Driveshaft upgrade

[alaric]

Hi all. Me again, with another problem. I'm getting used to things not fitting though... good humour and a positive output is required.

I'm trying to fit the driveshafts that I bought from Sue Miller. They have a CV joint at either end, and studs in place of the bolts. I'm having to knock them into place with a piece of wood and hammer - trying to be gentle. Sue tells me they should be a snug fit, but she has had one instance of them being tight before. I wondered if anyone else has found this. I believe these are the same as the ones sold by Paul Matty. Fantastic pieces of kit - sure they'll be fine once fitted.

I've just measured the stud diameter is 0.4425" (11mm), and should be 7/16", which is 0.4375". The diameter of the bolts that I took out is 0.435", which I reckon is about right. Have they used metric studs by mistake?

Any help would be appreciated.

Sean.

[M100]

11mm is not a standard metric size but from what you measured it looks like it (although .4425" is 11.23mm).

Do the nuts from your old driveshaft bolts fit the new studs?

There is a possibility that your ears are bent so the holes in them are not in the same alignment as the axle centreline.

[nebogipfel]

Sean, I found they were a but snug when I fitted mine. I used plenty of copaslip on the studs and a reasonable amount of persuasion with a hammer and block of wood!

I think the hole centres are slightly "off" only slightly, but enough to make them a bit tight

Once fitted the shafts are excellent

[alaric]

I've just re-measured the studs and they're all 0.436". I don't understand where I got the 0.4425" from; I'm used to reading vernier calipers, and now have digital ones; should be easier. Sorry about that. My fault. Finger must have slipped.

I think the hole centres are slightly off too. I've been fiddling about out in the garage, and it's easy to get two of the studs in but not the third.

Thanks for the help. Guess I'll keep gently tapping away. I hope I'll be able to get them off again.

Sean.

[rgh0]

Lotus were not to careful with the tolerances on the bolt spacing and pitch circle diameter on the donut spiders. The rubber donuts could easily soak up any variation. The solid CV adpater unfortunately cant adjust so with the close tolerances on the actual bolt hole and bolt themselves bolts / studs it can sometimes be hard to fit due to alignment issues. Careful measurement and careful enlargement of holes until the bolts can slide in with a light push fit is often needed.

Rohan

[lotusanglia1965]

Just out of interest, has anyone yet made diff output shafts in steel,like ttr do, but to take a cv joint straight on,with no adaptor?seems to me a better solution,if a bit more costly.
Martin

[M100]

Somewhere I've seen a reference to the earlier (S1?) driveshafts having a different PCD to the later ones although after a lot of searching there seems to be nothing to verify this in any of the factory published Lotus literature (but could this be the reason for difficulty some find in fitting rotoflexes?)

There are a few online drawings of CV adaptor plates for the Elan, the PCD measurements differ from each other and I seem to recall they are not consistent with my own measurements taken on some new issue 18 outboard driveshafts.

I seem to recall someone (Rohan?) provided some PCD measurements a while back either here or on the main list, does anyone have them conveniently to hand?

[jkolb]

Dave Bean Engineering makes the diff output shafts for direct connection to the CVs - beautiful piece.

Jerry

[lotusanglia1965]

Cheers Jerry!,
I'll check out his web-site.
Martin

[hantsjo]

Hi Sean,
I did this job last week, I had to use an adjustable ream to 'clean' the holes... used plenty of copper slip and knocked them on with a piece of wood! youll love them once there on there.
Jo
65 S2

[the rolfie]

Hi did this job couple of years ago, found the best way was to undo the two bolts holding the bearing ass to the wishbone. Then fitting the innet end of the drive shaft, then the outer using a block of wood and a few taps refitted the bolts and enjoy! They are great once fitted good luck and have fun in your car!

[alaric]

Thanks for all the feedback.

Messages received and understood.

The adjustable ream sounds like a useful tool, as my shafts seem just a tad too tight for comfort; feels like I'm going to damage the threads on the studs - although the first one was ok, and I have fitted one to the diff and removed it again. I'm loathe to just file out the holes.

Sean.

[elansprint71]

........gentle tap, .....rotate, gentle tap,... rotate........ piece of timber, of course= snug fit, best improvement you can do to an Elan; that and the Spyder twin wishbones...............

Pete.

[bengalcharlie]

[email protected] supplies cv shafts with the diff output shaft directly bolted to the c.v.
the item looks fantastic, just have not found time to fit these.

PS just came back for a camping trip in the coromandel in the North island of NZ. very windy coastal roads and the perfect road for my plus two.
When I drove off this morning some hotshot with his big ford Falcon sped past only to really annoy me through the windy bits.
behind him a golf GTI and I thought by myself, be patient, no hurry but after a few K's it started to p.. me off and I overtook them both on a windy downhill stretch of road. you should have seen their faces!
I looked in my rear view mirror for ages but I have not seen them since.
Not bad for a 37 year old lotus with a mere 100 odd horsepower.
Proves again that V8's are for idiots who can only handle straight dead flat roads.
I challenge any car on a twisty piece of road, especially I was not even trying! Except other loti like elises, esprits etc
PS during all this I still kept to the speed limit.

cheers

Robin

69 elan plus two
60 alfa romeo giulietta spider

[richboyd]

I second Robin's opinion of the RDEnt CV conversion kit. It is a beautiful and well engineered system. The new output shafts are stout; they're not going to twist or snap like the original (pre-Sprint) items. The RDEnt-supplied output shaft (part of kit) mount directly to the inboard CV joint rather than to an adapter plate. The machining is first class.