I really do need to replace my 41 year old rotoflex couplings on my '71 Sprint.
Is there a consensus on who makes the best CV replacements please? I love the sound of the Elantrikbits items but get very nervous about import duties/taxes/general messing about before I get my hands on them.
Classic Team Lotus (we should trust them surely?) have items at £750 that require limited droop strut inserts at £365 plus a hefty £100 delivery - total £1,235.
Elantrikbits are just under £1,000 delivered - plus the great unknown of import duties/taxes etc.
Can anyone offer any comfort on what the import implications really are these days?
Does anyone have a pair they no longer need? (long shot but I just missed the last ones up for grabs)
Peter
Yes I do, they were fitted along with the limited droop shocks when my car was having the engine changed. So far they seem to be a worthwhile addition and give a littlr peace of mind that there is no doughnut likely to break loose and give other damage.
There is a second hand pair of Tony Thomson shafts on eBay at the moment, they are the UJ type but appear to have been refurbished. The seller is looking for £363.00.
Not sure how to redirect the details to you but if you put in “Lotus Elan Solid Drive Shafts”, that should bring them up. Just check with sellar that they are for an Elan not a +2, looks like he may accept an offer and postage is cheap.
Tony
Hi Peter,
My Elantrikbits shafts were imported 2023. Delivered to a local depot where I paid the ransom and they were handed to me.
I had to pay a total of £155.82 comprising,
£15.63 duty
£ 12.00 handling and a whopping £128.19 VAT.
I don`t quite see the point of Elantrikbits shafts. I understand that they are a better engineered joint than the Sue Miller ones ( now sold by Kelvedon). But the are about twice the price and not neccessary. The kelvedon ones use Shaftech joints which are used on many production cars.
You do have to limit the droop by 25mm but if your shock absorbers need replacing anyway then you buy the shorter ones.
Mine were in good condition so I just shortened the shafts by 25mm.
A friendly machine shop might do that for you if you do not have the facilities yourself.
Eric in Burnley
I bought the Elantrikbits for my S4 (and I’m very happy with them) because I had already spent good money on some Koni’s and didn’t want to replace them with something else just because of the droop problem if I wanted CV’s. The way I understand it is if you want SM/TTR/Kelvedon then you also have to attend to the droop issue i.e. more expense (sorry if I’ve understood that wrong).
What I will say is that’s it’s a shame that Elantrikbits won’t allow (that’s if they have they been asked?) their CV’s to be licence built in the UK/Europe, as I’m sure that it’s mostly the shipping costs/inconvenience that deters many purchases.
I like my Sprint donuts
Except fitting them especially if they don’t have the steel compression band.
If you need to limit suspension travel the cars cornering handling is changed
And donuts take the harshness out of the transmission.
Lotus 23 use a donut on each shaft
Alfa’s and quite a few other vehicles had a donut on their tail shaft.
When I had the metalastic donuts I used 3 hose clamps strung together to compress the donut to line up the bolt holes. Yes, it’s a miserable job. I used to retorque the donuts at every oil change. I happily have the US made CV axles made by John Kouba aka “Lotus John” in Southern California. They are the best engineered choice of all the possible replacements available and do not require a droop limited shock.
I also have donuts inboard with U-joints outboard on my Lotus 23B. I have to maintain them to be period correct. They suck, especially the current replacements because the ends of the leaflets are not aligned together and actually put a bending moment on the bolts when torqued. I have to tighten all of the donut bolts every track session because the torque produced by the engine overloads them. I replace the bolts every 3rd race weekend.
I have used the elantrikbits cv’s/shafts since buying my race S4 in 2018 (fortunately they are fully legal to use in HSCC 70’s. Roadsports). They are perfect, no need to worry about droop, totally reliable and with 4 championship wins in 5 years I wouldn’t use anything else. Colin Croucher is a great engineer. There was a bit of duty but at the time I’m sure they worked out similar in price to the alternatives by the time you’ve messed around with anti droop etc.
DacTech wrote: Alfa’s and quite a few other vehicles had a donut on their tail shaft.
Very little articulation on a prop shaft in comparison to an Elan driveshaft. Also the torque on the propshaft is reduced by a factor equivalent to the diff ratio - so propshaft rotoflex have a much easier time than driveshaft rotoflex.
Thanks,
I have used hose clamps after frustratingly failing. Also seen a vicegrip for holding pipes used, it has an adjustable chain that goes around the donut to squash it in.
The 23 sounds a problem, my good friend, Steve has been club racing his MRC Lotus (23 copy) for about 20 years with no driveline issues. Some distributer issues. It has a very powerful and reliable engine assembled by The Gypsy frequently sees 7000 Rpm Occaisionally a few more.
Can i forward your email to Steve?
What sort of bolts are you using?
Thanks Mike - sounds like the droop issue will affect all CV items except Elantrikbits then? UJ’s will not have the problem but are they a decent solution without issues of their own?
Thanks,
I have used hose clamps after frustratingly failing. Also seen a vicegrip for holding pipes used, it has an adjustable chain that goes around the donut to squash it in.
The 23 sounds a problem, my good friend, Steve has been club racing his MRC Lotus (23 copy) for about 20 years with no driveline issues. Some distributer issues. It has a very powerful and reliable engine assembled by The Gypsy frequently sees 7000 Rpm Occaisionally a few more.
Can i forward your email to Steve?
What sort of bolts are you using?
Thanks
True statements✅
Lotus 23s etc are using drive shafts with quite a bit higher torque loads than Elans especially when driver changing gears with no clutch. Race cars have less articulation and that is probably the real issue with donut life/failures.
Their suspension is different and they don’t lift the inside rear wheel like Elans tend to when fast cornering.
Thx. I have no issues with the donuts per se but they do come in at £700 with bolts and I wonder if spending a bit more to do the job “properly” might be a good idea.
When I bought my Sprint it came with sliding spline driveshafts fitted. I was happy using these on the road until they were changed for donuts. The improvement was immediately noticeable.
The car was smoother and handled corners better, I will in the future change to CV type but not go back to sliding splines.
For easy road use is it essential to have the limited drop mod?
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