Drive shaft boot split

[ericbushby]

Good morning all.
I have just been doing my annual service and MOT type safety checks on my Elan S3.
It is a boring job, just looking for trouble, but it all seems worthwhile when you find something.
One of the drive shaft boots is splitting and needs replacing.
The shafts were supplied by Kelvedon nearly five years ago. I shortened the shock absorber shafts by 25mm to reduce the droop as recommended by them.
I intend to ring Kelvedon tomorrow for new boots.
I fitted the shafts so I can easily remove them but I am not familiar with then internally.
I have never done this job and would welcome any suggestions or advice.
Eric in Burnley
1967 S3SE DHC

[mbell]

They are vw/Porsche style CV joints. Two basic options

1) remove shafts complete from car
2) unbolt both CV joints to remove shaft from car

You'll need a 12 point square 8mm drive bit to unbolt CV from the adapter, then remove circlip from shaft, joint should pull off shaft but may need a puller or something, then slide old boot off.

Assembly is reverse of diss-assembly as haynes would say. My memory is the bolts through CV should be torqued to around 35-40ft based on what was specified for vw use. I also used some aviation gasket sealer on surfaces to avoid loss of grease.

I think theres lot of options for the replacement boots and like parts for lotus the quality varies a lot....