Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

john.p.clegg wrote:Unless you like taking hump-back bridges at speed....

John

Even if you jump hump back bridges a thin stainless wire or light flexible strap is all you need as the load on the droop restraining system is very low. The damper controls the rate of descent and any shock loading. The ultimate static load at full droop is very low as the spring has very little load at that point.

The length of droop restraint required on an Elan with the typical CV system is small to avoid binding of maybe 30 mm. On a Plus 2 you normally don't need any droop restraint due to its wider suspension and thus lower drive shaft CV angles.

The angle a CV can adopt before binding varies between different CV's and you can get CV's that can handle the normal Elan suspension droop without special short strock shocks or droop restraint and i understand these are used by Col Croucher at Elan Trick Bits for his drive shafts. I dont know about what other suppliers use.

e.g. My understanding was that the CVs used on the VW Combi vans were of this higher angle type and could adopt greater angles than those used on the standard Beetle of the same era.

cheers
Rohan

Spyder fan wrote:

john.p.clegg wrote:Unless you like taking hump-back bridges at speed....

John

Visions of a Triumph Herald that did just that in front of me 30 years ago just went through my mind. It was like watching somebody clapping their hands. Dreadful mess had to be cleared up on the road as well as on the drivers seat.

Looked a bit like this but worse

As that famous road test said,
"Hark the Herald axles swing"....