The story of Little Red Riding Hood

[fjmuurling]

Forgot to mention but i used countersunk allen bolts and self locking nuts (all stainless) for mounting the fan supports on the shroud. Clearance between fan blades and the brackets is small. These were far more easily to buy than the countersunk poprivets. (also makes removing them if needed much more easy)

[Jacques]

God suggestions Guys, thanks!

 

Kind regards,

Jacques.

 

ps: Right now, I have a sore throat and a Cold, do I listen to some Diana Krall and Sade plus "the girl fro Ipanema" by Getz on the stereo So won't be doing anything Esprit today. Maybe tomorrow.

[Jacques]

So here's the old cooler I took off (finally). I had it pressure tested, and while it was tight, there was one area (see green) where it would soon fail, say in ½ year. So I chose to have it completely redone, and in copper as per now, and improved in number of rows and fin height (I think it's called), for improved cooling capacity.

This guy have done Lotus before, and is a specialist on doing coolers of all sorts. I had a two hour drive each way to get there, so he was kind enough to explain me all sorts of complications with coolers, various materials, how and why, and why is it that china coolers, often sold under European names, are to be avoided at all costs.

For example he told me, and showed me several examples of china gear looking nice when new, but go leaking in typical 1½ - 2 years, and really many of them are glued, not welded or soldered. The edges of the Little folded blades are, when they are real genuine European quality, having tiny folded edges front and rear, and don't easily bend as others do. And they are much more resistant to stones, birds and other "debris" hitting the coolers. Also, one can chose to have each little folded blade having even more small opened up bent fractions (cooler blades). I chose that.

So, after 2 hours of telling and demonstrating and discussing what can be done, we decided to improve the cooler, use the best materials, and although it'll cost a fair bit more, it's surely worth doing, to give Little Red Riding Hood all the future help she can have in the cooling department. He also does a lot of coolers for both racing and Classic racing., and told me about the life of a cooler in racing,which is surprisingly short, often.

In short: anything can be done, it is ony a matter of telling how you want it, after having been informed.

 

Picked up the renovated and improved cooler this evening. He was kind enough to bring it home with him, so i saved one hour each way. Looks great. The cooling is improved with something like 20-25 percent, minimum, possibly more. Just need to cean up filler plug and drain plug.

Copper and extra finns on each Little folded blade. Three rows and lower folded blades, so that there is room for more tubing. A fraction thicker too. Should work well with the other coolers and clips etc. in the big cowl. Won't get a chance of assembleing it all this side og mid April, though.

 

Finally, here are some of the new and some renovated bits and bobs for the front arb and the radiator support stays, which are blasted and powdercoated.

More later.

Cheers,

Jacques.

[Jacques]

So back from vacation and on with the Little Riding Hood.

I've had the fan brackets blasted and resurfaced, so they loo like new again. Need to go over the abs cover and repair it various Places. So I have t find an abs plastic reair kit.

Here's the brackets. I'll give them a layer of clear heatproof lacquer before installing them back on the fan cover.

 

 

More later,

Jacques.

[DaveyT]

Hi Jacques

I think you'll find MEK is the solvent for abs if you can't find a kit. I've used plumbers cement in the past as well, I think on abs..but test that one first.

Another alternative is a modellers plastic welding set: Heat gun, nozzle, and filler materials. That's what I did on mine, as Dad already had the kit.

Dave

[Jacques]

Hi Dave,

 

Thanks, maybe I should try to plastic weld it.

 

Cheers,

Jacques.

[Jacques]

all right, spent a few hours looking at the cowl, the oil cooler ducts etc, and decided that they should no longer be 50 Shades of grey. Cleaned them, primed them and gave them a nice covering in semi-matte black. Only on the rough side of the glassfiber. The other side is nice shiny black.

Then I went on to scrub the front end Down in some muck off and cleaned electrical connectors etc.

Looking like this, I can already hear Little Red Riding Hood spinning her rears:

 

Like that infamous guy from Austria said: I'll be back!

Jacques.

[fjmuurling]

I made a small modification (cut out small section on both sides) to the undertray so if i have the remove it again i don't have to remove / undo the the oilcoolers.

