Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

There are two thin steel plates sandwitched between the engine and gearbox, I only have the bottom one which must be there to keep road debris out of the clutch but what is the purpose of the top one? Can I miss it out as I do not have one?
Thanks in anticipation.

I'd use both. From memory the lower one (which you have) is held in position at the top by sliding into the upper one. The upper one also prevents the clutch slave cylinder from rotating, as it locates against the flat of the cylinder.

If you mean a vertical thin plate at the rear of the engine block, between it and the bulkhead, then that is part of the radio suppression kit. Quite rare to find original plates, let alone kits, these days.

You don't 'need' to have it fitted. Unless you plan on religiously suppressing the engine, in which case you will need the other elements of the kit, a shield for the distributor and a cover for the spark plug well. Good luck finding them!

Tim

No Tim, I think Robert has it right, in that Normand wants the large top plate that fits between the engine and box.

As Roberts says, you cannot miss it out, at least I wouldn't. They are not to difficult to find, and if you list your location, someone on here might well have one. Might even have one myself, but I do not think I would want to send one out of the country, due to size and shape.

Leslie

Hi Kurt,

Bring your list with you when you decide to visit as I should have a spare back plate, if not it would not be hard to make a pattern
from the few I have with cars. I do have a few spare parts laying about.

Mark

I think they are usually refered to as sandwich plates.

I would have thought any Kent engine one suitable, like this for example: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ford-escort-mk1-or-2-x-flow-engine-to-box-sandwich-plate-/281055311551?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item417033b6bf&_uhb=1

but not sure .... Can someone confirm...

The plates are important as they align the starter motor with the flywheel correctly - without these you risk a bad mesh of starter motor gear with flywheels ring gear which results in damaging the teeth of either or both.

They're not hard to get hold of as they were fitted to Mk1 and Mk2 Cortinas.

pharriso wrote:I would have thought any Kent engine one suitable, like this for example: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ford-escort-mk1-or-2-x-flow-engine-to-box-sandwich-plate-/281055311551?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item417033b6bf&_uhb=1
but not sure .... Can someone confirm...

The Crossflow plate is not the same, the starter is on the other side and you cannot just reverse the plate.

This is the type you need (no connection to me)
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ford-pre-xflo ... 3f21d52228

I wouldn?t like to be without the plates, they are keeping the outside world with all of its nastiness out of the bell housing. Still available new from the usual suspects.

Mark

It also sets the distance between the gearbox and the engine so
-depth of input shaft into spigot brg
- clutch position on input shaft
- Release bearing take-up point
- position of gearbox relative to chassis
- length of propshaft

The plate is there as bolting the 2 machined and hard / brittle cast iron faces together could lead to cracking without the softer plant between them to act as a cushion. As people say removing it then leads to whole lot of problems with the dimensions of the overall assembly.

cheers
Rohan

Normand,

As an aside, can you tell me and anyone else who noticed, why your location varies between the fog on the Tyne and the USA. Yesterday, at one point, you showed no location, then it showed as the USA, and this morning, it shows as T & W, UK. Whats going on there?

Err, forget that, I am getting you confused with Nomad!!!!!!!!!!!!!! An easy mistake to make to make, as they are different words, spelt differently, and pronounced differently!!!!!!!!

In the top pic that Mark posted, that is the plate that you say you have, you may not be aware, that on the large curved part that abuts the sump, there should be a foam gasket, bent up and over either side of the plate, that stops the ingress of road dirt and water. It does not appear to be there in the picture.

Leslie

Thank you all very much for you informative replies,now I know what I am looking for and where to look,I am sure I'll need much more help in the future as I am just starting restoration of a S3/4 FHC , I'm in Washington ,Tyne and Wear,UK Thanks again Norman.

I see that some of the sandwich plates shown are for three bolt starters and others for two bolt starters. I believe the original is a 2 bolt arrangement. Since the hole for the unused third bolt sticks out and is close the the frame, you may want to cut that bit off.
Regards
Richard