more cracks!!

[jotacorsa]

rob's may well be the highest mileage example and has well stood the test of time...
if colin had created it you'd be lucky to get through a weekend  
his road frames were marginally better than the race frames...behind my shed, under a tarp, is my elan
which needs a frame  

"has a bumper on the rod"
bumpers come in a variety of density from the consistency of seat foam to can't stick your fingernail in it
from simple cylinder, fixed rate, to cone shape or corrugated, progressive rate.

your washer idea is a doubler. it just doesn't double the entire area of the bracket

if you make the bracket too strong the load will simply move the stress somewhere else. using the lotus car as an example...the aftermarket created stronger wishbones for the suspension so the folks who bent their suspension bits with potholes, kerbs and such now bent their frames instead. which is how i came to own the one under the tarp  

 

[Vince]

Ha Scott,have you seen the Elan being built on Jay Lenos Garage.Its going to be some car when its done.

 

[markQLD]

Colin Chapman's philosophy;      "Simplify, then add lightness."

ya gotta luv that, i reckon.

 

[jotacorsa]

i've owned a number of lotus cars vince. the 26R, sadly, not among them. the lotus cortina was one of my favorites.
shame i didn't pick a profession that would have let me keep all the weird old cars i've owned  still, prefer riding to driving  8)

 

[andre]

Hi Rob.
The previous owner of my Motodd had the top shock mount break right off. His repair welding was marvelous... - looked like he'd done it at the side of the road. Lug that the top bolt goes into was at a funny angle. So I had the whole top mount cut off and rewelded properly and all square. I'm not too big a fan of that cantilevered top mount. A member across to rhs of frame could help.
I agree with someones earlier comment about shock setup. The mk3's seem to have a short travel (in my limited knowledge). Hence benefit in a good quality shock set up for individual's weight, etc. Dont use your last years weight...
One thing I wish I'd done is get a remote adjuster for the spring preload. Shocking (sorry) to have to remove the shock to adjust the preload.

Talk to you soon.
Regards,
Andre

 

[phil37]

Hi Andre - The two support struts above the top unit mount seemed to have worked fine for all but your frame's original owner (as far as i know). we couldn't add an extra strut - preferably opposite the original two due to battery considerations - these days it would be simple to use a much smaller battery with the same power. - Regards - Phil

 

[redax5]

damn nice frame, looks very familar

 

 

[phil37]

  damn nice frame, looks very familar

 

 

[dja981]

  damn nice frame, looks very familar

 

Thats Robs replacement frame under warranty then?

And it's already in Australia what service.

                                                    Dave

 

[chrisk]

On Ebay? Or, just in front of Abay (window). 

 

[andre]

Phil.
I can see top mount was built cantilevered due to battery constraint, and agree smaller modern batteries now make it eaisier to add a connection to rhs. Despite my earlier comments, my repair was to leave as stock. Quite hard to run a brace around a std battery.
I suspect the previous owner may have had a 'bottoming out' shock.
Again, the short shock stroke would make shock setup very important.

Loving my Motodd. Much character.
Regards, Andre

 

[motoddrob]

Hi Andre,
jeezus mate, the previous owner must have hit something big to cause that amount of damage
My Motodd has had a fairly hard time and seen some pretty rough roads so that little crack seem justified.
Other issues I've had are mainly the engine mounts, the lower rear breaks on the stud plate and the 2 front mounts broke on the bend where it bolts to the cases. I solved that one by re-engineering those 2 using 2" 3mm angle and spread the load over 2 mounting places each. 50k km later still ok so problem solve. Just rewelded the lower rear and beefed it up some so we'll see how that goes.
The frame, apart from the 2 areas I posted photos of has been good except for the steering stop on the head stock. The chunk of metal welded to the head stock eventually tore a section out of the head stock after receiving too many knocks form the lower yoke.
I pushed it back in place, had it tig welded then cut the block off and tigged a plate over it. That was over 20 years ago.
I made up a new steering stop from another piece of 2" angle that's mounted on the cross member that mounts the oil cooler. That has proved to be a good solution as it's never been a problem since.