Elan S4

[lotusposition]

Was wondering if any of you have fitted Kelvedon Motors CV driveshafts to a small Elan without the recommended reduced travel dampers?
If so, have you had any problems since fitting?

Also, Has anyone experienced any negative effects from fitting the cv shafts together with the reduced travel dampers...handling, ride quality etc. ?

[Lotobear]

I had them on a Plus 2 and no issues experienced though the driveshaft angles are obviously much less acute than on the Elan. ISTR the travel is reduced by around 30mm.

What I did notice however, if they are still supplying AVO dampers, is they are poor quality and don't last and 'go off' in hard use. On mine the new AVO dampers were completely different in damping from one side to the other so you couldn't simply dial in the same number of clicks on each side and expect them to be the same.

AVO were extremely unhelpful to the point of being rude when I contacted them direct to ask about set up.

If you are sticking with your existing damper units you could simply fit some droop limiting straps if it's of concern.

[Grumbly]

I fitted the CV shafts together with shorter strut inserts on my S4 and have had no issues.

I can't remember where the inserts came from as it as a few years ago, but I would certainly have avoided AVO if I could.

As I too have found them astonishingly arrogant to the point of rudeness.

[Equus]

lotusposition said:

Also, Has anyone experienced any negative effects from fitting the cv shafts together with the reduced travel dampers...handling, ride quality etc. ?

Not personally (because I've chosen never to fit them on any of my Elans), but I'm aware of cars that have developed chassis cracks around the diff. upper mounts, and the torque rod mounts. It stands to reason that solid driveshaft conversions increase the stresses transmitted to the chassis via the differential in these areas.

Obviously, Elan differentials are prone to breaking the upper mounting arms on their castings, anyway (which is why Lotus introduced an additional steel bracket to stiffen them on the Sprint), and again, solid driveshafts cannot possibly help in this regard.

Personally, I've always preferred to stick with the standard Rotoflexes, but to check them regularly.

[lotusposition]

Thanks for replies so far and your interesting comments.

[BertBert]

I didn't know that Equus was an Elan man. I seem to disagree with him at every turn. but on the subject of the Elan, we are of one mind

[b2hbm]

I fitted the CV kit from Sue Miller several years ago and at first I had the original dampers in place. A common trick is installing a strap to reduce the full droop travel and if you look on Lotuselan.net you should find the same images that I saw at the time.

I later replaced the suspension F/R with stiffer springs and also reduced travel dampers. My car has a Spyder chassis, not the spaceframe version but the traditional style with added reinforcement in several places and I've also fitted the differential brace as used on the Sprints. No problems to date and I prefer the CVs to donuts. (and I drove it with donuts for something like 30+ years)