Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Hi All,

I have a Plus 2S which I have never had the original steering wheel. I have recently purchased a Springall 15” wheel supposedly from a plus 2. It does look identical to pictures i have of Plus 2S models. Black anodised spokes and a black boss that doesn’t take the original lucas Lotus hornpush. Is the centre piece on later wheels a hornpush? The boss i have doesn’t have a hole right through for the pencil. I have a column with 2 stalks triumph style with small triangular tips. All the pics I have seen are these stalks and the later wheel. So what is the button for the horn?


Best regards
Mark

A picture would help

My 71 +2s has a central horn button but my 74 Europa TCS has the horn on the end of the turn signal / high beam stalk. Otherwise the wheels and spokes look the same. Gary

Thanks for the replies. I got a similar answer over on the Facebook group, but as Gus said a pic would have helped here. It seems i do have the correct wheel but i am missing the electrical contact ring with a spring arm that brushes the horn ring. I will look out for the correct parts (i waited 30 years so whats a bit longer). If not i will add a button in the style of the fog/spot flash to operate the horn. Europa.org led me to a nice pic of the multi function stalk. It was said that the plus 2 had this in later times but i have only seen pics with the 2 thin stalks. I will post a pic of what i have got anyway.

Best regards
Mark

This is what I have

P.s. thanks mods for moving thread to the appropriate forum area.

That is the same wheel that my very modified plus 2 was fitted with. It has late Triumph stalks with the horn button on the stalk but this was a mod as my car is a 1969 pre ‘S’.

Horn push should be in centre.
My August 1973 +2S130/4 had Horn Push centre of Wheel.
Alan

The electrical contact ring is attached to the steering column not the wheel. Looks like you need:-
Circular electrical contact ring for the column.
Pencil that goes through the steering wheel to rub on the contact ring.(looks on your wheel that the hole could be drilled for this)
Horn Push, either yellow/green or black depending on year, for the centre of the steering wheel.

Alan.

I've done a little digging. What you (and I) have is a late Twin Cam Europa steering wheel, which does not have the horn press or pencil fitted as the last Europa's used the later Triumph switches with the horn press on the stalk. The wheel is drilled for the pencil, and your steering column should have the slip ring on the column which the pencil rubs on. The slip ring should be the end of the earth line from the horns (purple and black wire), and it is earthed out to the steering wheel (and hence through the column to the chassis) when the horn push is operated.
It looks like from the Plus 2 Parts List you need the spring loaded pencil or 'Brush - (in Lotus speak horn connector) part no 028M0705 and a horn press (part 028 H 0030) and a Horn Press Clip (36 H 6008). However there is no gaurentee that these parts would fit into you wheel boss......

Hi, yes I think you are right Matt it probably is a Europa wheel. If I was to drill through the hole i would meet the side of the front boss. I am loathe to start drilling at the moment. I have a lathe and was toying with trying to make a new boss or just admit defeat and fit a switch on the panel under the dash to the right of the wheel. I have an early style hornpush that i can fit or maybe someone would swap for the later style if they were in the opposite to me. Either way I’m still delighted to have my hands on a nearly right wheel after 32 years.
My seven has the horn push on a sprung toggle and its quite in keeping with that little switch panel.

I have been searching for horn stalks also as an alternative but I don’t fancy the mismatch of stalks

Best regards
Mark

Someone on the facebook group kindly provided this picture of the contact ring used instead of the pencil.

The contact ring looks the same as that on my old Spitfire Mk III - was continually having to bend the copper strip out to make contact!
Re the stalks - if you buy a pair of the later ones then they match!

Do they fit without modification?

Re the' do they fit without modification'. I don't know for sure as I didn't fit them but they do seem to clamp onto the steering column in the same way and place as the earlier Triumph type. Also they come with a different plug - a single 7 ( I think) connector type for each side so the electics may need a bit of fiddling.

Bit of a stretch but I don’t suppose you have a pic Matt?

Regards
Mark