(G) James bond lotus uno

Got caught up in the flash floods today in East London.
No word of a lie under the A13 underpass the water was up to the top of most cars wheels.
I saw 4 cars get flooded out and stranded.
I took the chance and revved the uno high slipping the clutch and drove through the floodwater, about half way through my battery light came on which made my heart pound louder but she literally sailed through without a splutter.
The battery light came on as the water made the belt slip.
I was so impressed to have made in my little workhorse which incidentally was laden with toolboxes too.
Gave me a big smile and did not care about the 2 hours sitting in traffic as the Blackwall tunnel was closed.
I expected to have a floorwell full of water not a drop in sight.
Pete

Great story!

The floor may SEEM dry, but it's probably rusting away as we type...

The FIRE engine is rather prone to the spark plug holes filling with water during such escapades.

The battery light probably came on also when the alternator was submerged is it working again now?

-Alex

Quality story, you can get away with this sort of thing in a less valuable car like an Uno. Do that in more modern car with low mounted air intake and you can expect to wreck the engine as happened to a friend of my fathers when driving through a Ford (I think it was a 306).

A similar Fiat story involving a Tempra of my father in-laws, he literally floated under a flooded railway bridge with water halfway up the doors in his old Tempra diesel. Other cars were turning around but he went for it. He said he was getting worried when he could feel the car lifting off the road. Good way of cleaning the underbody of the car!

Yes FIRE engines do suffer from water getting trapped in the spark plug holes, caused a major mis-fire on an ealry rally i did in the SuperUno. Cured it by stuffing bubble wrap in the holes, and covering the leads in plastic bags, works a treat

You may find that you alternator bearing may fail due to water ingress it depends on how hot it was before the soaking. I wreaked mine that way, have now got a covering and pipe system that draws air in from the top of the engine bay.

My footwell leaks, around the hole for the steering rack to meet the colomb. Also other holes int he floor (due to mounting different items like extinguishers, harnesses etc...) means that the carpet gets wet quite often, but the lack of sound proofing material means that it dries quickly.

Its always good fun driving fast through huge puddles

Check out the puddles and mud in these pics http://www.chelmsfordmc.co.uk/galler...002/?g2_page=2

You can find a few Uno pics the galleries as well

I hope my alternator is ok the belt was screeching so I just took it that it was slipping due to the water not a damaged alt.
The unit was not too hot as I had just started out on my journey everything is working correctly today so fingers crossed.
Yeah I expect the floorwell to be sodden but I was expecting for it to fill up to my ankles lol.
I only took the chance as I knew the air intake was reasonably high up.
P

Have you seen where the air intake is on mk2 fire 999cc its bloked by body work!!!

Hmmm. . . Have moved mine to right behind the grill - will post some pics if you want!!

Also put my horn up there!!

I guess what i am saying is, is your horn ok as mine was really low down behind the bumper before i changed it!!

I agree the air intake is high up and no chance of splashed water getting in as standard!!

Don't know if this is quite on the same lines but i got a land rover defender buried in a sand dune once!

Tried to drive up it and well it didn't i had to climb out the back door and dig it out took forever couldn't start the engine as it would overheat and the more we dug the more sand fell down around it, it took nearly three hours for four of us to dig it out if i remember correctly.

Got some stick from the lads for that one!!

Months and months - don't let will take the landy! got sand in your ears etc etc

only begun to laugh about it now and it was years ago!!!

PS saw some lad with a nova rip his bumper off and then drive over it on southport beach once!!!!

If you mean that the pipe is not in the direct line of airflow, then that is perfectly normal. It's not meant to be! Remember that a normal airbox DOES NOT work by ram air effect, it works by SUCKING air in. Therefore it doesn't matter if the pipe is not directly facing airflow.

Also, if it IS directly facing the airflow, all the those bugs/ stones/ grits/ road trash that splatter the front of your car can also go inside the air pipe and into the filter box. This also includes water spray and rain. End result? Filter gets blocked up more easily and quicker, plus you run the risk of getting water in there too which will ruin the airfilter.

That's why most cars have an air intake that isn't in the direct line of airflow, but placed to somewhere as far away from the engine as possible (to get cooler air). Normal places are behind a headlight, or some cars have it going BEHIND the front bumper.

You'd be suprised how good a lot of modern'ish cars standard induction systems are. Just because it doesn't sound powerful doesn't mean it's restricted. And the reverse is also true in that just because it sounds powerful doesn't mean it is...

Thanks for the explanation!

I did block the pipe with my hand at revs and at idle and decided to move it as their was not much of a 'vacum' I know the risks of an unobstructed air flow as i once cleaned parts of a dead fox out of a cold air intake that was in the bumper of a nova redtop However i am used to working on aircraft - try keeping insects bats and birds out of those intakes, however these don't need cleaning just scraping like your BBQ!

But i have fitted a gause to catch larger insects and angled the pipe to discourage rain and spray from folwing freely,

I expect to change my air filter regularly as their only cheap!

PS: found it was blocked with fibres around the bend to begin with, almost looked like when a cat disintergrates - like a big dirty wig!!

I have found a few strangr things in this UNO must of been a bizzare previous owner!