Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Whenever the prop shaft is removed from the rear of the gearbox
in preparation to remove the engine/gearbox assembly from the chassis,
you know that when it's tilted, oil will pour out of the tail of the
gearbox extension.

A neat solution is to machine up a small sleeve as shown
below, which slips into the rear gearbox extension seal just like
the splined section of the prop shaft.

The capped plug will prevent gearbox oil piddling everywhere,
slide the splined prop shaft yoke out, pop the plug in, and you
can continue with the engine/gearbox removal job, tilt the
engine as steep as you like... no oil will spew out.

Nice, CJ. I'd be fearful of the weight of the oil, when tilted, pushing the plug out. Will that not happen?

Greg Z

gjz30075 wrote:Nice, CJ. I'd be fearful of the weight of the oil, when tilted, pushing the plug out. Will that not happen?

Greg Z

Assuming the gearbox has been drained you are only dealing with the small volume trapped in the tail housing, still enough to make a mess on the way out. Ceejay's solution should work quite nicely. The OD of the plug could be a bit larger than that of the output yoke to assure good location by the seal.

The plug is a snug fit..... it wont come out.

alternatively and somewhat cheaper - wedge a cork in the hole.

Hard to plug with a cork as the output shaft projects beyond the seal - thus you need a hollow plug if you are a believer in the remove GB with engine technique and dont want to drain all the oil

cheers
Rohan