It started with a brake pipe

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ianhateswork
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It started with a brake pipe

Post by ianhateswork »

Then the next pipe, calipers-not good, parking shoes-delaminated , hub-could be better and before you know it you
have a pile of rust on the floor.
Image

outer back plate is beyond repair, inner is solid tho.

I read that you should inspect the diff carrier if its all coming apart,
I lowered the diff a bit and removed from the carrier, pulled out the prop and then the carrier. Bolts were tight , but nothing seized, Looked at the prop and the yokes were out of line by 20-30 degrees and my local prop man said its junk. Not got carbon prop money at the mo but i would like to hear more about cars with them

The diff carrier has been repaired before and its got 57k on the clock, so if nothing is done its going to happen again.
I am thinking of adding some support brackets, so.

Q1....... if i add metal where the blue tape is , am i on the right track.

Image

Q2......... has anybody replaces the rubber bushes on the rear of diff bracket with poly ones, the movement in them can only allow the carrier to bend and flex. mine are kaput but new ones look very flexible.

Image

If you compare the bearing set up between the front hubs and the rear, they are very similar, two opposing bearing pulled together and then a preload test.
The only difference i can see is, the shaft rotates on one and the hub on the other and one has a steel tube that makes it difficult, or am i missing something.

Q3.........What is the crush tube all about, is it even needed, has anyone left it out.

Image

thanks
ian

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fueltheburn
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Re: It started with a brake pipe

Post by fueltheburn »

Nobody has done a carbon prop yet. I was in the process of speccing a batch up a couple of years ago but have put it on hold until a premises move is complete down the line.
Don't expect anything quick as it isn't a priority.
It will however be very pressing in Ethel's next phase though and will have to be addressed.
You would be looking at circa £1k for a carbon prop with uprated ujs.

Ethel twisted hers out of balance within the first few trips of hard launches. The original prop is not designed for high torque. The original 2 piece prop gets worse with age as the internal donuts that secure the inner section go hard and lose grip.

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fueltheburn
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Re: It started with a brake pipe

Post by fueltheburn »

I also have a set of new bushes for the diff carrier for copying. Again in the process of producing a set for poly-bushing.
Brand new ones donated by Don some time ago.

Pete Boole
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Re: It started with a brake pipe

Post by Pete Boole »

The crush tube is there to stop the inner races rotating; if it was better engineered it would be a shim-able spacer. The crush tube allows quicker assembly at the factory. The inner races at the front often rotate and spoil the stub axle - Elites/Eclats are terrible for it - I'm building my front hubs on the Elite with shim-able spacers.

I'd stick with rubber diff bushes - there's no advantage in poly bushes for that application and it's nice to keep NVH down.

Pete

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fueltheburn
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Re: It started with a brake pipe

Post by fueltheburn »

This comes back to the vulcanised v poly mount we were talking about before.....
I was thinking something around 50 to 60 shore but in poly to resist cracking but replicating the rubber in terms of NVH reduction. (Sorry for the hijack).

Pete Boole
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Re: It started with a brake pipe

Post by Pete Boole »

fueltheburn wrote:This comes back to the vulcanised v poly mount we were talking about before.....
I was thinking something around 50 to 60 shore but in poly to resist cracking but replicating the rubber in terms of NVH reduction. (Sorry for the hijack).
That would be perfect!

Pete

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Lotus-e-Clan
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Re: It started with a brake pipe

Post by Lotus-e-Clan »

More like 157K by the looks? :shock:

Excels have a high mileage capacity and they were used as such. Unless you have every MOT certificate (even then MOT certs have been known to be written post-date- ie back-dated by unscrupulous back street dealers), it's unlikely you have a 57k mileage car. Sorry for the cynical post -there are so many low-mileage Excel claims that it's obviously nonsensical given the original target market (executive transport) and the genuine reliability inherent in the Excel.

Again, sorry for cynicism. I genuinely do hope I'm wrong.
Peter K

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amarshall
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Re: It started with a brake pipe

Post by amarshall »

Lotus-e-Clan wrote:More like 157K by the looks? :shock:

Excels have a high mileage capacity and they were used as such. Unless you have every MOT certificate (even then MOT certs have been known to be written post-date- ie back-dated by unscrupulous back street dealers), it's unlikely you have a 57k mileage car. Sorry for the cynical post -there are so many low-mileage Excel claims that it's obviously nonsensical given the original target market (executive transport) and the genuine reliability inherent in the Excel.

Again, sorry for cynicism. I genuinely do hope I'm wrong.
I know of at lease one genuine 26k miler from 1989.

They're not all like mine!
https://www.lotusexcel.co.uk/
SORN - just say NO!

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fueltheburn
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Re: It started with a brake pipe

Post by fueltheburn »

On any car over roughly 10 years old. Mileage is not an indicator of good care or health.
Have seen a few genuine low mileage cars that haven't been used and have had issues as a result of their sedentary lifestyle.

ianhateswork
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Re: It started with a brake pipe

Post by ianhateswork »

Hi,
Thanks for the replies, info much appreciated.
The crush tube makes sense now and Pete`s tube + shims sounds much better.
I was looking at the 350z carbon prop which is much longer, allowing the end to be cut to size avoiding the problem of ungluing. rebonding is another problem. I`m real a fan of weight loss and am progressing with items outside of the usual suspects.

The info i have tells me the mileage is gen, no real proof tho, annual increments before a 12 year gap in mot. It must have been stored on a damp floor as anything ferrous underneath has suffered , the leather does not show 157k of wear but carpets were damp.
ian.

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fueltheburn
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Re: It started with a brake pipe

Post by fueltheburn »

Been there, done that and the t-shirt didn't fit. I looked into going the cut and shut carbon prop route with an RX8 prop. The manufacturing process is done as a one piece winding around the entire propshaft and wider at the ends where more strands are utilised. The ends are strengthened, thicker and wider where the joints are socketed into the main tubing of the prop.
Simply cutting the prop and gluing in a new joint will be weaker than the original piece and will likely broom if the end strands are not properly strengthened and secured. Fracturing in the tubing from dents, cutting, a bash or any form of damage will render the prop into a pile of strands.

The other issue you will have is that is unlikely anybody will be willing to balance a carbon prop that has been altered in this way.

Pete Boole
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Re: It started with a brake pipe

Post by Pete Boole »

What about aluminium? Any specialists out there? Or a prop made from thinner cold drawn seamless - that's really strong.

Pete

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DavidOliver
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Re: It started with a brake pipe

Post by DavidOliver »

My understanding of the bearing spacer is that it sets up and maintains a pre-load on both bearing sets. Effectively the centre rib is a spring to maintain the pre-load. This is not acheived with flat spacers. To avoid the cost of a new spacer, they are not cheap, on a refit you can introduce a fine shim to give that extra pinch when installing, providing the correct pre-load with the torque wrench.

Dave the cog.

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