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Renault 6 rescue (Aug 2020 - rehomed)


quicksilver

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Stupid question amnesty...

 

Why does that race have to be removed?

 

Wheel cylinder seized.

Wheel cylinder fixing bolts seized.

Brake adjusters seized.

All inaccessible to anything except open-ended spanner because of proximity to swinging arm.

Therefore backplate needs to come off for proper applicaton of scientifically applied brute force and ignorance.

Backplate will not come off until bearing race removed, etc. etc....

 

Everything on this thing requires at least half a dozen perfectly serviceable and unrelated parts to be removed, usually by destroying them, to access the one defective part that you actually need to replace.

 

Sod it, you know why.

Because FRENCH!

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Oh how Renault never change. A bit like modern Renault's that have the wheel bearing as part of the disc brake on the rears. Not only that, they're special bearings used for the ABS system too. So if your (usually as rears) lightly used discs are pitted, corroded or worn, you can't easily change just the discs. Instead you need expensive ones with fancy, special bearings in.

 

Does make you wonder if they do it on purpose to keep their part manufacturers on business.

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Oh how Renault never change. A bit like modern Renault's that have the wheel bearing as part of the disc brake on the rears. Not only that, they're special bearings used for the ABS system too. So if your (usually as rears) lightly used discs are pitted, corroded or worn, you can't easily change just the discs. Instead you need expensive ones with fancy, special bearings in.

 

Does make you wonder if they do it on purpose to keep their part manufacturers on business.

Those 3 hour lunches don't pay for themselves.

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<random rant>

 

Why do car manufacturers use integral drums and hubs anyway?

I can't believe they are cheaper to make and, apart from needing a puller of some sort to get them off, you risk knackering the wheel bearings just to overhaul the brakes.

Also all the crap you clean out of the brakes gets into the bearing grease and they then wear out prematurely.

And the bearings need readjusting when you refit the drum.

And you need a  torque wrench and a new split pin for the nut and blah, blah, blah...

The one good* thing I have found on the R6 so far is that the front drums (yes drums, not discs, how quaint) are not only seperate from the hub but they have two extra tapped holes in them that you can screw bolts into to force the drum off the linings, which is handy when the adjusters are seized, as I found out.

Great design at the front, so why integral drum/hub on the rear?

Maybe they realised they had accidentally designed the front brakes properly and altered the rears to redress the balance.

 

</random rant>

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THE RACE IS ON OFF!

 

Bearing puller set arrived yesterday as promised.

Tried it today and yay! inner bearing race parts from stub axle with no drama at all.

 

post-22043-0-69380700-1506440009_thumb.jpg

 

Thought I was snookered again as the puller wouldn't fit behind the bearing because the wheel cylinder and brake adjusters stopped it getting close enough to the backplate. Tried clamping it across the tiny flange on the front of the race and gentle winding with a spanner produced the desired effect.

Puller set seems quite well made for a cheapo oriental product and will no doubt be useful again in the future, if only for the other side.

 

In other news, after a determined campaign by numerous several about three members of this illustrious forum, the R6 has now been officially christened Bob.

 

post-22043-0-04771900-1506441539_thumb.jpg

 

Apologies to the "do not paint" contingent, but I really had to do something about the wheels. Even patina has its limits (see definition below). A cursory wire brushing and a nice thick coat of silver Hammerite has made them look less like they were retrieved from a stagnant water-filled ditch.

 

Before and after shot:

 

post-22043-0-65738500-1506442351_thumb.jpg

 

After grovelling in my oddments box I discovered a roll of insulating tape which was the same colour, width and probably age as the yellow stripes on the car, so I have replaced the peeling originals with peeling new ones.

 

Also did trial fitting of lightly-butchered hubcap from a set misappropriated from one of Mr. Six-cylinder's many many Visas (Visae?).

 

post-22043-0-96374800-1506442841_thumb.jpg

 

Any thoughts? Yes? No? Too shiny shiny like? Probably.

 

Note the external handbrake mechanism.

And the thumb in the corner of the photo. No David Bailey me. :-)

 

PATINA: (noun) - The universal excuse for not repainting/repairing/replacing any totally knackered component on the grounds that it will "compromise the originality of the vehicle".

 

More news as it happens (or maybe considerably after).

