Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Hello,

My mechanician is asking me How do you get access to the two bolts holding the locatones in place.

He told me on the phone: either to Take down the whole rear axle, or to cut access holes in the fiber glass...

What is the trick? Thanks

Ced

If you cut holes in the fiberglass from above you will find the nuts are welded to the chassis, you have to remove the bolts from below.

Alan

So this means you CAN see the bolts or nut from below then? N? need to Take down the whole rear axle?

No, you can't get to the bolts with the spring in the way.

Alan

Pistacchio sprint 72 wrote:So this means you CAN see the bolts or nut from below then? N? need to Take down the whole rear axle?

You should probably find another mechanic to work on your Elan!

Maybe take a look at the Sow's Ear Chassis topic and it may help you understand how the Elan is assembled.

The top spring pan blocks direct access to the Lotocone bolts so the whole spring/strut assembly needs to be dropped out of the way. Lotus used a very thin headed bolt and they can be an absolute bitch to remove.

close up of the bolts that Lotus used


the above picture is from the topic below

elan-f15/clean-out-your-front-turrets-and-rusted-metalastic-bushes-t25235.html

Ok, i have a spyder replacement ch?ssis. I hope they welded the nuts to the ch?ssis, otherwise the whole bolt is gonna turn loose.

My guess you are talking about a Spyder re-manufactured Lotus chassis which is the same in the rear I believe. The Spyder space frame is a bit different but the nuts are welded (all 4) to the turret.

Gary

To Take off the top spring pan and spring. What do you need to do? My mechanician tells me he has no room to use spring compressor.

So i guess, That is what h? meant at first... Dropping down the whole thing. H? asked me to come and see the situation sat morning.

Cant do better than quote the manual.
Jack up rear of car, remove wheel and brake disk

Place second jack under strut housing jack up till suspension is in normal loaded position
Secure spring using straps or clamps
Undo the nuts holding the rotoflex to the diff, remove bolts
undo nyloc nuts holding lower wishbone to strut housing, remove bolts
loosen inner wishbone bolts and allow wishbone to swivel down
Remove rubber caps on rear deck in front of boot lid
Remove split cotter and nut below these caps
Lower complete suspension unit

cheers
rod

Tell him to use ratchet straps (sangles avec tendeur ? cliquet) , I would be a bit concerned about his ability:competence to work on a vehicle of this era judging by his comments and requests.

Pistacchio sprint 72 wrote:My mechanician tells me he has no room to use spring compressor.

I have had no problems at all using spring compressors, the comments regarding ratcheting straps are also reasonable suggestions.

When you encounter bolts/nuts that have a very thin engagement area it is easy to round off the bolt/nut. Most socket wrenches have a rounded inner edge before the that actual engaging of the bolt/nut happens. A reasonable approach is to grind down the socket to the point where the rounded portion is removed. This allows the entire head of the bolt/nut to be gripped by the socket. I have several of these in my tool box.

Rob Walker
26-4889

Excellent point, Rob. Many have learned this lesson the hard way, myself included.
Dan

I used these to compress the spring on my +2:

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/produ ... compressor

And no problem replacing the bolt with a normal headed one. I'm sure there was a reason for the thin head. Gary?? I'm guessing the assemblers weren't sure it a normal head bolt would clear the upper perch but there's plenty of room. Normal headed bolts in mine for the last umpteen years.

Greg Z