jolly - or not i`m finished! me too

JOLLY - OR NOT!
I'M FINISHED!
ME TOO!
Club Officials
Chairman
Vice Chairman
Club Secretary
Treasurer
Membership Secretary
La Renault Editor
Gary Creighton
John Pigeon
Tony Topliss
Fred Parker
Fred Parker
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Registrars & Coordinators
4CV / 750
R4 / R6
R5
R5 Turbo / Turbo 2
R8 / R10
R12
R16
R15 / R17
R18 / Fuego
Alpine 110
Dauphine
Floride / Caravelle
Competition Secretary
Spares Coordinator
National Events
Wales
Scotland
Ireland
North West
Yorkshire
East & East Anglia
South East
South West
Robin Redrup
Derek Flavell
Tony Topliss
James Oneill
Nigel Patten
Robert Doran
Paul Draper
David Kelly
Richard Birchenough
Phil Gardner
Malcolm Rogers
Malcolm Rogers
Nigel Patten
Robin Redrup
Len Kiff
Dave Wheeler
Steven Swan
Seamus McElvanna
David Austin
Peter Bell
Derek Sparks
Len Kiff
Tony Nappin
Robert Doran
Editor's Ramblings
911euf@gmail.com
A
is not because my brain is working at sloth
like speed but because I am so organised
that the following issue of La Renault is
almost ready to go to the printers when
the current one drops on your doormat!
complaint has flooded in! A member feels that the club does not
support the R16 as much as the
4CV he had previously. Well, the club
works like this ...... If you have a particular model and you write about it, what you
send me goes into the magazine and other
members with that particular model feel a
little glow of happiness that someone else
has written about the fragile tin box which
is the love of their life! That is how I felt
when I read Steve Cole's article about the
restoration of his Renault 10. My favourite
Renault and I am happy that someone else
has not only saved one but also taken the
time to photograph the restoration and
write about it too! All the other Renault 10
owners will read the article and feel that
the club is doing a good job supporting the
10. So ...... has the complainant written
anything for the magazine about his 16 or
previous 4CV ...... No! There is also the
forum but in this technological world if you
don't have a computer you can't summon
it up on your 1960s IBM Selectric typewriter. I could resort to wholesale copying
and pasting and produce a 50 page, glossy
A4 magazine but that is simply not the
style of this club. I rely on contributions
and if nobody happens to write about the
16 then there will be no articles about it!
Anyway, from current details sent in by
members we have, the following cars in
the club. 54 4CV/750 & 54 X R4 / 34 X
R8 / 28 X R16 / 28 Caravelle - Floride / 21
X R12 / 19 X R5 / 17 Dauphine / 12 X
R10 / 10 Alpines (various) / 9 X R11 / 8 X
R15 / 6 X R6 & Fuego / 5 X R18 / 4 X
R17 / 2 X R20 - R9 - Estafette / 1 Frégate
- Juvaquatre - Vel Satis - Clio.
The 4CV / R4 / R8 / R16 / Caravelle Floride & R12 are the most popular and
should, therefore, appear most frequently.
It is your magazine and the content is up
to you!
With best wishes to all our readers for a
happy and prosperous 2015.
We have our three regular contributors Derek Flavell, Robin Redrup and Dave
Wheeler (alphabetical order!) without
whom the magazine would definitely be
thinner and to whom I am constantly
grateful. I have also had considerable contributions recently from Lawrence Macduff,
John Waterhouse, James Polden & Neil
Adams etc ......... It's also worth mentioning that if you do send in material it could
well take six months for it to appear. This
3
Renault 4CV Registrar
Robin Redrup
H
ere is another of those “Beach
Buggy” 4CVs without the standard
seat but a make do for now. This
photo was sent to me by Ed Critz in America who is doing the restoration. The car is
a conversion from a 1961 model. These
keep popping up and I do wonder truly
how many were made. (More pictures further on).
There have been more 4CVs and 750s
coming up for sale recently. Barrie Carter
of Beaminster, Dorset has regrettably decided to sell his 1954 750 which is now
stripped for starting the restoration. The
chap who was doing the work has left and
Barrie has no one else available to continue. The car was in the April 2014 magazine. Any interested parties should contact
Barrie on 01308 868884. He is asking
£2,500. This car is one of seven 750s that
are known to us in the UK and it has the
UK dashboard with the twin instrument
clocks which are very period and lovely to
see in these cars. Being a 1954 model it
was the only year that the front grille featured the round badge in the middle.
(Picture top of next column).
Another 4CV for sale belongs to Alan Morris of Retford, Nottinghamshire. Alan was
an RCCC member previously but has not
had the time to devote to this hobby and
has decided to sell the car. This 4CV has
been in his family since new and is a 1955
example and totally original. Alan can be
contacted on 01777 818345 for more information.
Peter Baker from Shropshire has bought
Richard Lewin’s 4CV with the R8 engine
and running gear. Welcome to our club
Peter, should you need any assistance in
the future, we have some well versed experts to help you.
4
Jim Cairns is nearly there with his 4CV
which he purchased from Keith Wildish.
Jim will soon be sending me photos of this
robbie.redrup@btinternet.com
early 1950 built car which sounds breathtaking from what he has told me. Watch this
space!
Mark Fishpool of Peterborough has now
added a Dauphine Gordini to his collection.
No doubt prised from the hands of a Frenchman after consuming a few bottles of local
wine! This Renault joins the 4CV Mark
bought in 2013.
John Henderson in Kent has decided to keep
his 1960 4CV and take it to Scotland where
he is going to live. We do hope you have a
watertight garage up there John!
Have any of you seen the ceramic poppy
display at the Tower of London? Margaret
and I went and it was heaving with folks
from all over the country, what a brilliant
idea. We managed to buy one which was
lucky as only 247 were left from 888,000
sold. Great cause and congratulations to the
person who put the idea forward.
