This heater kit has been designed as a drop-in replacement for the failing OEM units found in both the Opel Speedster (VX220) and S2 Lotus Elise.
Due to age the original heater tends to suffer from brittle plastic housings and can either crack or even be missing whole chunks altogether – especially around the enclosure mounting points.
The internal air flap is also prone to clogging up preventing an adequate seal when in the closed position, this can allow some air to bypass the heater matrix altogether reducing its efficiency.
This design addresses the issues mentioned above, it moves away from the troublesome air flap and instead use a 4-port bypass water valve, when the heater knob is rotated to the cold position the water flow is directed back to the engine bypassing the heater altogether.
The heater enclosure is made from 2.5 and 3mm thick laser cut aluminium sheet which is then anodised black for corrosion protection, the panels are held together using the slot and tab design allowing ease of disassembly should you need to clean or replacement any components.
A high quality and powerful centrifugal SPAL blower is used as the driving force behind this heater, these units are very reliable and come with a 3 year manufacturer’s warranty.
This is a full drop in kit and includes all the components to get you up and running, this includes items such as CNC machined Mounting Brackets, custom Bowden Cable, Heater Hoses, Ducting, A4 Hose Clips and Fixing Hardware.
Mind you, this unit is not exactly the same as the original. There are design changes, so you need to pay attention at installation.