Hi Gary,
I can't recall seeing the gearchange like you describe on cars in the
UK but perhaps I just haven't noticed!! Alternatively many of these
may have started life as an 'a' spec car? I am sure I've seen many
with the shift going down to the lower corner though so wander if
this was the 23 (a) arrangement for an early Hewland or VW box. I run
my change like this and have used it both with Hewland Mk9 and
currently with the beetle rear shaft shift arrnagement.
Giving thought to the position of Lotus at the time they undertook
several developments and labelling an 'a', 'b' or 'c' is actually
very difficult. Initially changes would just have been straight
drawing revisions and so the change from centre gear shift to right
hand did not warrent a different product designation. Similarly
revisions could be retrofitted and so a cars build could change.
excluding the retrofitting a car would be built top a standard
represented by the drawings issue at the time and so each car could
be different in some minor way as revisions occured. Eventually a
chnage may be seen as majorand may warrant a new title for the car
and so perhaps the 'b' comes about. However many drawings allready
prepared for what was at first considered a minor change would not
reflect this and so may just say 'modified for twin cam installation'
and then later when someone says "let's call it a 'b' 'cos it's so
different", no one is going to go back and change all the comments on
drawings allready issued!! Meanwhile earlier cars are being modified
with later modifications, some not all perhaps so whilst the later
extra side tubes might go in, perhaps the later gearchange doesn't.
If the factory did at some point define a 23b or 23c there is no
record of the drawings and issues this related to I would imagine and
so it ceases to be possible to indentify any car as one thing or
another.....mmmmm. This all adds to the fun when someone asks me 'is
this a genuine car?' as it's impossible to work out if it is a
specific variant. Having said that and for example if the gear
mechanism goes down to the floor as an early right hand shift seems
to have been, you would not expect to then see the later top bracket
fitted on the chassis as you would not expect a 'b' modified chassis
to have an 'a' mechanism fitted. But after 40 years of being played
with why not? Interestingly and it is a quandry but my replacement
chassis drawings for 23b have brackets for both upper and lower
routing of the gearshift but have the lower,early, style of mechanism
fitted!!! Perhaps a giveaway!
cheers.
--- In L23Registry@..., "Gary Horstkorta" <horsty@m...>
wrote:
Nigel:
Thanks for the official/unoffical on the 23b (or is it 23B?). In
all the
various books I have read, the only model designations I have seen
refer to
the 23, 23B and 23C so I would tend to agree that this is correct.
Perhaps
other designations came about as a result of the update kits Lotus
sold to
23 owners to make them into 23Bs.
Regarding the gear change, my car and many others I have seen are
right hand
shift with the gear lever near the top frame tube and close to the
scuttle.
The change mechanism then runs parallel to the top tube through the
firewall
to a u-joint which angles down to under the Webers to another u-
joint which
is attached to a short tube that is bolted to the shift rod. I
have a
Hewland Mk9 so the shift rod comes out of the box pointed foward.
This
shift mechanism was nicely fabricated by a local shop and has only
required
one change of the hard plastic busings at the support points in 30
races.
Gary
From: "silvenm" <Nigel@s...>
Reply-To: L23Registry@...
To: L23Registry@...
Subject: [L23Registry] to 23b or not....
Date: Mon, 08 Nov 2004 19:04:14 -0000
