Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Hi

I have stripped my steering rack ('68 Plus 2) and need a new rack bar and pinion. The supplier says that a Plus 2 has a 6 tooth pinion - but of course my Plus 2 has one with 7 teeth. (Note that the rack can accept either a 6 tooth or 7 tooth pinion - so the rack is no help here.)

Searching the archives, there is some discussion about turns lock to lock - and therefore pinion teeth numbers but no definitive answer on whether the Plus 2 was different from the Elan - or if this changed over time or not.

Does anyone have any information that could help?

Thanks

Richard

Yes 6 and 7 toothed pinion where available fo the Triumoph steering racks The Triumph GT6 had a 6 toothed pinion ad the Herald a 7 toothed pinion.
Have a good search in here
http://www.canleyclassics.com/?xhtml=xh ... d1360.html
Part numbers and models etc etc

Hi Everyone
I can say for definite that my '73 Plus 2S130 has a 6 tooth pinion and my '74 Europa Special has a 7 tooth pinion, otherwise the racks are identical. I assume the 2 seat Elan uses the same 7 tooth pinion as the Europa and I have a suspision early Plus 2s did too, however, I have no proof of this.

In my opinion the 6 tooth pinion on the Plus 2 makes the steering far too light and I believe it is this which has given rise to some owners complaining of a rather vague floaty feeling with the car.

It's my intention to try replacing the pinion on my Plus 2 with a 7 tooth when I get time, but the biggest problem doing this at the moment has been finding anyone who actually has one for sale

Regards
Andy

Andy

Thanks for this info.

You can get the bits from Kiley-Clinton in Birmingham:

http://www.steering-racks.co.uk/

Very helpful and they do stuff for Paul Matty (other than they proposed the 6 tooth pinion - but if their was a change later in production then that would explain things).

Richard

The +2 parts list (1976 edition) doesn't reflect any change points for the "steering unit assembly". Implies same used up to that date...whatever it was.

Cheers - Richard

Here is an interesting article regarding Triumph racks and mentioning no. of teeth.
http://www.tsoaq.org.au/technical-information/22.html

To move this forward, I would like to do a poll.

Could anyone who has a Plus 2 and could be bothered please reply with the approximate number of turns from lock to lock?

I am looking for answers to the nearest 1/4 of a turn or so. They should be in the range of 2.5 - 3.5. Telling us the model of Plus 2 would b useful as well.

Thanks.

Richard