EdWills

My error. It was actually a limited run of Seven Series 4s in Spain, not Series 3. W

@IamScotticus has supplied a very comprehensive list of types and sizes for a Caterham and Lotus Seven. The original bushes sourced by Lotus were produced by a company called Metalastik (sometimes spelled Metalastic). As noted on the web it is: "A famous historical British brand of rubber-to-metal bonded components, including flexible bearings and bushings founded in Leicester in 1937 by engineer Mac Goldsmith. The brand is now owned by Trelleborg, and distributed in the U.K. by Robush" A number of road and racing car manufacturers relied on Metalastik rubber and metal bushings for suspension, engine mounts, gearbox mounts etc. Lotus as well as many other car manufacturers made use of them as shown on Scott's post. Caterham still shows a few for sale on their web site, but check to see if they are metric, before ordering for an early Caterham (which may still have used Imperial sizes), or a Lotus Seven (which definitely did use Imperial). W

I have been going through a few older car magazines, saving anything Lotus Seven, and found an article in a U.K. mag, regarding the various Caterham 7s (apologies, did not save the pages as it does not really apply to my car!). The article showed the 1977 Twin Cam Caterham 7 of James Whiting in the U.K., who is a renowned tuner of 7s (ex Rolls Royce mechanic apparently), and also was a successful drag racer and sprinter in his car and 750 MC club racing (car also featured in Graham Arnold's book "Lotus Seven Super Profile". This white car was decorated in Martini racing colours). I noticed in one of the photos that James Whiting did not have a brace fitted to the rear of the axle, and wondered how he managed to keep it in one piece with its history of sprinting and drag racing. I contacted James and he kindly sent me a photo of his conversion. I do not suggest that this is the easiest or best way of preserving the Ford or even the Standard Triumph rear axle case, but if an owner doesn't want to go to all of the trouble of having a large heavy plate welded on to the rear of the axle, mostly across the entire length, James Whiting's modification may be of consideration? It keeps the 'A' frame as originally designed, but may not be legal for racing purposes in North America? He notes: " I fitted lower towers like Ford's AVO 4 link set-up to keep the loads outboard of the original leaf spring platform to reduce the twisting moment inline with Ford's design. The 'A' frame was retained but with a sliding spherical joint design which gave lateral restraint but not transmit drive train loads". The welding of the 2 'towers' should not cause distortion to the case (even to the bearings location?), and is not overly complicated. Twin trailing arms would also be necessary for this to work with the 'A' bracket. Many years ago, in conversation with Jez Coates of Caterham, he gave me a copy of the sliding 'A' bracket joint that both James Whiting used as well as David Bettinson on his 7 Clubman Car (which became the subject of an RAC race ban in the U.K. David Bettinson's car had also been previously fitted with a Panhard Rod and twin radius arms). I can try to load this drawing should anyone need to see it. This mod. may not be for everyone, but may be cheaper, lighter and simpler than the large heavy flat plate?

And Darcy, it is a good idea to mark which side the axles came from. In the heat of battle, it is easy to swap them. Advice from a Haynes manual. Cheers, W.

Hi Darcy. I just measured the plate that Caterham had attached to the axle case of my Ford Mk. II Escort rear axle, and to be exact (electronic calliper), it is 6.25 m.m. or 0.246 inches - so just under 1/4 inch thick. I'm not a metallurgist and I haven't checked the strength of mild steel in 1/8 inch thickness, but I would hazard a guess that being this thin, it could still twist with the stresses the axle is subjected to? Others please advise. I note that on Facebook in the Lotus Seven 1,2,3,4, thread, you have inquired regarding the axle plate. I think that Chris Beebe would be a good source to ask, as he has produced a number of strengthened Standard Triumph rear axles for Lotus Sevens, and will have much more advice and expertise than I can provide. I can't confirm, but perhaps some of the braces in the form of a 'U' shaped channel on some of the reinforced axles (mainly Standard Triumph) could use 1/8 inch thick mild steel for strength? Just a note that some Seven owners in the U.K. refer to the heavy plate as a 'Stegosaurus' plate, as it is a bit of a dinosaur, and if Mr. Chapman had really thought about it, he may have preferred a Watts link attachment as used by Mallock on their racing cars with solid rear axles. Although the Lotus Cortina used an 'A' bracket to locate the solid rear axle, it had a greased swivel at the apex which avoided rubber bush contamination, and made the joint much more flexible (but the case could still wind-up or twist). When Ford produced their version of the Lotus Cortina, they adopted leaf springs (with a newly designed body), and no 'A' bracket to secure the back axle. Caterham did use a flexible connection at the apex of the 'A' bracket with a sliding feature plus 4 radius arms on the David Bettinson Clubman racing car of 1975, but it was never brought into production for their road cars, preferring the De-Dion set-up after the Ital/Marina supply dried up. Jez Coates of Caterham provided a full size blueprint of the set-up, but it is hard to reproduce. I can try to take a photo if anyone is interested? Cheers, W.

