Odd-ball gearbox?

[Quart Meg Miles]

Just got my gearbox back from Miles Wilkins, for bearing changes that I didn't have time to do, and he claimed that he and Ian had never seen one with that type of rear mounting casting. The stack of bits connecting it to the chassis looks like a bodge. Does anyone have an explanation or a similar box and bits?

The bracket in the 2nd photo has been ground down in places, isn't the same width as the rubber and the bolt is welded in. A plain nut holds it in the rubber of the later type (I think) mount and the bolt end is within millimeters of touching the chassis mounting bracket. This bracket has had some top flanges crudely ground off and extra holes drilled to take the wider rubber part.

Things seemed a bit odd last year when I replaced the failed rubber but I had only had the box out once before, 30 years ago when I rebuilt it, and Miles and Ian had changed the chassis the year before that without noticing anything odd.

[rgh0]

Is the bracket cast with the gearbox or welded on ? It looks like an early gearbox tail housing which had a different mounting lug cast in has been modified with a new tail housing lug / bracket and an adapter to fit the later standard mount and chassis bracket. I think the early GB with the different mounting lug was only used on the S1's with a different chassis bracket and rubber mount but others will know.

cheers
Rohan

[promotor]

I've seen that setup before with early Elan's.
It was originally fitted to the Ford Consul Capri 1500gt, and Ford still supplied that style of cast tailcasing until the Anglia finished production in 1967. The fabricated parts were Lotus way of making it work in the chassis.
However, Ford produced the wedge shaped mount most people are used to with Elans in 1962 AFAIK so Lotus seem to have followed suit by using the wedge design soon after it was available. Not sure on exact dates for Lotus Elans but it has been covered on the forum previously somewhere I think.

It's likely that all the 3.5:1 wide-ratio gearboxes found in the very early Elans had the flat mount. Some Elan close ratio ie 2.5:1 gearboxes came with that flat style, and some came with the wedge arrangement - I've seen both types on the Elan close ratio gearboxes I've overhauled.

In line with Rohan, my feeling is it's only some S1 cars that had that flat face on the gearbox.

[SENC]

Looks the same as the CR box/tailshaft housing on my Seven. It also has the same 116E7651B casting number. Yours should have a date code on the opposite face.

[GLB]

My early Elan, unit no 0045 has this set up with C/R gear box. Gary

[vstibbard]

Both S1’s and our S2 seven have that tailhousing and mounting.

[Quart Meg Miles]

Thanks for all your responses. It seems remarkable that Miles didn't recognise it after a lifetime of changing chassis and rebuilding boxes.

The "foot" is cast in and the intermediate bracket fits it perfectly but is machined roughly to a constant width and only occupies a third of the rubber groove. The heavy bolt welded to the bracket nearly touches the cross mounting so I don't understand how my gearbox dropped down when the rubber failed many years ago. I can't see how the other rubber might have fitted.

Mine is a CR box and I forgot to photograph all the markings on it and it is now back in the car. As I'd had difficulty getting it out past the engine mounts with the clutch cover attached I worked out it would be easier to fit the box alone: I dropped it horizontally into the engine bay onto a simple trolley I had, wheeled it into the tunnel to fit the propshaft then jacked up the front and attached the cover. Success! Am having trouble fitting the cross member to the chassis as all the bolts and holes seem to be cross-threaded but two are in.

[2cams70]

Part number indicates it's original application was the Ford Consul Classic from the early 60's

[prezoom]

The close ratio box in my Plus2 has that style of gearbox mounting. To retain the later type rubber mount, I machined up a wedge of aluminum, like the mid close tail housing, and bolted in place. Only have to worry about one style of rubber mounting for both cars now.