Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Evening All

I'm struggling to find what the size of the steering wheel bolt is, non of the sockets I have seem to fit!

Your assistance as always is appreciated.

Regards
Gareth

I am thinking that 3/4, or 19 mm will work.

Is it? if you mean the Steering wheel center nut mine is 28mm or some thing like that? might be mistaken but i'm fairly sure mine was was bigger than 19mm on my S4

Hi

Thanks both, yep I'm after the steering wheel centre nut.

Regards
Gareth

1. 1/16" ( 27mm)

I bought a 1and 1/16" socket on a car boot sale for 30 pence. Who else is going to buy that.

Eric in Burnley
S3SE DHC (engine going back in)

Yes, 1 1/16"
I just removed my steering wheel last week.

An apples and oranges situation: one chap speaking of thread size, other folks talking about across-flats sizes!

Perhaps my steering wheel nut is non original, I just removed the horn button, a 3/4" socket fits perfectly.

elancoupe wrote:Perhaps my steering wheel nut is non original, I just removed the horn button, a 3/4" socket fits perfectly.

Yes- 3/4" thread, 1_1/16th across flats!

elansprint71 wrote:

elancoupe wrote:Perhaps my steering wheel nut is non original, I just removed the horn button, a 3/4" socket fits perfectly.

Yes- 3/4" thread, 1_1/16th across flats!

No! "elancoupe" said a 3/4" socket fits. That isn't standard!!

Galwaylotus wrote:

elansprint71 wrote:

elancoupe wrote:Perhaps my steering wheel nut is non original, I just removed the horn button, a 3/4" socket fits perfectly.

Yes- 3/4" thread, 1_1/16th across flats!

No! "elancoupe" said a 3/4" socket fits. That isn't standard!!

Actually elancoupe said "I am thinking that 3/4, or 19 mm will work."

My guess is he was thinking of a 3/4 BSW socket (which is actually about 1-1/4" across flats) what he should, perhaps, have said was 5/8" BSW, which is 1-1/16" across flats and fits perfectly. My error was to repeat the 3/4" rather than checking. I have no idea what he meant by suggesting 19mm.
My excuse- I dealt only with SI units during the formative years of my Engineering career, our parent company was Philips, based in Holland.

It was only later that I came across the dog's breakfast of English "Standard" threads: BS Whitworth, BS Unified National Fine, BS Unified National Coarse, BS Unified National Extra Fine, Bristish Standard Pipe (both tapered and parallel) British Association, British Standard Fuel, British Standard Buttress, British Standard Brass, British Standard Cycles (all three types), British Microscopical Society, BS Aerospace... don't even go there they have their own book, Medical Bone Standard, Fire Hydrant Standard... gasp... now the American "Standards" all measured in inches........

It seems an unlikely circumstance that our original poster has a steering column with a turned-down end section with under-sized thread. Has anyone else come across this?

Happily-retired Chartered Mechanical Engineer, btw.

Ummm, errr, where to go with this......

I am not an engineer, don't know what BSW is, don't really care.

I do know that I have fixed cars for a living for 40 years, and have enough tools to sink a battleship. In this case, I reached for my 3/8 ratchet set, and used the socket with 3/4 marked on it. And, as most who work on cars will already know, a metric socket with 19mm marked on it will work as well. Galwaylotus is right on the mark......

In any case, sorry if I gave the OP incorrect info.

You need these,



Every engineer and draftsman would have one in his pocket back in the day.

Jon the Chief

oldchieft wrote:You need these,

IMG_1411.jpg

Every engineer and draftsman would have one in his pocket back in the day.

Jon the Chief

Still use mine, does not have the string loop though- do you keep yours in the "bathroom"?