The Lotus Grand Tourers

Hi all- I have got my car back together and running but I'm not happy with the steering hose runs from reservoir/pump to the rack- frankly they look a mess. Mine is an 84 car with what I think is a sierra rack. The hose runs aren't shown in the parts diagrams- and it doesn't help that the illustrations are for LHD so those hoses seem different anyway. I have a jumble of hoses that cross in front of the oil cooler- presumably they are not meant to obstruct airflow to the cooler? I cant tell which hose is supposed to go on top or cross over which other and the whole thing is like some dreadful Chinese ring puzzle- made worse as I am now leaking fluid everywhere . I know I have them in the right connections- the LP hose goes to the upper connection in the rack and this hose also has a P clip retaining it to the rack on the passenger side and I had assumed that this would be the lower hose- but that leaves the HP hose forced above and obstructing the oil cooler. Taken together the two of them just don't seem to fit together with each other- or with the fixed rack tubing to form a neat route.

When I got the car lots of bits were missing and although the hoses were on they were disorganised and the oil cooler was loose anyway. Now that its all back together there isn't much room and I need a neat solution. Has anyone any advice? Ideally maybe post a pic of the hose routing you have?
Thanks
Mike

Mike, from a pic on the blog I would say your high pressure hose has one two many bends so it's not running parallel to the low pressure return hose. I also find it odd that the parts manual has a left hand rack. I wonder if Lotus just reused a drawing from Ford.

Thanks- I think that sounds quite likely. I have had another go and although its still not good it has improved matters slightly and I have at least managed to tie the hose where its not going to chafe. Currently I have no leaks too so that's also a bonus. I think I will leave it "as is" since at £100 quid (and the rest), pressure hoses are not trivial to swap!
Mike

This is based on memory as I removed my rack a few weeks ago. As the rack is shown without black paint in this pic I assume it's how you found it?

Yes that's right. The oil cooler was absent and the pipe loose. I have moved it to a position very similar to the one you show but it doesnt really sit there easily without pressing on the cooler. Also how does it run in the vertical plane? - above or below the pressure hose? I'd like it to go below because that would clear the oil cooler. If it goes above it then it more or less has to obstruct airflow... maybe not significantly but to some extent anyway.
Cheers
Mike

PS its not just painted... the bellows and seals were fixed too!

I found the two hoses cable tied to the rack. I'll post a photo once I'm back together, unless someone else beats me to it. I would agree not to go forcing anything as your HP hose looks like it has some life left in it.

By changing the angle the high pressure hose comes out of the back of the Holbourn PAS pump the length to the rack can be adjusted, have you tried this?

Hi Grant- yes I found it could swivel and it helped a lot. It still falls foul of having an extra bend but I think I can live with it- at least until/unless it causes a problem if I ever get the thing on the road... been one of those days when it never really gets light... very depressing and definitely not tempting me back onto the drive and under the car! I did fit a bigger O ring on the HP hose and tighten it up ...and I think i9ts stopped leaking... fingers crossed!
Mike

Hi Grant- yes I found it could swivel and it helped a lot. It still falls foul of having an extra bend but I think I can live with it- at least until/unless it causes a problem if I ever get the thing on the road... been one of those days when it never really gets light... very depressing and definitely not tempting me back onto the drive and under the car! I did fit a bigger O ring on the HP hose and tighten it up ...and I think i9ts stopped leaking... fingers crossed!
Mike