Dave Wheeler's little racer at rest in France
5
Renault 4 Registrar
A
t Renospeed Hilary’s R4 Gordini is
just about to have a freshly rebuilt
R5G lump fitted, this is mated to a
4 speed R4 GTL gearbox. I will be making
up a custom exhaust system using the
original cast iron manifolds and two bran
“out pipes” as a starting point. There is
also an R5G Turbo radiator to fit and some
re-jigging of throttle and other cables to
improve their operations. Hopefully the car
will be finished before Christmas.
The R12 estate is going well, after my previous article when I explained that I had
fitted an R18 2.0 litre ignition module, I
noticed that my engine was pinking at
light throttle on steep hills, obviously the
advance was not right after all, and as the
ambient temperature was cooler than
when I first fitted the module I did not
notice this fault straight away. My request
for parts in the last report was met with
universal silence! So I decided to have
another look at my original module. After I
changed the coil on it, the second coil
seemed to be making a high tension cracking noise, so that was when I changed the
whole lot for the R18 one. After a re-think
it came to me that I had replaced one
dodgy ignition coil with a second hand one
that was also faulty! (I had that problem
on my Metropolitan! I changed the coil,
sold it to Françoise from Perpignan and he
set off from Uckfield in the snow. Got half
way down the M20 towards Dover and
the ..... thing packed up. When we got to
him he was sitting in the snow shivering
but at least he had his fluorescent jacket
on. Changed the coil for a really old one
and off he went). Back to Derek ... I took
the coil from the R18 module and fitted it
to my original module and the problem
was solved. After a bit of research I discovered that the coils are often the weak 6
info@renospeed.co.uk
link in the Renix system and I have managed to buy a new coil to keep in reserve if
it is needed. Other than the regular oil and
filter changes everything else is going fine,
mileage to date just past 40,000.
At home I have been making good progress with the orange R12 saloon that I
have owned for at least fifteen years.
Some of you may remember seeing it at
the Bromley Pageant a few years ago? If
not there are some pictures on my website. The car has undergone several transformations, the last being turbo charged,
but I have not been happy with this conversion as it has cracked two cylinder
heads for no apparent reason. I have finally got around to the initial fitting of a
2.0 litre Douvrin engine, this all aluminium
lump will be modified to give approximately 200 B.H.P. with twin 45 DCOEs and
a programmable ignition system amongst
some of the goodies. I am not going into
all the details, but at present I am fabricating the engine mountings. The car already has a Fuego derived 5 speed gearbox, but I will be fitting an R18 2.0 litre
GTX transmission with the bell housing
from an R25 as this seems to have the
tallest gearing of the lot. The engine sits at
a slant and is substantially bigger than the
R12 was designed to take, but where there
is a will, there is a way. The photos will
explain some of the work which is all in the
mock up stage at present.
I used 4mm plywood templates and they
were translated into the same thickness
steel plate and welded together as required. I then used a standard R12 engine
mount, plus a third custom mount on the
front on the side the engine leans to.
Yuletide greetings to you all!
Derek Flavell
07816 586642
7
Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year
from:
South African Built R8 Gordini 1135
T
his year's Competition Diary is now
finally closed after culminating in my
last event of the year, the FDMC
Sprint Royale held at the excellent Eelmore
Driver Centre near Aldershot on the 5th
October.
This year was celebrated as the 50th Anniversary of the R8 Gordini and FDMC had
arranged for a special class for the R8G
and Alpine A110s to celebrate. Shame it
clashed with the Loheac weekend, which
resulted in some change of plans by club
members intent on going there.
The start line queue with Tony G at the
front, Pat in the middle and me in No 70.
The day promised lots of runs but as always matters got out of hand and we had
some delays mainly due to a large oil spillage which resulted in a lengthy cement
application by the marshals and then followed by a drivers walking meeting on the
course so that everyone was aware where
this had occurred.
As an observation it seems that lately
Dinalpins are appearing at speed events
and this time we enjoyed seeing Tony G.
debuting the new to the UK A110 look
alike, in blue built by Pepe in Spain, a
pretty little car in the flesh, Andy Owler
joined Tony, with his pleasing on the eye,
yellow Dinalpin. Lastly the lightweight
A110 was pedalled by Bob Gibson, we all
know this car and its drivers capabilities.
We also had 3 R8 Gords in the class, Pat’s
1134 ex Goodwood car, Nigel’s well campaigned 1134 and my current 1135.
The final class results for the Renaults:
Bob Gibson
Dave Wheeler
Pat Bridger
Tony Gomis
Nigel Patten
Andy Owler
Liz Owler
The weather was kind to us again as indeed it was at last year's event which was
also run in the opposite direction for the
seasoned competitors. This is the norm,
but for some reason I prefer last year's
anti-clockwise course.
I was joined on the road by Dave Evans
who had entered in his Caterham SE
2.0ltr, the motorway journey was a cold
one in the early hours even in the R8 with
the heater on but Dave had to stop at
Reading Services to thaw out his deep frozen face and other bits of his anatomy.
With hot coffee being taken, we then ventured out again and topped up our fuel
tanks before rejoining the M4 again as the
dawn sun came out heralding in a lovely
day.
56.45
1.00.16
1.01.89
1.05.26
1.05.89
1.07.39
1.13.39
Dave Evans did a 58.39 in his class.
Castle Combe - Rally Day
Nigel had organised his familiar and usual
club stand for this RCCC annual fixture and
this year the club had a very good turnout
of R8 Gordinis to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 8G version. Stuart Levee
drove all the way from Newcastle in his ex
Seaton/Pidgeon 1135. Pat Bridger brought
his ex Goodwood race prepared 1134 and
Nigel campaigned his faithful 1134. I was
in my own 1135 having driven from Cardiff.
12
8
Wheelers Wonderful Wintry Workshop
We were also joined by Trevor Davies in
his immaculate R5 Turbo 2 and Graham in
his R12G both these cars and drivers are
regular attendees of this event.
viewed from above. This is how the original old saggy mounts were installed on my
car, there appears to be little reference to
the correct way of installing these in the
car manuals which I have from the Haines
to the 1135 Renault publications. Most of
us now have replacement mountings obtained from the numerous French suppliers, which are faithful reproductions of the
original production items - or are they?
