Christopher smith

Many thanks! Great info source. I can finally find out which gearbox, clutch and slave cylinder to go with.

Thanks- looks like the same one I have

Many thanks- yes, I am interested in learning more. I will need everything between the flywheel and the driveshaft yoke, assuming they have the same output shaft configuration. I will also need the entire slave cylinder + T.P. bearing and hardware and a shifter set-up or at least a sure place to source all those parts. Please let me know how to make contact and learn about history/condition.

That sure looks like a different spacer ( dust shield? but similar bolt pattern and dowels to my 122E -6015 block which I thought was a Cortina GT MK1 ( rope seal crank)and thought that was what Cosworth was using back then. Or is yours an earlier 1340 3 bearing maybe?

Did those gearboxes ( some originally column shift maybe?) employ clutch covers with the 3 finger design and maybe ? 190 clutch disc with what spline count? or the newer ones with many fingers and if so , flat or curled? Maybe the newer ones were Cortina MK1? I am certainly getting something wrong with my newer Saab and or Tilton concentric slave cylinder set-ups. It seems to work fine before starting the engine. Releases and engages multiple times just fine. But with engine running, depressing the clutch pedal a few times and it pushes the T.O. bearing way too far out and locks in that position somehow. I can then back off the bell housing to block bolts and the fingers push the T.O. and slave cylinder back the way they should be doing. Maybe misaligned?

Does anyone know which 4 speed gearbox used in the series 2 Super 7 1500 Lotus sourced from? The input splines and diameter and output as well? The Pinto box I have has 1 inch 23 spline input and it was really tough finding a new 7.5 inch ( 190 mm clutch disc) and the pressure plate to fit but maybe used in an early Mk1 Escort -UK only?- the Pinto took a larger one). The 7.5 set-up bolts up exactly to the 1500 GT flywheel and the bellhousing is a Cortina I think and has a right side starter and a large rectangular opening for an external slave cylinder on the left which I do not have and probably could not adapt to the Pinto box input anyway.

I think all series 1,2 & 3 have a welded in place tube as the front crossmember under the trans so agree, must be pulled out the top at a steep angle probably, unless you yank engine first and then bellhousing/trans combo which is what I do.

Many thanks for the info. Hope we can both have things sorted out for next season.( too cold here to do anything)

I hope all goes well. It is not easy. If it turns out you switch to a different transmission, I might want your old one. Is it hooked up to a 1500 pre-crossflow Ford as in Super 7? Does it have an external slave cylinder? My series 1 , while still in the UK, was converted to take a Cortina 1500 GT ( similar to the Super 7 Cosworth used in Series 2). But I could not find a normal 4 speed that worked, so a Pinto 4 speed was adapted with a concentric slave cylinder using a 3 bolt Saab slave and T.O. bearing. That gave up ( leaked) after some years and I have had the engine out 5 times now trying to get a Saab and now 2 Tilton units to work with no success. So I would want a complete set-up of everything between the flywheel to the driveshaft yoke.

If anyone needs metric fasteners I keep hearing from Bel-metric who may have a large stock

Not sure what this is about and am not aware of the names involved. Sorry if I got things confused but thought we all should consider safety as important. However there was a genuine and severe accident at The Glen back in the 1960s that involved a collapsed roll bar in a Lotus and a paralyzed driver resulted according to the story I heard at the tech inspection area. Not sure it actually had anything to do with roll bar height. Perhaps it lead to the detailed recommendations in the GCR ( General Competition Rules SCCA handbook)

Back in the 1960-70s the tech inspectors at Watkins Glen used to keep a damaged Lotus roll bar to show drivers how not to do it. I always wondered how some of the attachment points worked in any substantial roll over given the geometry and what looks like fragile tubing for supporting rear points. Best to keep it upright unless you have a well designed unit.

I was wondering about that also given the aerodynamic situation with 7s. I seem to recall a point where SCCA had to clamp down a bit with some clamshell adjustments giving less drag. I think it was raising the rear of the clamshells a bit but wonder what it did for top speed at that time. I think back in 1959-1960 when the first 7s started coming across the ocean that USA federal regulations did not allow cycle fenders and that is why the 7A had clamshells. Some of us liked the looks so much that most (all?) Series 2 and 3 maybe had clamshells worldwide.

Very interesting article. Thanks. Does anyone know the history/reasons why SCCA moved the 7 around in so many production classes? I recall the 7 America with the Sprite engine was in F production when I raced in that class in my Sunbeam Alpine late 1970s (and got passed in the corners of course). The Super 7 with the 1500 pre-clossflow Cosworth and 2x 40 DCOE arrangement was in D production back in the 1960s. For a while it was moved to BP and ran against older Corvettes, beating them on tight tracks like Marlboro, Md. The SCCA production classes were supposed to be based on relative performance with quite a few modifications allowed. Later I think it moved back to D and ran against some pretty fast TR4s. I kind of lost touch with SCCA but much more recently I see that 7s are in FP and run against some pretty fast MG Midgets. I think the 7s may still have the 1500, but I guess has some pretty substantial weights added so can run against those Midgets. Can anyone fill in the blanks for around 1990 to 2020 or so?