Renault 5 Prima Campus Restomod Project
Discussion
So today I took the first step in beginning restoring and modifying my 1994 Renault 5 Prima Campus. I have had this for the last 15 years and it was my first car, bought with 16k miles from a little old french lady. I drove it everywhere, putting 40k+ miles on it in 3 years before moving onto something newer.
Unfortunately the car was only intermittently used after the first 3 years of ownership before finally being parked in my parents back garden for good around 6 or 7 years ago where it has slowly deteriorated.
I have thought about doing something with the car for a while now but between work and moving away for a while it hasn't been realistic.
The car was covered in mould and the sills and front wings were visibly rotten. We dragged it out and pressure washed it before beginning to strip it down and investigate the condition of the shell further.
From a distance the car looks ok but once we started pulling the wings off it was quite clear that parts of the inner wing and headlight panel/front slam panel had completed disappeared and will require patching.
Having taken both front and rear bumpers off and jacked the car up and inspected I am fairly confident the car isn't beyond saving so I have begun ordering replacement sills, front bumper mounting points and wings.
The plan for this will be to build the shell back up with;
- GAZ adjustable coilovers
- seam welded front subframe
- Full polybushing
- GT Turbo rear axle (if I can find one) or the existing axle modified to take discs
- Full roll cage
- Clio 172/182 engine
- Clio 172/182 gearbox with LSD fitted
- Front strut brace
- Clio ECU and full wiring loom
- Undecided on front seats but will remove rears entirely
I originally wanted to use a civic type r engine and gearbox but having researched the clio swap it seemed a much more sensible direction to go in terms of ease (R5 GTX engine mounts work with the clio engine and box etc).
The aim will be to get the car to 800kgs and 200bhp with a fast road/track setup.
Next step is to continue stripping the car out and getting the shell onto a rollover jig for repair work with one eye out for a suitable donor car.
Unfortunately the car was only intermittently used after the first 3 years of ownership before finally being parked in my parents back garden for good around 6 or 7 years ago where it has slowly deteriorated.
I have thought about doing something with the car for a while now but between work and moving away for a while it hasn't been realistic.
The car was covered in mould and the sills and front wings were visibly rotten. We dragged it out and pressure washed it before beginning to strip it down and investigate the condition of the shell further.
From a distance the car looks ok but once we started pulling the wings off it was quite clear that parts of the inner wing and headlight panel/front slam panel had completed disappeared and will require patching.
Having taken both front and rear bumpers off and jacked the car up and inspected I am fairly confident the car isn't beyond saving so I have begun ordering replacement sills, front bumper mounting points and wings.
The plan for this will be to build the shell back up with;
- GAZ adjustable coilovers
- seam welded front subframe
- Full polybushing
- GT Turbo rear axle (if I can find one) or the existing axle modified to take discs
- Full roll cage
- Clio 172/182 engine
- Clio 172/182 gearbox with LSD fitted
- Front strut brace
- Clio ECU and full wiring loom
- Undecided on front seats but will remove rears entirely
I originally wanted to use a civic type r engine and gearbox but having researched the clio swap it seemed a much more sensible direction to go in terms of ease (R5 GTX engine mounts work with the clio engine and box etc).
The aim will be to get the car to 800kgs and 200bhp with a fast road/track setup.
Next step is to continue stripping the car out and getting the shell onto a rollover jig for repair work with one eye out for a suitable donor car.
Gilhooligan said:
Cool project. Clio 197 cams go into the 182 engines. Plus an RS tuning remap, that should get you up to 190ish bhp.
Alternatively low boost turbo kits will get you up to 240 bhp.
Saying that, with the weight difference between the Clios and an R5, I’d imagine it’ll go pretty well on a standard 182 engine.
I had seen those turbo kits and have definitely bookmarked them... I am fairly certain I want to stay N/A purely for how I want the car to drive so more likely things like cams etc. Having said that you can almost guarantee I will want more power at some point...Alternatively low boost turbo kits will get you up to 240 bhp.
Saying that, with the weight difference between the Clios and an R5, I’d imagine it’ll go pretty well on a standard 182 engine.
JJJ. said:
What I interesting project. 170-200 bhp n/a should be really nice. Looking forward to updates.
Thanks, hopefully there will be regular updates to give. I still have my CLK55 to put the finishing touches on and pace will probably be dictated by how easily I can find certain parts to begin with. Currently struggling to find some of the inner wing panels, for exampleAndrewGP said:
Fantastic, very much looking forward to this!
I almost ended up with this exact model and colour Renault 5 as my first car in 1994! It was for sale locally at a good price and I thought it was super cool. However, I ended up getting a Peugeot 106 due to my parents negotiating a great trade in deal and free insurance (remember that!?)
Keep the updates coming, I reckon it’ll be a beast with a 172 engine, I had a Clio 172 and a 182 and they were fantastic cars.