While the action was ongoing I had the
rare opportunity to examine all the R8
Gord engines on display with a view to
comparing each installation in order to
understand the engine mounting orientation and hence work out the correct installation, as I had some doubts with the correctness of my own engine installation.
Going back to the line of Gords displaying
their engines, I noted that the installation
varied between cars which resulted in the
pitch of the engine being very different by
comparison, why does this happen?
The engine mountings can easily be installed upside down resulting in a raised
timing cover end of the engine which exaggerates the engine stance pitching towards the fuel tank. The telltale sign for
this is also the fan blades clearance from
the radiator shroud top which naturally
reduces if the engine is installed higher at
the pump end, with the lower fan to
shroud clearance become proportionately
greater.
Trevor's R5 T2, Pat's 1134 & my 1135.
Note the 50th. anniversary balloons!
If you are aware of the scallop notch to
show the mounting top then naturally
that’s how you install them, but when you
compare the new suppliers mount to the
old factory mounts, it is my opinion that
they have been made incorrectly.
It was obvious to our collective keen eyes
that some engines were sloping forward
more that others, which prompted some
delving of heads under each Gord engine
lid to spot the differences in the mountings, which is not so easy to do as the additional Gord bits get in the way. We went
away puzzled and slightly wiser so I decided to investigate why there is such a
discourse between engine installations.
In the workshop
After digesting the various R8 engine installations I saw at Rally Day, firstly I recall that the standard factory mounts for
R8/R10/Caravelle etc. are fixed into the
chassis cup with the notched depression
on the metal brackets being visible when
9
If you examine the actual mountings and I
have penned a sketch showing the std factory fitted unit [No 1], you will see that
the lower bump stop part is closer to the
main mount rubber body than the upper
bump stop, that is with the scalloped
marker at the top as well. The common
after sales mounts from the likes of Ichard, Der Franzoze, Melun, Mecaparts etc
all show their scalloped indicator to be the
wrong way up, which results in an incorrect installation as sketch No 2 shows. This
raises the rear of the engine adding to the
pitch angle I mentioned earlier.
Wheeler's Workshop
10
12
Dave Wheeler
Pen points to original mounting scallop
indent with big bump stop uppermost and
nearest to it.
Left side - R8 cross member with original
LH mounting (scallop at the top). Right
side - Dauphine cross member with original left hand mounting (lower rubber stop
is missing).
ther, but pointing off roughly towards the
rear parcel shelf area. The closer fan to
shroud clearance seems not to be an issue, also as RCCC member Steve Cole
demonstrated a few weeks ago when be
brought his lovely R10 to Cardiff so I could
evaluate the gearbox for him, I noticed
that his new, Der Franzoze, engine
mounts were also installed upside down
resulting in an obvious exaggerated engine
pitch installation. The solution to all the
above is to simply install your mountings
with the shortest bump stop part downward facing and ignore the scallop indicator, all should then be OK.
This is a new "upside down" typical of all
the French suppliers. Note that the scallop
is upside down - i.e.: opposite from the
bigger bump stop.
What is the effect on the car? Little that
you can notice really, but what it does is
make the dampers not operating vertically
in their stroke, ditto the rear springs and
also the gearbox remote control angle of
attack changes as well. Some would say
this has an effect on the car's handling as
a slight toe in effect is created due to the
swing axles not articulating vertically ei-
11
As an aside the Dauphine uses the same
flexible rubber mounting design except for
the cross member attachment steel
bracket shape but to illustrate the upper
and lower bump stops relationship within
the chassis cup I have shown this as well
in sketch No3. These match the orientation
of the factory mounts as fitted in production. The above named suppliers do make
these Dauphine items to the correct design, by the way. It's also possible to note
from the following photographs that the
old tired mounting types have sagged in
the same direction—i.e. downwards.
Wheeler's Workshop
negates using these. Mecaparts stocks a 70
shores hardness engine mounting set but I
don’t know what the Gp 2 kit hardness was in
period in order to compare same. 70 shores
is, however, widely agreed to be comparable
to car tyre rubber hardness.
My current after sales engine mountings are
now installed the correct way around, in doing so I noticed that the top, taller, bump
stop back face of the rubber moulding has
the letters ALTO which translates to TOP in
English, I had just not noticed it before.
R8 original tired and sagging mounting on left
- ditto Dauphine on right. Larger bump stops
on top.
Competition braking issues
It's too late now to know why M. Gregoire
decided to design such a primitive rubber
block system to hold the engine/transaxle
ensemble in the rear engine location of the
Dauphine and the R8, as with aged, sagging,
cracked and peeling rubber blocks this contributes to making the rear steering effect
even more pronounced.
While the R8 in its lightweight competition
guise is providing better results by reduced
times measured in direct comparison with my
closest class competitors, the lighter car,
15.5 stones removed, is causing me some
further concern in the braking department. I
have even more trouble slowing the vehicle
sufficiently without easily locking up the
fronts. After changing the pads, discs, hubs,
callipers and removing the new servo, it
dawned upon me that the fronts are doing all
the work, while the standard rears are just
providing an effective handbrake.
Steve Cole also brought along the unique
new Mecaparts design for the gearbox side
mount system to replace the usual familiar
bonded side blocks design. My observations
are that they are well made, and appear to
have two jumbo sized rectangular rubber
blocks, like the gear change ones, in each
side giving four independent mounts in total.
They have been cunningly designed to be
20mm lower in overall depth measured from
the upper right angle bracket holes, to where
the inner plates fit onto the two uppermost
gearbox studs. This means there is no
stretching of the rubber when fitting the new
system unlike the standard design mountings
which can start peeling apart over night almost. I currently use the homologated Group
Two all steel Girdle kit on my R8, it makes
every thing very noisy but locates the whole
axle better and the rubber blocks are now
acting as spacers but they won't peel apart.
