Lotoclone Follow On................

PostPost by: mark030358 » Tue Feb 08, 2005 10:55 am

Gents,
Now having removed the bolts, I am ready to refit. However, when I look at the space between the spring abutment plate and the lotoclone flanges there is a gap of maybe 10 to 12 mmmm. So, why can't I just fit a regular bolt instead of the ones with the turned down head size? Is this due to flex? I would have thought that this would be too much flex in the lotoclone.
cheers
Mark
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PostPost by: type36lotus » Tue Feb 08, 2005 12:22 pm

Hmmm, I used regular bolts with mine and have had no problems. Did not know there were "special" ones.
Mike Geiger
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PostPost by: patrics » Wed Feb 09, 2005 8:55 am

Hi Mark,
You have to assemble the strut / spring on the car - so you bolt the Lotocone up first then pull the damper piston rod up whilst working in the car - right pain.
2 1/4 spring conversion sorts this out - can then be assembled off the car as a whole unit.

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Steve
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PostPost by: sotul86 » Wed Feb 09, 2005 3:25 pm

Hi in my case I also had thinner heads on my bolts. but I replaced them with regular ones and the inner ones I replaced with hexagon socket head cap screws,
Because of the reinforcment of tower there wasn?t any space left for hexagon screws.
Johan
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PostPost by: tdafforn » Wed Feb 09, 2005 3:58 pm

I asked the very same question of the guys at Paul Matty sports cars, and they're answer was just that the thing headed screws where what you should use. They would not be drawn as to why this was, and just looked at me in a knowing way!
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Tim
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PostPost by: type26owner » Wed Feb 09, 2005 4:08 pm

I dimly remember pondering this wayback and concluded that at full deflection the elastomer can be abraded against the taller head of the bolts. If that happens then the elastomer has a place to start tearing apart because there is then a stress riser present. Having the top the strut come loose when cornering at 10/10ths would be bad. It could be just my frequently faulty memory though too. :(

Betcha they found this out the hard way and applied a kludge to fix it.

Also because of this deflection effect I suspect using polyurethane or anything other then the rubber bushings on lower suspension arm is just asking for the strut to be overconstrained and break apart from the additional stress of spirited driving.
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PostPost by: sotul86 » Fri Feb 11, 2005 2:20 pm

Opps did forget to mention that I have smaller diameter springs in the back so it isn?t so tight like the original.

see picture..before reinforcening

Image
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PostPost by: type26owner » Fri Feb 11, 2005 3:35 pm

Check the rubber bits going on your cars carefully. The quality is dodgy frequently. Any nicks or gouges in the rubber surface should set off alarm bells on a critical component such as the lotocone. Also carefully examine the bonded area of all new components. It can be defective and actually be loose in places but appear to be okay until you tug on it and a gap appears. The normal rubber bushings that get inserted in the suspension are of the lower quality variety. The rubber is NOT bonded to the outer shell. So when you tighten up the suspension bolts it does not matter it will rotate around to lower the shear stresses. This type of bushing has a shorter lifetime though. Cut some apart like I've done and you'll find this out too. Not sure if there are different brands of bushing available out there in Lotusland. Mine come from DBE.
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