Alternative radiators again

[coolexperts]

Hello there, this is my 1st post so please be gentle with me! I have been reading the members posts regarding radiators, cooling and in particular the comments on the aluminium radiator for sale on Ebay. I note the amount of people who say that they consider that piece of kit to look exceptional but too expensive. I feel that it is time for me to come out and own up to being the manufacturer of that aluminium radiator. In the days just before aluminium radiators were aloud to be fitted on non 26R competition Elans there seemed to be a period where the scrutineers would overlook an alloy radiator if it was the correct shape, painted black and in keeping. My company was commissioned to build 2 units for ?lan owners and decided to continue building the radiator and selling it on Ebay. the radiator has a UK made R.R. quality core, the water tanks are folded from 2mm aluminium sheet and the filler neck is turned from a solid billet of aluminium. Add the cost of a weld on 22mm threaded boss, electric fan switch, etch prime and paint, VAT, Ebay and PayPal charges and you can be assured that there will be no Caribbean holidays on the profits. The radiator has been sold to every continent and a variation of the radiator cooled the car that won the HSCC outright last season. Reading the comment and threads from some of the members who say they are more interested in cooling and cost than originality and appearance has encouraged me to find a low cost alternative that will bolt straight on and line up with the ?lan brackets and hoses. I will get to work on this one and let it be known when it is available. My company is a bonafide radiator repairer and manufacturer with 40 years of experience and can recore copper radiators with uprated cores and anything else you would wish to be supplied with in the cooling system sphere. Some answers to some questions on this site, Stanpart stamped on the Triumph radiators came from the Standard motor company purchased by Triumph in the late 950's The standard 8 car that resembled
"Noddies motor" was the forerunner of the Herald. The Covrad stamped in the radiators was the Coventry radiator co and the Spitfire radiators used on the Elans had Herald water tanks on them rather than the wafer thin low sloping top tank of the Spitfire.

You can find some interesting ?lan articles on our website www.coolexperts.co.uk

click on the links below to go straight there.

http://www.coolexperts.co.uk/motor-vehicle/racing/racing-lotus-elan/

http://www.coolexperts.co.uk/motor-vehicle/vintage-veteran-classic/custom-made-elan-radiator/

Regards

Steve.

[vernon.taylor]

Salut Steve

Thanks for the info, getting in contact and the proposed project. Someone will tell you though that you should have posted in the business and vendor section.

Please let me/us know as soon as your low-cost project is available - some pre-release details would be interesting, too.

Low-cost means saving money, so if you can offer a lotuselan.net preferential price and/or circumvent eBay and pass the savings onto us (including your current model), you would be sure to make some friends!

@+

Vernon

P.S. Are you working with Cliveboy on this?

[elj221c]

Hi, Steve.

You might want to modify your web site a tad! Marston rads were fitted to S2 Elans as well.

http://www.coolexperts.co.uk/site/wp-co ... images.jpg

I'm sure also that you might want to renegotiate your long term involvement with historic/classic racing!

'Our aluminium Lotus ?lan radiator was fitted to the 2011 HSCC outright season winner Paul Tooms ( The Tooms Raider) and we are continuing with his new project in the 2112 season.'

To be really picky, why the acute accent on the E?

Be brave and tell us just what is the King's ransome for the replica Marston?

[coolexperts]

Hello Roy,
Thank you for pointing out the error with the Series 1 / 2 radiator.
My long term involvement in the radiator trade currently stands at 41 years
with much Vintage Veteran and Classic involvement.
The acute accent on the "E" was being place in by the spell checker in our Microsoft word.
Fortunately we have had a 15 year old work experience with us who has looked at the problem and fixed it in 5 seconds flat.
With regard to the Series 1 / 2 radiator. without an exchange radiator available that we can reuse the existing brass tanks and hose outlets the costs are considerably higher. The radiator that we have manufactured is hand built from sheet metal in the U.K. and will cost significantly more than a recored unit.

[elj221c]

My long term involvement in the radiator trade currently stands at 41 years
with much Vintage Veteran and Classic involvement.

I was refering to your 'continuing with his new project in the 2112 season.'

Under 'Manufactured Replacements' http://www.coolexperts.co.uk/motor-vehicle/

I don't often use Word but I have also 'taught' my spell checker our proper version of Elan.

[stugilmour]

I'll try for some pics in about a week; the engine & transmission are out right now.

Vernon, here are a few pic's of my set-up. This is used in a LHD Federal Plus 2, so there are issues with under hood real estate from two brake boosters and the pedal box.

[TonyJ]

Fitted a large radiator last Friday evening, bought it from the seller on ebay. Got great service - made, painted and delivered within 5 days = was that you coolexperts?

