Lucas 48R heater resistor - suitable replacement

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According to this v. old Lotus Elan thread
https://lotuselan.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=16&am...
this can be replaced with a 3.3ohm 20W resistor. Can anyone confirm this? It's hard to get a steady reading on the existing unit but 3.3ohm seems correct. There were no readings below this anyway.

[Adrian@]

The R48 is NOT related to the heater motor on the TVR, but is used in conjunction with the circuit board version of the dash light dimmer rheostat (which can be changed to a mechanical version negating the use of the R48)...TVR used a combination of resistor IN the heater snail wall (where a ceramic ignition ballast COULD be use as a replacement IN the AIRFLOW) OR a ignition ballast resistor wire strapped to the chassis NOT wrapped into the loom). A@

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Brilliant thanks @Adrian

My rheostat is missing except for the knob so will investigate the mechanical option I think.

[Adrian@]

It is an interesting thought /topic which is worth posting the details on FB, with part numbers of the resistor and rheostat. A@

Edited by Adrian@ on Wednesday 29th April 15:13

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So it turns out the actual resistance of the 48R I have is 33ohms not 3.3! Checked it against a ballast resistor to confirm.

A previous owner has probably binned a perfectly good rheostat because of this