Not your usual PH classic car!
Discussion
Bizarre I know, but just had to share the fact that last night for the first time in about 20 years, I dug out my feeler gauges & set the points gap on the old R4!
I am on the look out for an electronic ignition kit for it, but in the meantime it's another step along the new car bonding path!
Also oil & filter change after some flushing oil was poured in for 30 minutes running.
Tonight is tappet setting Thursday!
Simple pleasures!
I am on the look out for an electronic ignition kit for it, but in the meantime it's another step along the new car bonding path!
Also oil & filter change after some flushing oil was poured in for 30 minutes running.
Tonight is tappet setting Thursday!
Simple pleasures!
Edited by appletonn on Thursday 1st October 15:38
OK, so I've given up on trying to clean & refurb the old Zenith carb & gone & splurged £150 on a brand new (old stock) one from la belle France.
Should be here tomorrow & now that I've set the static timing, hopefully can just bolt new carb on & she'll idle properly.
Have started cleaning & undersealing the underside & also have found the live feed under the rear corner for the foglight that I'll need to fit for the MOT, which I've ambitiously booked for a week on Saturday!
To do:
New tyres on all 4 corners
Fit carb
Fit & wire in new foglight & s/h o.e switch, wiring already in to dash & rear quarter
Convert headlights to rhd
Check & clean all drum brakes
Adjust handbrake
Cross fingers & pray!
Should be here tomorrow & now that I've set the static timing, hopefully can just bolt new carb on & she'll idle properly.
Have started cleaning & undersealing the underside & also have found the live feed under the rear corner for the foglight that I'll need to fit for the MOT, which I've ambitiously booked for a week on Saturday!
To do:
New tyres on all 4 corners
Fit carb
Fit & wire in new foglight & s/h o.e switch, wiring already in to dash & rear quarter
Convert headlights to rhd
Check & clean all drum brakes
Adjust handbrake
Cross fingers & pray!
Edited by appletonn on Thursday 8th October 09:54
XOcette said:
Looks like a good buy, and should prove to be a lot of fun.
Got to drive in one in NL fitted with a 5 Turbo engine. It was a little quicker than the 845cc version
Eventually the plan is to drop something a little pokier into it, upgrade the brakes but otherwise leave it as a sleeper externallyGot to drive in one in NL fitted with a 5 Turbo engine. It was a little quicker than the 845cc version
I saw three yesterday parked outside of I assume the owners' homes. One sage green and two red, plus this morning the local garage man turned up in his beautifully rebuilt one. They are very common here of course, and many seem to have been in the same ownership since practically new.
lowdrag said:
I saw three yesterday parked outside of I assume the owners' homes. One sage green and two red, plus this morning the local garage man turned up in his beautifully rebuilt one. They are very common here of course, and many seem to have been in the same ownership since practically new.
So true & most of the original UK cars have long since dissolved back into the earth, hence why mine came from the south of France!Probably about time I updated this!
I converted the headlights to RHD by using the Dremel to cut a second notch in te headlamp bowl for the 'finger' on the bulb to locate into, thus rotating it slightly & changing the beam pattern. Thanks to R4 forum dudes for that tip!
Fitted the rear foglight & found the rear feed under the rear quarter so just need to run an extension across the rear of the car to the designated location for the lamp,
Sourced a second hand switch & cleanup the wiring behind the switch blank in the dash. Wired in & it works!
Soon discovered that whilst the new car had much improved the idle stability (i.e it would now idle without stalling!), it wouldn't rev properly. Aaarrrghhh
So dismantled both carbs & finally made one good one out of the two - it runs!!
Dismantled both front & rear brake drums (yes front drums, for the win!), cleaned them up, re-greased bearings & threw it all back together, apart from one seized adjuster that will need to be revisited post MOT.
Then, in a weak moment, I happened to discover that AVO did adjustable gas shocks for the R4 (R4 needs gas shocks anyway due to the rears being horizontal & the general long travel & soft suspension springing)
There's a guy on the R4 forum (yes, there is such a thing!) who had commission a set from AVO so that he could reduce the epic body roll & super soft ride slightly.
Well, would have been rude not to....
Finally a few progress pics. Need to steam clean under the arches but both the suspension components & the metal work underneath is all sound, with minimal corrosion incredibly & just mud & sand coating it, which soon comes off.
I converted the headlights to RHD by using the Dremel to cut a second notch in te headlamp bowl for the 'finger' on the bulb to locate into, thus rotating it slightly & changing the beam pattern. Thanks to R4 forum dudes for that tip!
