87 replies to this topic

[Acidpopstar]

All this talk of failures is almost making me scared to drive the car!

 

I know how you feel but I for one am going to get straight back on that horse. 

[JG]

Someone hasn't paid the bill

[VXT Tim]

Sad to say it was always on my mind whenever I drove the car, as were the hcb's. Recent upgrades have allowed me to enjoy the car that little bit extra, I should've addressed the issues a while ago.

[mbes2]

All this talk of failures is almost making me scared to drive the car!

 

[Jason]

Is the toe link on the Lotus Europa evolved at all from the VX as I understand it's the closes relative to the VX under the skin.

[ghand]

This is from 2007, http://www.lotustalk...toe-link-42434/   also   http://www.lotustalk...e-links-136217/   lotus addressed the issue by doing 2 things (primarily for the inner joints)   1. offering a stabilizer bar (ultimately a factory add-on to the Exige in later years) 2. posting a bulletin on checking the torque of the joint bolts (apparently coming to the conclusion that the inner joints became loose thus causing them to shear over time from excess stress). if I recall, many dealers did offer to retorque the bolts as a recall service.   either way the current solutions for the rear toe link arms are primarily to address the inner joint from shearing (whether its BOE/Sector/ect they are all legit options)   but the stock outter joints aren't really a 'problem' spot (like the inners) & even after the unfortunate incident with 'Ying' I still wouldn't consider the outter joints an overall issue... but with that said if you address the inner joints with one of the aftermarket options, its certainly a good idea to check for wear on the outters as a piece of mind

Mark what makes you say the outer joints aren't a problem. ? The one I saw snap in Wales luckily at slow speed on the straight was an outer (all standard) The one a few week back was luckily also not at speed. While looking at it under the car I remember all the comments on my thread with folk saying " oh they never snap while straight only under heavy cornering " made me smile. They can most definitely snap either inner or outer at any time even as you ease it into the garage

[MartinS]

So where can we get just new bolts?

 

Martin S

 

 

[Acidpopstar]

This is from 2007, http://www.lotustalk.com/forums/f101/check-your-toe-link-42434/   also   http://www.lotustalk...e-links-136217/   lotus addressed the issue by doing 2 things (primarily for the inner joints)   1. offering a stabilizer bar (ultimately a factory add-on to the Exige in later years) 2. posting a bulletin on checking the torque of the joint bolts (apparently coming to the conclusion that the inner joints became loose thus causing them to shear over time from excess stress). if I recall, many dealers did offer to retorque the bolts as a recall service.   either way the current solutions for the rear toe link arms are primarily to address the inner joint from shearing (whether its BOE/Sector/ect they are all legit options)   but the stock outter joints aren't really a 'problem' spot (like the inners) & even after the unfortunate incident with 'Ying' I still wouldn't consider the outter joints an overall issue... but with that said if you address the inner joints with one of the aftermarket options, its certainly a good idea to check for wear on the outters as a piece of mind

Mark what makes you say the outer joints aren't a problem. ? The one I saw snap in Wales luckily at slow speed on the straight was an outer (all standard) The one a few week back was luckily also not at speed. While looking at it under the car I remember all the comments on my thread with folk saying " oh they never snap while straight only under heavy cornering " made me smile. They can most definitely snap either inner or outer at any time even as you ease it into the garage

Agree from personal experience, mine failed driving 40mph on a straight bit of road. Phoenix are now doing a complete suspension refresh with Seriously Lotus kit. They recommend it and I'm not in a position to argue.

[bradley]

Ok easy one this, There is too much thread length on the outer bolt. There should be a nice close fitting shaft going through the upright. The thread diameter does not locate on the upright and so wobbles around. This is why the replacement bolt started to fail. It had an even longer thread. Ideally should be a tapered fit, like on most ball joints. Lotus did some changes to improve the location of this joint I think.

[Ebo100]

It's a lot of years since I studied this sort of application but I do remember an experiment we ran while I was studying NDT. The weakest point on a hex bolt is the transition between thread and the shoulder so we performed a test on a Denison tensile test machine to prove this. Setting up a four plate lap joint sample held together with eight bolts, we set up four bolts with the thread transition level with the plate inner edge and four bolts threaded right through the plates and then pulled them apart with the bolts in shear. As expected the bolts sheared at the transition. I'm not familiar with the makeup of the joints were the threads start and finish but as Bradley says above; having a close fit shaft right through the joints would be an improvement. I can't remember the valves measured (it was 30 years ago) when we went back and pulled the other end apart the values were dramatically higher.

It went with a hell of a bang aswell

[ghand]

Just to make it worse some snap on the weld on the other stud, brilliant all round design.

[Jason]

So you are saying the whole is too big for the bolt that is provided? Solutions to that could be: * Sheath bolt - Probably not practical due to sizes involved. * Drill out hole and sheath bolt.

Edited by Jason, 13 July 2014 - 10:30 AM.

[techieboy]

This is interesting read http://www.lotustalk...177/index2.html

 

Less interesting than when it was linked to in post 3 of this thread.

[Jason]

I guess I skimmed that.. Doh

[bradley]

Not sure, but I think later cars have conical fittings to the hub. I've got an early car so not sure what later ones look like, just know they are different. The best way to fix this whole toe control link issue would be to fit current production Elise links. You can be sure Lotus fixed this issue some time ago. Wether they fit is another issue, but would probably go straight on later cars. That's the great thing about the VX, the chassis is still in production, but with improvements. Recently fitted current Elise spring damper units. They are amazing. Way more damping control but also more comfortable. BTW, my car has on 108K and still has original toe links, yikes. Plan to overhaul the rear suspension this winter and will aim to use current Lotus parts.

[Bootdog]

So where can we get just new bolts?

 

Martin S

 

 

 

Yvo has put the uprated bolts onto the site : http://www.elise-shop.com/toe-link-replacement-109-bolt-kit-vx220-p-502715.html 

[Ebo100]

Link is not working

[peteslag]

Here you go:

 

http://www.elise-sho...0-p-502715.html

 

 

This good news but extremely frustrating. I've literally just had my toe link kit fitted with standard bolts. Stupid bloody plastic Lotus wannabe cars!

[ghand]

Here you go:   http://www.elise-sho...0-p-502715.html     This good news but extremely frustrating. I've literally just had my toe link kit fitted with standard bolts. Stupid bloody plastic Lotus wannabe cars!

If you don't track it make sure you replace them every 50K miles just for peace of mind

[MartinS]

My bolts from an uprated phoenix kit have been on the car for 25 plus track days and around 20000 miles on 888's, all seem ok, but am replacing them out of paranoia now.

 

 

Martin S