Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

1owner69Elan wrote:Steve, would be interested to see what kind of clearance you have between the exhaust pipe and the bottom of the plate gearbox mount.

The mount supplied by Voigt is essentially a flat plate that bolts into the existing mount holes. The stock Elan gearbox mount is a "bridge" affair allowing clearance for a central exhaust pipe. The Voigt flat plate reduces the available clearance by ~1.5 inches (substantial) requiring the pipe to be under a plate that is bolted flush with the body/frame.Voigt on left:

IMG_5502.jpeg

Interesting...
Slight tangent, my Lotus 5 speed mount is very different to yours and is more plate like with two folded edges, because it isn't a bridge my TTR exhaust does sit lower and I have to take speed humps diagonally and slowly.

My large bore TTR pipe definitely will not fit under the plate (further exacerbated by the end folds extending downward). I would have to modify the exhaust and drop it down to clear. With the car already lower than stock, and further reducing ground clearance, I'm not sure that is the direction I want to go.

I'm inclined to look into adapting the stock gearbox bracket to the proper height for the Voigt T9 and thus regain some of the clearance that the flat plate removes. And thus, allow the exhaust pipe be tucked up in the central tunnel as in a stock configuration, and not causing a low hanging obstacle. Note that both the stock 4-speed and the Voigt 5-speed use the same gearbox saddle. The issue is to get the proper height of the gearbox saddle and in the right axial position.

It appears that I can achieve the proper positioning by turning the stock mount around and then using 3/4 inch spacers where it bolts to the frame to achieve the same gearbox saddle height as the Voigt plate (with its spacer). The two different mount plates already use the same mounting hole positions as well the same axial position for the saddle (if turned around). I have dry-fitted this solution and it appears to work. One can fine tune the height of the gearbox by the size of the spacers, later, but 3/4 inch appears to be very close.
Voigt plate on top of stock plate for comparison. Dramatic difference in clearance to an exhaust pipe. The two mounts align except for saddle height:

IMG_5512.jpeg

Spacer to place saddle at correct height:

IMG_5517.jpeg

I guess with a stock, small bore exhaust one can get by with the Voigt flat plate but the clearance really becomes problematic with a large bore setup.

So after all the machinations with modifying the Voigt mount plate with a leading edge fold (me) or making a cutout to clear the casting (Steve), I may not be using the Voigt plate after all. But, simply adapting the original mount.