Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

I'm thinking about changing my driveshafts to the UJ/sliding spline type.

What's the difference between the Tony Thompson ones and the types sold by Paul Matty and Sue Miller? All seem to be the same price (380.00 quid).

Do they ever do deals on these at shows?

Also, the original gallery semms to have gone. I remember someone posted pictures of this set-up there, can anyone put some new ones up in the new gallery pleeease?

Cheers

Robbie

Robbie, if you check the archive this subject has been discussed many times.

Don't know what the TT ones are like but I can vouch for the SM ones as being a good bit of kit. I'm pretty sure PM buys shafts from Susan Miller.

The SM driveshafts use 2 constant velocity joints & are probably the best alternative for road car conversions. The original TTR shafts use 2 universal joints & a sliding spline; they are very nicely engineered & are a solution for the racers because these are acceptable to the FIA as being equivalent to to the original 26R spec. parts. I think he can also supply drive shafts with 2 CV joints, check with his website.
Another variant is available from Spyder; these use a donut for the inner joint & a CV joint on the outer end, a sort of compromise to the arguments rubber cushioning or not.
John.

Ah, I see thanks

I thought Sue Miller did the UJ type.

Paul Matty lists "# Driveshaft kit. Glide coated / splined" so I wondered who made those

AFAIK Paul Matty get their competition bits from Tony Thompson including the driveshafts. I have installed the TTR UJ/spline driveshafts on my S4 and I am very pleased with them.

Cool, thanks for that. It'll save me the postage!

here a pic of mine ---ed

Thanks Ed, are those are the CV joint type?

sliding spline with universals at each end --very similar to triumph-----ed

Robbie,

I've got sliding spline type with universals at each end (TTR). Fab, built like brick shithouse doors (er, robust) and dead easy to fit, once you've got the original 'shafts off, that is.

Hamish.

And none of that boing - boing elastic band sensation ? I'm still worried about the driveline wear though. But at the short distances and low speeds I usually do that won't really be an issue me thinks..

I like the sound of that Hamish (the dead easy to fit bit), am I correct in thinking that the 'failsafe' pins (spigots) that protrude from the inboard and outboard shafts need to be removed? How easy is this?

Do you have any pics of your set-up?

How easy to remove the fail-safe?

Dead easy. Just did it an hour or so ago.
Simply cut it off with an angle grinder, then trim it up with a grinding wheel until it is no longer proud of the spiders.

Regards,
Stuart.

(Inboard and outboard cv joints from Susan Miller).

Hi

I fitted the CV joint version from Sue Miller. They were a very tight fit to the original diff and hub flanges. I think most people don't have a problem fitting them but when I phoned Sue she did say that PM had found this once before. My car has the fail safe shafts and I ground off the pins with an angle grinder - no problem. Unfortunately I tapped one of the shafts into place on a hub, then trying to remove it again bent the hub flange - I had to replace the outboard hub shaft. To fit them I used an adustable reamer to open up the holes on the diff and hub flanges. Very neat now. It's possible that the flange distorted when I ground off the pin, as it did get quite hot.

If you try to fit new shafts, Sue's or others, and the studs won't pop onto the flanges with a snug fit, but are tight, then stop and ream out the holes. Otherwise it was easy to do the conversion.

Sean.

Robbie,

As Stuart says just remove the failsafe pins with an angle grinder and the rest is easy (TTR in my case). I didn't find that anything overheated.

Hamish.