Brendonian 150 Report post Posted June 11 17 minutes ago, au-yt said: 222 weeks that's madness, If I can make another suggestion, there are companies that rebuild clutch plates for all sorts of cars, and sorry to mention the competition again but there the people to look for and spec a road clutch. Its probably an upgraded Toyota RAV 4 Diesel unit as that's what the gearbox is from. 22 weeks is indeed crazy. I'm hoping to have one in the next week. Otherwise, I'll gradually widen the net. Certainly I'd consider the non-OEM options rather than wait 6 months! I'm sure there's nothing special about the standard clutch, but I'm not keep to try anything relatively untested unless I get desperate! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bravo73 1,054 Report post Posted June 11 Does the 22 weeks only apply to the original clutch? How about the 4X0 option? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Brendonian 150 Report post Posted June 11 1 minute ago, Bravo73 said: Does the 22 weeks only apply to the original clutch? How about the 4X0 option? I assume they're readily available. But Lotus are strongly advising against fitting them to an N/A car Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mik 341 Report post Posted June 11 I know you are quoting their words Brendan, but I am confused by the position they are taking. When engaged and shoving around / being shoved around by 1300kg of vehicle, I cant believe any change in the flywheel effect has much difference. Which makes me suspect the calibration concerns are around idle and gear changes. You wont be using any boost from an S is either of those circumstances, so again I am struggling to see why a 4xx assembly eould be OK for an S, but not for an NA. It sounds like someone was being hyper-cautious is their response to this - and if OEM clutches were available - it is probably good advice. But since they arent..... it might be good to speak to someone techical at Lotus again? I would assume they would also not recommend your fit anything aftermarket as it might mess up the calibration.... so you are kinda stuck. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Brendonian 150 Report post Posted June 11 @mik I agree, Lotus are being very cautious. But I can understand it. They put a lot of work into ensuring the ECU calibration works not just for a single car, but across all the cars they produce with all kinds of tolerances. Even so, they've run into problems with some cars stalling unexpectedly. Changing the flywheel for something significantly lighter is likely to cause stalling in a percentage of cars, and that's something of a safety concern! I have a potential source of a standard clutch, and I'm happy to wait a few days to see if that pans out. If not, I'll have to consider other options. Ultimately, I'm being cautious because I don't want to pay a lot of money for something that might not be 100%, and then feel the need to do it all again! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bravo73 1,054 Report post Posted June 11 Exactly. Well said, @mik. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Brendonian 150 Report post Posted June 11 Good news! The nice people at Bell & Colvill (thanks Chris Stewart!!!!) have managed to get me a friction plate. I understand it was the very last one available, one of a handful that Lotus recalled from the US, so it's quite well travelled already! Now, I'm just hoping Lotus Silverstone can fit me into their schedule sometime soon! 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mik 341 Report post Posted June 11 Good stuff. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Brendonian 150 Report post Posted June 12 Ok, I've now seen an estimate for the work, and already paid for the friction plate. I can say the total cost for the clutch replacement is going to come to around £3k, and with my new front brakes, and annual service I'm looking at a nice round £4k bill. Exactly what I expected, but still painful to see it in writing. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DBG 81 Report post Posted June 13 Thanks for sharing. Scary to have this expense looming over us, but not much we can do. Hopefully all goes smoothly for you. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Brendonian 150 Report post Posted June 13 3 minutes ago, DBG said: Thanks for sharing. Scary to have this expense looming over us, but not much we can do. Hopefully all goes smoothly for you. Thanks @DBG. They're currently scheduled to start work on the 5th of July. Still a bit of wait, but could be worse! 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TomE 165 Report post Posted June 13 3 hours ago, DBG said: Thanks for sharing. Scary to have this expense looming over us, but not much we can do. Hopefully all goes smoothly for you. You could put 10p in a jar for every mile you drive. If you're unlucky and the clutch goes at 30,000 miles you'll have £3k of 10ps. If you're lucky then after 30,000 miles you can hang on to the £3k and start spending the 10ps on something else 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DBG 81 Report post Posted June 14 Haha good saving plan 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
