Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Yesterday i made a replacement of the 4 donuts in 3 hours .


Jack up the car at the back as high as possible . Keep it safe at all times !!!!
Take the back wheels of .
Take out the carpet and padding in the trunk ( under the Gastank )

MAKE A BIG HOLE IN THE TRUNK OF THE CAR in the polyester . ( 17 cm high and the size of the gastank wide . ) so you can easy work on the inner rotoflexen . ( side diff ) . Dont cut the polyester to low in the trunk and to high to the gastank .

Take all the driveschafts and donuts out . ( I cut all the bolts ) . With the good tools that takes no time at all .
Put the 4 new donuts to the driveshafts en put the 2 outer sides together . ( this is now very easy ) do not completely fix the bolts , just 1 or to turns )
With a big wooden stick i lift the drivschafts to there place ( side diff ) ( 30 degree up !! ) over the center pin and put the A piece back on his place and slide the bolts in the holes . So nothing can jump back .
If you dont have the driveshafts with the center pin than hold it to its place with a strong rope .

Than lower the car on the wheels ( put them back on ) so the driveschafts become in line .
Put the car in gear an push the car a bit so that the holes line up for the bolts .
With the hole in the trunk is it verry easy to put the bolts on there place . Assemble them completely .
Now jack one wheel at the time with a wooden block under the A piece and fix all the bolts good at the brakedisc . Fix the hole in the trunk . I made a aluminium plate and fix it with a lot of screws . Padding and carpet back an the job is done .

I did the job alone and on the floor . Think before you start working is the tip .
Costs : Donuts 440 ? - set bolts 69 ? = 509 ? !!! and 4 pints !!!

The alu plate in the trunk makes working on the back side of the car a lot more fun !! ( Donuts , Handbrake connections , Diff ... )

Sorry for my English

Maybe your access panel should have been there from the factory!
I'll consider it when my Rotoflexs need replacing.

Don

My thinking also !

I've just finished repairing the fibreglass in my boot, OK ripping outb the previous in inadequate repairs. I can't imagine making a new very large hole (width of gas tank?) after all that effort. Does it lose a lot of stiffness? What about water ingress?

Regards

Gerry

No lose off stiffnes .

I made the access panel waterproof with silicone .
Put some oil on 1 side so you can take it of again when needed .

Asta .

I cut a similar (smaller) hole in my boot (Elan 2 seater) some time ago to get at the handbrake linkages.

My roughly similar method of doing the doughnuts, but without making a big hole in the boot is recorded in the Elan topic, with pictures.

elan-f14/replacing-the-doughnuts-t16456.html?hilit=%20doughnuts