The other part of the Gp2 kit was, and is
now, the impossible to find harder rubber
version of gearbox side mountings and also
the engine mountings.
Today I only have the hard ex John Price
A110 hard side mounts still surviving which I
bought from John in 1981, but the Girdle kit
My previous R8 had the GP4 Alpine A110 big
brakes set up on all 4 corners, R16 front
48mm callipers and 12mm discs, the rears
were Matra Simca Bagheera 45mm dia with
integral handbrake mechanism, with 12mm
R16 discs. A brake bias valve was retained on
the rear cross member, but it was adjustable.
My current set up is Golf Mk2 ATE 48mm
fronts with 20mm vented discs with standard
32mm R8 rears & 8mm discs without a rear
bias valve. To resolve the matter I concluded
that I needed to enlarge the standard rear
callipers from 32mm to at last +38mm. It
would have been easy just to fit the old front
R8 38mm callipers to the rear axle but they
have no handbrake mechanism. The 38mm
Mecca parts big brake version is too expensive, so it's back to the drawing board.
12
The internet is a wonderful thing especially
with sites such as Bigg Red who overhaul
callipers and sell pistons, seal sets, slider sets
etc. They provide vehicle technical informa-
Dave Wheeler
tion so wading through the mire of info can
reveal, say, a big bore rear calliper with integral handbrake mechanism.
I have a pair of Citroen BX Bendix Mk4 front,
mineral oil sealed, callipers which have the
necessary handbrake parts as well. These
have a whopping 50mm piston size which
Steve Swan successfully uses on his R8G rear
axle, but mine are for 12mm discs and will
need to be valved down to stop premature
rear locking up. I also have a pair of MK 2
Laguna alloy rears, with 38mm pistons and a
good handbrake system, these use a narrow
10mm disc but after a dummy assembly the
13”Cosmics rims rub a little so I have cast
my net again. The Peugeot 205GTi has a
front 48mm calliper bore with the 20mm
vented disc version which means that the
cast iron yoke is 10mm wider than its plain
disc 205 sibling and is held together with
strange 5 sided headed bolts. A special
Draper socket is required to disassemble and
swap over the parts. So my next rear axle
dummy set up to try is to the spare 20mm
Vauxhall vented discs on R8 Hubs with R10
Dummy set up of 48mm Bendix calliper on
R8 front hub with 20mm vented disc.
swing axle tubes and the Citroen BX big
50mm calliper fitted with hydraulic oil compatible seals and the 205 GTi wider cast iron
yoke, but this fouls the rearward shockers
and brackets. It will require a one off bracket
to be welded to the bearing housing part of
the single damper tube to bolt the calliper to,
allowing the big calliper to be positioned as
its original R8 one, making the hose and cable connections a lot simpler. A bias valve
within the car providing adjustment will compliment the set up which in theory should
address the imbalance between the calliper
sizes being used currently, we shall see.
Citroen/Peugeot Bendix 38mm front calliper.
Citroen/Peugeot special pentagon socket and
5 sided, pentagon, calliper bolt.
13
Why go to all this trouble to change the calliper manufacture/design apart from the piston
increases? Taking the 48mm R16 type for
example, they are secured by a pair of metal
wedges into the rigidly mounted carrier, fine
for the fronts where the double taper roller
wheel bearings can be adjusted to avoid any
disc play, but at the R8 rear axle it’s a different matter with floating of the hub in its
single ball bearing race which in fast cornering can push the calliper piston into its bore
sufficiently to give a soft long pedal next time
the brakes are applied - not a nice feeling in
competition. Its called Pad Knock off. The
Bendix design has 2 generous rubber bushed
hollow slider pins with stout mounting bolts
inside which give some degree of flexibility in
absorbing this disc run out well that's the
theory anyway, we shall see. The R8 std
Lockheed calliper set up is, fully floating, remember the little rubber tubes in the clamps?
This is designed so they can move in sympathy with any disc movement.
Renault 10 Restoration
Nice to be able to rescue an 1192 from
the grave, it's got potential, and if I do
the work properly it could end up looking really nice.
I
used to own R8s back in the
1970's. Recently I came across a
1971 R10 1300, having covered only
13,000 miles, still with the plastic on the
door panels!
I spent a lot of time on ebay.fr but I
missed a pair of rear inners, but managed to get a right rear inner from vintage French cars in Greece, and a pair of
rear outers from Eric Masmondet, plus a
rear panel.
At least the interior was mint, but as
always, rust had taken a hold. There
was a fair bit of corrosion to the rear
inner wings, (and outers) but I've got
outer replacements ready for when the
time comes. Not bad so far, but underneath there was some too, on a cross
member near to the near-side jacking
point, but as far as I could tell, that was
it so far.
I'm sure when I was searching Ebay, I
came across a set of lateral under body
cross members.... I may have been mistaken as it was a while ago and I've
never been able to find them again. As
you can see, the underside doesn't look
the best but I'm hoping it can all be
fixed. The brakes will need a bit of work,
but I can manage that ok... The bodywork issues were the immediate challenge.
The brakes were unserviceable and I
needed replacement hoses, callipers etc.
In the meantime, there's a picture of
one of my original 1964 R8s, which was
one without an ignition key and strange
fabric seats. I guess it has long since
rusted away, this was 1973 after all!
Just wanted to post a few pictures at the
start of the project. The interior is mint,
and gives me a very nice feeling when I
14
Steve Cole
My original R8
pers looked immaculate, but trying to
get the bleed nipples to turn resulted in
two of them shearing off. Otherwise the
brakes seem in good condition, and If I
can fit new bleed nipples all round, I'll
be sorted.
sit inside (like new!).
On Tuesday,
March 11th, the car was transported to
Barkstons for refinishing! and as the
days went by, I was acquiring some nice
bits ..... for instance new headlights. But
to start here's the interior: (Pictures on
this page). The colour is 686 Gris Metal.
