Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

See the first bullet. Found this excerpt stashed away in the manual for my 69 S4.

Almost there!!
Plus...How to load your car up with 300lb to set suspension

Kev that looking great, not far off now, you must be feeling cuffed after all your hard work and endless patience.
Hope that weight at the rear of the Tunnel cover does not crack it.

Mine is also a 1968 and I was well pleased with the condition of my tunnel cover after some 30 years of storage.
But after fitting new felt and carpets and putting it back in position, I put my hand on the rear to assist me to move from the right to the left of the car and the B***dy thing cracked. Just one of the 3 setbacks I am working on.

Thanks Trevor,
Yes it's been a while but I have really enjoyed it and I've learned a lot.
I only put two halfs of a block on the tunnel but couldn't understand what is meant by loading the centre line. Still, no cracks so got lucky. Now I have to decide whether to fit new 151's or try and sort out my hard-to-tune 31's.
I'll see what Ive got left in the bank

Kev.

Hi Kevin.
My understanding of ?Loading the vehicle on the front to rear centre line? is:-
168 lbs on each Front seat, 80lbs on each Back seat, and 72lbs around the centre line of the boot and 5 gallons (50lbs) of fuel.

The loading represents a 12stone person in each front seat and a 5.7 stone child in each rear seat.

So Total weight is 618 lbs??
But, not sure, anyone confirm.

I load suspension by jacking one wheel / suspension unit at a time until I get it to the normally loaded position. Loading up the whole car is to much trouble

cheers
Rohan

Thanks Rohan, I will follow your suggestions.

But out of curiosity, I have posted a question re setting up, in a new thread, rather than deviate this thread.

Yes I have also wondered about the Lotus directions and the load seemed like the maximum rather than the normal load.

The aim is to set up the rubber bushes in the suspension so that the deflections up and down are the same in normal use with the resultant minimum stress on the bushes. if you have Polymer bushes all this is not needed

By jacking the car one wheel at a time to its normal use ride height and then tighten the bolts you achieve this which is what I do.

cheers
Rohan

Thanks Rohan.

I purchased a set of Rubber and Polymer bushes, but fitted the rubber set, but can now see that fitting the Polymer set would have been better.

But I now understand whats required to suit my individual requirement driving requirement.

Cheers

Function : - Wash/wipe. OFF. Intermittent. Slow. Fast.
Controlled by a LOW current rotory dash switch.

A few +2's that won't be making it to Castle Combe this year

Pretty maids all in a row!

holywood3645 wrote:Pretty maids all in a row!

Pretty maid Little Miss Escort needs some attention!

Best wishes for a fine summer for you and yours, James!

One to take home

Last weekend on the HRCR Derbyshire Tour;
Jim

P.S.There were 2 Lotus Elans in the top 6 on yesterday`s Three Castles Trophy event.