Have I bought the right spinners??

[berni29]

Hi Guys

On standard 165's I have always used 22lbs front and rear. When I got my fist plus 2 I remember looking it up somewhere.

All the best

Berni

[chicagojeff]

is available new from books4cars.com. they were great.

[Si_130/5]

Hi Thor,

I've found this web page listing specifications and torque settings for the Sprint and +2S130
http://www.laffey.co.uk/lotus/lotuselansprint.php

and line 707a reads :
+2S.130 Up to 100mph Front 20psi, Rear 24psi
Over 100mph Front 26psi Rear 30psi (all conditions)

Best of luck,
Si

[mac5777]

Marc,
I just completed a new design for a three ear spinner socket and later a two ear spinner. They work well with the panasport type wheels, no more OOPS!! I'll be marketing them much cheaper ( better manufacturing design) than the ones that where available, while back, at Baum tools and are not available currently. They only offer the larger Jaguar type spinner for $141.00 delivered.
Keith and I will be comparing our designs at Mike Ostrov Oct. 1 meeting.
Keith likes his torqued to 240 ft/lbs, the book says 160/180. I have had mine come loose but I don't know at what torque and they had been greased.
I may have one at the Palo Alto British car meet Sept, 11.

Sarto
67 Elan S3 FHC

[marcfuller]

Thanks Sarto. I look forward to to seeing your spinner socket and the carb tuning video. Interested in both.

I'd like to see what the approximate torque of a lead hammer is, by applying the spinner socket after using the hammer.

[bengalcharlie]

Hi Elliott,

I saw that you have panasoprt wheels fitted to your elan.
Do you have problems wheels coming loose whilst driving?
That has happened to me many times and I already posted an earlier requaet for help.
I have decreased all hubs and surfaces, the treads are all ok burt still no result.
from a technical point of view, the steel wheels have a pre tension due to the design of the wheel. the panasport on the other hand has no pre- tension built into the wheel and will increase the wheel coming loose more easily.I am thinking of fitting an O-ring between the wheel and the steel insert to create a kind of pre load into the wheel.
I am interested to hear from anyone with panasport wheels.
cheers

Robin

PS I hammer the wheels and use hectoganol wheelnuts

[mac5777]

Robin, I also have panasport wheels and use a three ear spinner. This weekend I was told that there was a poor batch of spinners floating around that were not cut deep enough and would not torque the wheel on. Try putting paper or something in the back of the spinner and see what happens when you torque it down. If it does not touch, the wheel should torque on.
Keith and I looked at each others socket and he has remilled his socket to be much stronger. His design did fit my panasport wheels. His cut out depth did not allow the metal socket to hit the panasport wheel. The current sockets are all metal and mark the spinners. I just purchased new chrome spinners to go along with my new panasports and to protect both from being marked, I am now testing a leather covering and a softer copper or aluminum protective cap. They all seem to work. I'm doing the final test for assembly cost and wear etc. I'm using a breaker bar and a 1" socket giving more optional positions. The 3/4" square hole on the current sockets, if you can find one, does not give you the best leverage.
The book says 160 to 180 ft/lbs so I took my socket to my mechanic and used his $400.00 torque wrench and torqued it on, twice, to 180 ft/lbs. That gave me the feel for what it takes to hit 180 ft/lbs with a 18" breaker bar. And I can within a pound or three.
Hope that helps!!

[ElliottN]

Hmmmm... I have not run the Panasports for long on my car (fixed with three ear spinners) but no problems to date. Also, in my case the Panasports actually require less thread depth in the spinners to torque on than the steel wheels (which is down to the construction of the Panasports). I'll be watching carefully.

[bill308]

I have Panasports on my S2 Elan. One wheel loosened, one time, over years of service. Normally I use a wood cushion to mostly tighten it up, but usually use the brass face for the last wacky or two. This way I don't hit the spokes and potentially mar the coating, yet get a proper tightening. There is no reason I can think of why the Panasports should come loose more than the stock steel wheels. After all, the Panasports have a steel bushing between the aluminum and the spinner.

If you have a problem with the wheels loosening up, check the condition of the screw threads, avoid lubricating them, but apply a little anti sieze to the contact ring with the wheel. Also check the condition of the fixing pin holes. They should be snug to prevent rotational movement. Friction of the threads must be greater than friction between the wheel and spinner.

Bill

[phatmendus]

Going back to an earlier point about tightening the spinners. I was under the misconception that a rubber hammer should be used. I did use it, and 10 miles down the road (luckily I stopped as the car felt very strange!) One of my wheels had almost fallen off! Yes the spinners are on the right wheels.

Moral of story..... Use a copper hammer NOT a rubber one!

Simon

[thor]

I still haven't fitted my spinners, as I'm now much too scared....
No honestly, am going to bead blast and powder coat the wheels first, before they get the lovely newly chomed spinners. Might make the alloys plain silver, as it seems a big hassle to mask the polished bits, or am I wrong?

I've got NO idea how to judge the strength of my hammer blows, what a ridiculous way of fixing the spinners! longing back to the simple way of my Triumph with splined hubs, where spinners were hand tightened and then fixed themselves...

[elancoupe]

I have been using a "Compothane" hammer by Snap on for about 20 years now---- NEVER had a wheel come loose. These are heavy, rubber coated mallets.

I hit the spinners till they will not tighten any further, when I have had to take off the spinners , I have found them quite difficult to remove.

The coated hammer has a side benefit, it does not mar the spinners. This is important to me as I now use the aluminum 26r spinners.

If I were subjecting the car to track use, I would seriously consider safety wiring the spinners, as I have seen several vintage racers do.

[melvinhecht]

I like mine a bit squishy - On a Plus 2 19# front 20# rear and 20# and 22# on my S2 Elan. The softer pressure seems to give more bite going into 1st and 2nd gear corners. On the highway, grip just isn't that critical. I'm sure if I had a lot of 3rd gear corners, I'd go a bit higher. I drove 22 and 24 for years on the Plus 2, and thought I was in heaven, but the car seemed a bit light at hard cornering. I just tried lower pressure, and liked it better.

I must be a slowpoke, because the rubber just doesn't seem to wear. The Plus 2 had 25 year old Michelins when I got it, and they were all nasty and cracked, but lots of tread. The Rainforce are about 5 years old, and the tread looks new. I suppose that's what low weight does for you.

I run Kumho on the Plus 2 and Michelin Rainforce MX4 on the S2. Yes I know, I should replace the Kumhos. It's really hard to find the sizes here in the states, and I didn't want to spend $165 a tire, plus freight for the XAS 165X13's.

Melvin

1971 Plus 2 S

1966 Elan S2

[email protected]

[mac5777]

Marc, and guys, I have finally finished my knockoff/on socket wrench. If I have set this site up correctly you can see pictures, torque info and other solutions for wheel spinners problems. Comments are appreciated at [email protected]

I think this site will open the pictures. http://homepage.mac.com/sarto1/ If not I'll try to fix it. This is my first attempt to post something on this web forum.

Keith, I should have my weber floats adjusted after the holidays.

sarto

[mac5777]

Hi, It did work on my computer.. At the bottom of the site page it ask to leave me a message-- DON'T, it does not work. You can double click on the pictures to enlarge them.

Sarto