Engine bay undertray above rack - S3

[ill_will]

Good evening.

It seems to be tricky to find photos of this area.

Does anyone have any photos showing how the glass fibre "undertray" (the lower part of the body mould) should look for a S3 car in the area above the steering rack / under the radiator please? I've seen references to a stiffening flange and also that the design was changed from the earlier cars, but mine has been hacked about.

Many thanks,

Will

[Lotusian]

According to Brian Buckland’s book, it was only s1 and s2 cars that had the radiator supported by the extended undertray over the rack.
Series 3/4 cars should, according to Buckland, have the radiator supported on metal brackets either side.
Here’s a photo of a photo which might help, copyright Brian Buckland.

[pharriso]

This is my Sprint, but is this the area you are talking about?

Note the lower body GRP does not go over the top of the rack, there is an extra part "Lower Radiator Shroud" to block airflow going under the radiator.

[phil1800]

A rather blurry picture, but this is how my very late S3 looks like, sans radiator. The nose section ends just in front of the rack.

Philipp

[ill_will]

Thanks all for the photos. That is exactly the area I was referring to.

I have never seen the "lower radiator shroud" before, I clearly need to dig out the parts list. I'd be interested to know if it is GFRP, and how it attaches? And do you by any chance have a photo with it removed showing what's underneath?

Looking at Philipps photo compared to the others it appears the body shell may not have originally been symmetric in this area - does anyone know if they trimmed the shells differently depending on whether the car was LHD or RHD?

This shows what the area looked like on my car when I got it, clearly someone had done some cutting at some point.