The Lotus Grand Tourers

Now she is very lovely! Wow. If you posted photos on another forum, I'd love to have a link so that I can see what you did.

This all bodes well for the lotus...

Simpatico wrote:I've always looked at Excel chassis'd Elites and noticed the narrowness of track straight away!

Sorry if being a nerd but a difference of that amount is obvious, spacers would be essential to restore that four-square stance a nicely set up Elite/Eclat has (and on 14" rims please! No 15"Excel oddities )

This has been niggling away at me, and now every time I look at my (Excel chassis'd) Elite I notice the relative narrowness of the track. This isn't helped by the suspension being set a little high at the moment. I have the narrowbody Excel 14" Speedlines fitted.

So I think its time to find some spacers and longer bolts for the wheels. To get it back to Elite spec I need 0.75" rear and 0.5" front. Has anyone done this, and are there any implications for the front wheel geometry setup? And would there be clearance issues if I went for 0.75" spacers on the front?

Thanks, Richard

Some people say spacers on a Lotus are the devil's work, others run them for years without issue. All you can do is give it a try.

Do you have bolts or nuts, if it's not too personal a question?

Simpatico wrote:Some people say spacers on a Lotus are the devil's work, others run them for years without issue. All you can do is give it a try.

Do you have bolts or nuts, if it's not too personal a question?

I think nuts, although I haven't had the wheels off yet(!) - if so I'd need longer studs. I'm not using the car for anything very stressful but the list of jobs is growing. I may post a snapshot of the growing list of jobs, if only to shame me into doing something about them.

I just want to use it and enjoy it!

ATB Richard

richardw wrote: I just want to use it and enjoy it!

ATB Richard

Then do that. If you're sitting inside you can only see one wheel anyway

Also don't forget that the centre-bore of the wheel sits on the hub centre protrusion - any spacer deeper than this protrusion has to be "hub-centric" so that the wheel remains perfectly centred. Spacing the rear wheels will be mainly cosmetic, but increasing the track at the front will increase the scrub radius making the steering heavier but also increasing the "feedback" - the feel - of the steering. Increasing track will tend to reduce roll in corners as well.

Pete

amarshall wrote:

richardw wrote: I just want to use it and enjoy it!

ATB Richard

Then do that. If you're sitting inside you can only see one wheel anyway

That was literally true tonight. Halfway home all the instrument lights died!

The sentiment was appreciated.

ATB Richard

A spacer could be useful if you run at other wheels.
I myself are using the 16 inch BBS wheels used at the first Volvo S/V 40 turbo
To have the same center as the orginal 15 inch Speedlines, i have to use a 25 mm spacer.
It's not a loose one but a bolt-on.

If you are going to use spacers the damping will be affect tremendously and the suspension will get very soft. The greater the spacer, the softer the suspension. The superb direct steering feel will get worse.

Also the way of the working damper will get smaller....I don't know whether this important on your setup, but sometimes there only a few inches before the bumpstop.

Is it not possible to grab in the parts bin and to mount the older correct parts on the virtual same chassi? In my view the look of tire body combination of the S2.2 is just right. Can't imagine it different. Do you have pictures of it?

don.hasi wrote:If you are going to use spacers the damping will be affect tremendously and the suspension will get very soft. The greater the spacer, the softer the suspension. The superb direct steering feel will get worse.

Also the way of the working damper will get smaller....I don't know whether this important on your setup, but sometimes there only a few inches before the bumpstop.

Is it not possible to grab in the parts bin and to mount the older correct parts on the virtual same chassi? In my view the look of tire body combination of the S2.2 is just right. Can't imagine it different. Do you have pictures of it?

I certainly agree with all of the above. Found the same when fitting spacers to both my Clan and SMART Roadster.

Agreed - the extra spacers will increase the leverage effect on the coilovers. These are adjustable however so I'll be able to set the ride height correctly. I'm more concerned with the effect on steering feel, but I have been told that the 15" wheels fitted to the Excel SE/SA return the track to that of the original Elite, which would imply that the offset is less positive, therefore being geometrically identical to fitting spacers. I'll do some digging to find out SE/SA track dimensions - unless anyone here has them to hand?

ATB Richard

A can of worms...
I think most of this is only theory. I don't believe that anyone has data showing what an Exite (Excel-Elite) is once you have bolted a body not designed for the chassis it rest on! The fact is it can be done and it seems to be drivable and still show proper Lotus handling!
But the body could be of different weight, weight repartition…
The chassis is not based on the same technology…
The body’s has not the same aerodynamic…
We know that the track is different… why has it to be worse? Couldn’t it be better?
So Richard, you are the only one able to test and see if it suit YOU. I will be using spacers with no fear as I have been using them for 20 years with no side effect.

I will report my results when the "thing" will be on the road

The worst that will happen short term by fitting spacers is you don't like the changes and you take them off later and have wasted a small amount of your time.

You will probably need longer wheel studs though.