Exige S Improving cooling

The Oily Bits S2 Specific Topics
1

Well I have started a little project on my car today and thought I would take a few pics along the way so I could show people how I got on and help those with an exige S who may be considering something similar.

As you guys all know the air to the intercooler is fed from the intake in the roof, the air intake is not that big in the first place but the section where it meets the roll over cover is of a poor finish and causes a restriction.
After reading the US boards and looking at what they had done I figured that when I had time I would have a go at improving the airflow to the intercooler…

DAY 1!

The first job is remove the roof this is not something I have done before but after a few questions and pointers from Benmac while he was fitting my new pads I felt it was something a man of my vast capabilities should be up too it turned out to be pretty easy this first pic is for Pesky

[image]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v312/Boothy12/Latestpictures138.jpg[/image]

Once the roof was off I could see that there was probably 5 - 10mm of material (flash) left over at the bottom and the sides and also that the rubber seal along the top edge is far to big and covers up alot of the opening.
This next pic is what I started with.

[image]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v312/Boothy12/Latestpictures139.jpg[/image]

I started by milling away the bottom with my Dremmel and cutting away the upper seal with a sharp Stanley blade.
I took this next pic to show how much is being removed, as you can see its almost making the hole double the size! The pic does not show it as well as it looks in real life.

[image]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v312/Boothy12/Latestpictures140.jpg[/image]


This next pic is an after pic of the hole. As you can see its much better than what I started with.

[image]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v312/Boothy12/Latestpictures141.jpg[/image]

After this was taken I used a small amount of silicone to seal a small gap at the lower edge between the clam and the duct to the intercooler, this was always there I just figured it would help a little to seal it.

This is the dremmel bit I used.

[image]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v312/Boothy12/Latestpictures142.jpg[/image]

The tests in the US show 25% more airflow by doing this mod, I am sure that on my car I removed more than 25% of restriction however I dont really know how airflow etc works so if you double up your opening do you get double the airflow? who knows
After this I put silicone greese all over the roof seals and fittings and re fitted the roof, back how she belongs
The whole job probably took just over an hour which I thought was pretty good, I had been working this morning and wondered how much I would manage to get done this afternoon and after getting the roof back on I was happy

But…

I’m not done :stuck_out_tongue:

[image]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v312/Boothy12/Latestpictures137.jpg[/image]

Day two is coming tomorrow

2

I have to say that is a brilliant article you’ve written there. The pictures are great and the results look fantastic.
I’m loking forward to seeing the finished product and I really do hope that the performance gains are noticable.
The best mods are the free ones.

3

As i said on Norlog mate great post, its great you have taken the time to take the pics and make more people aware of the air intake increase that is possible for all to emulate.

4

Thanks guys I am really pleased so far, I am just kicking myself now that I did not put a tape measure at the side of it to see the difference I have however just measured on screen the picture of half the job and on screen I get 22mm before and 35mm after, obviously not life size but I think someone much better at maths than I could tell me what percentage increase that is

5

59.09% increase, give or take.

6

59.09% increase, give or take.

LOL! well that has to be worthwhile doing then
I am about to start pulling the old intercooler out! I’ll let you know how I get on. I’ll try and weigh them both too.

Boothy

7

59.09% increase, give or take.

LOL! well that has to be worthwhile doing then
I am about to start pulling the old intercooler out! I’ll let you know how I get on. I’ll try and weigh them both too.

Boothy

8

so good I said it twice

9

Sadly today has not gone quite as well as I had hoped

Fitting the intercooler was pretty much as expected not a difficult job to be honest

This is the standard intercooler in position

[image]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v312/Boothy12/Latestpictures144.jpg[/image]

This is a pic of the two intercoolers side by side as you can see the Forge is larger

[image]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v312/Boothy12/Latestpictures145.jpg[/image]

I have also taken a close up of the two, as you can see the fins on the Forge are wider, it has been designed to work much better at low flow rates, I assume this feature is part of this design

[image]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v312/Boothy12/Latestpictures146.jpg[/image]

Here is the car once I had removed the old intercooler, I had just started to fit the nice red hoses

[image]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v312/Boothy12/Latestpictures147.jpg[/image]

And here are a couple of the nice new intercooler in position.

[image]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v312/Boothy12/Latestpictures148.jpg[/image]

[image]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v312/Boothy12/Latestpictures149.jpg[/image]

At this point I thought all was well all I needed to do was remove the central boot stay as I knew it would not shut with it in place and the job would be done…
Central boot stay removed boot shut and [censored] thats close! the clearance from the boot lid to the cooler was about 2mm on the right and 5mm on the left! I knew this was not going to be enough so got my mate to check it while I applied some load to the engine, sure enough it hits

At this point I tried to tighten down hard on the rubbers but all I managed to do was shag the threads on the bolts that hold it in place, I had to use my origional rubbers as for some reason only one came in the bag of bits from Forge, looking at the one supplied though it is only the same type as standard.
I also managed to make some tiny rub marks on my lovely intercooler with the rachet, bloody gutted!

I think that the problem is that all the development has been done on twin strut cars and their boots dont fit well and where the boot struts push up the boot is exactly where it hits.

I took the car for a spin and when I got back the intercooler had red paint on it and its been rubbing both sides.

