TCS Restoration

[BDA]

Your hose sizes are correct. As for the oil cooler, don't put it where I put mine! I put mine below and behind the rear cross member. I constructed a duct that went straight back to some louvers I made next to the license plate. What I didn't know is that there wasn't the low pressure area behind the car that I expected would help suck air through the cooler. It looks kinda cool (see attached picture), but beyond that it's not worth much. The majority of the air in the engine compartment exits out the vents in the boot or engine cover. That would be a good place for a cooler if it weren't so impractical. Unless you want to cut a duct in the side of the car behind a door and mount a cooler somehow there, the best place for one is in the front of the car - either in front of the radiator or with it's own exhaust. I think I would choose to put it in front of the radiator since you won't need the cooler that much (you should also use an oil thermostat before the cooler). I originally discounted a cooler in front of the radiator because I was worried about water cooling but in MA, that shouldn't be a problem. Having said all that, unless you're really stressing the engine, I don't think one is necessary. There is a guy who tracked his car and fitted a very cleaver cooler setup in the engine compartment (https://www.prevanders.net/europa/oilsystem.html, but his entire site is pretty interesting - https://www.prevanders.net/europa/index.html).

I have a warm motor and wanted to make sure my oil was cool enough. I installed an oil temp gauge and was worried about my oil temps on long highway trips until I bought a laser thermometer and found out my gauge is wrong! Looking back at the alarming temps I saw on the gauge and the amount I now realize it's off, I don't think I have anything to worry about. BTW - I don't track my car.

If you are intending to track your car, an oil cooler might be useful. Otherwise, I would save your time,  money, and plumbing headaches.

At least that's my perspective.

[GavinT]

For the firewall I was looking at the Nomex product today, it looks like it might fit the bill with maybe another layer of sound attenuating material, but man, it's expensive.

Hi Bart,

Yeah, most of those ready made panels are usually expensive. That and the oft minimum purchase to accomodate the job always seems to incur lots of left overs.

Agree with Gideon re plywood, mainly because it'd be heavy at the thickness needed for some sort of rigidity.

I laminated firewall panels using 10mm PVC foam core - brilliant stuff, easy to work with and vastly superior to the Urethane foam core material I'd experimented with previously.

Haven't heavily scrutinized the fire rating of these panels largely because it assumes they'll catch fire before anything else . . kinda . . but it apparently has decent fire resistance properties anyway.
This is type of stuff I used.

https://trojanfibreglass.com.au/product/maxxcore-pvc-foam-core/

[jbcollier]

An oil cooler is a good idea if you intend to drive hard for extended periods.  I take long trips in mine and long mountain passes figure prominently.  My oil temp never rises above 80°C.  With an engine in the rear, oil plumbing and cool air access are significant issues.  I plumbed mine to the front and it exhausts into the left wheel well.  Works great -- as noted above -- but involves a fair amount of plumbing and ducting.  Add in that I also have AC and my main frame section is literally full of pipes!  There is another option, which BDA also notes, shown here:

https://www.prevanders.net/europa/oilsystem.html

This was not an option for me as I have an S1.  If I had an S2 or TC/s, I would have gone this way instead.

BDA: IR thermometers are great for comparing temperatures -- say checking each exhaust stub for a misfire -- but not so great at giving absolutely accurate temp readings.  Today for example, scanning my swirl pot gave a 20°C variation between clean and dirty sections.  The dirty (darker) spots read the hottest.  It's a useful tool but accuracy varies significantly with the type and colour of surface being tested.  Test your oil temp gauge by dropping it's sender into boiling water. Remember to factor your altitude into the result.

Where you put the oil temp sender is also important.  Measuring right after the oil pump will give much higher temps than, say, the oil sump.  Opinions vary but I have mine in the oil sump.

[BDA]

JB, I don't want to hijack Bart's thread but I really appreciate your input so I'll fill in some details.

I wasn't aware of that limitations on laser temp gauges which I'm glad to know for future reference. However, I think I'm on pretty solid ground. I got the very similar readings at the bottom of my oil tank, at the temp sender, at the oil filter, and oil hose fittings between the filter and the engine. I kept the gun as close to the target as I could for each reading. My sender is screwed in the oil filter which is the last thing the oil goes through before entering the engine. I like your test for accuracy so I'll do that at my next opportunity.

Thinking about it in other terms, if you are not stressing the engine unduly (adding A/C, tracking, etc.) you situation is not really different from stock in that regard. Lotus (and most manufacturers) didn't feel the need for an oil cooler (or an oil temp gauge) so your oil temps should be fine. If it adds peace of mind, then it's worth it.

[Bart]

JB, BDA et all,

I have ordered up some PVC foam board and will experiment a bit with that over the weekend for the bulkhead, does anyone know if fiber glass resin will cure anaerobically? I assume its purely a catalyzed chemical reaction. I'm sure I am over thinking this but I was planning to layup some glass on the foam core and then use pull a vacuum to get resin solidly into the foam core, as I said over kill, but seems like it would be fun to see how it works.

In other news, and based on all the feedback I am going to add an oil cooler into the mix, I already have a higher volume Johnson oil pump on the motor and I think it would be perfect to mount the oil cooler up in the front somewhere, I am thinking that I can run the oil lines inside the chassis  spine and out of the T section at the front and then route to the cooler. I'm not going to be carrying a spare wheel so there is some space there I can use. Not sure how it will all go yet but its now part of the project plan to get it sorted. I also liked the idea of mounting of the oil temp gauge where the radio would have been (as shown on the prevanders site), I did not want to muck about with the new dash too much and that's a perfect solution.

I have a bunch of parts coming in from Banks and more on order from RD, so with the chassis back from powder coat I am hoping to make some progress and post some pics soon.

Last question for today, I have the door handle style hand brake, (pull and twist), its a ratchet mechanism, but the (plastic?) piece(s) that interlocks with the ratchet is missing, I would make one but I have no real idea what it looks like. Just wondered if anyone out there has this part or a template of it??

Thanks,

Bart.

[gideon]

Serge literally lays it all out in his video on the handbrake. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqrfRhK0nIo

[Bart]

Thanks

It unfortunate that its not the same arrangement on mine.

Oh well.

Bart