Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Could anyone help please? I'm rebuilding a '71 Elan Sprint. It's a total body off resto and we'll soon be in a position to reunite the gearbox with the rolling chassis. My dilema is, I bought the car as an original, complete non - running Elan from a guy who had owned it for around 25 years. It's got a lot of history but nothing about the 'box. It seems crazy to put the 'box back without having it checked over first, but I don't have any recommendations as to who would look it over and give me a fair assessment of condition without ripping me off. I live in the West Midlands, near Birmingham. I guess Paul Matty is the most obvious choice - they checked the diff over @ ?300+. If anyone has any suggestions I would be ever so grateful. Many thanks, Phil

As far as I know: The 4-speed gearbox is pretty much a standard Ford part, so it should really NOT need specialist prices for overhaul.


I know I changed my Lotus box for a Ford box some 15-20 years ago.

I had my gearbox rebuilt here in Leeds by the place which everyone in the area seems to use (including the Lotus specialist Chris Foulds), and it cost me about ?130, if I remember correctly. Since the engine is out you really should have the 'box sorted for a peace of mind...

Leeds is out of the way I suppose, but if you're interested the gearbox guy is Stephen A Brear. Took him about a week to turn it around, and the cost was really minimal (although my gearbox was in a decent shape to begin with). Very nice guy.

Regards,
Adi

There is also a place called CTS, Competition Transmission Services. There located north west London so not to far away. They rebuild my plus 2 5 speed box and were very helpfull and not at a masive cost. As a bit of there back ground if by chance you read any fast/modified Ford mags then you will find their boxes are normally attatched to some very high powerd road cars and track weopons.

Bernie is the man i spoke to and web is www.thegearboxman.co.uk

Happy new year,

Paul

Phil,

Surely, not Shirley, you do NOT mean that PM charged you 300 quid just to check a diff? I used to supply COMPLETELY rebuilt diffs for ?300! and that included supplying the diff! Please advise.

Leslie

Thanks guys for all your help and advise. I will follow up the companyies you mention, so thanks again. To answer Leslie's point, I paid ?325.00 plus vat (?381.88) to have the original diff from my car checked and overhauled. That was in August 2007 - my rebuild has been a work in progress for a very long time. I was surprised at the cost at the time, but hey, PM's are supposed to be best around the West Midlands, so I went with it. I've just checked the invoice again and I think perhaps I've been a little unkind suggesting they simply did a check over, as the invoice reads, 'to strip and rebuild diff, new bearings and replace diff carrier and planett gears', so if I've over egged it I apologise. It still seems a lot of money though, especially when Leslie does the work AND provides the diff for less than that. The reason for my question was simply that times are much harder now than they were then and I didn't want to rack up a major cost if there was another solution.
Thanks once again guy's, Phil