Mick Miller C/V Driveshafts

[Plus 2]

Hi to everyone.....newbie to the site but not the car or marque.

Well I purchased a set of MM CV shafts over 10 years ago when Mick was still around and never got to fitting them.

As the car was fully restored 25 years ago it is time for a few TLC jobs to be done so figured I will now include these.

I have owned Lotus' for over 40 years so not new to the mechanics but any advice before I start will be appreciated. I am not a racer or hard driver but would like to know if these conversions have proved OK in use.

Thanks

[pharriso]

There's a wealth of information if you do a search...

[vernon.taylor]

Err .. is that your car AND NUMBER PLATE ?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm seriously envious - my only consolation is that one can't buy personalised plates in France.

@+

Vernon

[Plus 2]

Vernon,

Yes it is one of my cars owned for decades now............the number plate is genuine and went unnoticed on an old motorbike as it had a square rear number plate so no one had strung the letters and numbers in a straight line.

I live partly in South France too and have the car here in France for a short while at the moment so I can do some work on it. Lousy weather in UK usually leaves little opportunity.

I have seen some cars in France with 'special' or lucky numbers like on Porsches with 911, Assume they knew someone at the prefectures.



I will get used to searching the libraries for general advice but as I have worked on these cars for over 40 years I was interested in hearing of any major longer term issues known with the MM driveshafts.

edit.......Phil tried a search and nothing has come up yet but my own post tried cv joints, mick miller driveshafts, but will think of other things to put in.
I also put this in the elan section as thought the numbers of cars converted would probably be greater.....any link attachments though would be appreciated.

Steve.

[stugilmour]

Welcome Steve. Lovely car.

I installed NA available shafts and very happy with the result. Not sure from all the posts here where the Mick miller CV's are source from; mine are VW.

From posts here (rather than personal experience) the Mick Miller shafts appear to be fine on the Plus 2. Some reports of issues on the Elan; shorter shaft length resulting in CV lockup at full droop. Can be mitigated by limiting travel with either strut cartridge selection or limiting wire. As you have the shafts already, suggest just checking for lockup at full droop during installation.

HTH

Stu

[Plus 2]

Thanks Stu,

I believe the MM driveshafts are indeed VW CV's.

I am still searching the site for info though. As I said I am not a hard driver but so many potholes on the roads today in both UK and France I was a little concerned if it could be a problem.

I had an Europa back in the 70's when roads were bad too and a pothole split the front chassis box section.

Steve.

[rgh0]

Your car being a late Plus 2S 130 probably has the pins welded on the ends of the diff and wheel shafts as part of the arrangement to prevent the shafts from flying about if a donut split. These will have to be ground off.to fit the CV shafts.

On a plus 2 you should not have any trouble with binding at full droop but you need to check just in case.

Fitting is easy but the holes in the three armed spiders may need a little reaming to get the bolts to fit through as the tolerances on the drilling of these by Lotus was loose as ti was not critical for the donut fit.

Fit the outboard joint first and you may need to release the A frame outer bolts to fit the inboard joint.

I have had CVs on my Plus 2 for the last 30 years with no problems and no maintenance required on them on rough Australian roads and over 100,000 kms travelled.

cheers
Rohan

[Plus 2]

Rohan,

Thanks for that info, just what I needed for some assurance.

I think I know the spigots you are referring too but from my best recollection when I fitted new Rotoflex donuts around 20 years ago I do not have these.

The car is actually 1970 and was factory built as a +2S but in the mid 80's the engine was rebuilt by QED and the head was converted for lead free and at the same time the valves were modified to the 130 spec.

Thankfully the car also has a replacement Lotus galvanised chassis fitted too which still looks like new after 30 years

Originally the cam cover was red and was professionally black crackled refinished but then I found a 130 cover so upgraded.

The Webers are original fit despite the bonnet bulge for Strombergs but I understand this was a 'use what is available stock' policy at Lotus at the time hence you see so many windscreen wipers parking on RHD cars the wrong side.


Steve

[vernon.taylor]

Salut Steve

Rohan explained fitting well. I put a set of MM C/Vs on a Plus 2 a few years back. I undid the A-frame outer bolts as Rohan said and it all went in easily on full droop - probably even easier if you use a spring compressor; but if you've already changed the doughnuts you'll know all that. I didn't keep that Plus 2 long so all I can say is that the driveshafts were well-made, made gear changes smoother and screeching tires on take-off a doddle.

