Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

hi everybody
i just finished converting my RHD elan into a LHD one.
The fact is when driving at speed (60 mph or more), the car looses the diection, I mean, it begins going rightside or leftside like pushed with the wind.
Is it a wheel alligment problem? It does not happen constantly.
Is it a camber or castor angle adjustment problem?
Thanks in advance

gabrielymarta wrote:hi everybody
i just finished converting my RHD elan into a LHD one.
The fact is when driving at speed (60 mph or more), the car looses the diection, I mean, it begins going rightside or leftside like pushed with the wind.
Is it a wheel alligment problem? It does not happen constantly.
Is it a camber or castor angle adjustment problem?
Thanks in advance

Sounds like it might be a bump steer issue, and since you must have replaced the steering rack to effect the conversion, that's the first place I would look. There's a current thread on steering rack shims in the Elan forum, and as suggested there a search of the archives for "bump steer" should help you determine if that is, indeed, your problem.

After all, you didn't do ANYTHING that would alter the caster/camber, right? ALWAY go back to what you were just working on to first search for the problem, assuming the car didn't drift like you describe before you began the conversion.

Congrats on (almost) finishing the conversion.

Thanks Jim, I'll take a look at the forum

I would check toe in first of all.

Check the toe.

Check the bumpsteer. I did this with a ?3 laser pointer, a mirror taped to the brake back-plate, a board to hold successive strips 3" wide masking tape, on which repeated iterations were marked, and a little trigonometry. Toe will need to be re-checked after fitting the correct shims. Lots of info in the archives.

Transformed the directional stability.

Thanks everybody, I solved the problem addings some shims.
Thanksfully
Gabriel

gabrielymarta wrote:Thanks everybody, I solved the problem addings some shims.
Thanksfully
Gabriel

Glad to hear it!

I had scary instability under heavy braking and on fast uneven roads. I tried everything, bump steer, new suspension bushings, alignment, checked front shocks. Nothing worked. It turned out to be blown REAR shocks.
I just keep on learning.

Eric
64 S1

Hi Gabriel,
Congrats for the job !
I?m interested by your experience, my car is also a RHD and here in France, it?s fun to drive like this but a LHD would probably be more secure and overtakes will be easier.
I wonder I can do the same
So do you have any advice to give ? What are the parts you change ? where did you bought them ?
Thankfully
Franck