David
Anthony wasn’t just referring to your car. Understandably, given the power, there have previously been driveshaft/cv issues with the Audi conversion too (eg Tony’s car whilst owned by MattC).
AFAIK, these issues have now been satisfactorily sorted for both the Audi, & the Honda conversions, so there should nowt to be worried about on that score.
AFAIK, these issues have now been satisfactorily sorted for both the Audi, & the Honda conversions, so there should nowt to be worried about on that score.
Just a shame about the driveshafts that one Northern Honda supplier has been giving to people.
Anthony wasn’t just referring to your car.
It wasn’t Anthony that asked me, it was Steve, and because he said Audi (singular) I thought he was referring to my car. But other than very early cars I’m not aware of any problems (that doesn’t mean there aren’t any, I just haven’t heard them)
I stand to be corrected, but Russ seems to go through a drive shaft each outing.
it was Steve, and because he said Audi (singular) I thought he was referring to my car.
It was me and I was just referring to your car…there aren’t that many audi exige owners that post regularly here (whatever happened to Mike Lane - he must have been one of the 1st?) are there?
Not hearing about audi issues doesn’t necessarily mean there are no issues and I’m just keen to see what isues might have arisen and how they have been solved. After all still having a k in the back I will be having to go down one of the replacement routes at some stage
Just a shame about the driveshafts that one Northern Honda supplier has been giving to people.
Is that a supplier of Honda bits for a conversion as opposed to a conversion company?
Still interested in knowing your thoughts on the relative merits of the verious kits/conversions
Dave - hand on heart, has nothing fallen off, overheated, or worn out on the audi?
David/Steve
I was actually referring to the above quote by Anthony, which I mistakenly interpreted to be about Audis in general, rather than David’s in particular - apologies.
Just a shame about the driveshafts that one Northern Honda supplier has been giving to people.
Like I said, that’s a problem from the past, now sorted.
To add to the list there’s also Blink Motorsport based near Oulton Park, don’t know whose kit they use - possibly their own developed off the Prototype kit?
The Blink one does not really have a lot in common with the protohype raving one - you don’t seem to hear of many problems with their work and certainly no total loss burn outs etc, pretty sure they don’t have driveshaft issues, using the same gkn ones that the linkup kits use.
Not 100% sure they are still doing them as they don’t seem to be pushing them, or maybe they have reached a happy work level for them.
I think the original green demo car has been sold a couple of times now, both times for good money considering the very hard life the car has had both pre and post conversion.
Just for clarification…We have Never broken a drive shaft before or during the cars’ racing life.
It was always the outer CV, which went because the boot overheated, balloned or split, and pumped out the grease therefore leaving the joint dry. Which then, natch, gave up the ghost. This is probably down to me being a pain in the ass and insisting on using the Speedlines which give the car a much better feel but do not dissipate the heat from the hubs sufficiently on track. We are unfortunately going back to the anchor-weight originals next year to save time and money.
Once more for the sleepers at the back and the S*** stirrers, we have never broken a driveshaft. With our two spares we have two of the old “Blink” shafts and two new Tony Stansfield shafts and God knows which is which by now.
I stand to be corrected, but Russ seems to go through a drive shaft each outing.
Thanks for the correction Russ, it was CV joints I meant, as per my original post
I stand to be corrected, but Russ seems to go through a drive shaft each outing.
Thanks for the correction Russ, it was CV joints I meant, as per my original post
CVs are an issue for eveybody - I emptied one myself.
Just a shame about the driveshafts that one Northern Honda supplier has been giving to people.
Like I said, that’s a problem from the past, now sorted.
Rob, not having a go at you but I’m still very pissed off about it. It’s left a number of people (including me) out of pocket and it put me and my car at risk. If it’s sorted I’m surprised I haven’t heard anything?
And this wasn’t a CV joint issue!
Can I add a genuine question here, I am in no way wishing to stir anything. But how do you Honda guys get on with the quality of the gearshift in your cars? As we know the PG1 box has its self centering mech in the box and the Honda cars have the self centering in the gear lever, so when you put a Honda in a Lotus you end up with no self centering. I guess it is something you get used to, but I have to say there must be a number of you slotting it in the wrong gear during a frantic down shift on track. I have sat in and waggled a few of your levers and I think it would be something that would genuinly put me off. As I say this is a genuine question, I am not wishing to stir.
