Battery Tray photo required

[stephenwhyte 1,976]

Thanks guys - much appreciated. I was working off an old photo of mine with the battery removed and I thought mine was different - on further investigation it isn't and is the same as all the above. 

One last question - what battery do you all have in? Ie which code is it as I want to make sure I've got the right one. I'll go away and stop annoying you all with daft questions after this........promise!

[Dan E 1,582]

Steve mine is a platinum prestige I can't see any size or model can whip it out tomorrow and have a look. i am guessing GST changed it. 

[ChrisJ 1,490]

You need to check what battery terminal mounts you have. I have the ford terminals - to connect to this battery - fitted by Gerald.

However, I had no end of trouble with this losing charge and I thought it was screwed (again) **, so decided to replace it. However I found that I couldn't find a type 075 (which is what all the sites recommended) with these terminals, so I bought an converter to the more common post terminals from Halfords along with a lifetime guarantee Yuasa Black 075. Had no problems every since - bit of a faff to fit the converter, but it works.

** When fitting the new battery the alarm (from the 1980s) kept on setting itself and I couldn't turn it off. I disconnected it, and I do wonder if this was the cause of my battery losing charge,

 

 

[Andyww 1,289]

Ditto, I also converted mine from the flat to round terminals and 075. The flat type are very obsolete these days and this is a conversion everyone probably should do.

[stephenwhyte 1,976]

1 hour ago, ChrisJ said:

You need to check what battery terminal mounts you have. I have the ford terminals - to connect to this battery - fitted by Gerald.

However, I had no end of trouble with this losing charge and I thought it was screwed (again) **, so decided to replace it. However I found that I couldn't find a type 075 (which is what all the sites recommended) with these terminals, so I bought an converter to the more common post terminals from Halfords along with a lifetime guarantee Yuasa Black 075. Had no problems every since - bit of a faff to fit the converter, but it works.

** When fitting the new battery the alarm (from the 1980s) kept on setting itself and I couldn't turn it off. I disconnected it, and I do wonder if this was the cause of my battery losing charge,

 

 

Thanks Chris. I see the one above is actually a type 097. Is this smaller than the 075?

[stephenwhyte 1,976]

Ok I've studied the pics you've all supplied again and having now checked my car tonight I can confirm there appears to be two different styles of battery tray. Mine is the same as Dan's. If you look closely at the shape of the tray at the wheel arch it has a higher side/back & is different to the lower ones on the other photos. This appears to mean that the battery goes in front to back in direction whereas on the other ones it goes side to side in position - I hope that's clear........study the pics and hopefully you'll see what I mean.

I'll post a pic of mine tomorrow to confirm. So my query arose when I realised that my battery doesn't fit front to back ways as (it's a type 075) it's too big......and doesn't sit correctly if I put it side to side. So it looks like I am looking for a battery the same as Dan's (same as Chris's above I think a 093) but I don't have the Ford terminal connections. Tell me yours doesn't either Dan.......please.

 

edit : had a look at Andy's and his is the same as mine and Dan's too.

[Bazza 907 1,082]

The battery in the Essex is a Varta B18

 

[stephenwhyte 1,976]

3 minutes ago, Bazza 907 said:

The battery in the Essex is a Varta B18

 

Thanks Barrie. What's the code of the battery - what's a B18.......093 or 075 and what battery tray type do you have? I'm guessing it's a 093 type.

[Bazza 907 1,082]

Varta B18 battery 544402044 (063) 44ah 440cca

£41.95 on Fleabay

 

[stephenwhyte 1,976]

2 minutes ago, Bazza 907 said:

Varta B18 battery 544402044 (063) 44ah 440cca

£41.95 on Fleabay

 

063 so different again. We need a pic of your tray Barrie

[Bazza 907 1,082]

Getting the car out tomorrow to go to a concours show so will get some pics of the battery tray too

[stephenwhyte 1,976]

9 minutes ago, Bazza 907 said:

Getting the car out tomorrow to go to a concours show so will get some pics of the battery tray too

Thanks Barrie - hopefully you're as curious to know which one it is, as I am

[ChrisJ 1,490]

I see what you mean about the battery direction. I didn't realis that there was a separate "Battery tray" until Andy took his out.

