Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

I'm doing a complete inventory of all the parts I have for my +2 so I can create a bit of a plan for getting it back on the road so I went to inspect the rear suspension today and was surprised not to see the dreaded donuts I've head so many bad things about. I took a few photos of these axles, does anyone know what they are? I'm assuming they are aftermarket as they don't look like the donuts that I've seen before. But I'm new to the Lotus game, so I could be wrong

I took a few pics, hopefully they show enough of what they are. Thanks!

They look a little like Performance Unlimited apart from the facts that the inner U/J shaft looks a little Beefy and the outer U/J shaft looks a little Skinny...

John

Dave240 wrote:I'm doing a complete inventory of all the parts I have for my +2 so I can create a bit of a plan for getting it back on the road so I went to inspect the rear suspension today and was surprised not to see the dreaded donuts I've head so many bad things about. I took a few photos of these axles, does anyone know what they are? I'm assuming they are aftermarket as they don't look like the donuts that I've seen before. But I'm new to the Lotus game, so I could be wrong

Dave

They are of the sliding spline & U/J variety of aftermarket shafts and, as John has said, look similar to those that "Performance Unlimited" in the UK used to sell.

If you search for "sliding splines" the archive gives the following...

http://www.lotuselan.net/cgi-bin/search ... oom_sort=0

...where the relative merits of splines & UJ's versus the more recent CV joints have been discussed. The main issues (that others can advise on**) are lubrication and the maximum amount of suspension travel your shafts can tolerate (and how that travel may be restricted using some form of droop limiter).

(I had an attempt at a DIY conversion but had to abort it it once I understood the geometry involved )

HIH - Cheers Richard

Edit: ** particularly under track conditions that you are anticipating?

Be careful, some of us used to make our own: these were for my Elan Sprint, never as good as CV joints, however.

They are either sliding spline driveshafts which several suppliers have sold over the years but they also look rather like datsun linear bearing drive shafts which are very good in operation with no locking of the splines
Ian

Thanks everyone for the info. I used to own a few Datsuns, so I've asked some friends in the know and I believe that's what they are from! Now I just need to research if they will hold up to some track abuse.

Dave

If they are Datsun they will take all the abiuse amd more than a Twin cam can dish out, I used to rally a 1600 and other than driver error rarely failed to make it home in one piece.

Cheers

V