Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Sorry Moderators - should this be in the Brakes tech section rather than general discussions? if so apologies and feel free to move it.


So, with the lockdown still going and my discovery of the somewhat ineffiecient handbrake on the running Plus 2
I thought I'd refresh the mechanism. Nice and simple job, jack up one side of the car, wheel off and have a little dismantle, clean up the parts reassemble with some new bits and some original parts and some copperslip grease and Bobs your uncle.
So I ordered new tie rods, nuts and clips, new handbrake tie end bushes and a few other odds and sods - unfortunately SJS din't have the clevis pins but hey I thought, it'll be fine at worst a bit of a clean up.

And I thought while I was at it I'd give the lower wishbones and the shock tube a coat of paint as they were a bit rusty. What could possibly go wrong.... - some pictures to follow

So after an hour of so I took the LHS caliper off. Why - well take a look at these:


A nasty rusty mess and note the extra nut on the tie rod



Another view from above - note the caliper bolt washers are distorted. doh.



And finally on the bench - the Pivot pins came out easily, using the centralising strip mounting bolt to pull them out - screw in the bolt, grip the head in a vice and gentrly tap the caliper body to draw out the pin, releasing the mechanism. Note the bady corroded clevis pins - more fun to follow....
I also noticed there were no bushes for the hand brake clevis pin on the top of the hand brake lever - lucky i'd ordered two....

And I'll continue on the Brakes section as this will get technical...

This now running in the brakes section......