Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Hi,

Can someone help me? I have removed the front calipers from my 69 elan S4SE and have found that the connections for the flexible hoses are in different positions. One is at the back of one of the piston and the other is in the side. Is this correct? I also bought a spare set and they are exactly the same. do I have a mixture of models ie s4,s3 etc?

Hope you can help.

Ian K
Fife, Scotland

Those are two different calipers, Ian. The one with the hose connection at the side is the later one and probably a different size piston, too. I'd pair up the two the side connection, making sure you have a right and a left, ie , the bleeder nipples should be at the top when the caliper is mounted.

That said, I'm not sure what type of caliper your car should have, being a very early S4. Either caliper will fit, though.

Greg Z.
'72 Sprint

Hi Ian,
Both are correct and okay to use. Originally the hose inlet would have been on the back of the pot but latter on they changed and had a little jump pipe fitted. But for neatness it would be nice if they were both the same.
Regards
Steve

Ian,

I can tell you what my '69 S4 has. It's ID number is 45/9366 (US Federal car), which may, or may not, be close to your car's build date.

The front calipers have the hose attachment ports on the outside of the caliper, not the back. Restating: the ports are concentric with the bore of the piston, not to the side of the piston bore.

After looking at a few catalogs and cross reference charts, it appears that the bore (piston diameter) of your two caliper styles are the same. Port positions may have changed, but the bore size did not. So, other than esthetics, you should be able to continue using the mixed pair of calipers.

Rich Boyd