Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Hi all. Is there anyone in the US who repairs our speedometer angle drives? Basically quil replacement.
Nisonger does not.

I managed to repair one of mine; popped out the sheet metal back, took the gear out
and pulled out the quill. I made a solid quil out of a 3mm allen wrench but not sure
how well my press fit into the gear will work. And I'm not sure a solid quil is the right
thing to do, since it seems the the spiral bound quil is the sacrificial piece when there's
a problem. Hate to chew up drive or driven gears.

gjz30075 wrote:Hi all. Is there anyone in the US who repairs our speedometer angle drives? Basically quil replacement.
Nisonger does not.

I managed to repair one of mine; popped out the sheet metal back, took the gear out
and pulled out the quill. I made a solid quil out of a 3mm allen wrench but not sure
how well my press fit into the gear will work. And I'm not sure a solid quil is the right
thing to do, since it seems the the spiral bound quil is the sacrificial piece when there's
a problem. Hate to chew up drive or driven gears.

yes, I believe it is preferable to have a mechanical fuse well identified in this hazardous drive chain... and the right angle cable quill is just that I believe.

I have done a repair using part of an old inner cable before with good results. If you use an end bit it already has a square section.
Alan

i had mine repaired at Foreign Speedo in San Diego. It took a couple of tries, but it has been good for almost 10 years. They used a piece of a speedometer cable, that was already ground square. Be aware there are 2 different sizes of the square area of the quill. If sending off, use a caliper to measure the size so it will match the drive gear. My quill was slipping the gear when connected to the speedo cable. Off the car, it looked like everything was working just fine. It was only when I held the output end and tried turning the quill, did I find the cause.

There are commercial speedo drive cables made where the end is an oval shape, just drives across the corners.

Not sure what availability is like in the states but the quill is still used and sold by Caterham Cars.

Chancer wrote:Not sure what availability is like in the states but the quill is still used and sold by Caterham Cars.

They've been out of stock for a while. I'm on the 'notify' list when they become available.

Good point on the size of the quil. I didn't realize that and maybe that's why I've ruined several now. Although
the quils seem to fit the gear, it couldn't drive the cable. The last remaining good one I had fit the gear
perfectly, better than the others, and is now in my 5 speed box, and working, and a REAL bugger to remove to take the measurement, unfortunately. I'll give Foreign Speedo a call . Maybe they use the oval cable suggested
by Craven. That'll make things easy.
Thanks guys!

Try Redline components, they are a classic Caterham parts seller and send lots to the UK, it will be the same manufacturing source but they may have stock.

My Caterham dealer had shed loads because when be ordered one he didn't realise that was one packet of 50!!
I think that they're a touch short to look at when you instal but mines working and is undoubtedly an improvement on the cut iron nail it replaced!

Thanks guys, will do.

I also have a virtually new angle drive if you want to go that route instead of repair. Unit is in the US.

I converted to a GPS driven setup that drives the speedo directly. Doesn?t use the angle drive.

The GPS setup gives me an accurate reading regardless of tires, trans, and diff used. (https://www.classicautoinnovations.com/classic)

No affiliation.

pm sent

Voila:

https://caterhamparts.co.uk/clutch-cabl ... e-end.html

Thanks, but it says "Product is not currently in stock". I'm on the 'notify' list.

Ah, didn't spot that!

When I had my seven they used to break quite regularly and were only a ?1 from Caterham - that's some price inflation in 8 years!

I had some success using a cut length of old speedo cable to get me by