The original reg was EIA3638, and I've
applied for a Mainland GB age related
plate (K reg).
Of course, the underside, is not quite so
nice! I had to search for a cross member (rear of the central pair), and a NS
inner rear wing. Eventually I had just
about everything else I needed. The replacement NOS outer wings and rear
panel went to Envirostrip in Tamworth
for stripping and priming.
The brakes were not so easy. The calli-
15
Renault 10 Restoration
All the brightwork (bumpers etc) had
already been re-chromed and the pieces
looked superb. It was at Barkstons for
several weeks, as there was quite a bit
to do, which took it to end of June or
so. Tuesday 11th of March saw the
transfer from Walsall to Barkston's
beautiful new premises in Grantham.
Meanwhile inside the car, work was now
complete on stripping out: all the glass
out, all the rubber seals etc, and then
the headlining was delicately removed. New ones are available at
250EUR! but the original came out undamaged even though parts of it were
glued.
The search for inner wings and sills continued! The interior fittings were removed and also the inner front right
wing in preparation for replacement.
Great progress was made on the front
inner wings. The RH front was now
complete using a replacement (Upper
Section) inner wing, and work had now
started on the LH. Unfortunately no
spare was available, so Andy had to
improvise.
(Perhaps I ought to visit the forum
more! I have sills, headlamps and lots
of other bits I shall probably never need
sitting in my attic! Ed)
The radiator panel needed removal so I
set about draining the coolant by means
of the usefully provided drain point on
the bottom of the rad. The nut was on
so tight that I succeeded in removing
the nut complete with the brass fitting..
Oops. Now the rad panel was stripped,
16
Steve Cole
and the rad itself went off to a local firm
for a refurb.
with a slight twist in them so that they
don't foul the disc casing when turning
corners.
Access to the fuel tank sender unit had
me going .... it was buried underneath
the bituminised sound deadening. Cutting through around the edge of the
barely visible hatch was enough to allow
it to lift away ..... et voila! This then
allowed removal of the front to rear wiring loom complete to keep it clear of
any adjacent welding work.
With the front right inner complete, attention now turned to the rear right inner, as I had yet to acquire left side
inner panels. Also, there was the looming problem of the fuel tank. The car
had stood for many years with old fuel
which had evaporated much of its contents leaving evil residues to clog up the
whole system. At the bottom of the fuel
tank there is an almost-impossible-toget at gauze filter and the inner surface
needed a thorough clean up too. For
fuel tank removal, the engine (at least)
needs to come out, and as the rear
right wing needed replacement, that
meant that the whole trans-axle assem-
As previously mentioned, two of the
bleed nipples had sheared from the callipers, so all were removed and transferred to Past Parts of Bury St Edmunds
for complete refurbishment. When they
returned they were replaced along with
new pads / rubbers / split pins and
hoses. The front hoses have to be fitted
17
Renault 10 Restoration
bly had to come out anyway. So the
whole lot came out, and it was amazing
how simple that was. As I hadn't done
it before, Tony Topliss supervised operations, and the job took just over two
hours, with David lending a much
needed hand. It's a case of diss'ing the
cables (speedo/clutch/accelerator/wiring
etc underneath). With the radiator
panel/rear body panel out of the way,
and the rear of the engine frame assembly supported on a mobile trolley, undo
the four engine mounts and the rear
cross member main bolts. This allowed
the car body to be lifted out of the way,
leaving the motor/gearbox assembly to
be wheeled rear-wards and out of the
way. Now access to the fuel tank was
straightforward, and removal and refurb
could begin, whilst Andy could begin on
the right rear quarters. The lower C pillar was pretty rough as well, so I had to
procure some much needed parts.
Thankfully, Richard Allen had put me in
touch with Wim Boer over in Sledrecht
in The Netherlands, who incredibly managed to find all the parts needed to
complete the body restoration, causing
lots of happiness to myself and Barkstons!
On Saturday April 12 I had a day trip to
Holland to visit Wim and get the parts,
plus a R16 bonnet for John Pigeon! This
meant we now had front left inner
square-eye wing, rear left inner R10
wing, rear underside cross member
(jacking point to jacking point) and a full
right hand sill complete. The way was
clear for Andy to sort the right inner
12
18
Steve Cole
was looking reasonable. Using a mirror
and a torch we could see the internal
gauze filter which was just visible and
looked clear (not a clever place to put
this) and but the tank should be OK.
wing and the picture shows the new inner in position ready for welding. The
right chassis rail also received attention
at the joint of the front cross member,
and the replacement right sill came in
useful for dealing with the titanic corrosion of the lower C post.
There is also a fuel filter on the Solex
32DITA3 itself, but these filters aren't
enough to stop the build-up of crud in
the float chamber, so the carb came in
for a bit of a clean up too. What's nice
is that I had an unused carb as a spare
should I need it .... and I did, as the
main coolant bleed point on the carb
was seized solid. I noticed that in the re
-furb kit, the accelerator pump diaphragm doesn't have a spring like the
original, but as the original was in good
nick I put it back in. I fitted an 'in-line'
filter just to be on the safe side.
With the engine out, everything can be
accessed very easily, so first of all the
fuel tank was given a wash out. Nasty
crud inside here, and the sender unit
was looking very much the worse for
wear, and in spite of some attention,
still appears a little intermittent. I may
have to dis-assemble, or try and find a
ne w one . . . ( ne w one pre fe rable) Anyway, a few handfuls of gravel,
and a suitable cleanser with a lot of agitation and a few rinses, and the inside
19
Renault 10 Restoration
(I do remember back in the 70's having
to unblock the slow running jet every
now and again on my R8s).
Every unrepairable part was now in line
for replacement with NOS originals (all
procured) and as of 13th May, newly
painted (Renault colour 686) panels
were starting to appear. The right hand
side sill was replaced in its entirety with
a NOS original and the rest of the inner
sections were complete, it wasn't long
before the outers were refitted.
