Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Front calipers came off easily, rears were a bit more reluctant but both Salt Lake came out clean.

Any tips on disconnecting the parking brake?

Anything look a amiss back here?

Thanks!

On my Elans, the clevis end of the rod from the swivel was held to the lever arm of the caliper with a 10-32 screw and nut. Then push the screw out of the clevis and the parking brake is released.

I noticed that your rear struts look like +2 struts with the extra mount for the the transition from steel tube to hose. I thought your Elan was a S2?

You will want an internal pipe wrench to remove the almost certainly very stuck pistons. I can't remember whether the size is 3/4 or 1 inch. I bought a set of 4 sizes off ebay.

Roger

As Roger says, it is just a small bolt to remove; but after such a long time you may have to saw the head or nut off and tap it out.

If you dismantle the tree at the other end of the pull rods I recommend reaming them to a bigger round size if they are at all oval then smother them with grease. It cured my handbrake problems and I haven't had any trouble for thirty years.

Elan45 wrote:On my Elans, the clevis end of the rod from the swivel was held to the lever arm of the caliper with a 10-32 screw and nut. Then push the screw out of the clevis and the parking brake is released.

I noticed that your rear struts look like +2 struts with the extra mount for the the transition from steel tube to hose. I thought your Elan was a S2?

You will want an internal pipe wrench to remove the almost certainly very stuck pistons. I can't remember whether the size is 3/4 or 1 inch. I bought a set of 4 sizes off ebay.

Roger

Good morning Roger, thanks for the response. My Elan is a ?69 DHC so if those are +2 struts the car has been fiddled with.

Any issues or advantages in running the +2 struts (if that is what they turn out to be, need to get researching).

Thanks for the eyes on it!

Quart Meg Miles wrote:As Roger says, it is just a small bolt to remove; but after such a long time you may have to saw the head or nut off and tap it out.

If you dismantle the tree at the other end of the pull rods I recommend reaming them to a bigger round size if they are at all oval then smother them with grease. It cured my handbrake problems and I haven't had any trouble for thirty years.

Thanks!

Take care not to lose the little reducer bush when you remove the pull rod clevis from the caliper lever .. essential if the handbrake is to work properly.

My S4 also has the brake hose mounting bracket on the strut although it's not used .. Flexi hose runs from chassis bracket direct to caliper .. so I don't think it necessarily means you have +2 struts.

oldelanman wrote:Take care not to lose the little reducer bush when you remove the pull rod clevis from the caliper lever .. essential if the handbrake is to work properly.

Apologies for my omission as I hadn't realised they were standard and had had a pair of bushes made specially for me in 1973 thinking that the lever had worn badly! They must have been lost years before; but the hand brake still didn't work until I reamed and repinned the inner clevises many years later!

Thanks for the follow up and clarification.

Going to try and get the rear calipers off this week.

Still need to decide on rebuild / replace on the calipers themselves .

oldelanman wrote:My S4 also has the brake hose mounting bracket on the strut although it's not used .. Flexi hose runs from chassis bracket direct to caliper .. so I don't think it necessarily means you have +2 struts.

Agree - my S4 has the brackets on the struts, too.

tdskip wrote:Thanks for the follow up and clarification.

Going to try and get the rear calipers off this week.

Still need to decide on rebuild / replace on the calipers themselves .

It?s almost impossible to find rear calipers , best to blast or dip the existing units. Add stainless pistons and new seals and you will be fine for years.

Thanks for the all of the responses.