do this with an
uncrunched car, so you may want to consider
something smaller than a 185 section width.

Art
26/4934



At 03:44 AM 9/27/2005, you wrote:

Arther H. Frederick
Initial Reaction - embroidered and decorated apparel
3869 Route 66, Chatham Centre
Valatie, NY 12184
518-392-4287
***@***.***