Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Keith
No, I was just thinking out loud,if you get a wheel widget and torque wrench and give it 180-200 ft lbs and then mark them up,it's easy to keep an eye on them.

John

P.S. are the hubs are fitted the right way round...LH thread on the Left,RH thread on the right?

John,

The previous owner has done the peg to stud conversion on mine! I have steel wheels which it works well with, however it has marked the wheel paint around the pegs where the nuts tighten up and is a pain to take the wheels off.

I would think that if your goal is to go to bolt-ons, you've just cost yourself a large sum. To restore the expensive and otherwise resellable spinners now requires filling and re-chroming them -- the chrome has been compromised and will start flaking soon. Get a quote on that work and you'll think bolt-on conversion is cheap. I'd guess that before your mod, you could probably have made money on the swap with someone looking to go the other way.

I note that you also have two sizable wheel weights in the same place on the rim, indicating a fairly severe problem with that rim (the trim ring also indicates some applied force from foreign objects). I would guess that whatever made your rim so off-balance is related to why the spinner came loose. And while the wire will keep it from happening again, that problem is still there.

Significant runout from hitting the curb will help loosen either nuts or spinners, just takes longer with nuts.

Yes, Paul Perkins had done this belt and suspenders "solution" on his Sprint. Paul is no longer with us, cancer, but from his brother, I think the car went to the Dayton area, supposedly to be restored. I've never heard from the new owner, but the shop here in Columbus that was working on the car when Paul died, had some issues with the modification. DON'T DO IT! You'll regret it.

Roger

Just a reminder, do not lubricate the thread, install it dry.

john.p.clegg wrote:Just thinking out loud,has anyone taken this one step further and knocked out the drive pegs and threaded/tapped the hub to achieve a belt and braces solution,wheelnuts and spinners?

John

You mean like this John?



Works fine on my +2, I displayed this mod at Castle Combe this year. Hardly anyone noticed until it was pointed out to them.

..and those spinners look a little different,are they just for show?

John

They look like American Silverstone wheels, some of which had threads on the wheels and then had faux knock-off spinners.

Roger

john.p.clegg wrote:Keith
No, I was just thinking out loud,if you get a wheel widget and torque wrench and give it 180-200 ft lbs and then mark them up,it's easy to keep an eye on them.

John

P.S. are the hubs are fitted the right way round...LH thread on the Left,RH thread on the right?

The above P.S. is really, really important!!

I've owned my Elan for more than 37 years. I have never had a wheel come loose. Make sure they are tight and drive it.

P.P.S The lockwire solution will not prevent the wheel from coming loose.

john.p.clegg wrote:..and those spinners look a little different,are they just for show?

John

John / Roger,
Okay I'm teasing you guys. They are elaborate wheel centres. As mentioned in this topic the spinners genuinely add something to the look of the car, a sort of elegant quirkiness. I have bolt on hubs due to the Spyder conversion and really thought something was lost in the process.
An old friend on these forums ArdeeSelby sent me a link to some chromed plastic spinners, then all I had to do was find a low line wheel centre cap that I could mount them on. They actually do spin on and off, but no need for a mallet

As for the topic, I was always told under no account to grease the thread and that it should be dry. A local "specialist" changed my doughnuts for a Spyder cv/doughnut driveshaft system and greased the threads when they put the wheels back on, the offside rear wheel became loose on the drive home. This was either due to them not tightening the spinner correctly or down to the grease which I very quickly removed with thinners before doing them up BFT with my mallet and very stout piece of wood, never came loose again.

The first 2 pictures are my faux spinners and their mounting method being tested, and the last picture is the sort of effect I was trying to achieve.

So with all this talk of securing the wheels, I though I'd post a picture of what came with my car. Basically a PO welded the hammer-driven tool into the end of a piece of pipe, what appears to be a piece of the stuff we use as fenceposts for chain-link fences in USA. With a handle this long on it, how much pressure do you guys suggest I apply to the handle when tightening?

To get say 200 pounds/ feet, divide 200 by the length of the bar in feet. This gives the required force in pounds at the end of the bar.
That is how it works.
For instance you could calculate the length of bar required which would give a torque of 200 lbs /ft using your own weight. You could then paint the bar to show you where to stand on it for the correct torque.
Hope this helps
Eric in Burnley
1967 S3SE DHC

Have you made sure the threads are perfectly clean and dry?

I also recommend Sarto's wheel spinner tool; and use a long torque wrench to make sure everything is tight and right.