Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

There's a couple of 4.1 English diffs on ebay ending in just an hour or two:

Item nos: 180247332458 and 120265239078

Now I know zilch about diffs, but can I take the guts of these and simply swop them into the Lotus alloy housing ?

Regards,
Stuart.

Stuart, the Elan diff is just an english diff fitted in the Lotus caseing, the only problem you might encounter is the drive flange as the Elan has a different flange to the Escort, not sure about the Anglia though.

Brian,

Thanks for the quick reply. Appreciated.

Presumably the flange is 'simple' change .... or ?

Regards,
Stuart.

its more of an or....its simple enough to change the flange but as there is a collapsible sleve to maintain a pre load on the pinion bearings and once it has been collapsed it is "supposed" to be replaced, you might be lucky and tighten it to an acceptable torque or you might over tighten it or vice versa under tighten it.
The correct way is to use a rotary torque gauge with a new sleve but it has been known to be O.K........

Many thanks again.

I'll maybe take a punt, since I'll have it looked over/rebuilt anyway.

Regards,
Stuart.

I have just finished rebuilding a 3.54 diff from an RS 2000 to replace the 3.77 currently fitted to my Plus 2. Just be aware that the Lotus flange cost ?50 new. One other point of note, at the nose of the Ford diff I obtained the casting overhangs the input flange and can foul the propshaft nuts and bolts used with the Lotus flange. With the Ford arrangement the propshaft bolts go into tapped holes in the flange so do not protrude significantly. Its straightforward to dress the casting back to ensure an adequate clearance, better to do this before refurbing the casting than afterwards.