Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Hi all,

I was going to buy a braided clutch hose from Ray at RD's but these are only for a L/H drive car, mine is a right hand drive thus the hoses that Ray has are to short, I gather Ray is willing to get a batch for R/H drive cars made but needs to know the actual length of the hose for a R/H car, given that my frame and body are still divorced could I please get one of you to measure the length required or if anyone has a new as yet not fitted hose perhaps measure that for me to pass onto Ray.

Thanks in advance.

By the Way RD's and SJ's have been giving me sensational service in recent times highly recommended (by me anyway)

Tonyw

Tony,
Just measured an original early S3 clutch hose. Red nylon portion is 29 1/2" long.
There is a right-angle fitting at each end, both identical.
Regards,
Peter.

Peter,

Thanks, I will let Ray know and hopefully he can get a batch made up.

Tony

I have a braided SS hose on my RHD car, but just fitted a high torque starter and now find the hose is too short to fit around it.

Anyone else ever have this problem?

Jim

I have a similar arrangement to you - braided clutch hose, RHD and high torque starter. My clutch hose runs over the top of the starter between engine and starter, I suspect your hose runs UNDER your starter, try re-routing it. There is a little slack, I did wonder when I fitted it if it was long enough because of the high torque starter but it seems OK. The engine has not run yet and I may need to slightly revise the run.

My Goodridge SS hose measures around 40" overall including the right angle fitting at either end and if anything it is slightly too long. I have it routed in front of the engine mount and under the starter and there is plenty of clearance everywhere.

Regards,

lotusfan wrote:Jim

I have a similar arrangement to you - braided clutch hose, RHD and high torque starter. My clutch hose runs over the top of the starter between engine and starter, I suspect your hose runs UNDER your starter, try re-routing it. There is a little slack, I did wonder when I fitted it if it was long enough because of the high torque starter but it seems OK. The engine has not run yet and I may need to slightly revise the run.

Thanks Mike! I'll give that route a try!

Hi Jim,
Clutch hose on your car should run over the clutch bell-housing, then down to clutch slave. Nowhere near the starter !
Regards,
Peter.

prloz wrote:Hi Jim,
Clutch hose on your car should run over the clutch bell-housing, then down to clutch slave. Nowhere near the starter !
Regards,
Peter.

Really? I've never owned an Elan that had the hose routed that way, but it certainly sounds good. More protection from road debris as well.

I'm going to run some measurements first.

summerinmaine wrote:

prloz wrote:Hi Jim,
Clutch hose on your car should run over the clutch bell-housing, then down to clutch slave. Nowhere near the starter !
Regards,
Peter.

Really? I've never owned an Elan that had the hose routed that way, but it certainly sounds good. More protection from road debris as well.

I'm going to run some measurements first.

Don't forget that the early routing over the bellhousing was with a cast iron exhaust manifold. With a fabricated steel manifold the pipe runs too close and the workshop manual recommended rerouting the pipe through a hole drilled in the chassis top flange. On later cars the line was rerouted under the bellhousing.

oldelanman wrote:

summerinmaine wrote:

prloz wrote:Hi Jim,
Clutch hose on your car should run over the clutch bell-housing, then down to clutch slave. Nowhere near the starter !
Regards,
Peter.

Really? I've never owned an Elan that had the hose routed that way, but it certainly sounds good. More protection from road debris as well.

I'm going to run some measurements first.

Don't forget that the early routing over the bellhousing was with a cast iron exhaust manifold. With a fabricated steel manifold the pipe runs too close and the workshop manual recommended rerouting the pipe through a hole drilled in the chassis top flange. On later cars the line was rerouted under the bellhousing.

Yeah, mine is a 4-2-1 header, so I'll watch for that.

Worse come to worst, I'll see if some heat shielding will help. OTOH how much could a longer SS braided hose cost?

Hi Jim,
You could do what Ford did on the Escort twin-cams. Run a pipe from the clutch slave, over the top of the bell-housing, secure the pipe with a couple of "p" clips using the top 2 bell-housing bolts, then complete the run to the clutch master with a short length of flexible hose. No problem with heat from the exhaust then.
Regards,
Peter.

I was out playing with the car and trying to take a few measurements, and it appears that my clutch hose is ~33" from bend to bend.

Does anyone know what the measurement would be for an over-the-bell-housing route to the slave? My best measurement suggested that the hose would be about 1" too short.