It's not easy being green - 1971 TC

[EuropaTC]

As BDA says, that example would clear the screen but you'd only get warm air and nothing from the side vents.

And those side vents are very good when you're on the move, with the windows up you'll get a nice flow of cold air on your face without using the blower, it's one of the best designs on the cars.  In fact I reckon it's better than a lot of more recent cars, with the Europa it's very easy to get warm air on your feet and cold on the face.

Personally I'd avoid anything which reduces space in the front plenum. We've used our car to go away in and always ended up with stuff in the front and rear compartments.

As for the blower motor, I fitted a Honda PS125 motorbike radiator fan. It's 12v, far less bulky than the OEM Lotus one and was as cheap as chips.

Brian

[Cheguava]

Thanks BDA and Brian - I did wonder if that tube would stop air getting to the dash vents. Thanks for the tip about motorcycle fans too, eBay is awash with them at reasonable prices, so looks like a plan for the rebuild.

Made more progress today, deployed the angry spanner on some of the nuts and bolts that would not undo and removed the radiator, air horns, blower, and (just using a socket!) the chin spoiler. Having to jack up the car and remove the n/s front wheel to attack the air horn fixings revealed just how much is going to need doing once I get to the Meccano phase, but I also noticed how much the light shines through the body tub, like a magic lantern. Is this standard added lightness, or has some coating fallen off?

[BDA]

That looks pretty bad!!! I can see you have your work cut out for you!

Don't be alarmed by the light shining through your fiberglass. It just means that the paint has come off one or the other (or both) sides of the fiberglass there.

[TurboFource]

If you aren’t patient now, you will be! The majority of the parts on my TCST project have been a challenge to get off and/or apart…..thankfully they are simple cars 

[Cheguava]

That looks pretty bad!!! I can see you have your work cut out for you!

Don't be alarmed by the light shining through your fiberglass. It just means that the paint has come off one or the other (or both) sides of the fiberglass there.

Yeah - I knew that it was going to need work to the front of the chassis, and not having been on the road for 20 years, would need a lot replacing, and that's absolutely the case.

Thanks for confirming about the fibreglass, that's going in the "good news" category! Looks like I'll need some suitable stonechip that will adhere to fibreglass.