Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Counting my lucky stars.

Couple of months ago I changed all brake pads. Ever since I've had a soggy brake pedal so I thought I'd investigate as I had trouble retracting one of the rear caliper pistons at the time. So jacked it all up and started taking the caliper off. Got underneath and discovered this....

Anyone in the UK got a set of Plus 2 CV driveshafts going begging at a knock-down price
Just asking.....

Following on from the above, does anyone have any views as to the pros and cons of the Tony Thomson / Paul Matty hardy-spicer type driveshafts versus the Kelvedon CV types?
Bear in mind that this is a road-car and I've only covered 5000 miles or so in the past 3 years.
I'd be grateful for anyone's words of wisdom...

I have Hardy Spicer type drive shafts in mine-they have been there since the sixties-I find them to be fine for road driving. I think they probably encourage you to drive more smoothly to eliminate any shock in the drive line-and that has to be a good thing...
I did have a problem when racing with these type of shafts but that won't come up in road driving.

U/Js don't work too well in the Elans but in the Plus2s they're fine , if you have them with grease nipples installed check the yokes for indentations to accept them...

John

We fitted Tony Thompson UJ drive shafts to our Plus 2 and they've been really good over the past few years. They are not as soft feeling as the doughnuts but they do not feel harsh or snatchy. It's nice to have well engineered connections back there and not have to worry about failure. They are beautifully made. When the parcel arrived I was so impressed I laid them out on the floor to photograph them as I was sad they were going to be hidden under the car!

Fitted Spyder double CVs to the Plus 2 many years ago.

Bombproof !

I have splined/UJ drive shafts on my car and found them to be absolutely fine but you will need to restrict the downward movement of the wishbone either by using different shocks or attaching steel cables. I believe that apart from keeping the costs down the other reason for the doughnuts was to allow the drive shaft to move laterally.

William2 wrote:I have splined/UJ drive shafts on my car and found them to be absolutely fine but you will need to restrict the downward movement of the wishbone either by using different shocks or attaching steel cables. I believe that apart from keeping the costs down the other reason for the doughnuts was to allow the drive shaft to move laterally.

Correct! The donuts take up both the angular motion and the axial "plunge" as the suspension moves through its travel. The splines on the UJ shafts provide the same function.

Regards,
Dan

The problem with splines is that they can provide drive or plunge but have difficulty providing both at the same time-in racing this is a serious problem. The BRM V16 Grand Prix car had splined driveshafts-as it was accelerated through a corner and down the straight the car would maintain the lean it had taken in the corner until the driver changed gear, at which point the pause in power would allow the spline to slide and the car to straighten-roller splines were fitted to correct the situation (Doug Nye). On the Series 1 Lotus 26R the driveshafts were 'normal' splines but roller spline drive shafts were fitted to the S2 because of this problem. The Datsun 240z has nice roller spline drive shafts that could probably be adapted...

john.p.clegg wrote:U/Js don't work too well in the Elans but in the Plus2s they're fine , if you have them with grease nipples installed check the yokes for indentations to accept them...

John

John,

I have run 3 different road Road Elans with them without problems. Including Zetec. I like them. As you say, keep them greased. I can understand racing issues as described by David.
Mike

I have 3 Elans.My restored SS has Sprint donuts and the pre-airflow coupe I'm restoring will get the Sprint donuts I had put on it back just before I took it off road.

My 3rd Elan has all the Ser 2 -26R bits, so it has the complete crossed roller "splines" and the correct output diff shafts and stub axle shafts and matching brake discs. I have never driven this car on either street or track as I need to restore it before I do. Its day on the rack is getting closer.

I will need either 26R front flairs and short bumper or a 26R nose w/ the flairs built in. Anyone able to help????

Roger

frogeyesimon wrote:Counting my lucky stars.

Couple of months ago I changed all brake pads. Ever since I've had a soggy brake pedal so I thought I'd investigate as I had trouble retracting one of the rear caliper pistons at the time. So jacked it all up and started taking the caliper off. Got underneath and discovered this....

Anyone in the UK got a set of Plus 2 CV driveshafts going begging at a knock-down price
Just asking.....

Could i ask how old the Doughnuts are
I can see they are the Sprint type
Alan

Alan, simple answer is that I don't know. They were on the car when I bought it 3 years ago and I have only done about 5k miles in it since. They haven't been "out-of-sight, out-of-mind" by any means, I had checked their condition regularly.
The biggest surprise to me was the fact that there were absolutely no symptoms whatsoever. No clonks, no vibration, nothing and the damaged coupling could have been in that state for several weeks.

I have now fitted some Tony Thomson solid shafts. This was an easy-ish diy, probably took me about 3-4 hours in total including the removal of the old components.
Only done a dozen or so miles on the new shafts but very pleased with the transformation. No surging, just nice smooth power delivery.

frogeyeSimon: Good to hear you have it sorted out!

Elan45: Curtiss Unlimited fibreglass in California do 26R fenders-I am planning on ordering a full set. Perhaps we should combine orders to make it more attractive for them?
Anybody else interested?

Now we have totally derailed this thread!!

Well done Simon and count your lucky stars with the broken doughnut
Alan