Hello Exigers,
My mechanic needs to know how long it should take to remove the rear shell on my S1 Exige. He is about to fit new driveshafts and new engine mounts on my S1 SC Honda car (done only 1500 miles with it in 2 years ownership due to infinite problems…, coool) but he does not know if he will do it with or witout the rear clam.
Pls any ideas on how many minutes, hours, days to remove it ? Thanks.
Max
It’ll take 2 to 3 hours the first time, but less after that!
He’ll also need to remove the roof
Remove rear clam ?
Take out wheel arch liners and you can get to the engine mounts easy.
Take off undertray and driveshafts are equally easy accesable.
There is no reason to take off the clam
i agree, rear clam shouldnt have to come off, wheels, arch liners, remove drive shafts, fix mounts, drive shafts repalced, wheels back on with liners and start it up, id say 3 hours to do whole thing, less if your right good
You can do the whole conversion without removing the clam. However all bar one converter takes it off to protect the paintwork. For driveshafts though and mounts as said above I wouldn’t bother.
Thanks for your info guys. So 2 to 3 hours ok.
My mechanic says he could fit the parts without removing the body but said if it is a 2 hours job then he prefers to remove it and have a better access.
The installation book for the new driveshafts says:
Chassis Preparation
PRIOR to installation of the Honda power train prepare the Lotus chassis for the Honda installation.
Carefully save all the removed hardware in plastic bags, label them.
- Disassemble the rear of the car according to Lotus Workshop manual
� Remove rear clamshell / body work.
� Remove the rear sub frame.
BTW I am very annoyed as i bought some parts from a Link Up partner in Germany as I have a Link Up kit from MSC in the car. The parts were supposed to be custom made and cure all my problems. And I received some parts and an installation manual that is for a Sunspeed kit as clearly states the first sentence of the manual as follows:
This manual covers the preparation and installation of the Honda K20A power train into the Lotus Elise
using the Sun Speed Conversion Kit. It is intended to use this manual alongside the Lotus and Honda workshop
manuals.
I guess problems are not over as I understand in the book that the subframe needs to be cut:
- Enlarge the driveshaft holes in the subframe on the leading (front) edge by 12mm.
Will I drive this car again one day
Why would you want to remove the subfame? seems strange to me. MSC do the lot without removing the clam. Are your problems with the driveshafts only? If so I know there is a brand new link up item that have just being rolled out.
The other option is to call the other converters they may sell you some shafts.
Hope you get it sorted quickly and get some miles on it.
Max
I would suggest that your mechanic looks at the real position of the differential versus the subframe before you start pulling the subrame out and cutting it.
If you really have a Link up kit I doubt you need to really modify the subframe, the engine sits in a position that means the inner tripode does hit the subframe - thats how it should be as it means less angle for the shaft.