Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Getting down to details now.

I can’t get my oil dipstick inserted properly because it fouls the alternator mounting bracket.

Anyone else run into this using one of the new alternator kits?

Thanks!

Mine lightly touches the alternator bracket (RDent kit) but I can still insert/pull it out. Sorry!

MrBonus wrote:Mine lightly touches the alternator bracket (RDent kit) but I can still insert/pull it out. Sorry!

Good morning an no need to be sorry about anything, I suppose I can lightly bend the dipstick to allow clearance. Just curious if this was a "thing" or if I'm just special.

Wait - don't answer that.

No - you are special!! No problem this side of the pond.

Yes! And I fixed it by slightly rearranging the way the bracket is mounted. Please stand by for a photo.

I didn't like the way the turnbuckle was at an angle & how close it was to the dipstick, so I made a new bracket & moved the turnbuckle to attach to this bracket. See the attached pictures for info.

My approach was basically to move the spacer at the bottom to the top, incidentally placing the strut at a less perpendicular angle to the alternator axis which I see as nothing but an esthetic issue. If I remember correctly, I had to shorten the spacer a little to keep strut angle within the bounds set by the rose joints. I also bent the dipstick to the rear a little but I don't believe that was necessary strictly for clearance; it was more for ease of access relative to the surrounding objects.

Does it make any sense to move the bracketry to the rear of the front cover and to the rear of the alternator attachment points?

John

I could be wrong but from memory I don’t think the rear plane of the chain case is anywhere near in line with the rear of the alternator pivot bolt. But If so you could probably accomodate the difference with a tubular spacer on the bolt behind the chain case.

Skip, I think we have discussed this before, but I had similar issues & having to put together stacks of washers so the turnbuckle clears the dip stick & alternator is a complete bodge; that's whjy I designed my own bracketry.

Please see https://lotuselan.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=38341 for details, happy to provide details & drawings to those interested.

Very helpful discussions gentlemen, and yes, when I asked before I wasn't thinking about the dipstick. I'll get this sorted with this input.

Hope everyone is having a good week so far.