Cabin heatsoak in S1 with hardtop

[braddo]

Hi all,

Well, I'm in my first 24 hours of Lotus ownership after I picked up a S1 Sport 135 last night. I got surprised by the amount of heat soak in the cabin so thought I might ask if my experience is typical, or a bit excessive.

Now, it was dark and about 19 degrees C when I set off. The car has a hardtop and with windows up and fan on low it didn't take long for the cabin to feel quite warm - I kept thinking I must have the heater on by mistake. It got to the point where I couldn't keep the windows shut for more than maybe 10-15 mins before feeling a bit uncomfortable and winding down a window. I was wearing trousers and a long sleeved shirt.

I realise there is always going to be some heatsoak, but I'm wondering if mine's worse than usual - I did a search on here and found a reference to a poor back window seal letting in hot air, for example.

How do other people find it?

Cheers,
Brad

[bogie]

perfectly normal with the K series engine manifold near your back in an S1 Elise without aircon ...also the pipes from the radiator go through the sills that you are sat next too....its nice in winter as the chassis warms up, but not good in summer

getting trapped in an Elise in a hot day in France for 8 hours is not pleasant I can assure you

air-con was the best upgrade on the S2111R IMO, bugger it weighing 15kg I dont care....when I used my Elise as a daily driver for 25K miles a year, visiting clients all over the UK, In the summer, I would travel in trousers and a t-shirt, and put a shirt and tie on when I got there

[Esprit]

Really is no way around it... you think a 135 is bad, you should try driving an Exige! One thing you can do is seal up all of the holes in the rear bulkhead to try to stop some of the air migration from the engine bay back into the cabin. That's all you can really do. The only option is to crack the windows a little to get some air circulation through the cabin.

[Thorburn]

I get the same from my standard S1, you get used to driving around in the pissing rain with the window open.

Open both the driver and passenger windows a bit and you get a nice throughflow of air.

[braddo]

My wife is going to love this car. Clearly it's not going to be much of a change in comfort/noise levels from my 35 year old Alfa!

Brad

[Bill K 111]

Can I recommend this...

http://www.agriemach.com/product_info.php?cPath=79...

I've just fitted it myself. There is already a mat stuck on the bulkhead between you and the hot bits but just attach this on top of that. I fitted it for the same reason but also to cut down on some of the engine noise ahead of a Europe trip next month. So far so good. It's certainly dampened the 'top end' engine noise but not really had a long enough journey to test the heat suppression with a roof on. Am quite optimistic though. If you have weight worries...dont...it's unfeasably light for what it does!

[S Works]

Rule 1 of Elise ownership. If it's not raining. Take the roof off

[Hollywood Wheels]

Read my comments on the Sport 160 vs Exige thread. My 160 is like a fking oven. It's the one thing I really hate about the car. Summer driving in heavy traffic is like torture....

[piooly]

My car used to get silly hot inside and often got worse when I opened the window as this would draw air through from the engine bay, front dash (coolant pipes) etc.. All I did was use some expanding foam in the end of the chassis rails when they meet the engine and took the dash panels out and filled the holes at the right and left.

Drive down the road and open your window an inch. Now run your hand around the rear window whilst moving and see if any hot air is getting draw in. If so, take the window out and improve the seal by adding some thick foam tape.


By doing all this my sport 160 is no longer that hot inside. Its made such a difference!


One other thing I also did is apply a heat barrier paint to the maninfold. At 1 inch away the radiating temp is reduced from 200 degree F to 60 degrees!!! I think this has also helped a lot too.

[Stampede]

S Works said:

Rule 1 of Elise ownership. If it's not "a Monsoon". Take the roof off

Roofs not been on in almost 2 years!


S690

[braddo]

piooly said:

improve the seal by adding some thick foam tape.

Piooly, where did you get the foam tape from? Turns out I'm missing a chunk around one corner of the window.

Thanks