Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Well I have found out that my bellhousing is magnesium.

Now I want to confirm that the rear shaft housing is also magnesium. Has anybody got a gearbox out of the car and would be of a kind mind and placing the thing on the bathrrom scales.

I would love to know the weight of it all.

with thanks

Brian

Hi Brian,
The weight of an aluminium tail housing is 2.25 kg.
If it's much less than this, it's magnesium.

Regards,

Seeing as it's nearly Bonfire Night, an easy way to check if your bellhousing is magnesium is to file off some of the metal, place the filings on a small piece of paper and set it alight. If it's magnesium you'll get your own mini fireworks display.

Nigel

Interesting!
I didn't think there were any tail pieces in mag...thought they were all aluminium or iron. Who supplies them?

My s4 gearbox (stock, cast iron)
Bell housing 16 pounds
case 13 pounds
tail housing 12 pounds

The weights are done on a cheap bathroom scale, so take as approximate.
No gears here, just empty housings. Heavy aren't they!

Gearbox was noisy, so removed the works. Working on a parts list now.
Some bearings and other things a bit worn in there.


Discovered Engine main bearings were down to copper on a couple journals,
rod big ends not that far gone, but need replacing.
Crank looks fine. Have been running track days for a couple years... around 10 or so
total I think, and about 5000 street miles.

David A.

Ref Mag tail housing.

Try Tony Thompson. I think I saw them listed.

Brian