Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

I’m in the final stages of engine bay fit out prior to putting the engine/box in. I should say that the car was bought in bits and I have fitted a complete new front section so there are no existing holes for rad mounts. Posted elsewhere on the forum was a question to anyone who has fitted the Coolex wide rad which I intend buying, but the silence has been deafening so far. The problem I have is knowing how high to mount the rad, in my opinion it it not acceptable to keep fitting/removing the bonnet to check fit as there is a high risk to my new paintwork in doing this. So what I’m after is some dimensions for the height of the rad sides/centre versus some reference points on the body/chassis. Also I have no idea if there are inches or mm clearance between rad top and underside of bonnet. I’m also not clear as to the fore/aft alignment of the rad. Can anyone help?

Can you not just run a straight edge across the top of the opening from front to rear where the filler cap is, then deduct say 1/2" for clearance?

JonB wrote:Can you not just run a straight edge across the top of the opening from front to rear where the filler cap is, then deduct say 1/2" for clearance?

Not really, because the bonnet has quite a lot of curvature resulting in greater headroom above the rad. From looking at pics on google, I get the impression that this headroom is used by the rad

Whereabouts in Kent are you ?

Near Tenterden

Ok, then trial fit the bonnet and climb underneath to measure underside of the bonnet to the nearest chassis reference point. As you have no engine in there it should be doable?

My bolt holes are 5" apart vertically, low bolt is 5" and upper 4" to the chassis bolt to the front tower (all approx). This should give you a triangle you can template to get approx position.

Thanks for the info/comments

+1 to taking a series of cross sections of space available before engine is installed so when it is and rad is being offered up it can be fixed clear of bonnet.