To lap or not to lap?

[types26/36]

I had new wheel bearings fitted and after approx 150 miles Steve

to Miles Wilkins at Fibreglas Services. He quickly identified that the inner bearing had been fitted the wrong way round and the inner circlip was missing,Steve

Were the new bearings fitted by a Lotus Specialist ?

[steve.thomas]

Yes they were !

[andyelan]

Hi Everyone

While this isn't intended as criticium of any one here, especially you Steve, this thread demostrates a typical example of what annoys me most when uninformed people start to talk about the unreliability Lotus cars.

In this case we've talked of shafts needing lapping or the use of Loctite, play in brand new wheel bearings and bearing lasting only 150miles when in fact eveything was down to incorrect assembly. It seems to me that if there is a problem with these Lotus cars it's that, because they look so deceptivly simple, every one thinks they're an expert on them. The truth is, they're actually quite sophisticated pieces of kit and, as such, require a lot of care when working on them. Without that mistakes are made and problems arise.

As far as I'm concerned, put together properly and with care, a Lotus can be just as reliable as any other car of similar vintage

Regards
andy

[ftsoft]

Hi Everyone

While this isn't intended as criticium of any one here, especially you Steve, this thread demostrates a typical example of what annoys me most when uninformed people start to talk about the unreliability Lotus cars.

In this case we've talked of shafts needing lapping or the use of Loctite, play in brand new wheel bearings and bearing lasting only 150miles when in fact eveything was down to incorrect assembly. It seems to me that if there is a problem with these Lotus cars it's that, because they look so deceptivly simple, every one thinks they're an expert on them. The truth is, they're actually quite sophisticated pieces of kit and, as such, require a lot of care when working on them. Without that mistakes are made and problems arise.

As far as I'm concerned, put together properly and with care, a Lotus can be just as reliable as any other car of similar vintage

Regards
andy

Yes, I agree. My 66 Elan has somewhere around 80,000 miles, was used as principle transportation from 1968-1975, was driven across the country twice, raced from 66-68 and the only time it has stranded me was last year after an engine rebuild when the timing gear slipped (not the elans fault). I have to say that I am a little nervous about trusting it for long trips these days, but it is 44 years old.

[alaric]

Totally agree with you on the design of the lotus Andy. They're finely tuned cars that need the proper maintenance. I also had to use loctite on the outer bearing of the hub, but was advised to do this by experts and there's a special loctite just for this purpose. It's just taking up a bit of clearance that's due to wear in the casting caused by vibration from people not replacing the bearings early enough.

Regards.

Sean.