Plus 2 brake hoses

[NYK]

Rebuilding a Plus 2 so never seen it with break hoses, just got 4 SS braided hoses. Fitted a rear one and it seems really close to disc, can't be right can it? The supplied front and rear hoses were all the same length, should they be?

[nmauduit]

you may want to twist the attaching tab to get clearance, and if need be turn/attach the hose differently... making sure there is clearance for all hub positions (full droop to fully compressed suspension)

[NYK]

Yes I'll do that, just wondered if I was missing something

[nmauduit]

you'll only see how the hose goes exactly when you attach the fitting to the caliper (I don't think the little ear on the Chapman strut needs to be used for support) - setting it requires 2 spanners to counter the twisting as well as gettnig the orientation you want.

[1owner69Elan]

Not a Plus 2 but this is what it looks like on the regular Elan:

[Bigbaldybloke]

Here?s my right hand side one, not in the picture, but where the hose meets the solid pipe on the chassis, the solid pipe comes up underneath the fixing lug with the flex off the top.

[NYK]

I definitely need to see if I can re- route things

[NYK]

The position of the bracket on my Chapman strut is about 80 degrees round from the photo above and also the chassis bracket is in a different place to the photo above that one. Net result is that with the hoses I have I needed to adjust my strut bracket and retain the original configuration. Having bent it forward a fair bit I now have good clearance between hose and disc. Interesting thing is that having found the old rigid pipe which went from from flex hose to caliper, it is clear that the car did have the flex hose running really close to the disc and must have been something like in my first photo

[Bigbaldybloke]

I suspect there are quite a few variations over the years. As long as the hose clears the wheel, disc and suspension on both full droop and full bump it should be fine. Mine is an early Spyder chassis but the fixing lugs and rear brake pipes were copies of the originals, the struts were modified at a later date by Spyder to take the small diameter springs, but I don?t think the lugs on the strut were moved.
I notice you have Allen cap head bolts to secure the discs, makes sense as there is not much space to get hex head bolts in and out.

[patrics]

Hi,
I may be wrong but I always thought that the mounting point on the strut was never used - just there because the damper tube came from a a Ford where it was used.

photo from 1owner69elan is correct.

Regards
Steve

[NYK]

For the Plus 2, the Lotus manual definitely shows a rigid pipe between the flexi hose and the caliper.

[Bigbaldybloke]

I?ve had my car since it was 10 years old with its original chassis and brakes and the set up I have now in the picture I posted above is an exact copy of the original but in modern materials, cunifer and stainless covered flex rather than galvanised steel and rubber flex. The Elan may be different but the early plus 2 definitely had a short solid pipe to that lug on the strut and then flex from there to the chassis as per the picture from the manual posted above.
If you are changing away from an exact replica of the original as most people have then I guess it doesn?t matter how you pipe the brakes as long as it is a safe and secure installation that doesn?t rub on the wheels and suspension throughout its travel and will not vibrate unduly and cause the pipe to fail at a later date.

[The Veg]

Mine are just like BBB's.

[Bigbaldybloke]

Posting that has just reminded me that I need to replace the caliper securing bolts with ones with holes in them for wire locking! Bought the bolts and locking wire some time ago then got busy on the dashboard swop and forgot about them.

[69S4]

Posting that has just reminded me that I need to replace the caliper securing bolts with ones with holes in them for wire locking! Bought the bolts and locking wire some time ago then got busy on the dashboard swop and forgot about them.

Just before I rush out to check my bolts are still tight can I ask how many people do lock wire theirs? For normal road use that is - I know venturing on track has different requirements. If it's a genuine safety issue my MOT testers have never picked up on it.