Thanks! I passed my test in 2008 and I assume free insurance for 17 year olds was a distant memory by then. I think the first year to insure the 5 was well north of £1000 for me...I almost ended up with this exact model and colour Renault 5 as my first car in 1994! It was for sale locally at a good price and I thought it was super cool. However, I ended up getting a Peugeot 106 due to my parents negotiating a great trade in deal and free insurance (remember that!?)
Keep the updates coming, I reckon it’ll be a beast with a 172 engine, I had a Clio 172 and a 182 and they were fantastic cars.
Regbuser said:
Thanks! I have already ordered inner sills, sills and front bumper mounting points from them. Just waiting for them to quote on inner wings, headlight panel and GT Turbo rear axle at the moment. Already proving usefulA small and boring update... but the sills and front bumper mounts have now arrived. Will be keeping them boxed for now for ease of storage and to avoid damaging anything.
There probably won't be any meaningful updates in terms of work on the car for another week or so as I am travelling for work a lot at the moment. In the meantime I still need to secure some front wings and inner wing panels...
There probably won't be any meaningful updates in terms of work on the car for another week or so as I am travelling for work a lot at the moment. In the meantime I still need to secure some front wings and inner wing panels...
PerformanceMINIR53 said:
Gaz are and always have been donkey s
t. What is your budget for suspension?
No budget in mind particularly, more just wanting to do the project well so not wedded to GAZ or other lower cost options. Just curious as to what the readily available alternatives are in the UK as all I am seeing are the GAZ or AVO setups here and the AVO appears to be even worse...t. What is your budget for suspension? So a small update... collecting a stack of pallets tomorrow to build a bit of a temporary base to work from in the garden while I mull over better location options to work...
More importantly I have located and am collecting a GT Turbo rear axle 15 mins from me on Saturday. This is probably the hardest part to try and find so I'm pleased to have found one early on. Without it I would not easily be able to switch to discs on the rear
Still following a few leads for front wings and the basic body parts needed to bring the shell up to scratch
More importantly I have located and am collecting a GT Turbo rear axle 15 mins from me on Saturday. This is probably the hardest part to try and find so I'm pleased to have found one early on. Without it I would not easily be able to switch to discs on the rear
Still following a few leads for front wings and the basic body parts needed to bring the shell up to scratch
Successful mission on the rear axle and pallets to make a floor to work off. Axle looks in good condition, aside from the dodgy paint job. This will be blasted and powder coated along with the front subframe and rebuilt with new bushings etc.
Next step will be to build the floor with the pallets and ply wood and get the car up there on axle stands to be stripped fully.
[url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/vRQkFS86[/url]
Next step will be to build the floor with the pallets and ply wood and get the car up there on axle stands to be stripped fully.
[url]|https://thumbsnap.com/vRQkFS86[/url]InitialDave said:
Their UK warehouse is in Leicester, maybe see if they can help? They were OK with me picking up some back-ordered dampers I'd originally bought through a dealer to save monkeying about with needlessly sending them to and fro.
Great shout... will get in contact with themSome unexpected potential donor car progress this morning...
Spotted this phase 1 172 on ebay and did a deal in principle. Called to pay the deposit and the guy said he has an identical one that has been track prepped so will send some details and I can choose which I prefer. The pictured one has MOT until Jan next year and the track prepped one doesn't have one so I am leaning towards the first option unless the track one has some tasty bits that I can re-use...
Spotted this phase 1 172 on ebay and did a deal in principle. Called to pay the deposit and the guy said he has an identical one that has been track prepped so will send some details and I can choose which I prefer. The pictured one has MOT until Jan next year and the track prepped one doesn't have one so I am leaning towards the first option unless the track one has some tasty bits that I can re-use...
Gilhooligan said:
Looks like a 172 Exclusive. Quite a rare spec. Although the interior looks like standard 172.
Still, seems a shame to break it.
Yeah it is an exclusive but minus the correct seats (they are there for an extra cost)... the body is very frilly and most of the roof and other side has peeled. My only hesitation was that it is limited edition but the cost to make it nice would definitely exceed whatever it is worthStill, seems a shame to break it.
So I've paid the deposit on the Clio with the MOT and will be collecting next weekend. I was very tempted by the track prepped one thinking about being able to do some track days over the summer (I miss my Megane RS265 which I used to track...) but the difficulty in getting something without MOT from Wiltshire to Norfolk outweighed the temptation. This one also has lower mileage which is more important given I want it mainly for the engine and gearbox.
Given this one is roadworthy I can also run around in it and figure out if there are any issues before the engine comes out and goes in the 5.
Hopefully no surprises when I drive it back next weekend!
Given this one is roadworthy I can also run around in it and figure out if there are any issues before the engine comes out and goes in the 5.
Hopefully no surprises when I drive it back next weekend!
The collection of bits continues... collecting the Clio from Wiltshire Saturday morning and then off to Birmingham to collect a GT Turbo subframe with ARB and what looks like a full set of Powerflex bushes for the price of a set of bushes on their own... this means I can start building up some of the running gear off the car while the shell progresses and before I have taken the Campus subframe off...
Famous last words but this should be the last big item to collect
Famous last words but this should be the last big item to collect
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