The mystery of the part that never was...
Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2006 10:43 pm
I have, like many of the listers - owned a fair number of Lotus Cars.
Presently I have an S4 Elan and (for my sins) an Eclat.
I bought a "new" gear lever gaiter for the Elan back in 2000 and it has
now fallen to bits.
I believe that this is because they are no longer made from proper
rubber.
Trawling through the depths of my memory, I recall on at least one of
the Plus 2's, that there was a second gaiter underneath the visible gear
lever gaiter.
It looked like a flat sheet of rubber that had been formed downwards to
go around the nylon domed part on the gearbox.
I had thought that I might add one of these to my S4 Elan to cut down on
some of the noise.
To my surprise, when I rang Paul Matty on Friday, the man in the parts
department said that although he had seen the "secondary seal" listed in
the +2 parts manual, neither he nor any of the mechanics at Paul Matty
had ever seen one!
Hence, "the part that never was".
Just to satisfy my curiosity, could anyone attest to the existence of
this elusive second gear lever gaiter?
I suppose, the next step would be to see if anyone agrees with me that
it might (if the part does exist!) be a worthwhile modification to the
original Elans.
Paul Adamson
Presently I have an S4 Elan and (for my sins) an Eclat.
I bought a "new" gear lever gaiter for the Elan back in 2000 and it has
now fallen to bits.
I believe that this is because they are no longer made from proper
rubber.
Trawling through the depths of my memory, I recall on at least one of
the Plus 2's, that there was a second gaiter underneath the visible gear
lever gaiter.
It looked like a flat sheet of rubber that had been formed downwards to
go around the nylon domed part on the gearbox.
I had thought that I might add one of these to my S4 Elan to cut down on
some of the noise.
To my surprise, when I rang Paul Matty on Friday, the man in the parts
department said that although he had seen the "secondary seal" listed in
the +2 parts manual, neither he nor any of the mechanics at Paul Matty
had ever seen one!
Hence, "the part that never was".
Just to satisfy my curiosity, could anyone attest to the existence of
this elusive second gear lever gaiter?
I suppose, the next step would be to see if anyone agrees with me that
it might (if the part does exist!) be a worthwhile modification to the
original Elans.
Paul Adamson