edp 8 Report post Posted June 25 Spare friction plate now listed in the classifieds if anyone needs one: https://www.lotusforsale.com/ads/c132f0015f-evora-na-friction-plate/ Cheers Ed 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Brendonian 150 Report post Posted July 6 Lotus Silverstone started work on Thursday, and the clutch is done, engine and gearbox are back in the car. Good progress, so hopefully I’ll be back on the road again soon. Was interesting to see the condition of the clutch. It’s quite worn, and would have started slipping soon, but the failure was one of the springs had popped out. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dalepearson 79 Report post Posted July 10 Glad its making progress. Looks sad like that 1 Quote .:: Lotus Evora 400 - Red ::.. | ..:: Tesla Model S - Midnight Silver | Renault Twizy - Brilliant Black ::.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Brendonian 150 Report post Posted July 11 Well, the good news is the clutch is done. Car's back on the road, and driving great! Bad news is it now sounds more rattly than ever when idling Apologies for the quality of the video, but this demonstrates the noise reasonably well. Towards the end, you can hear how the noise goes away when I depress the clutch pedal. I don't know whether this noise is from the clutch, or the gearbox. Neither do I know whether it's something to be concerned about. Any thoughts? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bruss 454 1 Vehicles Report post Posted July 11 First thought is why didn't Lotus SS tell you what they think it might be? Second thought is that it sounds quite a 'heavy' ratlle on the vid indicating gearbox type sounds, but it's hard to tell. Third thought is did Lotus tell you why the original clutch had failed. The sound may be related to the original failure cause? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Brendonian 150 Report post Posted July 11 13 minutes ago, Bruss said: First thought is why didn't Lotus SS tell you what they think it might be? Second thought is that it sounds quite a 'heavy' ratlle on the vid indicating gearbox type sounds, but it's hard to tell. Third thought is did Lotus tell you why the original clutch had failed. The sound may be related to the original failure cause? Ben at Lotus Silverstone did say they'd noted 'a bit of gearbox chatter'. I didn't notice anything until I got it home. Weirdly, it sounded perfect this morning when I started it. The noise didn't start until I pressed the clutch and released it again. All I know about the clutch failure is it was really quite worn, and ultimately, one of the springs popped out. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mark030358 463 Report post Posted July 11 On 06/07/2019 at 12:49, Brendonian said: Lotus Silverstone started work on Thursday, and the clutch is done, engine and gearbox are back in the car. Good progress, so hopefully I’ll be back on the road again soon. Was interesting to see the condition of the clutch. It’s quite worn, and would have started slipping soon, but the failure was one of the springs had popped out. I would NOT be happy to see all kinds of stuff piled up on my car. Risk of marks and scratches. Right poor show imho... 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Techyd 123 1 Vehicles Report post Posted July 11 1 hour ago, Mark030358 said: I would NOT be happy to see all kinds of stuff piled up on my car. Risk of marks and scratches. Right poor show imho. Absolutlely - I wouldn't expect the car to be used as a shelf. Its not even covered with a sheet! 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Brendonian 150 Report post Posted July 24 Ok, I'm well overdue an update. Lotus have approved a parts warranty claim for a suspected problem with my replacement clutch I now have to wait whilst they check on parts availability before we can book the car in to have it all taken apart again The car sounds really quite rattly, and I'm occasionally having some difficulty engaging gears, but generally the car drives well, so at least I can enjoy it during this nice weather. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
snowrx 77 Report post Posted July 24 What was hitting the hub springs to cause the abrasion on the remaining springs? I would think the plate hub should not be able to touch anything when properly fitted, let alone knocking springs out. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Brendonian 150 Report post Posted July 24 1 hour ago, snowrx said: What was hitting the hub springs to cause the abrasion on the remaining springs? I would think the plate hub should not be able to touch anything when properly fitted, let alone knocking springs out. I don’t know much about it, but I assume nothing pushed the spring out. I guess either the spring, or the area where it’s mounted suffered a failure. At that point, you’ve got a spring and some small bits of metal churning around the clutch, causing all kinds of damage until the engine stopped. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
