38 replies to this topic

[Bargi]

Before I seal up the heater box I thought I would see if there was maybe a better replacement to the fan so googled the model which took me to some obscure parts site here and here for none other than the....Land Rover Defender

The Lotus boys were having a good laugh the night they designed the bloody heater! (at the pub no doubt )

[mulletmaster]

How come the Elise heater box is different?

[Bargi]

How come the Elise heater box is different?

Battery mounted in rear of the car so much or room, also different box as they have air con as well.

[mulletmaster]

Well that explains that then! I really don't think an s1 Elise has ac though! I wonder has anyone ever installed a higher powered fan into the sealed box?

Edited by mulletmaster, 03 November 2010 - 09:02 PM.

[Bargi]

Well that explains that then! I really don't think an s1 Elise has ac though! I wonder has anyone ever installed a higher powered fan into the sealed box?

I was thinking S2 which is what I thought the VX was more related too.
But you're right S1 no air con and looks almost the same, maybe VX owners are temperamental about their heaters

[FLD]

Seems to have a matrix twice the size of the VX heater.

[mulletmaster]

Interesting as aftermarket Elise matrices are available for 50 quid I wonder if they could be made fit ours

[Mangham54]

Interesting as aftermarket Elise matrices are available for 50 quid I wonder if they could be made fit ours

According to Elise Shop...(few months back) It is an unfortunate no.

[N17VES]

The elise heater matrix is also electrically operated - the vx220 one is mechanical. You would need wire in the elise controls too (assuming the heater box fits).

[siztenboots]

heritage/ parentage VX = S1 = front VX = S2 = back

[moospeed]

But you're right S1 no air con and looks almost the same, maybe VX owners are temperamental about their heaters

You can get airconned S1's btw... didn't work too great even when new but was a factory-fitted option.

[moneyhunster]

Perhaps we should move our battery to the boot and come up with a new design heater box for our cars, with so many people making accessories for the vx aint it about time this issue was fixed and forgotten, surely among us we could do it, no?

[moneyhunster]

Bigger matrix, stronger blower.

[KurtVerbose]

Having a quick trawl of the LR forums, seems (surprise surprise) that they have similar issues. What is also consistent is that some of their heaters work ok. They seem to suffer from air locks. Wonder if that's why some vx owners are happy with their heaters and others not?

[Arno]

The heater unit in the VX is the same as the one in the early S2's (without A/C), but in both cars the unit itself actually originated from air-conditioned S1 Exiges and elises. The heater is the 'heater part' from the A/C unit in the Exige with the evaporator unit removed. Because on the S1 Elise and Exige the battery is also in the front, Lotus had to use a very small heater/AC unit in these cars and as a result it did not work very well for either heating or cooling. The original (non-A/C) S1 heater is quite a different beast. It can heat up the car without problems, but their design weak point is the fact that they have a metal housing which rusts/rots in the relatively exposed front compartiment of cars like the Elise. Current S2 Elises and Exiges use a completely different heater and A/C system that pretty much fills the entire front compartiment and in the case of the VX would only fit if you moved the battery to the back. An additional complication here is that Lotus switched to electrically operated air-flaps in the new unit and no longer a cable operated system, so it needs additional wiring and the control box to work. Oh.. And the new heater also needs modifications too as Lotus, in their infinite wisdom, fitted the resistor pack for the heater fan control at the underside of the unit so it sits in a puddle of water most of the time and fails quite quickly Bye, Arno.

[slindborg]

Bigger matrix, stronger blower.

The matrix is actually fine..... With MK1 of my heaterbox rebuild it was actually far far far far far too hot
Its just the airflow routing through the matrix that is utter tripe and causes the issues.

I'll try to get mk2 made and trialed in someones car to see if thats any 'better' (in terms of being inefficent to the level that its better than std but not as hardcore as MK1)

[slindborg]

or try this? http://www.t7design....264ca520d8e2890

[KurtVerbose]

or try this?

http://www.t7design....264ca520d8e2890

That looks good. Are the dimentions small enough?

I saw one in the US for about $130 that had a tripple row radiator and some Jeep/Land Rover owners had fitted them to good effect. I'd rather buy from Europe though.

[_Dan_]

or try this?

http://www.t7design....264ca520d8e2890

I've got a similar unit to this, put it in when my original heater box fell apart completely. It came from eBay but doesn't seem to be available anymore so I can't check if the matrix is the same size (mine has a different style of plenum on the back)

It's not powerful, but it is a lot lighter than the original!

Update:-
Just noticed my heater is the Micro Heater listed on the t7 site, so it's smaller and less powerful than the one in Slindborgs's link

Edited by _Dan_, 29 November 2010 - 01:14 PM.

[KurtVerbose]

This is the one I had seen on the LR forums.

No idea if it would fit, but more than 8kw!!!!!