Oh! New bits ahoy! I love working on cars that have new bits. No wrestling with rounded off bits!
I like the shiny exhaust
Excellent, I do love a good front clam refurbā¦ although Iāve done my time now (twice) so happy to follow somebody elses progress instead.
Any temptation to address the fan speed resistor back whilst youāre in there?
Might be worth a new condenser is you have AC. You know actually you can get a lot of work done front clam off thatās worth while Matt. Seems you have most covered. Before and afters please 
So whatās the best way to avoid air locks when swapping the radiator? Lift the front of the car as high as possible while swapping? Or not necessary?
Is it all futile given that Iām intending to swap the hoses too? Saying that, I canāt even see how you take the old hoses off - access to the clamps seems to be almost impossible as they disappear into the tub? Or do you remove something else? Havenāt genuinely had a good look yet, so perhaps Iām missing the obvious!
My resistors seem fine at the moment, but the heat has been stuck on hot since I got it over a year ago - I can hear the motor moving, but the flap doesnāt move, so Iāll have a go at thatā¦ I ordered a new trinary switch for the AC but it wonāt arrive for ages thanks to Lotus on shut down 
nobody happens to know the Denso(?) part number for that do they? 
Thanks guys! Looks like Mr Rustyās Rust Emporium in there at the moment! I suspect most of it is very easily sorted though
The project gets about 30mins a day - lots of different pressures given the current climate
Hereās last nightās quick look at the current condition!
I made no efforts at all to avoid air in the system, which meant it took forever to bleed it out - but it does bleed out eventually. The hoses go under the front crash box and the jubilees are accessible from under there (youāll need to take the front floor panel off if you didnāt as part of clam removal)
If doing again (hope not ) I would take the top hose off and just fill the new rad up with a funnel until it starts dribbling outā¦ thatās probably about the best you can do. Once you start the bleeding process, I had the rear of the car jacked up and put the front down on the floor and just let gravity do its work for a bit with both bleed taps open - then started the car, got it up to temp and just gradually bled out all the air.
If your heater box is coming out to investigate the āstuck on hotā issue, then Iād highly recommend sticking in the updated fan resistor pack. If youāve got the original still itāll be fitted practically on the car floor and will be covered in rust, it WILL fail eventually and as youāll find - getting to it is no short task (but significantly easier if you donāt run AC). The upgrade kit is a bit pricey for what it is, but once youāve gone to all that effort to get the heater box out you will probably not want to do it again any time soon!
Thanks mate - I just went out to it to squirt the blobs of rust with WD40 to try to convert them back into nuts and boltsā¦ while I was there I had a look and spotted that I need to remove the front undertray off and then the jubilee clips look accessible
Iād planned to fill the rad up manually before popping the top hose on - great minds think alike and all that 
Regarding the blower issues, Iām going to spray the rust with old-faithful WD40 and try to encourage the flap back into life as best as I can. I think I need to take the clam off again when my trinary switch finally arrives anyway. Strangely, I donāt mind taking the clam off again - itās not too much trouble if all the bolts arenāt rusted to hell, so no biggieā¦ I decided that if the trinary switch doesnāt fix the air con, then Iām taking AC out completely at that point! Donāt need too many excuses to remove weight in my book - and it hasnāt worked for over a year anyway!
Will let you know when I get it all sorted - might be a few days though 
I had a few sleepless nights over whether or not my AC was worth saving. It was holding back the completion of my maintenance by quite a lot waiting for replacement parts/custom pipes etc.
Iām still torn over it now, I rarely use it - but it does blow beautifully cold now. Thereās just so much gubbins though, the weight saving must be significant not to mention making maintenance of other areas much simpler. The charge cooler install would have probably been done in half the time if not for AC.
There was an S2 heater box on eBay for a while (canāt find it now) which included the updated resistor pack in it for a decent price. That would have been ideal for you as youād sort the flap and resistors all in one go. Thereās another one on now but itās listed for S3 carsā¦ not entirely sure how different they are though (if at all?) as they look rather similar.
Anyone know how much the AC system weighs in total? I might leave the pipework in, so that it can be refitted at a later date more easily, but remove the condenser and the pump?
Or I can just leave itā¦ but I do love making it lighter!
I think itās about 10kg all including the sill pipes.
Hmmmā¦ interestingā¦ very interestingā¦
I suppose the biggest issue right now is getting the refrigerant removed so I can take it all out Donāt really want to go out unless necessary!
I had a mobile guy come to me to do it. It worked out quite a fruitful relationship from both sides, as he was a āLotus Guyā he showed enthusiasm and ended up making me some replacement pipes for the hard lines that were damaged, and I got to get it all sorted without getting the car towed anywhere!
Carbon fibre seats or remove airconā¦ Probably both, lol
Seat* - passengers weigh lots
How very true! Butā¦ I really want it to look right when Iām using the car as a daily - I know, I knowā¦
I went out to remove the trinary switch to get the part number off itā¦ as I took it off, I noticed there was no hiss, so I stuck a small screwdriver in to press the schrader valve and - nothing! Where the heck had my refrigerant gone!?! So I took the radiator out and found thereās nothing left of the condenser soā¦ goodbye aircon later tonight! Wonder if I can cancel my order for a trinary valve now?!
Need to order a new belt too - which is a shame as Iāve only just fitted this one, lol!
Brave decision, but probably the right one! Condenser will be Ā£250 or so and chances are youāll need to replace at least one of the hard lines as they tend to weld themselves on. To replace for me was best part of Ā£500 inc regassing.
Any idea what to do when putting the new radiator in? Do I need to modify some bits or buy more things? Without the condenser attached, itās obviously a different height to mount in there and the fans are currently attached to the condenser frameā¦ anyone done this that can advise?
Didnāt need anything else to mount the rad itself. Your question on fans is valid. I went with a new set of top mount fans so didnāt have that issue.
Jury out on whether bottom or top mounted fans are best.