soldave

Right, my final plan is trying to make a best of both worlds situation. I'm going to have one fan attached to a new Otter switch which will turn on at 84 degrees or so, and another fan on a manual switch in the cabin. Both will be on separate relays, fuses and wiring so if one stops the other should keep going

My parts came in today so I got the old thermostat off and did some testing. Not incredibly scientific but it does seem that at the same temperature the new thermostat is much more open than the old one. Hopefully that'll help with cooling. Got the driveshaft off and although the oil seal looks in decent condition (the o-ring less so) the bearing was a little loud. So I've got replacements and will just have to get a garage's help in getting the old collar and bearing off and new one on.

Whilst I had the brake drum off on the passenger side today I took a look at the state of the drums. No oil contamination from the diff output seal leak, which I was pleased with. Wondering what the thickness of brand new shoes is, and what the thickness threshold is for changing to new ones. On the passenger side mine had 3.2-3.5mm of meat left on one and 4mm on the other. May be fine but I thought I'd ask the question to be sure 🙂

Thread back from the dead! Noticed a wet lower link and some oil on the floor at the read end so it looks like either the seal or o-ring on the passenger side (this time) has failed and needs replacing. The seal looks good (o-ring probably has seen better days), but whilst it's apart I'll do everything. So on my shopping list is: 3 x o-rings (just so I have spare) Collar Bearing Oil seal What I can't remember from last time is how do I keep the o-ring in place when putting it all back together? The factory manual suggests using "a suitable adhesive" which is very cryptic!

Quite a bit going on so I'd better get into it. Since May I had a really enjoyable trip to Lotus in the Peak. Some beautiful driving roads and great to see so many Lotus models together in one place. The weather held all day too, which was a bonus. Then earlier this week I was lucky enough to be selected to take part in the Lotus Evija launch, as they wanted a yellow example of Lotus models throughout the ages. Bit of a trek to get there: 190 miles and a 4-hour drive each way, including one hour stop-almost stop-stop in London traffic. On the motorway at a steady 70mph the temp gauge stayed at 90 degrees and sometimes just starting to go a little over before dropping down to 90 again. Might be the voltage stabiliser but might be the engine getting a little too warm for my liking. Think I might invest in a new thermostat and gasket to make sure I'm covered there. But it was the London traffic on a beautifully sunny (and hot) day that had me watching the temp gauge almost constantly. Radiator fans were on constantly and the needle stayed just a needlewidth above 90; pretty pleasing though. Got to the venue and spotted a few other Lotus parked up, got into position, let out a sigh and turned the car off. Tried to turn the radiator fan off but the switch (the spare Lucas switch that's in my centre console) didn't really want to turn off. Pulled the switch out of the console so I could remove a wire from the back of it, and that's when the fun started! By fun I mean smoke. Smoke suddenly started pouring out of the centre console area and from the engine bay. PANIC!!! Grabbed the fire extinguisher but in this case there was smoke without fire (see what I did there?!). Alas, the radiator wiring between battery and switch had basically become ash. I know, I know... a much better way would be to use relays etc. I know this now and have worked out a much better and safer setup (see diagram below) To be fair, everyone there was awesome in helping out, both Lotus staff and other owners. They found where I could get a few things to get the fans working again and I set off on foot. Missed the Lotus drive around London as I needed to make some repairs, but I hardwired the fan to the battery so that I could get home. The car covered another 190 miles and other than nearly becoming an inferno just as I pulled up outside the launch event (still embarrassed about it now), the car didn't really skip a beat. The long trip seems to have taken a bit of a toll on it though, and there are a few things I need to look into. Fan wiring. Car's not going anywhere until that's all set up in a proper manner. I hate car electrics but need to embrace my hatred. Thermostat and gasket. Should be a relatively quick switch once I get some extra coolant, but nothing's ever simple! Headlight vacuum system. Prior to this week, the vacuum system was on point and headlights would stay down for 12-13 hours (i.e. factory spec). On arriving in London, it's decided to start losing vacuum after a couple of hours. A simple vacuum system but it's going to be a long process to diagnose as it's such a small leak. Rear diff seems to be leaking a little more than I'd like. Replaced the output shaft seal on the passenger side a few years back but need to have a look this weekend to see where this one is coming from. So good times, but plenty to do now.

Thanks for that. Yeah, could easily run a positive feed from the battery, and also run all earths to the battery. I was wondering whether it would be best grounding to the chassis or the battery. So the modified wiring diagram would look like this

Well, after a slight hiccup yesterday at he end of a 180+ mile, 4-hour trip into London, I need to rewire my radiator fans as one of the wires ... well let's just say that it's now smoke and ashes! The setup I have in mind is below, and I was wondering if anyone could take a look, let me know if it looks OK (I'm going to use a fused relay rather than a fuse then relay, but the premise is the same), and then take a look at a couple of questions below. Wires would be 10AWG from battery through relay to fans and then ground, and 16AWG on the switch side. Where would be the best place to get the ignition source from, with the switch part of the centre console in the car? Earths: where would be the best place to connect the earth wire going from the coil of the relay? Earths once again: for the fans, would I be best finding somewhere on the chassis to ground to, or could I run the wires back to the battery to earth? Thanks in advance. Want to get this right and not repeat yesterday's shenanigans!

Thanks guys for your thoughts. I'll probably try replacing the thermostat first off, so will get one and a gasket ordered in the next day or two. Got a trip to London planned early next week so will change it after that - don't want to risk taking anything apart before then as even the simplest jobs end up being much more complex than I plan! if the thermostat checks out OK I'll make plans to test the radiator flow.