[image]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v312/Boothy12/Latestpictures152-1.jpg[/image]

[image]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v312/Boothy12/Latestpictures151-1.jpg[/image]

Right now I am sat at home gutted, cant really drive the car and I am wondering why nothing goes to plan I’ll send forge an e-mail now and hopefuly they will be able to sort out some lower mounting bushes.

As an aside I weighed the new cooler, 5.2kg’s, I’ll weigh the old one when I am not sulking

[image]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v312/Boothy12/Latestpictures143.jpg[/image]

Boothy

10

Here is a picture through the boot lid showing how close it is when the boot is shut, its not the greatest picture but you get the idea.

[image]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v312/Boothy12/Latestpictures150.jpg[/image]

11

I must say the quality of the thing is top notch and I am really happy with it, I have swapped a couple of e-mails with Peter at Forge previously and he is very knowledgeable and helpfull so I am sure they will get it sorted. I know a few guys are already running this cooler with no problems but all the ones I know of are twin strut cars, I am guessing mine is the first single (or as it is now, no strut) car.
It is possible of course that the missing rubbers are smaller than stock and this is the problem.
Oh and for the short time I went for a drive it felt great

12

The stock intercooler is 3.1kg’s so the forge is 2.1kgs more, not bad really considering its size and the improvements it should give.

[image]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v312/Boothy12/Latestpictures.jpg[/image]

13

Hio Boothy,

Nice work.

I am wondering if you had cut (half-size) the OEM rubbers below the intercooler, how the plastic part (sealing belows) will fit with the intercooler as today when you remove/install that part, it’s already a crazy operation to put it back in place with the standard intercooler. I have done it last week, and I have spent 30 minutes… with a non-satisfied result as the space to put the clamps are just very, very small…

But I am not sure if it will resolve the issue as it’s difficult to foresee the movement of the engine at full-charge.

Forge has added on their website that their intercooler will not fit perfectly with the single strut.

Now, if you look on lotustalk, you can find another solution developed by Thomasio, a single/simple solution after removing the OEM part. See here

Hope you can handle this and give us more feedback around the intercooler.

On my side, I will start measuring the temperature and work on a force induction from the side scoops when the weather is back. After that, I will re-think at the 2 solutions we have for our S.

14

Hi Fred,

I am not so bothered abot the strut at the moment although that looks like a good idea, cutting the oem rubbers down is not such a daft idea tbh, sadly I mashed up the threads on them when I was trying to tighten them down further I would not mind I used a really small rachet with not a great deal of purchase on it, they are just really weak threads.

I will speak to Forge tomorrow and hopefully we can come up with something

At moment I am using a broom stick as a boot prop Just like an S1! On an aside I heard the boot lid was heavy but bloody hell its a ton weight! I really think someone needs to come up with something lighter at a reasonable price!

Edit to add, I dont really want to go the twin strut route as my last exige S had them and I had it changed to single strut as the boot lid fitted like a prick in a shirt cuff.

15

You’re right, Peter will certainly help you to find a solution.

I still have 2 (->1) question(s) if you don’t mind.

Perhaps I was too quick by reading your post, but the scratch on the interior of the boot was done by the intercooler or by the stock strut that you didn’t remove before riding? (Ok I am stupid as I don’t believe you can close your boot if you still had that stock strut )

Also, as the forge intercooler is larger, does the large duct (big plastic part) to the OEM intercooler would fit always or do you have to remove it?

Ps: and now that I think a little bit more (!), by replacing the OEM rubbers, we change all the position (slope) of the ducts (left/right) or does Forge have also prevented this to make everything fit perfect?

16

Yes the boot strut needs to be removed before the boot will close

The two scratches on the boot lid are being caused by the welds on the upper edge of the cooler.

I think that the plastic duct supplied already fitted to the forge intercooler is the same as off the cup intercooler, it comes with an oem lotus sticker on it. You do not need to modify anything to make it fit.

I am pretty sure any changes to intercooler position will be taken up (as long as not to major) by the sprung rubber connector between the roof scoop and cooler so there should be no isssues there.

I cant see any reason why the mountings need to be rubber tbh, nylatron or similar should work just fine, I will speak to forge about how much shorter we can make them as they should know the clearances between the intercooler and the top of the engine, I am thinking about 8mm?

Boothy

17

Just wanted to add Peter from Forge has already replied to my e-mail (on a Sunday!), they are sending smaller 15mm rubber bobbins (stock are 20mm) and M6 rather than M8 bolts, this should allow the cooler to sit further forward and 5 mm lower. Fingers crossed this should do the trick! Now thats what I call service!

18

Just wanted to add Peter from Forge has already replied to my e-mail (on a Sunday!), they are sending smaller 15mm rubber bobbins (stock are 20mm) and M6 rather than M8 bolts, this should allow the cooler to sit further forward and 5 mm lower. Fingers crossed this should do the trick! Now thats what I call service!

Good stuff - excellento service as you rightly say

Do you answer calls about boiler servicing at weekends?

Oddly enough, one of my clients just phoned me 10 minutes ago, following our meeting last Wednesday - all good stuff fortunately

19

Good stuff - excellento service as you rightly say

Do you answer calls about boiler servicing at weekends?

I try not too I do however seem to end up working most Saturdays

20

I try not too I do however seem to end up working most Saturdays

How many bloody boilers have they got at the Trafford Centre then?