Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

With the current gearbox work now complete which included removing
and replacing the extension house seal.... (not an easy job at first).

There was little success in using a long bar with a right angle claw
to locate against the seal,(Through the housing) nor was there any
success with trying to pry it out with a heavy screw driver.... so a bit
of thinking was required.

Now you'll have to look at the photos below to see the exotic extraction
tool we used. The tool was made up with a short length of MS
3/8" rod, a bit of hollow bar, and a small 1" disc machined and
parted off from 4140 bar, the disc was clear drilled (offset) with 3/8"
hole, rod was then bronze welded to disc.

To extract the seal:
Remove the felt dust ring with a sharp knife blade, insert disc
into 3mm gap, push disc firmly into seal, move heavy hollow
bar impact driver two or three times at various points around
the seal... and voila... it was out, no damage to the seal, housing
or your own hands, just so simple Simon... but it had me
buggered for awhile.
Col.