Elite Riviera

[basalte]

Another Elite back on the road, excellent !

[elanplustwo]

Looks great Henry !

Nice to see another Riviera back on the Tarmac

I'm really bad I hardly ever contribute as much I should to these forums , however I did have the same problem with an over reading temp gauge on mine ... Not sure I know what the problem is ....As my fan works etc.,

[Henry8601]

Had a call with Lotusbits earlier today, and I was pleased to find out that they have finished the car, and I will be able to pick it up next time I am in their direction.

 

They have done quite a bit of work, and the car will now be much better for it as they were a lot of the small niggly issues:

• New oil
• New filters
• New plugs
• Re-checked timing belt
• Adjusted ignition timing
• Replaced leaking master cylinder (those who were at the club Lotus track day might remember that after a few spirited laps of Castle combe, I discovered a distinct lack of brake fluid)
• Replaced voltage regulator. The old one had seized up (they are a bimetalic strip that heats up and bends to correct the voltage) This was the reason for the overreading temperature gauge - it meant that the fuel guage was also overreading, but of course this was not as obvious.
• Fixed the illuminating fan fail light - the fuse rating was too low (I fear that was my fault) as it was 10A instead of the correct 25A, so it was occasionally blowing, and one of the motors had a bad connection
• Fixed NS headlight not popping up due to a bad electrical connection in the wiring loom
• Electric mirrors not working was a blown fuse
• Slow moving front windows was fixed by very simply coating everything in fresh lubricant
• Rear wiper connections and earth renewed so that it now works

Can't wait to pick it up! I'm poorer, but happier and it's another step in the right direction. 

[Loose Cannon]

Great news.

[GavinT]

Reading this thread really makes me want to buy an Elite.  Unfortunately I would have to give up my Esprit S1 as no room in the garage, which would be such a tough decision to make.

 

Good job Henry.  Very much enjoyed the story.

[CharlieCroker]

Great thread, first time I've had a proper read. Love the colour combo white/red, looks like a nice project. 

[martynw]

I'm having similar problems to you with the fan fail light and module that you seemed to have (except in my case the fans won't come on).  Did you ever establish if your guess at the circuits inside the relay and fan fail modules was correct?  I'd been assuming the module worked on a current balance, checking the current to each fan was the same and if not tripped to connect the light to earth.

[martynw]

After having a bit of a wobbly about the Elite I have decided that I might as well stick with it. After all, it does not cost anything for it to sit in the garage, and then I can do a little bit of work here and there whenever I have a chance. I also gave it a bit of clean a couple of weeks back and never posted up the pictures, so here they are:

Now that I have some renewed enthusiasm for work on the lotus I am having another stab at my nemesis: the electrics. On my current hit list is the fan fail warning light. The first thing that I did was remove the fan motors, and sure enough one of them was not working. I stripped it down and cleaned out all the rusty junk, put it back together and now it runs when put directly on a battery. Checked all the fuses and then shorted the thermostat connections and the fans both came on with the ignition in the run position but the engine turned off. However, the fan fail warning light was still illuminated. Is this because the engine was not running? There is no fuel in it at the moment so I cannot run it. Could somebody with a working car comment on it?

I have attached a copy of the wiring diagram for the 2.2 elite, with details of the fan wiring.

On this one I have attempted to show the physical wiring of the fain fail warning control. I am wondering if maybe my fan fail warning control has failed? The way it works is that the positive power supply running to the fans is coiled around a reed switch, and I suppose that when current is runnig to the fans (i.e. when they are actually running) this either opens or closes the switch. Could somebody with one that they know works check whether is is normally open or closed across the pin with the yellow/black wire and the pin at a different angle?

I can't really get my head around how the circuit works, but I guess something like this:

Thermostat closes circuit when car reaches temperature, which energises the relay coil. This switches the fan relay to bridge pins 4&3 which sends then permanent live to the fans which runs them. The fan fail warning light comes on when this cicuit is closed but no current is passing to the fans.

So what I don't get is how can the fan fail warning light come on when the car is not even up to temperature?

 

[martynw]

The fan fail module has a reed switch between the top left and bottom centre connector that should normally be open.

 

Wrapped around it are two wires that take the +12V feed from the fan relay from the bottom left connector to each of the two right hand connectors, where they are connected to the fans.  These are wrapped in opposite directions, so if both fans are drawing the same current (or drawing no current) the magnetic fields cancel each other out and the reed switch stays open - meaning the "fan fail" light won't light.

