Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

These flat plates are jubilee clipped onto the rear upright tubes on my late '72 S130. Apart from carrying the brake pipe do they have a specific function?

I wondered if they were an anti-flail device in case of rotoflex failure? Are they factory fit?

In that case, since the car is being upgraded to TTR driveshafts, are they now surplus to requirement since the tube still has the original brake pipe fitting (albeit flattened, but I'm sure I can resurrect them!)

I don't think they are factory fitted, too far from the driveline centreline to act as anti-flail devices.

I have no idea what they are for; the studs mount to something......

They're original and they are the mounting brackets for rear brake dirt shields. My car had them too but I can't recall ever seeing the dirt shields fitted.

mikealdren wrote:They're original and they are the mounting brackets for rear brake dirt shields. My car had them too but I can't recall ever seeing the dirt shields fitted.

+1 My plus two had these and the dust shields in a box when i got it

cheers
Rohan

Spot on. Just refitted mine and they have the now unused fixings for the dirt shields.

Andrewelan wrote:

lotus 1.jpg

These flat plates are jubilee clipped onto the rear upright tubes on my late '72 S130. Apart from carrying the brake pipe do they have a specific function?

I wondered if they were an anti-flail device in case of rotoflex failure? Are they factory fit?

In that case, since the car is being upgraded to TTR driveshafts, are they now surplus to requirement since the tube still has the original brake pipe fitting (albeit flattened, but I'm sure I can resurrect them!)

Like you, having never seen these before, asked the same question! Apparantly they were fitted following brake disc or pad wear that was put down to them being inboard.

I agree with you that they are the most cackhanded addition, and as you point out held on with puny 2BA setscrews into P clips! Many of the answers I got were to ditch them. I will keep an eye on brake wear and if it happens, I am sure I can make up some GRP covers that are a lot better than the metal plates..

Many years ago I bought some genuine upper dirt shields from my local Lotus dealer.
The pictures show these still unused but now powder coated complete with 10-32 UNF fixings ready for my restoration to be completed.....
I don't plan at the moment to fit the lower shields to the wishbones even if I had any!
There can't be many of these left, so hope these are of interest for reference.

Regards
Gary

Maybe it would have been better to galvanise. They get a lot of water and stay wet. Powder coat coat will crack then water will creep inside and rust very fast.
Alan

Thanks for these responses. Don't think rear pad or disc wear is an issue for most Elans today, but as you say Gary, an interesting item for the purist resto car. Mine's intended as a fun runabout with less concern for perfect appearance (so will be anything but restoration grade!)

Cheers

PS If anyone wants these shield mounts they're welcome to them for the cost of the postage, 'cos they're not going back on.....

Here they are on a federal, 73 plus 2S 130 that doesn’t really go out in the rain or on gravel roads so doesn’t have to deal with those things, but I believed they were just part of the pedestrian safety thing, much like the Nader nuts so that peoples’ pants didn’t get caught up in a drive-by. Gordon Sauer

My shields were fitted when I got the car and removed for TTR conversion. They're taking up space in the garage now but will probably be binned at some point.

Just wondered if these actuallly work? I have two chassis one acquired to replace the seriously rusty one and both have damage to the rear cross member behind where the differential sits. I have no certtainty as to the cause of the damage but exploding or at the least flailing doughnuts would cause this sort of damage.

I'll bend back whatever is left and weld it together but replacing the upper doughnuts at the very least with CV jopints would seem sensible.

Be interested to know if others have similar damage?

I have similar damage and repaired brake mount...

My car is late 73 so assume it had fail safe joints that didn't save the damage. It came like this and with set of CV shafts fitted.

As others have posted, those are dust/dirt shields for the rear brakes and nothing to do with stopping the driveshafts from flailing. There's another recent post with a photo of an anti-flail driveshaft FWIW...