Hi @11Budlite. That's the one. Cheers. W.

Hi Darcy. My Escort rear axle from Caterham many years ago, has the 1/4 inch heavy flat plate going right across to where the radius arms attach, so a number of welds. The plate is not continuously welded, just 2 inch welds spread across the brace say 6/7 inches apart or so. DSK under Messrs. Kaplan, Seitz, and their team came up with some good modifications for Lotus parts that were sometimes on the limit of breaking. I have attached a method designed by a Mr. J. Woolnough of DSK cars that looks strong, would be lighter than the plate, and helps to control the axle distortion (twisting). Some seamless 1/8 inch wall mild steel tubing may fit the bill? I believe that John D. of Simple Sevens has an alternative page from DSK that is similar to the one attached. Either would work. W

Hi @pethier. According to the Standard Triumph Manual, and the Lotus Seven Owners Manual, both use the term 'stub axle' or 'stub axle shaft' to describe the one piece part that the wheel bearings are located on. Spindle is also correct to describe the part, but ordering a 'spindle' from a U.K. Triumph/Lotus parts source may lead to some head scratching possibly (but AI will help)? Cheers W.

Hi @San Augustine Understood, and my error, apologies. I should have added it to one of Darcy's posts on page 1. Sorry about that. Thanks for the confirmation on the Europa and Elan. It would be interesting to compare prices between the two countries, as shipping from the U.K. as noted by Darcy, has gone sky high. I recently ordered a part from Pegasus in the U.S. (only available from them), and they found a very reasonable postal rate for me. The cost of the item was below the tax level for Canada fortunately, so nothing extra to pay. Cheers W.

Found this out from a post by a Lotus Seven designer. He redesigned the front hubs for the Lotus Seven Series 3 in order to take the 4-1/4 inch bolt circle pattern of the Ford wheels to match the same bolt circle diameter of the Escort rear axle after supplies of the Standard Triumph rear axle dried up. The Standard Triumph steel hub could not be modified from its 3-3/4 inch bolt circle diameter to suit the larger diameter, therefore Triumph hubs as fully machined by them could no longer be used. He did not mention if the hubs were specially produced by Lotus, or sourced as blanks from Standard Triumph. The hubs for the Series 4 would likewise be required to have a 4-1/4 inch bolt circle. Would the Europa and possibly the Elan be required to have a different bolt circle measurement, or were the rear hubs still of 3-3/4 inches on these models? Cheers, W.

