Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Jim

Of the two clips Rohan shows, the "gold" looking one on the left has a "doubled over" effect that holds it onto the arm on the lock and holds it in place once the rod is there.
The "silver" looking one on the right needs a little nylon push in clip that goes with the part (as they are normally together) that pushes through the hole in the clip and the hole in the arm on the lock mechanism. The rod then is pushed through the hole in the nylon piece and the "silver" clip then swings down and clips on the rod. Simple, effective and normally works very well. Occasionally they come off and are a bugger to get back on, especially in an ?lan. They sometimes can work with a "star" washer but are nigh on impossible to get on once the lock mechanism is in the door. The clip Rohan shows is how it it meant to be. The "gold" clip probably needs the nylon part too but I'm not too sure about that. The nylon part holds the rod snugly and doesn't need greasing or oiling occasionally.

Did the Myers partnership (father & son) not want to help? They must have put it together and they know what they are doing and probably have many of those clips. Perhaps they could post some to you.

I know that those clips are getting harder to locate these days and the current type available is a one piece nylon clip type (all in one).

Hope that is of some help. Lovely looking car you have there, could we see some more pictures of different areas?

Adam

S&J Lotus list these clips on their website.

If you could bottle Rohan`s advice, it would outsell Coca Cola. And thankyou Adam and Brian, all is now clear. It`s a shame Brian Buckland doesn`t cover this, as far as I can see.
The clip with the nylon insert, as SJ illustration, was clipped on the rod, but is loose in the slot on the lock so just slips out. That`s why I thought there must be something more, like a spring star clip. I wonder if a new one, already ordered, will be the same. I could glue it in but would that last?
Neil did say that he`d only been able to do 13 miles in the car and any restoration needs a bit of a shakedown but I should ring him if there were any problems. The trouble is; I don`t have his number ! More particularly, he went on holiday last Saturday. I could have left the car for a few weeks while he had his holiday and did a hundred miles or so, but, given the choice, would you?
I did a few miles earlier in the week but it`s still on, hardly used, but 20+ years old, tyres......until tomorrow. Thereafter I`ll be running it in but it will be interesting to compare the "feel" of the car with my Sprint engined but Voight 5 speed S3 with the 3.55 diff. Initial impressions are, particularly, a feeling of solidity with no rattles, lovely, but, as expected, undergeared with a heavier clutch and a notchier gearchange. It has the Colin Chapman steering wheel, of course, and I much prefer a thicker smaller one but I won`t change it or anything else.
I didn`t make the Cheshire Lotus Owners Troop`s (not their real name but I like the acronym) meeting today as the first sunny day of June maybe the last and gardening duties took priority, sorry Pete. Gareth, I`ll be in Buxton tomorrow getting tyres if you`re around. I`ll text you the time.
Jim

Jim
As a temporary measure I used one electrical connector block off a strip (similar to attached photo)which I managed to slip over the end of the rod and tighten the screw to hold in place. Not very elegant but it has done the trick and saves losing a load of those hopeless clips down the door!
Richard

Done it, in 5 minutes, thanks to Rohan ( I love him, don`t you?), Brian and Adam. Thinking about it overnight I was concerned that a new clip may still pop loose as the nylon-plug-thing didn`t look worn. Effectively the plug-thing acts like a Rawlplug opening up and jamming in the slot when the rod is pushed in but it wasn`t jamming securely. I slipped in the plug-thing and forced a small washer over it, slightly smaller than the slot. As it was now tight it was easy to position the rotation so the bit that clips on the rod was in the right position. I screwed the lock back in then from the inside pushed the rod into the plug and swivelled the clip down onto the rod. It was really easy and I didn`t drop anything (else) down inside the door.
Let`s hope it stays like that.
Thanks again,
Jim