Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

The mechanic I use for the Lotus came over to my house today. He insisted we replace the trans oil and test drive my +2. He was skeptical that the transmission would whine on deceleration in all 4 gears. After his test drive he said I was correct. I had to pay for that privileged information.

I will begin disassembly soon. It appears that the hood (bonnet), radiator, headers, carbs and alternator will have to be removed. Plus all the hoses and cables and wires.

Where is the best location for the lifting straps?

I will send the carbs out for a rebuild and may pull the head and inspect the engine as it never ran well. What a job!

Bob

I always pull the engine seperate from the gearbox and have used a sling it around the thermostat housing and the inlet manifold.

Recently a post warned of breaking the inlet manifolds off if you sling from them as they are relatively thin especially in a ported engine like mine!!

I have never had any problem but from now on I think I will sling around the whole engine or make some brackets to bolt onto a suitable location on the inlet side of the block to take the load off the inlets manifold.

cheers
Rohan

Yep I always sling around the entire motor....which is tricky on the cortys because it always fouls on the steering bump stops and you end up lifting the whole car....much amusement all 'round!

You might want to replace the mechanic while it's out......

Agreed. I use a rope wrapped figure-of-eight (diagonally over the top) where it fits on a chain-hoist's hook so that I can adjust it both tranversly and longtitudinally (rock and slope). You might not need to change the slope as it comes out of a +2, can't remember, but probably do if you pull the gearbox with the engine.

For removing the engine and gearbox, I have made a simple lifting frame, that bolts to the two top bell housing bolts, and the crank shaft, using an old pulley. this enables the engine and gearbox to be easily removed as a single unit. The top rail has a sliding lift point which is adjusted by a long screw thread so the correct angle can be obtained without problem, this is much safer than straps or slings and eliminates the possibility of damage. If anyone is interested I would be glad to forward a photo and details.
Chris