 

If one motor fails, the magnetic field trips the reed switch and the Fan Fail light comes on.  What is a bit hopeless about this is that if the Otter switch packs up, you get no "fan fail" warning, because neither fan is powered.  Of course the temperature gauge should show you have a problem though.

 

On my car, the reed switch was faulty - permanently closed, meaning the fan fail light was on all the time, despite them working fine.  Unplugging the connector yellow/black wires from the top left hand connector at least puts the light out.

[USAndretti42]

Is the diode OK?  I have a vague memory from my S2 Esprit that when the diode fails, it can put the fan fail light on.

[Emmerg]

Hi Henry just wondering if there is more progress to report ?

[Henry8601]

Some updates that I can report:

 

1. Fixed the fans not running (it was a dodgy fuse)

 

2. Fixed the choke cable jamming. The grub screw that holds it in place had dropped out. This one:

 

 

3. Repainted the front grill insert.

 

This is what it looked like before:

 

 

Used this paint stripper (amazing stuff - VHT Strip Fast):

 

 

With the paint stripper applied:

 

 

Stripped back to metal:

 

 

After a few coats of VHT Black Epoxy Paint:

 

 

4. Had a leak on in the vacuum circuit so replaced the rubber elbow joint to the vacuum tank

 

5. Still can't find the sunvisors...

[rjwooll]

Hi Henry,

 

Lovely car! I'm shortly to finally collect my S2.2 from Lotusbits, and saw your comment about sunvisors. I only has one which was very tatty and needed recovering. What I've managed to do is find alternatives that (more or less) fit - I sourced a pair of grey visors off a BMW E46 which have the right spacing and configuration for the Lotus fixings. They fit very nicely. I'm not using any power to illuminate the visors although I'm sure this could be done if you were sufficiently determined. What you do need to do is increase the diametrer of the Lotus pivot fixing so it holds the visor up. I used PTFE tape (lots of it and need to apply some more) so I'd suggest using heatshrink insulation or wrapping in some duct tape, finishing off if necessary with PTFE.

 

I'm sure that other visors would fit also but I chose the BMW ones because (a) they are wider than many others and (b) they were just down the road, and only cost me a tenner!

 

ATB Richard

[Loose Cannon]

Hi Henry. Whatever you do get rid of that braided fuel hose stuff, it was a major contributor to a fire on my Eelite in the hands of the daft PO, who assumed it "aircraft quality lifetime fittings"   If the stainless braided line only has a rubber hose inside the braid the hose still needs replacing every decade or so to guard against ageing and embrittlement

[Dunc]

Seconded.

 

My fuel pipe was braided outer from the metal pipe near the gearbox up to the carb. It looked shiny and new on the outside.

 

I had the bonnet open when I turned the ignition on and noticed a spurt of fuel shooting up over the windscreen - it was completely perished at the join into the carb. I replaced it with some cotton braided rubber pipe.

[Henry8601]

Thanks for the tip about the BMW sunvisors. I will check it out because I still can't find mine!

 

The fuel pipes were a concern of mine so I've swapped them all out for fresh ones and always carry a fire extinguisher.

 

It also passed it's MoT at the weekend with flying colours!

 

[esprit s2]

That looks SO cool!

[Henry8601]

Minor update as I've done a little work on the wiper which was looking really tatty.

 

Before:

 

After paint stripped off:

 

After:

 

I'm also getting it sent back in for the headlining as I have noticed a small area which was missed, so watch this space!

[Don.Hasi]

Henry, did you ever came across this kind of clip with a bulb holder in the middle of the picture when dismantling your centre console?

I suppose it should be on the light switch... 

[Henry8601]

Long overdue update time!

New sunvisors have been located (tatty - but will send them to be retrimmed:

Plus, headlining has now been redone, so no more gaps at the back:

I have also refitted the waistline trim, much better with it back in place.

I used the lotusbits trim with back tigerseal. Went on very easily - the trick is just to take you time and use lots of masking tape.

[Emmerg]

I was wondering how things were going !  Great to see more progress

[Henry8601]

Is there a way to go back an edit the photo links in my old posts? Photobucket are being less than useless so trying to switch provider to get the old photos working again