Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

The synchro has gone on 3rd gear in my 5 speed gearbox and also the gearchange is a bit vague and stiff, particularly 5th to 4th (I understand this is normal!). Sometimes it's also difficult to select first when the engine has been re-started from hot. Is there a firm in the UK that can rebuild and improve these gearboxes and/or can I get the parts (synchro rings, bearings, gaskets etc) and do it myself (I've rebuilt the Ford box and various BMC boxes in the past). Thanks in advance for any assistance.

I'm just in the middle of rebuilding my "other" box,it's not as daunting as it seems,most of the "special tools" can be cobbled together as for the bearings i've just ordered three-yes three-input bearings(6207) for a grand total of ?25 (skf)-so go on,don't be afraid,grasp the nettle
John

Are there any five speed gearbox guru's out there (Rohan?),because i have the same problem-difficulty engaging first and second when hot-is it anything to do with the selector being cast iron as opposed to the third/fourth being brass?
Thanks
John

I had similar problems with difficulty in selecting first gear when the gear box was hot before I rebuilt my 5 speed. I replaced all the bearings and got some good second hand syncro rings and the problems went away mostly.

I changed to Redline MTL gear oil from conventionl synthetic gear oil recently and it further improved the change.

The syncro on the change from 5th back to 4th appears to be weak on many cars and only improved slightly after I rebuilt my box.

Rebuilding the gear box is fiddly but doable and like its been said most of the special tools are relatively easily made if you dont have access to them.

A few comments on things to do when rebuilding the box

The change is always vague going from 5th to 4th and it needs practice to find the gate and not get second or reverse. You can play with the spring that holds the gear lever out of the 5th and reverse plane to get the feel you want but it still remains a little vague.

To eliminate some of the rubbery feel in the lever preload the rubber bellows that holds the gear lever pivot ball in position by fitting some washers between the bellows and its retaining circlip.

Rohan

Simon

Sorry to hear that the synchro has gone so soon after you bought the car.

There used to be a really useful article on servicing the 5 speed box written by a Danish chap. It was on this link http://www.hms.dk/artikler/Lotus_gear.pdf, but it no longer seems to work. Perhaps someone here has the PDF on their hard drive somewhere.

The following is not quite on point but may provide you with some useful information on the 5 speed. http://www.gglotus.org/ggtech/elan-5spd/elan5spd.pdf

For information sake, I believe that the same gearbox (different tail & bell) was used on early second generation elites. Possibly some parts/expertise could be found there.

As you can see, despite selling the car I'm still browsing the sites. sigh.

Simon

I've got a copy of the Danish 5 speed rebuild article mentioned above but can't upload it here as it a bit bigger than the size limit and the yahoo groups file area is nearly full.

I can host it in a few days but if you need a copy quicker then email me at lotusdriver at hotmail dot com