Sue Miller has stopped selling them herself - apparently for quality problems - so your NOS shafts could well be better than the ones available now. I've seen lots of posts on this forum about them with little or no complaint - just the full-droop problem on the smaller Elan. The other worry that comes up is removing the cushioning effect of the rubber doughnuts - some feeling that it puts extra stress on the diff - but I've not heard of a broken diff, or stripped output shafts, resulting from CV driveshafts. All I can say about that personally is that I felt more noise was transmitted into the cabin of the car - but the lapse of time before and after is difficult to judge - and it could have been problems elsewhere in the drive-chain that were amplified.

Where are you in France, Steve ? I live in Lyon myself.

I'd be interested to see more pictures of your car - some inside shots and under the bonnet; and what is the roof finish - looks a blueish on the photos.

@+

Vernon

[vernon.taylor]

How does one delete a double post ?

[elansprint71]

The MM shafts used GKN units, destined for Ford applications. It has been discussed on here several times but I don't know how to make the search function work easily either, since the forum changes of last year.

I've not had any issues with MM shafts on my Sprint (also fitted with Spyder twin wishbones) and, I have not come across anyone who has; I think that the problems Susan had might have been one of supply, rather than quality; you could always ring her up and ask, she's a very nice lady.

[Plus 2]

Thanks for the info Pete. I have tried a search several times and not found a link, but started looking over some recent threads and I see there was one last week asking if Ford Sierra modified shafts would work so obviously the search link maybe a bit frail for some reason. Still the information provided here really helps. I fitted new oil seals on the diff prop and side shafts and rotoflexes at the same time as new discs and bearings years ago so am reasonably comfortable with the mechanics.

Vernon I will take some fresh photo's tomorrow as my restoration file is back in the UK, but if the ones of the exterior make you envious then be prepared, as the interior although a few additions like headrests, electric boot opening, chrome trim features and central locking the interior is totally unmarked and original. (new walnut dash though). I have my own industrial sewing machine so make all my own trim and about the same period MGB's used the same vinyl as Lotus so I was able to scavenge plenty of old original pattern vinyl.

Whilst all my classic cars are concours condition I am not a purist for the total originality or show the cars and as I used to be responsible for the build of engineering prototypes for a large UK luxury sports/saloon car company I did have access to some very talented skilled help back then.

The roof is painted in a stock Suzuki metallic sort of purple rather than the old metalflake style and the body has had a complete back to gel coat restoration too.

My only disappointment was the new Dunlop wheels from Matty's.......within 6 months the laquer was all a mess on the bright alloy and I wish I had bought the silver painted minilites they supplied back then instead now. I have diamond turned KN Minators on my MGB which are not laquered and they are still perfect albeit need regular polishing the problem is with the laquer water/damp penatration there is not much I can do but get them stripped off.

I think Spydercars do the minilites in 14 inch so when my tyres need renewing I may just buy a set of theirs. (maybe) as I do like the Dunlop style ones

I partially live just south of Bergerac n the Dordogne and split 6 months between UK and France.

The Tour de France is coming through our village in a couple of weeks so expecting many French road diversions in place.........usually means one sign saying diversion and then nothing after that......usual French way

Regards

Steve

[Chancer]

The Tour de France is coming through our village in a couple of weeks so expecting many French road diversions in place.........usually means one sign saying diversion and then nothing after that......usual French way

Regards

Steve

Aint that the truth

[types26/36]

I have tried a search several times and not found a link, but started looking over some recent threads and I see there was one last week asking if Ford Sierra modified shafts would work so obviously the search link maybe a bit frail for some reason.

The MM cv drive shafts use a Sierra 100mm cv joint with 25 internal splines on the drive shaft, an equivalent VW 100mm CV joint (Golf GTI/Type 2 bus) uses 33 splines on the drive shaft so are not interchangeable.
When I was making my cv shafts from memory the MM axles that I saw used GLO cv joints and not GKN but this was a long time ago and they may have changed.
Also see this thread.
lotus-gearbox-f37/driveshafts-t538.html

[billwill]

Are you saying that a search for
Cv Shafts
produced no results?

I get plenty.

http://www.lotuselan.net/cgi-bin/search ... oom_sort=0



You can also use google which give 226 hits. You just put
site:lotuselan.net
at the end of your search items
e.g. google for [cv shafts site:lotuselan.net]

https://www.google.co.uk/search?client= ... XoOsmlgcAN