The last of the outer wings (front right)
came back from Envirostrip at Tamworth, and they always look like new, I
must say I've been really happy with
them too. Then it was time to be thinking of cleaning up the engine/gearbox
whilst it was all easy to get at.
Work continued and progress was
steady and incredibly thorough. Every
last bit of rust was forever banished and
(as far as the body is concerned) we
were past the half way point. There
were no horrible surprises as more of
the chassis was exposed, far from it, the
structural stuff was surprisingly good.
20
Meanwhile in the shed at home, I had
de-gunged the fuel tank, but was not
totally happy with the result as there
was some rust still lurking in the inner
recesses. Some research suggested that
Phosphoric acid was the answer, so I
got some from ebay, and it really did
the business. The rust had now gone
and this 30% acid (then diluted with 3
parts water) even produced a rust preventive action. It was a great result at
not much cost. A film of paraffin on the
insides protected the surfaces until the
new fuel went in. The sender was difficult to acquire, but Wim dug the deepest deep and came up with probably the
only NOS (boxed) Jaeger late 1192
sender in Holland!. It was a cracking
result, so now the tank was complete
with replacement rubber work, and was
hopefully going to produce a troublefree result. Having said that I still put
an in-line filter in the 6mm rubber feed
between the tank and the
Steve Cole
pump. Pumps are readily available from
franzose.de (and also from your local
Renault dealer!) so I indulged in a new
one, although there was nothing wrong
with the existing one I just wanted to
make it as reliable as I could.
one that's on the car, but compatible I
believe, so I'll see if the existing one
works first. Also in the shed, the headlight surrounds were brasso'd and
looked as good as new, amazing that
they are 43yrs old ..... very satisfying!
Things are so nice in boxes, and (thanks
to Nigel) I also acquired a NOS Solex
32DITA3, still in the Solex box together
with the original documentation 'carte
postale' etc, should there be any problems with the original. I didn't envisage
any problems as I did a franzose refurb
on it and it looked OK, but I do like
original parts in their boxes, and the
(temporary) sight of this brand new carb
on the kitchen table was the best ornament anyone could wish for!
Back at Barkston's work had now
started on the LH side, with parts of the
steering being dismantled in preparation
for fitting a complete NOS front inner. The A post was pretty bad and the
sill also had to be replaced in its entirety
on this side too. I gotta say I'm very
grateful for the way Tony popped along
every now and again to give tremendous support to this project and expert
advice, together with the necessary
tools needed to deal with the steering/
suspension component disassembly,
With the fuel tank out of the way, shedwork started on the rad panel, and
shroud.
There were some small
amounts of surface rust, but easily dealt
with and de-rusted, primed and painted.
The radiator came back from the radrebuilders and is as new (probably better than), perfect inside, because I didn't want any cooling issues, though I
had a spare water pump standing by if
there was any trouble. I hadn't come to
a decision on the thermostat yet but I
have a replacement QH one (QTH114)
although it looks a lot different to the
21
Renault 10 Restoration
even bringing spares which might be
needed if there were problems. Fantastic
support.
off and the telescopic dampers were out.
An inspection on the OS spring support
mounting and lower damper joint showed
loads of rusty looking crud, which all
scraped off and cleaned up to reveal these
parts to be serviceable. BUT... the NS was
a very different story. Poking around and
a clean up showed titanic corrosion, with
an unserviceable 'U' section for the
damper bolt, and worse, the support
structure for the road spring was wafer
thin, and would have almost certainly
have failed in use. So, as it turned out,
what an excellent idea it was to replace
the dampers and discover this lurking horror. The 'U' section which holds the lower
damper bolt could be broken off by hand
it was so thin. This is quite a rust trap as
there is a drain hole in the road spring
support which was blocked by a load of
crud. Water is fine if it can drain off, but
with a build up of crud, drainage becomes
a problem, and slow rusting is possible.
Strangely, the OS one was perfect, ...
maybe its the 'crud in the road gutter'
effect. Anyway, a disassembly of the
wheel fittings was now needed, to gain
access to the countersunk screw on the
inside of the top of the drive shaft
tube .... and the realisation dawned that a
complete replacement tube was needed
complete with the road spring support,
which is basically welded on to the tube. A
phone call to Nigel later, and I picked one
up the following Sunday!
Looking down the end of the tunnel, I
could see something glimmering! Andy
placed the last of the inner wings (rear
NS) in position ... A great day, and with
the rear rad panel mounted (lined up perfectly) it all seemed like a great leap ......
mm well .. Not quite....
On the other side of the workshop a disaster was brewing. I had acquired a new
pair of Al-Ko rear dampers off eBay for
£21 a pair (!) ..... the intention being for
'shelf spares'..... BUT ... as the motor unit
was out, it seemed sensible to swap them
out. It is such an easy job with the unit
out, and Tony came along with the vital
tools ... i.e. the pukka spring compressors. Incredibly, all the nuts unscrewed
OK, and in a few minutes the springs were
22
Steve Cole
the 'retro-look' ... but he has done a carefully crafted job, shiny but not too shiny,
smooth with a hint of retro 'orange-peel',
together with a flawless finish so by now I
was totally sold on it. Also, the old paint is
not a patch on the modern stuff, and
that's such a benefit too. Long lasting,
robust, and the 686 colour suits the 10
real nice. By this time I was beginning to
think about aerial, radio, and speakers the
end must be in sight!
June 2nd: having picked up the replacement LH axle tube, it was then time to
fit. This went smoothly, and the spring
support could now do its job. The cross
member support that the springs fit in to
was given some attention and the upper
spring fittings were removed complete
with the rubber mounts which cushion the
action of the spring against the cross
member. The bare cross member (and the
rear road springs) were then taken up to
JB Blasting at Foston for specialist cleaning. On the car the last of the NOS body
parts was welded in and the welding work
was complete.