 

 

[Jacques]

Hi Fjmuurling,

Thanks for the idea, but does this mod need the steel stays that you showed earlier to be used? I'd rather avoid that. But not having to remove the oilcoolers, sounds great!

On the other hand, isn't it so, that the oil coolers help support that heavy coolers/tray?

 

Kind regards,

Jacques.

[fjmuurling]

The threaded rods were only used as a mounting tool just to lift the complete assembly. I used the normal mounting holes for that.

Material is only removed on the flimsy side of the tray.

As for the support of the tray by the oilcooles I don't know out of my head. But 2 more bolts, nuts etc should solve that problem.

 

Freek

[Jacques]

Okay, time for an update.

What do you do, when you are waiting on and on for an upgraded coolerset?

Well, you renovate the ones you have.

Then what do you do?

You realise, that next time you are going to do some service in the engine bay, maybe, just maybe, you'll make a scratch in the paint. That would be a pity.

I therefore decided, that I would like to buy a nice cover for my Esprit Turbo SE aka Little Red Riding Hood.

Nothing to get.

Hmm...

I think I did see a sewing machine somewhere on my job...

I then made up a paper template, and bicycled to a womans shop - the fleece shop

I found some nice Lotus Green ultra soft thick fleece and some very nice black rubber backed tough water and oil proof outer material, some green edging and some extra strong thread. In Lotus Green, naturally.

 

So this is how it looks so far, and I now bought some thick elastic band in black, and some white brackets, plus some wide sized shrink wrap. I took measure for this to make up 8 hooks, and to make a modification to the exhaust area, so that Little Red Riding Hood can breathe propperly, without any lethatgic asthmatic incidents if the exhausts are covered.

It fits like a glove, is light but thick and super green super soft inside caressin Lithe Red Ridng Hood' red cheeks (sick!), while being able to reject oil, tools, keys, hotdogs and hot dogs, on the outside. It snaps on and off in just a few seconds, and is made so, that the rear door can close, without having to remove the protective cover, say when leaving the car for the day.

 

More later, including a secret mod

 

Cheers,

Jacques.

[Simon350S]

Nice work

[Jacques]

Todays Progress is not that much of a Progress, though I am slowly getting there. I am all the time missing a part, like pop rivets in right size, bolts and nuts, etc.

I spread out some of the parts, and began to fasten the fan brackets to the abs cover, which have several breaks. That can be remedied by applying acetone (nail paint remover) with a small brush, several times over a few hours. It dissolves the abs plastiv ever so slightly, and makes it stick together.

Then on with the cleaned up fans and new stainless bolts, nuts ans washers. As a new thing, I will try ceramic screw paste stable to 1200 C and other nice propperties, this time. We'll see how it turns out to be over a fe years. I says that it also prevents galvanic corrosion, rust etc.

One air con hose had it's fitting in one end totally stuck. But a Little heat, a colsspray and some screw loosener, made it slowly free up. So spins nicely now. New gaskets too, plus the drain and bleeding plugs. And then assemble it all with new stainless quality hose clips. Cannot do anything tomorrow, as the lady of the house have invited guests

But Saturday, should be Esprit time again.

more later.

Cheers,

Jacques.

[Jacques]

Question:  Is it correct, than the charge cooler/aircon cooler is fitted into the Whole system, only by 6 edge clips ti the big watercooler?

 

No bolts or something else?

 

Kind regards,

Jacques

[Jacques]

Todays Work on Little Red Riding Hood consisted in assembleing of the cooler package and trying to get it back on, which I did not succeed in doing ;(  That is some unhandy heavy thing, mingleing it in and out, reassembleing air con hoses etc. A call to Cosa Nostre will probably help tomorrow.

 

First I deleted the 4 small screws on the fan cover, and installed pop rivets all along. 10 in total.

 

Then I inspected the foam strips, and they all looked old and fragile. So I had some new strips of fresh foam cut to size, painted them Black on 3 sides, and special glue on the fourth and on to the metal parts on the top and bottom of the main Water cooler. The low 25*35mm one in the bottom, and the 50*50mm bigger one on top.

 

Then I inserted the big Water cooler into the cowl, and bolted it on with fresh stainless hardware. Then added the chargecooler/air con cooler and new edge clips.

 

I cleaned up the fitting on the air con hose and sprayed it with three coats of clear coat. Then added new O-rings, and bolted it back on.