Fitted the rear foglight & found the rear feed under the rear quarter so just need to run an extension across the rear of the car to the designated location for the lamp,
Sourced a second hand switch & cleanup the wiring behind the switch blank in the dash. Wired in & it works!
Soon discovered that whilst the new car had much improved the idle stability (i.e it would now idle without stalling!), it wouldn't rev properly. Aaarrrghhh
So dismantled both carbs & finally made one good one out of the two - it runs!!
Dismantled both front & rear brake drums (yes front drums, for the win!), cleaned them up, re-greased bearings & threw it all back together, apart from one seized adjuster that will need to be revisited post MOT.
Then, in a weak moment, I happened to discover that AVO did adjustable gas shocks for the R4 (R4 needs gas shocks anyway due to the rears being horizontal & the general long travel & soft suspension springing)
There's a guy on the R4 forum (yes, there is such a thing!) who had commission a set from AVO so that he could reduce the epic body roll & super soft ride slightly.
Well, would have been rude not to....
Finally a few progress pics. Need to steam clean under the arches but both the suspension components & the metal work underneath is all sound, with minimal corrosion incredibly & just mud & sand coating it, which soon comes off.
Edited by appletonn on Wednesday 2nd December 08:44
V8 FOU said:
Love these. Self cleaning points too! Really.
Always wanted one with a more pokey engine. The French have a special Rally Raid for these!!
Kev Leaper of PPC has/had one with a Gordini engine....
The guy who owns Renospeed also has a standard looking restored one with the Gordini motor in it.Always wanted one with a more pokey engine. The French have a special Rally Raid for these!!
Kev Leaper of PPC has/had one with a Gordini engine....
I think I'd need to swap to front disc brakes before even thinking about that upgrade though!
Got the rear dampers to swap this weekend, refit rear seatbelts & then it may well be MOT time, gulp!
My mum had a grey Renault 4 TL with black vinyl seats which she bought new in 1972 - MTU978L was the registration. She bought it at Sports Motors in Hale at their little garage on the end of South Downs Road. It was one of the first garages to have a petrol pump, IIRC installed in 1904. It was knocked down and is now houses, sadly.
She really loved her little Renault and it was utterly reliable. I really liked it too as a tiny child - especially the way the bonnet hinges forward like an XJ6! She had the Renault Dinitrolled, so when she sold it in 1978, it didn't have a spec of rust. Unfortunately, the person who bought it parked it on a field and it rusted after that. She replaced it with a Mars red VW Polo, also bought new. That was a lovely car too - a zippy little thing and pretty too, but blotted its copy book by needing a rebore at 9 months old.
She really loved her little Renault and it was utterly reliable. I really liked it too as a tiny child - especially the way the bonnet hinges forward like an XJ6! She had the Renault Dinitrolled, so when she sold it in 1978, it didn't have a spec of rust. Unfortunately, the person who bought it parked it on a field and it rusted after that. She replaced it with a Mars red VW Polo, also bought new. That was a lovely car too - a zippy little thing and pretty too, but blotted its copy book by needing a rebore at 9 months old.
dbdb said:
My mum had a grey Renault 4 TL with black vinyl seats which she bought new in 1972 - MTU978L was the registration. She bought it at Sports Motors in Hale at their little garage on the end of South Downs Road. It was one of the first garages to have a petrol pump, IIRC installed in 1904. It was knocked down and is now houses, sadly.
She really loved her little Renault and it was utterly reliable. I really liked it too as a tiny child - especially the way the bonnet hinges forward like an XJ6! She had the Renault Dinitrolled, so when she sold it in 1978, it didn't have a spec of rust. Unfortunately, the person who bought it parked it on a field and it rusted after that. She replaced it with a Mars red VW Polo, also bought new. That was a lovely car too - a zippy little thing and pretty too, but blotted its copy book by needing a rebore at 9 months old.
Great story!She really loved her little Renault and it was utterly reliable. I really liked it too as a tiny child - especially the way the bonnet hinges forward like an XJ6! She had the Renault Dinitrolled, so when she sold it in 1978, it didn't have a spec of rust. Unfortunately, the person who bought it parked it on a field and it rusted after that. She replaced it with a Mars red VW Polo, also bought new. That was a lovely car too - a zippy little thing and pretty too, but blotted its copy book by needing a rebore at 9 months old.
Both of my first two R4s succumbed to the UK weather & non existent rust proofing, travelling back to the great scrapyard in the sky.
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