The rad simply bolted in using existing mounts. You have to reposition the washer bottle and overflow bottle, not a big problem. Car now runs at normal temp and in traffic the single fan ensures temp drops back to normal when it does creep up. Money well spent

Car used to run hot, before rebuild - I remember having to drive with the heater on full in the height of summer, and so put in a 3 core rad but it still got hotter and hotter when standing in traffic, or when giving it some right foot (not too much as running in ). This worried me as I spent lots on rebuilding the engine and I don't fancy overheating a prerun in engine! I want to drive without worrying and having to keep one eye on the temp. Maybe I could have gone for an electric fan first, to see if it could cool the rad, but that still means the hassle of taking bonnet off, unbolting the rad to get old fan off, buying a suitable fan, etc and then maybe it wouldn't do the job!

The new wide rad doesn't look out of place, in fact I think most people wouldn't notice. I'll get some money back by selling the old rad

Save up and go for the wider rad - what price is worry free motoring in your +2? I've had 2 weekends of cool driving pleasure

No worries if you don't wont to - there's a good original rad on ebay I can recommend

Tony J

[vernon.taylor]

Merci Stu

All is clear except where you tee'd into the water pump inlet. Is there actually any coolant flow in the heater tube/circuit when the heater is not working/on? I imagine the heater button operating a cut-off to the flow, but maybe it's a bypass to the heater element?

Should the tee technically be in the bottom radiator hose?

@+

Vernon

[stugilmour]

Merci Stu

All is clear except where you tee'd into the water pump inlet. Is there actually any coolant flow in the heater tube/circuit when the heater is not working/on? I imagine the heater button operating a cut-off to the flow, but maybe it's a bypass to the heater element?

In the Plus 2 there is always coolant flow thru the heater core. The dash controls are two flaps inside the heater box. One flap directs the warmed air to the windshield or lower heater ducts, and the other flap acts as a damper that covers the heater core. This is different than the Elan, which has a heater valve located on the outlet of the thermostat housing that acts to throttle the coolant flow thru the heater circuit.

I think this set-up will still work in the Elan though as the added coolant circuit is in parallel and independent of the heater coolant circuit, and the lower heater hose is at pump inlet pressure.

One possible downside of this set-up was mentioned by John (Grumpy Bodger) in a previous thread that was mainly discussing coolant flow on Zetec equipped cars. John brought forward that heater performance could be degraded due to less coolant flow thru the heater core. In practice this does not appear to be an issue as the coolant flow thru the added circuit is quite small. On my trip back from Las Vegas last year I hit snow in the Rockies, and heater performance was OK.

Should the tee technically be in the bottom radiator hose?@+

Vernon

Yes, this would probably be a more normal design in a modern car. At the scrap yard, I found a lower rad hose (from an Audi I think) that looked promising, but could not fit it in the confined space and it wasn't the correct shape for the Lotus. It was a full diameter hose with a smaller hose molded into a tee. In any case, I figured teeing into the heater hose is hydraulically equivalent as both the bottom rad hose and heater hose go to the water pump inlet.

The rad simply bolted in using existing mounts. You have to reposition the washer bottle and overflow bottle, not a big problem

.

Sounds great Tony. A wide rad was my first option as well. Just a caution for others on the NA side of the pond. The inlet nipple on the wide rad I purchased fouled the front brake booster on my dual circuit Federal car, so this idea didn't pan out for me. The particular rad (from Ray at RD) has been successfully installed in Elans, but I was the first customer to try it in the Federal Plus 2. Had my stock narrow rad re-cored and all good. If I ever ditch the brake boosters I may use the wide rad.

If anything I may be running a bit cool now. I have a big drive to Vancouver planned for later this week (~2,500 km round trip) and will see how she does. I may be in for snow flurries again in the mountains, and will probably see sub zero Celsius over night. I have a warmer thermostat from Ray (and a toque ) that I will fit if I find I have an issue.

post164439.html#p164439



HTH

[coolexperts]

Hello Tony J,

Yes that was us, Guilty as charged !!

I am so pleased that it has cured your overheating problem.

We seem to get more requests from plus 2 owners than the standard car. Your 3 row core (some people refer to as 3 core) stands more chance of being OK in a standard Elan.

We are just putting our range of radiators into the forum items for sale area (if we can find it) and there is a discount to Forum members who purchase.

Thanks again and we might be asking you for a testimonial when we have finished our new website.

Regards

Steve.

[vernon.taylor]

Salut Steve

Waiting for your offers on the Vendors page - current and the new low-cost option you're working on.

Tony - did you buy the aluminium radiator?

@+

Vernon

[Jason1]

We are just putting our range of radiators into the forum items for sale area (if we can find it)

Business Listings is prob best place?

business-listings-f3/

or the For Sale section?

elan-for-sale-f2/

[coolexperts]

Thanks for that Jason1, It is a pity that they do not have a search box where you can just type in the part that you want instead of trailing through all of the pages.

Regards

Steve.

[Jason1]

The search facility is a bit hit and miss. I have found it easier in the past to use Google.

Jason

[coolexperts]

We do not usually give Forum discounts to Google enquiries.

Steve.