Front exhaust bracket

[rip]

My Elan is making the most horrid rattling sound so now I am attracting looks for the wrong reasons.

I think that the exhaust is knocking something near the front. (Sump I would imagine).
Is there a bracket in that area which may have sheared and, if so, is it easy to replace?

[rjbean]

I had this same problem. At first it was just a little rattle exiting roundabouts and it got worse to rattling constantly at motorway speeds.

I took it to a local exhaust place, they put it int the air and we had a good nose. Just behind the sump (towards the rear or the car) there is a braket which should be bolted to the the exhaust. My bolt was missing completely. It was a right game for the bloke to put another one in, took him about half an hour sincne it's difficult to line up the hole in the exhaust and space is tight for fingers.

I wouldn't like to attempt it with the car on low ramps so probably best to take it to somewhere there you can stand under it.

[rip]

Sounds very similar. I think that may be it.
I do have quite small hands, so I may have a chance. It will be worth putting the front of the car on stands even if it is just to have a look before deciding to take it elsewhere.

[lotuska]

There is also a metal like seal between the downpipe and and exhaust (just under the sump at the same point that the bracket should be), part number A100S6005F that might have broken up over time.

I can't remember the part ref but its a standard part that most exhaust places should have...

[rip]

I had a good look under there this weekend.
The rhombus-shaped flange a the end of the front section is very close indeed to the sump. So close that I suspect this could be the knocking I am hearing. There is a bracket attached to this which looks fine except that it goes up into free space. There is an elongated hole near the top but there is nothing whatsoever remotely close for this to bolt on to.

I have not ruled out the possibility of the noise being caused by a failed engine mount, but to have an exhaust bracket that goes nowhere to me seems to be a bit to strange to be correct.

[paza1]

Take a look at Service Bulletin 1991/17 in the Service and Maint. Manual.
Mark

[rip]

Take a look at Service Bulletin 1991/17 in the Service and Maint. Manual.
Mark

Good find. I am impressed.

That looks like my missing part, or the part I need which was probably never there at all.

Lotus part = probably unavailable

[paza1]

I think there was some discussion about whether the mod was a good thing or not sometime ago. IIRC some believe that the best way forward is to have a flexi pipe section (as per PECO?).
Cheers
Mark

[rip]

Ah, PECO.
I was thinking of having a PECO fitted at some point in the future. Would you recommend that I stop thinking of a fix for this problem and just get a PECO exhaust sooner rather than later?

[paza1]

Well, I haven't got a PECO and I haven't fitted the nut and bolt to the bracket (yet) on my standard exhaust. I think the theory is that originally there were problems with downpipes breaking (hence the mod). Some believe that the stresses are moved elsewhere so not much gained. Have a search in the exhaust section. Any PECO buyers/exhaust experts got anything to add?
Cheers,
Mark