Interesting what you said about the carbs getting a bit of heat soak. Mine's exactly the same taking a little more to get started after I've turned the engine off for a little while. My fans are manual and I've no problems putting them on at 90. I think the question was more when I'm doing motorway driving, should it be getting up to 90 and needing the fans switching on at all Appreciate the thoughts

If I drop to 60-65 then the temperature will usually drop a little. If the needle being at 90 is about right then I'm not worried about slight fluctuations, but if it should be quite a bit lower on motorway runs then I'll do some more investigating, and radiator might be a good call.

Fuel gauge needle is rock solid and just goes towards empty a little quicker than I'd like! 😁 Any movement in the temp gauge needle is independent of any other gauges.

Was driving home from a car show on Sunday afternoon which was a relatively warm day by UK standards (22-24 degrees or so!). Motorway driving for around 40 minutes and a steady 65-70mph. As I'm driving along the temperature guage hovers around 90, sometimes going a needlewidth over, and sometimes dropping so that the needle is clear of the numbers, where it'll hang for a little while before going back up to 90 again. Now I've read that theses stock gauges aren't the most accurate in the world, but does that sound about right? I know if I'm stood in traffic and the gauge hits 90 then I'm turning the fans on to drop the temp a little, but when I'm on the motorway I'd have thought the airflow should be doing that if the cooling system is working right. Only thing I could possibly think of is that the thermostat might not be moving smoothly. It's not sticking completely as the cars is keeping cool when moving, but it's the only thing I can think of.

Great find! Looks like it should make a big difference compared to your original ones.

Sent an email through a couple of days ago. Would be an honour to have the Eclat involved 🙂

Yeah, mine sits quite far back on the cam sprockets too. No problems as of yet

Don't want to tempt fate, but after getting a proper size cork gasket cut out and fitted, and after the excess oil on the manifold burned off (killing off any local wildlife in the process!) it may be sorted out. I spotted a tiny whiff of smoke as I pulled back into the house, but may have been as I stopped on a slope and there is still a bit of oil near the warmer parts of the engine. Fingers crossed it's all sorted though. On to the next problem!!!

Thanks for the advice, gents. I had my first attempt at making a cork gasket today. Whilst i got the shape and layout OK, it came out too big on both sides. I did trace the rubber gasket exactly but maybe that one has got stretched out of position. I'll do a few measurements tomorrow and make another one.

Depending on your exact model you might have one of a number of different distributors (25D in one of two different guises, 23D4, 43D, 45D). One model has the vacuum advance blanked off, some have zero vacuum advance and some have 8 degrees retard. I can't answer your question as to where it should go though if it needs to be connected on your car Source: Factory Manual, Technical Data section, page 15.

Well this might have been one of the simpler mysteries I've had with the car. Went outside to a small puddle of oil under the car and the top of the manifold in the cylinder 2 and 3 area quite wet. Took the cam cover off and it it didn't look in shocking position, although the ends looked a little too squashed down. Only 8 months or so old but probably better to replace. Now I traced back my posts in various places, and I believed, rightly or wrongly, that with the rubber gaskets RTV wouldn't be needed. Wondering if that's not the case though. So my choices as it looks are: Replace with rubber gasket, apply with no RTV, hope for the best (although am guessing with current oil leak a simple replacement gasket won't work) Replace with rubber gasket, use RTV (https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Black-Gasket-Maker-RTV-silicon-high-temp-sealer-instant-sealant-water-oil-resist/332189765903) on Both sides of the gasket. Replace with cork sealant (although given my art & crafts skill, getting me an craft scalpel and punch could result in me losing fingers!). No RTV needed.

I think I know the answer here but just want to check. Over the winter my new (6-month old) cam cover gasket is possibly not sealing as it should. This has led to smoke from that area of the engine/manifold area. I've had the bolts loosened and adjusted which accounted for a little oil spillage, and have had the car warmed up idling and then for a short drive. It's still smoking quite a bit though. Strange (to me) thing is that the smoke appears to start from the underside of the manifold, and comes up in the gap between number 2 and 3 manifold headers. With the engine off and cooling it's not a constant stream of smoke, but 5 seconds then smoke appears, then another 5-10 seconds and it comes again. Like oil is dripping. Apart from what you can see in the the pics, there's no other oil I can see. From my wonderfully limited description and poor pics, would your money be on things still leaking, or just excess oil on the manifold that needs burning off?

Wow. That thing looks vicious. I'd halfway look into it for an Eclat but it would need some very good custom bodywork, as you said some wheels to match. And then you'd want the sound to match the looks. And then... it goes on and on!

Interesting and thanks for posting. I do wonder sometimes what a Rocket Bunny Eclat would look like...

I initially set them to about halfway and went kanagarooing down the road! Right now I'm on three clicks from the softest setting which seems to work for me.

Let's talk springs! Specifically front ones and the different types. Now SJ Sportscars sell two types: one for Series 1 without A/C, and another for Series 1 with A/C or Series 2 cars. But aftermarket suppliers (e.g. Gaz) springs only come in one iteration. I'm wondering whether theirs the "with A/C" springs, "without A/C" springs, or somewhere inbetween. Any thoughts from anyone out there? Whilst my Eclat originally came with A/C, the pump, radiator and everything forward of the firewall has been removed. If I was replacing the springs I'd want to get the best ones for my ride. Right now I have Gaz springs & dampers at the back.

Thank you, sir. Always things to do though - just posted this up this afternoon! )