The next phase, after
thoroughly sealing all the seamed joints,
was to rub down, and prepare for
paint. Meantime I was in delivery of another couple of parcels. One was an eBay
purchase, a couple of original boxed headlight surrounds new and mint, at 150 Euros the pair! .... some things are too hard
to resist! The other was the Franzose
1192 clutch kit. It was noticed that having
fitted the new Franzose rear engine
mounts (Art-No:81320), that the (4) holes
did not line up with the engine support
cross member which connects onto the
two mounts, the total error being 10mm,
and totally unacceptable. So today I had
a useful conversation with Ansgar Biemann, and he is looking in to it. I could
drift the holes laterally 5mm each, but
shouldn't really have to do it. Other purchases were some Comma Heritage 20/50
engine oil in a gallon tin can, and Miller
gearbox oil 80EP.
Meanwhile, the five road wheels complete
with Michelin 135-15ZX's, were in need of
a refurb, so (following RCCC recommendations) I took them down the road from
Grantham to 'Wheel-Genie' in Huntingdon.
That was a good move too .... very knowledgeable, so an order was placed for full
refurb, powder primer and 'Old German'
silver satin finish on top. The spare had
been flat, and it was noticed that this was
a tube-less tyre, whereas the 4 road ones
were all tubed. I acquired a replacement
Michelin tube in readiness for any problems (from ECAS).
I also acquired a Fulmen battery (FB-450)
off Amazon, and a replacement clutch for
the 1192 (170mm 20 teeth)(Franzose) ....
again intended as a shelf spare, but common-sense suggested that I should fit that
too!
From the pics you can see the beautiful
job that Paul was making of the paintwork. It took me quite a while to be convinced that the modern paints could give
23
Renault 10 Restoration
Eventually I picked up the newly shot
blasted main rear cross member and rear
springs, then they were painted, so that
they were ready to re-assemble. A bit fiddly and I should imagine impossible without
the
right
spring
compressor
tools. The springs looked nice in their
gloss black, and the new AL-KO dampers
and replacement front mounts were fitted
too. The mounts fail all too easily I've
heard and one of the those removed from
the car actually had a small pair of nuts
and bolts added in an attempt to hold the
mount together! With the trans-axle out
of the car, the fitting of the mounts is very
straightforward (i.e. the holes line up OK)
whereas I understand if this was done 'on
the car' the mounts have to be squeezed
into place using long bolts first, then
swapping to the normal size. Very pleased
that this area has been given the 'full-
treatment' because now I have the full
confidence that all is well with this heavy
duty part of the car. What a difference
from what it looked before, now all is
gleaming and solid. Pity most of it is hidden from normal view!
June 16: Chassis black & roof day. Lovely
stuff is chassis black .... creamy, oily,
goes on nice, even smells nice with an
'anti-rust' smell, quite a pleasure to paint
on the cleaned up chassis parts. Meanwhile, up above, roof work starts and the
paint which seemed to be original plus a
layer of cellulose, was proving rather
stubborn, so some serious stripper was
used. In a short while the messy business
was over and the remnants of the old
paint layers could finally be removed,
showing the shiny surface underneath. A
couple of minor dents had to be filled but
apart from that the roof was in good nick.
A lot happened in the next week: A new
clutch (from franzose): I was advised that
since the motor unit was out of the car it
was sensible to fit the new clutch, that
sort of logic I couldn't argue with! One
reluctant (lower) bolt needed heat applying to the ally casting to release it, but it
then came out OK, otherwise (although all
a bit fiddly) the new clutch went in and
the engine mated back up with the gearbox. Re-centering proved a bit of a problem. I had invested in a Draper universal
24 clutch re-centering tool, which proved to
Steve Cole
end. I also fitted the replacement flexibles
on the rear, together with copper washer
against the ally calliper.
The car was now ready for a trip to the
paint shop for the two stage priming process, and the colour (Renault 686) appeared on the body. The whole body was
primed, and where the less vital parts are
(e.g. the boot floor which is covered by a
mat) then a 1st stage prime was all that
was needed to then accept the top coat
colour, which is one base coat (2pk) then
two layers of protective top coats. But the
critical areas of the car body, which do
show were given a further second stage
'filler' prime (cream colour) which filled
any minute irregularities, which were then
sanded out. Then it was time for the colour to go on!
be not so universal! All 3 of the attachments supplied in this device were too fat
to go into the 10's engine shaft narrow
inner. In the end a long bolt padded out
with layers of PVC tape did the necessary ..... not the way I like to do things
but it worked.
Next came the refit of the reconditioned
original parts (brake callipers) complete
with Renault 10 1.3 EBC OE spec rear
brake pads DP118, from click4carparts.
Basically very good and reasonable price
too, but there were 3 of one and 1 of the
other in the one pack, but when I spoke to
very helpful Graham about it, he acted
straightaway in sending out a replacement
pack. In the pack there should be 2 LH
and 2 RH pads, the 4 rubber 'buffers', 4
split pins, and a useful and vital sachet of
copper grease. In the past I have found
that fitting the rubber buffers was a bit of
a faff because I was fitting them dry, applying a very thin smear of copper grease
means that they will squeeze into the
proper resting place in the calliper and in
no way foul the edge of the rotating disc.
I also had to smooth the edges of the
housing slot (sides) so that the pad
moved smoothly but without play in its
proper location, again with a little smear
of the supplied copper grease just on the
sides of the pads, so now they are nicely
in and it all looks very nice. Must say I like
these EBC pads, and its great to get a
new box of stuff with Renault 10 on the
25
Models
4CV
Jolie
H
David Austin
i Fred - Writing to you about a Renault Jolie that we recently purchased. Wondering, do you happen to do restorations of these vehicles, or know anyone who would?
We're located in Los Angeles, but I don't imagine location will be our primary concern.
Thank you!
Jessica
(Referred her to the club's restoration department in LA).
