Rear brake caliper casting number

[jabingb]

I'm confused by the casting number on the rear calipers, they have an "LH" and an "RH" embedded in the numbering scheme but they seem to be reversed, LH appears to go on the right side and visa versa. Were the calipers perhaps originally used on some different vehicle that might explain this anomaly?

And while I'm at it, a question about the diff, would it be wise to add the diff angle brace that seems to be popular, now's the time to do it, don't want to snap an ear off the magnesium back housing?

[StressCraxx]

I never noticed the rh/lh marks on the castings. I always pulled one off at a time so I had an example to look at on the other side of the car when I rebuilt them.

As for the reinforcing bracket for the Diff ears, absolutely yes. Chunky never put anything on his cars that wasn't needed...

[elancoupe]

Now is definitely the time for the diff brace, especially with the body off. IIRC, the diff must be in situ like the pic, and then the brace slipped in, and the number of washers adjusted to allow for the brace thickness.

[512BB]

Or even no washers depending on the diff to chassis clearance, just the brace. When I drop the diff down, I place a piece of cardboard on the chassis to save it scuffing up.

Leslie

[rgh0]

With the calipers mounted on the inside of the struts rather than the outside which was the conventional arrangement, the dimensions and hose and bleed connections suit them being reversed I think. Not sure what other cars they were used on and the mounting arrangements on these but someone will know.

cheers
Rohan

[Elan45]

The Climax powered Elite originally used the aluminum AR and NR calipers, but I believe late in a cost cutting move changed to iron calipers, which were later used on the Elan. And the Elite had inboard rear brakes with fixed length half shafts. Perhaps this is how it came to be. I can't remember whether the Elite had the rear calipers mounted in front of the halfshafts or behind. The Eleven had the calipers mounted towards the front, but I've never owned an Elite

Roger

[AussieJohn]

Going back nearly 50 years I have a feeling that the rear calipers were used on a Fiat 2300.

[jabingb]

The Climax powered Elite originally used the aluminum AR and NR calipers, but I believe late in a cost cutting move changed to iron calipers, which were later used on the Elan. And the Elite had inboard rear brakes with fixed length half shafts. Perhaps this is how it came to be. I can't remember whether the Elite had the rear calipers mounted in front of the halfshafts or behind. The Eleven had the calipers mounted towards the front, but I've never owned an Elite

Roger

Roger,
I believe that's the answer with the Elite positioning them in front of the axle and the Elan aft, requiring the swap of LH to RH, thx.
Jerry

[nigelrbfurness]

I seem to recall seeing a Fiat Topolino with rear calipers that looked remarkably similar to those on Elans. Assuming I wasn't dreaming, that is.

[tvr78]

You have to put your lefthandside driveshaft in line ,the two uj ‘s must be opposed to each other at 45 degrees otherwise you will get a nasty vibration .cheers

[JJ66]

Hi there TVR78, well spotted, I was about to say the same thing. However, should they not be 90 degrees opposed? 45 degrees may set some interesting vibrations also?

[alan.barker]

Hi there TVR78, well spotted, I was about to say the same thing. However, should they not be 90 degrees opposed? 45 degrees may set some interesting vibrations also?

Sorry but NO, the left Drive Shaft should be inline like the correctly assembled right Drive Shaft.
Have a look at the Prop Shaft on your Car which will be inline.
Alan

[JJ66]

Hmm, OK, I stand corrected. I had thought that yokes created an imbalance and so had to be neutralised by offset alignment when two were used. I used to run Rallye Imps and they had one doughnut and one spider/yoke which was an imperfect solution due to the throw from the articulating yoke. Anyway, thanks for correcting! Jonathan

[JJ66]

Something I can be sure ( ) of is the positioning of the calipers on an Elite, please see attached a rather nice picture page from an old Girling catalogue that I have, showing that the Elite caliper is indeed forward of the axle:

See also attached the part number detail for the Elite:

[JJ66]

Hello all, further info on this subject, apologies if I'm boring you now

See attached pic from the Girling manual:

You can see that the caliper has a one piece housing and the screw in end plug, so it must be the aluminium (aluminum for our friends across the water) version. The part number is shown as 64032612-3, which would normally mean that '2612 was LH and '2613 was RH (Girling numbering was generally written as LH/RH where LH is the lower number).

Looking at a newer catalogue, the caliper assembly numbers are shown as 64032276-7, and this is the later cast iron housing which ran right through to end of Elan production. However, the interesting point to make is that for the Elan and Elan +2 the rear caliper numbers are quoted as 64032277-6, which confirms that the hands are switched, see below:

It wasn't common place for Girling to cast LH or RH into cast housings but I guess its not beyond the realms of possibility for something specialised like this. Certainly the parts catalogues back up all the comments made by everyone above quite nicely. Regards, Jonathan