David Mirylees

Actually Arch are probably the best to ask... 01480 459 661

I have a front U/J fail on a series 4 (Lotus) 7. Car was only a couple of years old and always serviced. Driving back from Switzerland in 1971 got close to home whilst driving down the M4 at around 90mph, when there was a major vibration, terrific bang and flames shot across my lap from the centre tunnel. Stopped on the central reservation and watched the car disappear in flames and smoke. Lotus said it had not happened to other cars. Fire brigade reckoned I was lucky as - if I'd been going more slowly - they thought that the car would have 'pole-vaulted'. As it was, the propshaft disintegrated and just flailed around... ...Look after those U/J's

But I like driving in the rain 😬 Still, it'll have to be the Europa for the Bristol Classic Car show tomorrow...

Thks 4 the offer Chris but I have ordered an English 3.54 from Road & Race to ensure that this /next time everything is OK. I got the dubious diff back earlier today and will get the CWP checked locally for hardness B4 I send it back to 'the tailors' for their comments. I checked my diff with another and found that the top edges of the teeth have burred which is giving the rough edge. The other diff had teeth that were smooth to the touch. Edited by - David Mirylees on 20 Apr 2012 18:50:34

Wife wont let me have too many duffnuts and it's soooo long since I REALLY played with the toy to be able to achieve a motoring example!!. Thks Brian, CU at the Combe....

Part came from the 'people that make suits' so was expected to be of good quality. Their web pages state that their diffs are made to OEM stds. (unfortunately other already mentioned experts mentioned that these new diffs are made overseas and aren't brilliant). Diff was installed by local garage which is always looking after 'interesting' machinery, has a great reputation and hillclimbs a couple of nice toys. All the set-up was promised to be correct. Correct oil was used and was at the right level... Car only used on the road.

Anyone have any suggestions as to why a brand new crownwheel and pinion that was fitted 1600 miles ago to my Ford axled 7 should now be (to quote the garage) "eating itself"? I took the car to the garage that did the fitting of the CWP last week for it's MOT and mentioned that the diff was noisy, whistling from 50 mph onwards. They rotated the propshaft and found that there was way too much play and told me that it should be less than half the way that it is now. Booked the car in to have the diff checked and re-set and then received the dreaded 'eating itself' call. The teeth on the CWP appear to be sharp/rough whereas I thought that they were smooth when I received it. Anyway the parts are over a year old now so the CWP supplier doesn't want to know but I would really like to know what has occurred. Cheers.

This may help...Ford Engines Notice that the twin-cam is different...

I agree with TJG. Since the 70's I have had a ؼ" hole at each corner of the four floor panels. What comes in simply drains out again. Did at one stage fit some wire that dangled a little through the holes which actually drew water out of the cockpit but it wasn't tidy and was soon removed (worked a bit like the item TADT's mentioned). A 7 is always going to get wet inside at some time of it's life...

Lotus badge on the nose - must be a Lotus 😬 Reckon Eugene got it in one... Not much Lotus in that car...

Thanks for the responses - it appears that Redline may be able to help him

Have a friend in Australia who is searching for a Lotus 7 Series 4 Manual (purple cover). Anyone able to help? Cheers david

Thanks Olly, let me know what you want for it whenever we can get together... Ummm, me no standunder wot you mean - car was quite clean before last Sunday's trip to Compton Abbas in the rain and sleet. (well,OK, to my not concours standards) Strangely enough didn't see any other open cars apart from Rhett Land in his 7 😬 (havn't dared look in the garage since as it was such a s***t day).

Looking for a K&N 4½" x 7" oval chrome outer plate/lid with a single central mounting hole. Example here: K&N there's an image half way down with number 56-1210 which looks just the the one that parted company from the front carb yesterday and was subsequently demolished... Any help in locating one - very much appreciated Thanks David

OK, I realise my old car may be an exception to the norm but it's done a lot of miles and I like to be comfortable (it also has a cassette player...). I have used bathroom carpet over the tunnel, it can be obtained in quite a thin format and it's OK to get wet. (there's the barest glimpse on the August shot in this year's calendar)

...or are you looking for the Dzus type - here Dzus

You're looking for clevis pins with a circlip groove, these links will/may help: WDS Grainger Technifast There are many more engineering parts suppliers that may be able to help. Good luck

See what modernising has done...very technical nowadays. My series 2 just had the rubber covered plunger of the starter solenoid protruding into the cockpit, mounted on the vertical face of the scuttle 😬 Life was just so easy then...

Might be worth giving the connectors a good looking over. I recently was blowing the fuse on dipped beam and traced the fault to the connector which was allowing the earth to short with the dipped beam wire. Some connectors allow the terminals to be extremely close to each other and, over time when the plastic gets warm, they can allow the contact. You may be OK but they are easily replaceable and available.

Had exactly the same symptoms after a thrash around the LeMans circuit many years ago. Engine and box out in the camp site, cause was a broken Spigot bearing (in the end of the crank). Replaced (very cheaply) and a spare kept. Suggest you change it regardless!!

It may be a load of scaremongering and I'm opening a can of worms but... it appears that from 1st January 2012 the MOT is getting a little bit silly. I recently had an MOT on one of my cars and was informed by the garage owner that things are changing in 2012 and that if there were any warning lights showing it would constitute a fail. (mentioned to me as I have a constant lamp waring showing as, after fitting air-horns, the voltage change was enough to hoodwink the warning system). There are many discussions about the coming regs. but here is one link to one such discussion thread MOT thread It may also be of interest to owners with removable steering wheels, that if a steering lock is fitted to the vehicle, then it must operate... (don't shoot the messenger...)

I fitted a set of Land Rover rear lamps - 2 x stop tails and an indicator each side. Luckily they pretty well covered the holes where the caravan light originally sat. Very pleased with the - in my opinion - better look. Another local owner has also used the LR lamps but using 1 x stop/tail, 1 x rear fog and the indicator (also now using LED bulbs in them)...

One of the old boys... Leyland Part number absolutely correct 😬

Been using the Rose jointed A Frame since the part was introduced by Caterham. The present joint has been on the car for some 15 years and done something over 85,000 miles - still feels good. Before going over to the Rose joint I probably went through 4 or 5 sets of rubber bushes a year (got really used to doing roadside changes...) On my car, with the old x-flow, they were always covered with oil so it was unsurprising and anyway they probably were never meant to get the sort of wear and environment of the A frame as they were originally the Austin A35 top link bushes 😬...

Bit of lateral thinking - I couldn't recall ordering a new gearbox mount when I replaced the 2000E box with the type 9, so yesterday I ordered a Lotus Elan mount ('cos it's either a 2000E or very similar) it arrived today and it is identical to the old one. It is almost identical to the Caterham item but has the lower metal face on both sides! That solves that problem...