26
Renault 16
50th Anniversary UK Tour
Y
es! An event for R16 owners. (See editorial)! A special event is being arranged
to celebrate this milestone for the Renault 16. All Renault 16 owners are invited to participate in a two day tour based on a three night stay in Skipton,
Yorkshire. The accommodation is at the Hotel Rendezvous which has a restaurant
overlooking the canal. It also boasts a fitness centre and swimming pool which are
both free to guests.
Accommodation:
The total price for three nights, based on arrival on Friday the 14th August.
Standard double, twin or studio £131.25 per person.
Room with canal view £292.50 per person.
Superior double room £322.50 per person.
Breakfast is £9 each per day and the evening meal is also extra.
(You may wish to stay elsewhere and join us during the day.)
Itinerary:
Arrive Friday afternoon - evening meal 7pm.
Saturday depart Skipton 9am arrive Malham Cove 9.30am. (14 miles 30 minutes).
Short walk to this amphitheatre cove where you can explore the unusual features of
the limestone pavement on the top. Or, you may like to see the spectacular Goredale Scar gorge at 1.5 miles from Malham. Lunch back in Malham. Depart Malham at
12 noon arrive at the Fred Dibnah heritage centre Bolton 1.30pm. (49 miles 1 hr 25
minutes.) Here we start a guided tour at 2pm of what was Fred Dibnah’s home in
Radcliffe Road Bolton, which was televised, showing all the buildings, workshops,
machinery and traction engines. We are also entertained by Alf Molineux telling us of
Fred’s escapades and experiences which he shared with him. Entry fee is £12 and
includes refreshments. Depart Bolton 4.30pm to arrive back at Skipton 6pm. (47
miles 1 hr 15 minutes).
Evening meal 7pm.
Sunday depart Skipton 9am arrive Castle Bolton 10.15am. (32 miles 1 hr 10 minutes) Visit castle entry fee £8.50 concessions £7. A spectacular castle set in Wenslydale featuring owl displays and archery. Depart castle 12 noon arrive in Reeth
12.15. (6.5 miles 15 minutes) Lunch stop and show cars on Reeth green, an absolutely glorious spot. Depart Reeth 1.30pm arrive Tan Hill pub 2pm. (11.5 miles 25
minutes) Short stop for views. Depart Tan hill 2.30pm arrive at Buttertubs 2.50pm.
(9 miles 20 minutes) Look at Buttertubs. Essentially 60 to 100 foot deep shafts that
rainwater has carved out over a very long time. Depart Buttertubs 3.20pm arrive
Hawes 3.30pm. (3 miles 10 minutes) Walk around Hawes and afternoon cuppa. Here
you can visit the Wenslydale cheese factory, a Dales museum, nice shops. Depart
Hawes 4.45pm and arrive back at Skipton 6pm. (31 miles 1 hr 5 minutes.) This
drive includes some of the very best scenery you will ever see in Yorkshire, it is
stunning.
Evening meal 7pm.
Depart for home Monday morning.
Contact Gary Creighton: 01507 327784 or email: ggcton@gmail.com
27
My Home Restoration
O
Keith Glover
ver the years I have had many classic cars,
from a MK11 Jag to a Triumph GT6.
With retirement my thoughts turned to having
another after a few years' break. My thoughts
turned back to the 60’s and my mate's Dauphine
as something a bit different that was a challenge.
During my search, I came across a Renault
Caravelle SGT 5F for sale. Not a Dauphine but very
different.
The car had been completely stripped and most of
the welding done but not all done correctly, so I
started my restoration. I was determined to do all
of it myself and to sort out any problems. I managed to find a home for all the boxes of parts.
During the restoration, with the help of the club,
Robin and Fred I made the discovery that the engine I had with the car was a Renault 5 (810-05)
and it did not mate with the gear box due to the
clutch assembly.
Again with the club help I managed to track down
a Caravelle engine near my place of Birth, Wellington Somerset. The engine was frozen, but all I
needed was the fly wheel to swap over to the
Renault 5 engine, so the pressure plate would fit,
again, from the net all new and boxed.
After assembly the Renault 5 engine mated perfectly to the gearbox and I had a working clutch.
I also sprayed the car myself, something which will
need to be done more professionally in the future.
I Have also reupholstered the interior (My former
profession)
The car is now MOT’d and on the road and I look
forward to many miles driving after fitting a new
fuel pump. (Note: Fuel pumps are available from
your local Renault dealer. I ordered one and it
arrived two days later. Apparently it is the same as
the one on the R4 but you have to block off one of
the outlets).
28
When it was new
C
........
Renault 16 Event
AR Sandouville are planning a 3 day event to celebrate 50 years
of the Renault 16 on 26/27/28th June 2015.
We already have a number of club members who have indicated a wish
to attend and I have been in touch with CAR and they will supply full
information when available.
It has been suggested that as we are that side of the channel we tack
on two or three nights in Bruges either before or after.
To express an interest and be notified as information comes in, please
ring me on 01507327784 or email ggcton@gmail.com. It will be possible to attend the event only or the event + Bruges.
29
Renault 12 Restoration - Now For Sale
W
ell, the R12 is virtually there
(in fact it has been for a couple
of months) after a somewhat
protracted restoration...
Unfortunately, I am very sad to report
that due to increasing financial woes I
am looking to sell the car (now all the
hard work has been done!). I am hoping
for around £2000 and, as you can see
from the pictures, it is looking very
smart.
It could really do with a replacement
gearbox to match the current engine but
as it would cost around £300 to have
this fitted I have decided to sell the car
as it is. At the moment there is a grinding noise which I've been told by Lawrence is likely because the transplanted
engine is an earlier one and doesn't fit
the original gearbox.
Other photos from the restoration were
in the October issue of La Renault.
The car was a barn find and had been
off the road for a number of years.
30
John Williams
0788 4315857
It is located in Norwich and can be seen
at the following links.
h t t p s : / / w w w . y o ut u b e . c o m / w a t c h ?
v=AB369mt1j-s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUlbekx9Ac
31