| diff which dates back to the Anglia. Originally, it was a
live axle diff but on the +2 the driveshafts ended up being two-and-a-half
foot long due to the distance from the diff to the hub, so they have a bit
of torsional spring in them. Lotus ran rubber drive couplings which also
help to take the shock-loads away from the diff; when you uprate them
to solid driveshafts they break your diff output shafts meaning you
end up going to expensive competition components which just move the
problem further down the driveline."
In the corner of the workshop, there's a Spyder chassis waiting for
it's body to be fitted. The Lotus +2 chassis was made from folded sheet
steel and contrary to legend, did more flexing than a rude boy loitering
on a street corner. Whereas Spyder's design, despite being constrained by
the body moulding is far more rigid dur to it's spaceframe construction.
The axle of choice is the 7.5 inch Sierra one with the disc brakes and
the Sierra also provides the hubs, brakes and bearings at the rear. Diff?
Well, the preferred one is from the XR4x4 because it has a slipper and
it's the right ratio too (3.64:1), but the 7.5 inch Scorpio doesn't do
corner cutting, so they make their own hardened driveshafts instead of
cutting, welding and sleeving them to the right length (these are often
unbalanced and end up killing the CV joints.
|