Hi @San Augustine and @Darcy. Just some info. that I added to another forum and found on-line regarding bushes used on Lotus cars in general. A poster had inquired regarding the source of a certain bushing, and a model of car (not Lotus) was quoted as the source. This from from AI: "Metalastik (often spelled Metallastic) is a famous historical British brand of rubber-to-metal bonded components, including flexible bearings and bushings, founded in Leicester in 1937 by engineer Mac Goldsmith. The brand is now owned by Trelleborg and distributed in the U.K. by Robush. Numerous car manufacturers used these bushes, including Ford, TVR, Jaguar, Lotus, and numerous other road and racing car manufacturers, plus kit car producers. Back in the day before computers, manufacturers would have catalogues of products from the various supply companies, and the car designers would source bushings and other necessary parts from the catalogues to suit the car they were designing. Although a Metallastic mount was used on say a Jaguar front and rear bumper, it was not exclusively a Jaguar part, as other manufacturers would make use of the same item (Lotus Seven 2,3 engine mount). Lotus would buy the bushings directly from Metallastic, not say Jaguar, as doing this would reduce profit margin. Although interesting to some where a certain bush was used on another car, I don't think it would be necessary for a rebuild of a Lotus Seven to source a set of bushings from all of the different car manufacturers who used a certain bush in order to replace it on a Seven (or even a Caterham 7), unless a required bushing was so rare and only available from another car company parts bin. I hope during the winter months (when it's freezing in my garage and too cold to do any work) that I will add a list of bushes with photos identifying the various part numbers of the bushes - used on a Seven - to my web site. This is not to say that Robush for example, will still have the same part number. Many bushes are probably metric measurements these days Chris Mintoft at Redline would be the go to for these bushes, unless he can no longer get some of them. Just a note: I am not sure if Chris uses Lotus part numbers. Mick Lincoln of the original Redline Components advised me ages ago, that he did not use the numbers from the Lotus Seven Owners Manual, instead relying on a description of its use or photo of the required part? @Darcy I would be interested to find out which is cheaper, purchasing - with the cost of shipping included - from the U.K. and the U.S. please? Cheers, W.

Very nicely done! The workmanship is excellent. W

Hi Darcy. Did you also order inner tubes for your Pirelli Cinturatos? I believe that Longstone Tyres recommend inner tubes even if the rims are steel or alloy. My car came from the second owner with Cinturatos fitted with inner tubes to the 5-1/2 J Cortina steel rims. He used 185s, but kept the spare as a 165 width. W.

Coincidentally, that is just about the correct metallic blue that my Seven would have had from the factory. Your car looks magnificent! I have seen a photo of a Seven SS twin-cam in the same metallic blue original finish. Regarding badges on a Seven. Although I had some back and forth communication with the Lotus Seven Registrar on the subject, most - and I do not propose all - Seven Series 3 cars produced after August 1968, and sold in 1969 - that I have seen in Canada, have the black Jim Clark memorial badge attached which may also have been fitted to Elans, Europas F.F. cars etc. The black badge may have carried over into cars sold in 1970 as Lotus was using them up. Not to get too much into it here, but a very good Lotus Elan site discusses the history and some disagreements regarding the use of the black memorial badge applied to some of the cars before this time. W No problem regarding the bushes. One company noted by @JohnCh sells a full set for $271.00 U.S., but not sure what the taxes will be on top of this? Caterham Cars still show some on their web site. Good luck with your refurbishment, and keep the build details rolling please.Cheers. W.

Hi @Darcy. Just a bit of info regarding your plan to strip your car back to bare alloy. I was just checking some original chromed bonnet catches and grey painted parts from my 1969 Series 3 Seven (fully constructed in October 1968 at the Lotus Factory, Hethel, Norfolk). I noticed that the original metallic blue factory applied paint that Lotus used on a few Series 3 cars shipped abroad, (and sold in the U.K.), had sprayed over onto these parts and had remained on the car without the two previous owners or myself removing the overspray. For this to happen, I'm assuming that the parts had to already be attached to the car? I am also guessing that Lotus were busy turning out the new Series 3 and masking tape (or similar in 1968?) back then wasn't as good as it is now or the newspaper wrapped tubing wasn't that well applied? It may also of course have been painted at the location in Canada where it was sold. On the BAT site, you were in contact with John Collier of Edmonton who also has an all yellow Series 3. You could check with him about the paint finish on his car. Also, the Lotus Seven Registrar should have a record of the colour of your car as it left the factory. The Registrar should be amenable to providing full details on the car, if he has them., as you are the new owner. He did not have any details for my car that was imported by the Lotus Concessionaires in Toronto, but I was able to obtain them directly from Lotus when I purchased the car. Cheers, W