My Lotus Esprit S3 on Air and V8 power

[V8-ESPRITS3]

This is so badass! Bet people double take all the time when you cruise around

Thanks, Yeah its cool to cruise in, not many on the roads so a lot of people have no idea what it is.....of even the fact that its 34 years old!

[white out]

No thermostat, water flow is controlled by the Davies Craig ECU.

That might be your cooling issue. Not having a thermostat to slow the water flow can allow heated water to flow through the system too quickly for the water to drop temperature in the radiator.

[Earl]

^You would think that is figured out in the programming of the Davies Craig ECU wouldn't you?

[white out]

I would think so, but I don't know how the ECU controls the cooling. If it's controlling on/off and not flow rate, then it would still have the problem of moving water too quickly.

Does the Lotus have upgraded radiator(s) or is it running the stock units?

[V8-ESPRITS3]

Fitted a thicker core and bigger alloy rad, have tried all combos of thermostats, even drilled and taken the centre out nothing works!! checked for head gasket failure, checked timing, daives craig controller controls flow, it can even pulse the pump they say don't use thermostat but I tried it anyway and every thing I have tried has never fixed it? its at its best at the moment but if I get stuck in traffic for over 15mins its cooked!

[white out]

Sounds like your issues is poor air flow to the radiators. Do you have strong radiator fans?

[Havemrcy]

This build thread!!! Your car is great, this build is great. I hope one day I can make a vehicle just as great as yours.

[V8-ESPRITS3]

Thanks guys, I don't have a fan shroud so that's a next to do on the list with also a bonnet vent scoop outlet Like on the Lotus Elise, as air flow is a little restricted due to shape size of the car.

[V8-ESPRITS3]

Few pics found on facebook at Bristol Queens Square car meet, good selection of cars on show and the first time for me.

[Earl]

You missing a fan shroud would make a difference for sure

[V8-ESPRITS3]

You missing a fan shroud would make a difference for sure

One of my next jobs on the list of things to do!

Esprit is now back in the Carcoon for winter, still unable to rent a local garage? all the hundreds of garages around me all full of junk being wasted makes me sick.........

[anti.engineered]

I always find cooling issues in custom cars really intriguing so I'm interested to see how you go on this. you've obviously done a very smart thing ducting it, not that that has any influence on your actual issue because the car cooks on idle rather than at speed. for that reason a GT40 style scoop also isn't going to help toooo much since there's no negative pressure over the front of the bonnet unless you're at speed...

shrouding the fans is an absolute no brainer, i'm surprised you built a duct for it but didn't build a shroud. if picking one I probably would choose the shroud haha.

apart from that, it looks like the front end is real, real, real packed. fluids flow due to pressure differentials and the more you cover up the back of the radiator the more you limit said differentials

and hey if it's still a no go after reviewing those things fuck it, go get the grinder and make some space for a rad with more core surface area. i'll bet you could squeeze another 80 cm^2 in there with enough hacking

[V8-ESPRITS3]

Thanks,
The main reasons why I have no fan shroud is the Lotus never had one fitted? but did have the duct.The twin fans I am using are near as big as the rad so the shroud is going to be small and will not really cover much area of the rad but willing to try any thing! Its laid up now for winter so not touching it for months and need a break from it! Besides I am stuck into the Scimitar build now.......

[delvin]

What is the cfm rating on those fans? If possible an oem fan setup from something fwd v6. I'm not sure if you can find one but the fans in a ford mondeo v6 move something like 3400cfm.

Love the car

[V8-ESPRITS3]

very possible going to look into trying some other fans in the near future.