Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Hi,
Can someone tell me which side of the clutch friction plate should be faced to the pressure plate? I forgot to notice when I dismantled the clutch, and found out afterwards that the faces of the friction plate arenot identical...

Thanks,

/Ulf

Hi, usually the flywheel side is marked

But not always


If you look sideways onto the clutch plate, the centre section on one side will often protrude further away from the friction material than the other. IIRC, this longer side will usually face away from the flywheel.

Unfortunately a lot of 'usually' in all this

I doubt if you'd be able to fit it the other way, the raised section would foul on the flywheel, wouldn't it?

Thanks, the used plate had "flywheel side" marked on the flat side,
/Ulf

... and now next issue: the raised section fouls the pressure plate and will not fit because the Centre of the new friction plate is a couple of millimeters wider than the old one. Am I supposed to use violence or is it wrong part? (from One of the usual suspects )

There was a Lotus service update that requires the 5 speed clutch plate hub to be trimmed to fit properly. If you dont do this you can have problems with it not fully disengaging abd having difficulty selecting gears.

I dont have it handy but it may have been posted here or someone else have it available.

cheers
Rohan

Yes you have to have it cut down. I had to find someone with a lathe to do mine. Sorry can't remember by how much but there is a Lotus spec on it somewhere! I'll have a look this eve to try and find mine. If not I would think you'd get the answer from Paul Matty's as I think that's where I purchased mine from and it came with the additional info.

Regards, Tony

Thanks Tony and Rohan,
I compared to my old clutch plate and found that the diameter of the new plate is 1,5 millimeters too large.
Are you saying that all customers buying clutch plates are expected to do this by themselves?

Bad customer service and parts quality if you ask me...
/Ulf

Here...

[attachment=0]clutchmod.jpg[/attachment]

John

Excellent John, saves me digging out my one .

It's a standard clutch plate and not specific to the 5 speed box - so yes all 5 speed owners are expected to adapt it luckily I work at a school with a lathe . Not sure it's worth any spare parts stockist pre-cutting them down as the number of 5 speeds is low.

Tony

It is actually the oversized retainer plate that is worrying me, but now I see that the hub needs some machinering too. Thanks John...

Help please on a related subject. For many years I had trouble with the clutch dragging, not releasing properly and difficulty selecting gears when stationery. I reckoned it was the clutch somewhere so removed engine and changed the release bearing as it was a bit rough. Having reassembled engine (but not driven car) I found a clicking noise when pressing the clutch pedal. Engine out again and it seems that the funny shaped disc on the pressure plate is not running flush with the release bearing. By one of the three ears there's a noticeable ridge where the release bearing (I guess) has rubbed primarily against this sector and caused wear. There is also a wear pattern where it seems that one area is not being "polished" as much as the rest of the disc.
Re the lathe removal of some of the clutch plate, I don't know how old the clutch is (though it looks good). After the lathe treatment what should the diameter of the clutch plate be at the splines?
Any suggestions as to what's going on here?
Thanks
Peter

Peter
1.This only applies to the 5-speed Lotus gearbox..
2.The diameter is not altered,just the thickness,on the flywheel side.

John