Mine is located side to side.

Here's a useful page of battery specs (097 is the same size as 075 - page saved me having to measure them )

http://www.puretyre.co.uk/car-battery-specification-chart/

This is how I chose mine - which it the choice it gives me for all models of Esprit.

[TAR 406]

The Lotus parts list shows the only option being the same as mine from 1980-87 S3 and Turbo.This has the battery mounted across the car.

Interestingly, the post 87 battery has a different clamp bar which looks identical to those pictured above (Dan E and PhilW) so maybe they were replaced in the past with a newer clamping method. Also I note that the post '87 cars don't show a battery tray in the parts list.

I would say that you should have your battery tray as per mine and Andyww's.

 

[stephenwhyte 1,976]

I personally think the early Turbos (mostly dry sump & some of the first wet sumps) had the battery tray like mine Chris & Dan's and there was then a change at some point early '82 to the one you've got Tim. It would be interesting to see where your car fits into Tim in the build sequence as it must have been built earlier than mine but registered later to be an '82 model.

Incidentally my battery clamp goes front to back but it's not the '87 clamp style. Another Lotus change that nobody can explain I love it!!

Photo of the tray in mine attached :

[TAR 406]

My car was one of the last dry sump cars as far as I know. It was registered on 7th May 1982. The chassis number is 1220.

 

[Andyww 1,289]

1 hour ago, stephenwhyte said:

Another Lotus change that nobody can explain I love it!!

 

 

Ferrari are the same. Undocumented changes. or you get cars which were built after a change point which went back to the old part, presumably because they found another box of the older parts in the factory

I guess nobody 30 years ago knew there would one day be a thing called the internet with discussions about this kind of thing!

What was the S2.2 tray like, any chance they found some old ones and used them?

[Bazza 907 1,082]

Hope this helps

 

[Dan E 1,582]

Steve mine is the same as Chris's I am guessing fitted by Gerald. Barrie I am sure could confirm this. 

 

[Bazza 907 1,082]

Indeed I can confirm that Gerald fitted it in Dec/Jan

[stephenwhyte 1,976]

4 hours ago, Bazza 907 said:

Hope this helps

 

Yip that ties in with my thinking Barrie that this is the early design and as Andy suggests.....could it maybe be a carry over from the S2.2?

As for yours Tim the date and chassis number of yours appears to mean that it was built after mine (mine is 1193) even though yours is a Dry Sump, which Andy Graham confirmed did happen. It was not as I first thought, a case of stopping the Dry Sump Turbo cars and then starting production of the Wet Sump......there was some carry over of the Dry Sump........and it appears they then had the new battery tray by then. Looks like the change over for the battery tray may have been around March/April '82.

Quite enjoying all this anorak analysis 

[Andyww 1,289]

The changeover from dry to wet sump was affected by air conditioning.

The dry sump cars had the A/C compressor mounted at the bottom left of the engine which was only possible because there was no sump in the way. When they went to wet sump there was no room for the compressor owing to the sump on the bottom left and the remote thermostat plumbing and the turbo plenum on the right so the first wet sump cars were all without A/C and all A/C cars were still dry sump.

Then a few months later they solved this problem by redesigning the water plumbing and auxiliary housing to mount the alternator higher up and further forward so it cleared the plenum and allowed room for the compressor on the right side of the engine on wet sump.

(removes anorak).

[stephenwhyte 1,976]

Good work Andy - never heard that before. Still leaves me wondering why they changed the battery tray though? And I can confirm mine doesn't have Air-Con so ties in to exactly what you explained......and going by the number of dial holes on Tim's Dry-Sump heater display it appears his indeed has Air-Con.

Is that an Essex anorak you've got?

It's great being able to join the dots up to all these little mysteries - thanks 

[TAR 406]

I can confirm that my car does indeed have air-con.

[stephenwhyte 1,976]

This is like a jigsaw that's missing a few pieces but they're all starting to turn up piece by piece..........a bit like this jigsaw actually. In truth this new jigsaw only arrived today, but there won't be a better opportunity to include it in a post.  For those that don't know the artwork was actually carried out by the same artist that did all the early Bowie albums.