Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

I was stripping my chassis this weekend and had a bit of a problem with the centre lotocone bolts that are placed in with the head down and held in by a nut at the top.

The PO installed aftermarket universal joints to replace the old donuts. I don't have a photo, but basically there is a adapter plate sandwiched between the diff output shafts and the U-joints. I removed the U-joints but left the adapter plates bolted to the diff. The plates made it impossible to slide the centre locotone bolts down and out. After checking to see how expensive they were to replace, I decided to cut them off, rather than struggle to remove the adapter plates.

Now my question is, when I put everything back together, is there any danger to replacing the bolt upside down, so that the head is at the top? I'm sure it was designed the other way for a reason, but I'm not sure what harm this may cause if I flipped them.

Elan or +2?

in the plus two you cannot get them out once the body is on, the fuel tank is in the way.

ask me how I know..............

Sorry, the car is in fact a +2.

Well, I advise you leave them the way they are, the lesser PITA

Should the nuts be spot welded to the chassis?

If not, from what was said, I don't see how it helps to fit them from underneath.

I thought the same as Bill. Shouldn't they be spot welded to the chassis ?

Ken

I believe that they are spot welded on a Spyder chassis, but not on an original Lotus chassis (but I may be wrong )

I assume Dave means the diff mounts not the lotacones?

It is best the diff mounting bolts are installed with the nut on the top as the will enable you to remove the diff without removing the petrol tank,should the need arise. On a +2 that is. Is it that difficult to remove the U/J plate, it's only three bolts.
From my experience the lotacone mounting nuts are welded to the chassis on both Lotus and Spyder versions.
Cheers
John

Yes, I think some of us are talking about different things! For the record Lotocones are the rubber mounts at the top of the rear strut assemblies.

I think most of you are talking about Diff mounts?

elanman999 wrote:I assume Dave means the diff mounts not the lotacones?

It is best the diff mounting bolts are installed with the nut on the top as the will enable you to remove the diff without removing the petrol tank,should the need arise. On a +2 that is. Is it that difficult to remove the U/J plate, it's only three bolts.
From my experience the lotacone mounting nuts are welded to the chassis on both Lotus and Spyder versions.
Cheers
John

That's for clarifying that John, you are correct. They are the diff mount bolts. Thanks for the lesson, I'm still learning!

That makes sense. I've never seen my +2 with a fuel tank in it, so I wouldn't have figured it out. Looks like I'll remove the adapter plates and mount the bolts upside down as Lotus intended! Thanks for all the responses!