Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

A while ago I bought a pair of front uprights from one of our members here.

They have been painted and the paint even goes throughout the shaft taper and the ball joint taper.

Should I get that paint out with paint remover and also lap in the shaft taper when I come to use them?

I don't think ball joint tapers need lapping do they? I've never hard of that being done.

I would scrape the paint out and fit the joints as is. I didn't bother lapping mine when I fitted them. The stresses on these tapered joints are not like the rear axle joint has to deal with.

Worry more about the threaded kingpin that goes onto the brass trunnions. Any machining or putting marks at the base of the thread (closest to the hub) may result in weakness at this most stressed of areas. My uprights are new and there are machine marks in the thread which I'm unhappy about, but I'd already returned one set and the new ones were just as bad. In the end I fitted them, as they are definitely better than the rusty old things I took out.

I wouldn't lap track rod end tapers if I ever wanted to get them apart again!