Radaitor replacement turning into a mini restoration!

[Dipper]

Nowt like getting carried away! Instead of just sticking in a new rad and boxing it all up I decided to get the autosol out and give the tub a good going over. It's coming up a treat butits highlighted all the crappy looking other stuff. Eg, wishbones, nitron springs, various rusty brackets. I also decided to remove the fan box to clean in amongst there. Turns out the box is broken! There's also a burst gator on the steering rack to sort.

The good news is, the garage I bought the car from(specialist cars of Malton) are allowing me to replace the rad myself under their in house warranty. Pretty damn good of them seeing as they haven't looked at the car

So questions are, can I get a new fan box easily enough? I've tried all the usual places(except lotus themselves) with no joy. Also, is it possible to replace the steering rack gaitor without removing the rack?

I'll get some before and after pics up when I'm further on

[smee]

Ha ha know that feeling.
"might as well just change this perfectly good componant as well...."
Have you tried deroure.com for the fan box? I got my rad housing sealing panel from there to replace a faded old one and ARB bracket bolts. Good service and easy site to use.

[Dipper]

I've not tried them but was recommended them just yesterday as well so will have a look. Found a thread on seloc on the same subject and it appears a new one from lotus is £800!! Stuff that. I'd rather bypass it and do without a heater at that price.

[smee]

How broken is the box? Could it be repaired?

[thesurfbus]

My rad housing sealing panel has faded to grey, but I read that with old faded bumpers, you can heat them with a hot air gun and they will turn black again, anyone tried this?
I also need to replace my steering rack boots, and wondered if it can be done with the rack in, also read that Fiat X1/9 gaitors fit, which are a bit cheaper than Lotus http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221003757082? ... 1423.l2649.

[Dipper]

How broken is the box? Could it be repaired?

Erm, well it was a bit broken but then I tried to remove it and now it's proper broken!

[KingK_series]

My rad housing sealing panel has faded to grey, but I read that with old faded bumpers, you can heat them with a hot air gun and they will turn black again, anyone tried this?
I also need to replace my steering rack boots, and wondered if it can be done with the rack in, also read that Fiat X1/9 gaitors fit, which are a bit cheaper than Lotus http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221003757082? ... 1423.l2649.

Get the rack gaitors direct from Titan Motorsports who make the rack, their prices for replacement parts are reasonable, if you are doing that you will have to take the rack out, so you might as well check it, the nylon cups behind the track rods are almost invariably broken, but cost pence.

[thesurfbus]

Thanks KingK