Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

After removing old bearings noticed that the metal dust cover was not fitted . After ordering new bearings etc measured up and found out that bearing and spacer together were about 20 thou bigger than the distance required to fit circuit has anyone else had this problem the uprights are type 18

Have you tried to do a trial assembly of the bearing, dust shield and circlip in the housing without the shaft. The circlip groove is wider than the circlip itself so if you have measured the thickness of the bearing and dust shield to the inside lip of the circlip groove you will find their is a little extra space when the circlip is pushed to the outside edge of the groove.

Also make sure their is no rubber lip from the bearing seal interfering with mounting it and shield properly.

Are you using a name brand bearing of the correct width? Has the dust shield come from a reputable supplier and is the correct thickness? Mistakes happen all the time by suppliers who don't understand the critical nature of some of the dimensions

In the end the housing may just have been machined wrong and need correcting. Do you know if it has ever had a dust shield fitted. The earlier issue 16 housings did not have a dust shield and maybe there was a transition issue 18 housing that was not machined for a dust shield either? That would be a very Lotus thing to do

cheers
Rohan

To help the assembly of dustshield + bearing + circlip it is normal to trim the seal with a very sharp cutter blade.
If you do not fit the dustshield then the bearing will be able to move in the Chapman Strut
The strut housings are not cheap to replace
Be careful on assembly because the dustshield can be easily damaged
Alan