Sean…
Mark
I know you’re not having a go at me - I’m just a punter too!
I genuinely don’t know what problem you experienced with your’s ie shaft or cv joint. Leaking grease from cv joints had been an occasional problem, right from the days of the first conversions eg Russ’s car suffered from it in 2003, when it was a road car.
My own experience has been to replace both sides’ shafts/cvs - the first at about 8K miles when grease escaped from the rubber boot & the cv joint collapsed, & the other one at about 20K miles when the shaft sheared at the outer end in the cv joint. Both those shafts were of the “early” variety, which as I said above, have been superceded, & fingers crossed…
Sean - yes there is no self-centre from the left (1st & 2nd). I have gotten used to it and cannot recall fluffing a shift although in fairness I have not been on circuit all that much since the conversion. I guess it’s something you just get used to - apart from the self-centre the action is sooo much more snickety than the PG1 IMHO.
Mark what was the deal with your car???
Can I add a genuine question here, I am in no way wishing to stir anything. But how do you Honda guys get on with the quality of the gearshift in your cars? As we know the PG1 box has its self centering mech in the box and the Honda cars have the self centering in the gear lever, so when you put a Honda in a Lotus you end up with no self centering. I guess it is something you get used to, but I have to say there must be a number of you slotting it in the wrong gear during a frantic down shift on track. I have sat in and waggled a few of your levers and I think it would be something that would genuinly put me off. As I say this is a genuine question, I am not wishing to stir.
Sean…
good question sean and here is my answer for you, when i done my honda conversion which has done just over 10,000
miles since april this year consistion of about 11 track days, 5 races all of which my driveshafts have been fine.
anyway geting back to your point sean i have use the spring from the type ‘R’ gear stick which is used for the centralisation of the gearstick but i have made a bracket for it to work on my elise.
it works ok and feels better than without (in my opinion) but i will be makeing a mk2 version over the winter to see
if i can make it any better than it is
Tony
Mark
I know you’re not having a go at me - I’m just a punter too!
I genuinely don’t know what problem you experienced with your’s ie shaft or cv joint. Leaking grease from cv joints had been an occasional problem, right from the days of the first conversions eg Russ’s car suffered from it in 2003, when it was a road car.
My own experience has been to replace both sides’ shafts/cvs - the first at about 8K miles when grease escaped from the rubber boot & the cv joint collapsed, & the other one at about 20K miles when the shaft sheared at the outer end in the cv joint. Both those shafts were of the “early” variety, which as I said above, have been superceded, & fingers crossed…
Rob,
On mine the LH shaft sheared at the outer joint (it was also bent!), however it did it as I went to accelerate across a carriageway from the centre reservation on a dual carriageway, so it actually sent me across the carriageway at walking pace just as a rather large articulated lorry was heading towards me. Thankfully there was nothing in the outside lane as I had got as far as the inside lane by this point so the truck was able to pass me by, however if the truck had had to brake it would certainly have hit me side on.
As you can guess my attitude on this is not that great. The shafts that were supplied were, to be frank, complete [censored]. The material is not good enough and the design of circlip grooves is very poor. These were supplied in good faith via the Edwards as it was what rthey fitted to Chris car (and he’s sheared 2) and I guess are fitted to some of Tony’s cars (as he was supplying them), and judging by your comments you’ve had some as well.
I’m getting no information coming back about this and as such am becoming more and more pissed off. If it is known these were a poor design then I think I’m owed some new shafts, but I’m not holding my breath.
I guess it is something you get used to, but I have to say there must be a number of you slotting it in the wrong gear during a frantic down shift on track.
Happened to me quite a few times but only from 2nd to 3rd gears upshift…
It’s been pretty excellent actually, would recommend it wholeheartedly. The only “issue” if anything was a failed coilpack which was fixed in seconds, cost pennies, and has nothing to do with the nature of the conversion.
I can live with that for a years motoring !
A very common problem with the audi 1.8t, I know some of the hardcore S3 boys will carry a spare with them.
I have sat in and waggled a few of your levers and I think it would be something that would genuinly put me off.
Sean…
LOL, yep that would put me off also