 

Then back on with the two Water pipes and new all stainless clips.

 

More later.

Jacques.

[DaveyT]

Jacques,

you might want to check the use of PTFE tape on your air on joints.

I've just installed a home system, and for that one its a definite no-no. Just some light machine oil on the threads before assembly, otherwise leaks are almost guaranteed. I don't have my owners manual to hand so please ignore me if you know otherwise.

Was there a reason you stuck with the original fans and their heavy motors rather than going for the modern 10 blade thin line type?

Nice installation job.

Dave

[Jacques]

Hi Dave,

It's not ptfe tape, but Wera anti corrosion paste, which is a more refines version of coppergrease. I wouldn't use ptfe tape on this.

Yes, the fans work perfectly, so no need to use other fans. I would like to keep the original instalation so far. I think it was pnm who adviced me that the original fans last way better than the newer v8 models, which are smaller and lighter.

But their weight is zero compared the the total weight of the Whole coolerpackage. But I am really dissapointed with the way Lotus did the whole thing. It's absolutely a pig to install, and we were three people trying for 6 hours yesterday until midnight, and then we gave up. I hope that I've not bent the fans and broken the abs cover completely.

For example: is it needed to remove the foglights completely?

And if so, can they be reinstalled afterwards?

Or should I just lift the cooler package up and over the foglights?

Today, I will have to invent some system to lift and steer the whole cooler package, otherwise it won't be reinstalled. It's simply not possible to lift it and steer it, using manpower. I will try with some sort of thin rope and a sledge to move the cooler package forth and back.

 

Another thing is, that without this really heavy lump o cooling stuff, the nose of the Esprit is really high up in the air, looking real stupid. So that means, that a light weight alu-version, will need adjustable suspension to look and be at normal height again. One more needed thing...

 

More later, or I will use the coolerpackage as a coffee table.

 

Cheers,

Jacques.

[910Esprit]

Jacques - Nice job.   Are they bona-fide A/C o-rings?   R134A EDPM o-rings are generally green.

[Vanya]

Jacques, the foglights are a doddle to remove entirely! It's just one bolt holding them into the upper bumper. There's a height adjuster rod which "pops" into a receiving bracket at the lower edged of the foglight. The lights themselves are connected with one spade connector each. Just undo the bolt and "pop" out the light.

[Jacques]

Thanks Guys. Here's how I did it today. I repeat this, for future info. And it's dead easy. No sweat and lot's of fun. Really

 

OMG. No copy paste. Maybe a moderator can paste it into my thread? Or explain me how to do it? Please.

It's under Engine, refitting Water coolers, how?-thread. My answer to my own question

 

Cheers,

Jacques.

[ChrisJ]

Jacques - if you are using Internet Explorer, the paste function doesn't work, you have to use another browser for this - I use Firefox when pasting links, text, images etc.

 

I think that it's something to do with the forum software and not IE as others (Bibs) will say, as pasting works fine on every other website.

 

Chris

[Jacques]

okay, thanks. But I'll never ever use firefox et al, nor crome. There are lots of other problems with that software.

Thanks,

Jacques.

[ChrisJ]

I agree re the other software, I only use it for pasting links into TLF and for watching movies as IE crashes on movies for some reason.

[Jacques]

ChrisJ,

Sent you a pm.

 

Kind regards,

Jacques.

[Jacques]

Spent a couple og hours woking to reassemble Little Red Riding Hood today.

 

I get by with a little help of my friends, as they sing, I have now the radiator pack back in. Piece of cake when you know how, and have extra hands.

I looked carefully at the bits and tightened it to spec. Here's a corner of the installed radiator pack. Electrical connectors cleaned up etc.

 

I reintalled the two water hoses and used some new all stainless fittings all over.

 

Then it was time to look carefully at the two old oil coolers, looking real sorry for them selves, with roken fittings. As I have bought a new set, it doesn't really matter, but I looked at the glued on foam, and have bounght a piece of fire retardent foam, which I measured up and cut to fit. I used specal foam glue and it stick really well. Both around the old oil cooler air outlet and on the new oil coolers themselves, as can be seen below.

I now need some M8*25mm rubber washers; think they are called penny washers, as I want to renew those too.

More later.

 

Chers,

Redfox.