Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Hi

Regarding the radiator expansion bottle, is it the same as a normal Tudor washer fluid bottle (but with a different cap)? I think mine is leaking and I need to replace it..

Cheers
jonB

Fraid not Jon
It's a bigger bottle all round, you're unlikely to get an original or complete match now.
Mine ripped in a crash many years ago but I've cobbled up a silhouette by cutting off the base and slipping a new bottle inside keeping the original cap and upper bottle.
You can of course buy similar bottles and Tudor labels but the screw cap will be 'wrong'
Mark

MarkDa wrote:Fraid not Jon
It's a bigger bottle all round, you're unlikely to get an original or complete match now.
Mine ripped in a crash many years ago but I've cobbled up a silhouette by cutting off the base and slipping a new bottle inside keeping the original cap and upper bottle.
You can of course buy similar bottles and Tudor labels but the screw cap will be 'wrong'
Mark

would you have a photo of yours? I noted recently on an auction site 2 bottles described as off an S4


https://www.ebay.com/itm/Lotus-Elan-S4- ... true&rt=nc


https://www.ebay.com/itm/Lotus-Elan-S4- ... true&rt=nc

the overflow bottle is a bit different than mine (which has 3 "Tudor" silk screened towards the top, but nothing engraved) more like that of lotus-twincam-f39/radiator-recovery-bottle-position-t19628.html - and I have a bag for windscreen fluid...

This is what mine looks like in situ.
May not be purist location but it's out of airflow to radiator and disguises nicely the fact that the bottom is missing!

MarkDa wrote:Fraid not Jon
It's a bigger bottle all round, you're unlikely to get an original or complete match now.
Mine ripped in a crash many years ago but I've cobbled up a silhouette by cutting off the base and slipping a new bottle inside keeping the original cap and upper bottle.
You can of course buy similar bottles and Tudor labels but the screw cap will be 'wrong'
Mark

Bugger. Tested mine and discovered it leaks like a sieve. I had my suspicions - some water leakage evident and the bottle looks like it's been melted accidentally. I suppose I could get one of these: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/122650041684 and drill a hole in the cap so it can breathe, but it'll look a bit rum. On the other hand, the existing bottle is really manky, dirty and yellow, just like the washer bottle (which is a genuine item with a broken pump in the lid).

Another solution I implemented on a kit car used a smart aluminium cyclist's water bottle, with the spout drilled out and the overflow pipe inserted. Much cheaper, looked smart but would be really out of place in the Elan's engine bay.

By the way, mine is in the same place as yours. I saw a service bulletin that proposed mounting it on the other side of the radiator (effectively, in the nose cone) but I think it is best left where it is.

Whilst we are on the subject, the overflow pipe is supposed to be sealed to the bottle according to the manual. That being the case, how is it supposed to vent excess air as it fills (under expansion fluid from the rad)?

http://www.quillertriumph.co.uk/Quiller ... inless.htm
Lots of supply on the internet

The alloy bottle looks quite smart.
It might even be vented as it's described as an overflow bottle.
Not original but a tidy solution if you can find a reasonably vertical mounting location.
So you think that yours won't clean up and accept an insert?
I agree the pipe shouldn't be sealed but it needn't be floppy.

Plenty of washer bottles and fancy stainless brackets advertised but not a lot of detail on sizes.
I fell for one of these without checking and had to send it back.
I think that the original bottles were larger for a reason given that the small ones were current at the time.

Hi
I sold those two bottles which I took off my S4, the overflow bottle is completely different compared to the washer bottle

Regards
Steve

This is a picture of the Tudor bottles from my 1970 +2S. I believe both to be original (both have Tudor accesssories on them)?


I also have a couple of other bottles which I've picked up in various job lots of parts on ebay:





They're completely different to my car's bottles, and I guess they come from later +2 (the other parts were all +2, mostly engine bay and boot brackets). The left and middle bottle look like radiator expansion bottles, while the right one is a washer bottle (it has two small holes in the top and no rubber seal)? On the left bottle the Tudor logo is printed on and it has Tudor accessories on the bottom. On the middle bottle the Tudor label is stuck on and the bottom is blank (so although it looks old it's probably not original). The right bottle has Tudor accessories on the bottom and no Tudor logo.

I also have a spare blasted and powder coated bracket that fits the bottles (again in one of the job lots):

Interesting that the overflow bottles are sealed, especially that one in your first picture with the red hose. I wonder how displaced air escaped..?

JonB wrote:Interesting that the overflow bottles are sealed, especially that one in your first picture with the red hose. I wonder how displaced air escaped..?

Yes, I'm curious as to how that would work ? I can sort of see the air being forced out around the pipe perhaps, but surely it would hamper the recuperation back into the radiator ? There must be a vent somewhere. Mine is the same as that shown in MarkDa's photo, & definitely has a small vent hole in the cap & provided BOTH seals are good on the rad cap, works well.

Regards, Tim

Fresh from my recent "success" with the washer bottle (well, I have to take what satisfaction I can from this pointless exercise) I had a go at the overflow bottle.



Does not look too good, and has a fat leak at the bottom. I will probably end up repairing it (hot glue or silicone, plus a patch made out of thick plastic sheeting), but I really would rather get a replacement. It does look horrible and yellowed. I would say it is about a litre and a half. The problem is that washer bottles might not be able to handle boiling hot water without deforming, and they may not have enough capacity. I dunno...

Another thing I noticed about the reproduction Tudor bottles you see on eBay is they often do not have the Tudor logo printed on them; instead, you get a stick on label which looks pants! That and the stupid prices you have to pay!

It may seal up.
If it doesn't I'd cut the bottom out and put another inside that way yu keep an original look.
Nothing wrong with a bit of yellow in my book.
I think that the modern washer bottles will take the hot water. There will be some cold in at the start and then provided there's no air in the radiator the overflow will be <80?C.

In the end, I used some hot glue to seal it with a piece of a pool repair patch on the inside (clear vinyl). Looks completely original. And yellow. Oh well, bigger fish to fry!