Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Engine is ready to go back in, I have new throw out sleeve and bearing and slave.

Any tips or things to watch out for when doing this for the first time?

Thanks and hope everyone is having a good Saturday.

Clean the splines,check centre plate of clutch slides nicely,and fitted the correct way, slightly grease spigot bush and clean spigot part of first motion shaft.

p.faurie wrote:Clean the splines,check centre plate of clutch slides nicely,and fitted the correct way, slightly grease spigot bush and clean spigot part of first motion shaft.

Thanks - so pretty straight forward then?

i would carefully inspect the spigot bush/bearing for wear and spec. Given the condition of the first motion shaft with rust and dirt i would be concerned that the bush is ovaled or overbore. In any case no one wants to have to go back later if the bearing dies.

There are some thrust bearings out there that fail in a short amount of miles. They have a particular number on them that identifies them. I have forgotten what it is. Others will know. I believe there was a lengthy thread on here about it. The usual suspects had these. I believe the word got out about them, but who knows.
The thrust bearing sits on the carrier sleeve by a very small amount. The poor ones have an internal chamfer that makes this contact area even less. As a consequence they can spin and come adrift.
If others could chime in.
Mike

I made a short video which is on YouTube when I put mine back in. Gearbox angle upwards helps. I'd also make sure the shaft end is clean and slightly lubricated to fit the spigot bearing without resistance, lastly a couple of dowels helps locate the engine

Steve

In addition to the comments about the rust on the first motion shaft end i would also have a good look at that Thrust bearing. It has surface rust and it may be ok, but spin it ,and listen to what it sounds and feels like. If in doubt I would change it. You don't want to be taking the engine out again just because of a noisy thrust bearing.

Alan.

miked wrote:There are some thrust bearings out there that fail in a short amount of miles. They have a particular number on them that identifies them. I have forgotten what it is. Others will know. I believe there was a lengthy thread on here about it. The usual suspects had these. I believe the word got out about them, but who knows.
The thrust bearing sits on the carrier sleeve by a very small amount. The poor ones have an internal chamfer that makes this contact area even less. As a consequence they can spin and come adrift.
If others could chime in.
Mike

The poor quality thrust bearings have no identification marks and have a brass inner sleeve and appear to be the only ones routinely available, you find they are made in India if you search hard enough. Name brand bearings will have the manufacturers name and bearing number. Unfortunately finding NOS name brand bearings or getting new quality ones is challenging as they are no longer routinely made by the major manufacturers.

You can however get them from here at a price !
https://www.orinocobearings.co.uk/bearings.html

cheers
Rohan

Attach sandwich plate to Block with String through bolt holes on Block to stop it getting in the way.
It locates on the Hollow Dowels.
Alan

Hi Rohan,
The ones we came across here in the uk (with many of the usual suspect) with the brass inner and the thin edge do have a number on. It is several years since we discussed these but i had 4 or 5 of these bad ones and knew the number off by heart at the time. I will ring my friend who took this further and see if i can get the number.

Cheers Mike

miked wrote:Hi Rohan,
The ones we came across here in the uk (with many of the usual suspect) with the brass inner and the thin edge do have a number on. It is several years since we discussed these but i had 4 or 5 of these bad ones and knew the number off by heart at the time. I will ring my friend who took this further and see if i can get the number.

Cheers Mike

The ones I have seen here have no number stamped just a sticker with the old RHP bearing number size on a plastic bag. But I have not bought these recently just got given some in return when I gave someone one of my stock of good NOS RHP bearings to get them out of trouble and they replaced it with one of these they bought

Maybe the Indian manufacturer has started putting numbers on them to look more legitimate

cheers
Rohan

May be stating the obvious but make sure the clutch plate is properly centred on the flywheel. If not it will be impossible to get the engine and transmission to marry up no matter how much jiggling you do!

Thank you for all of the responses and coaching.

I realized my input shaft seal was leaking so going to address that before anything gets put back together.

Thank you again gentlemen.

Don't forget the bottom left bolt to hold bellhousingg to gearbox needs to be sealed
Alan

Just to complete, my friend came back to me re thrust bearing.
I will see if i can mount the photos.

The number on the box of the FKC 6W-1 3/8. bearing is 408504 whereas the number etched/printed on the latest replacement bearing is 405804. All the right numbers but not necessarily in the right order as Eric Morcambe would say.