 

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An envelope arrived this morning. Barry has been sorting Bob's photos and found some not just of the Renault but also the other cars he owned over the years. He seems to have been a Ford man (with a brief diversion into a Morris Minor) before turning to Renault, but then had a Lada and finally a couple of Vauxhalls.

 

36646244264_d55b794145_c.jpg

1960-62 Ford Popular by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

 

Proper winter. The garage on the left is where we found the Renault.

37355192951_97a75a6e11_c.jpg

1960-62 Ford Popular by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

 

37308345986_8e51f3bbec_c.jpg

1965 Ford Cortina by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

 

23503952538_f044b84fc2_c.jpg

Popular and Cortina by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

 

37308347236_10a21614fe_c.jpg

1960 Morris Minor 1000 by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

 

23503953808_9a99623245_c.jpg

1961-64 Ford Anglia estate by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

 

36685784313_9b96bcf241_c.jpg

1973 Renault 12 TL by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

 

23503955258_083a9fd17f_c.jpg

1973 Renault 12 TL by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

 

36685790253_7f22b9d01e_c.jpg

1980 Renault 18 TS by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

 

36685789563_c5450d8581_c.jpg

1988 Lada Riva 1600 SLX by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

 

23503957998_d79f508b78_c.jpg

1972 Renault 6 850 by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

 

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1972 Renault 6 850 by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

 

36685785773_3a98ea3fae_c.jpg

1972 Renault 6 850 by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

 

It now looks pretty much like the last two pictures once more :)

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Great snapshot into the bigger picture of the Renault. The Ford Pop and Moggie Minor still look damn fine to this day. I love the way the Renault still sports the dent in the back door and the same windscreen sticker all these years later. I know it's the polar opposite of what 99.9% of shiters want, but I'd love to see the car back looking resplendent in it's metallic Kermit again...

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I've just noticed the first post in this thread has hit 100 likes - could it be the most liked post in the history of AS?

 

Yes indeed.

Next one is Eddyramrod's American car post with 95 likes at the moment.

I have to confess that I saw it had 99 likes and added my own to make it 100. How vain!

But I'm not sure that it is very sporting to like what is effectively my own project, although quicksilver wrote the original post, so credit for the content goes to him.

Anyway, there were now 101 likes, so I have unliked it again to ease my conscience and keep it at 100.

 

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I don't like the ford pop I'm afraid, like the e type jag the body is too big for the wheelbase.

Hmm, there are plenty of other reasons for not liking***a Ford Pop.  Anyway, main problem with a Pop's wheelbase is that is the same both sides.

 

*** None of which would stop me driving one.

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Next one is Eddyramrod's American car post with 95 likes at the moment.

Which one is that?  Many of my posts feature American cars!  And I'm afraid I don't keep track of the "Likes."

 

Hmm, there are plenty of other reasons for not liking***a Ford Pop.

Not least being that one was our family car from 1969-73 approx, covering my years from 10 to 14 or thereabouts.  For some reason it was always me that had to sit in the back (of a two-door car) which almost certainly explains my rabid aversion to doing so now.  It was cramped, it was cold, it was slow, it was unreliable, and it was only eight years old when we got it!  Please tell me 6279 KB is long gone...

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Which one is that?  Many of my posts feature American cars!  And I'm afraid I don't keep track of the "Likes."

 

Entitled "Co-operation - Interior work at last!"

Posted by eddyramrod on 15 May 2016 - 08:38 PM

 

To view most liked posts in descending order go to the bottom of the homepage and click "Most Liked Content"

 

 The Moderating Team   Today's Top Posters   Overall Top Posters    Most Liked Content

 

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Just checked again on "Most Liked Content".

Great to see that part 1 is still number 1, now with 103 likes, and part 3 is at number 10 with 86 likes.

Seriously overwhelmed by the incredibly positive responses.

Now even more determined to return this rare example of a Gallic oddity to the road, despite FRENCH!

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

UPDATE: FROM FLAWLESS TO FLOOR-LESS

 

One of the reasons I decided to take on Bob as a project was because the bodywork and underside appeared to be in reasonable condition and did not require any welding. I enjoy doing mechanical stuff but hate doing bodywork.

An initial examination showed that some of the floorpan had been plated and then the entire underside and wheelarches had been treated to a nice new coat of underseal (well "new" at least 23 years ago).

However, on closer examination yesterday I discovered that some of the metal adjacent to the rear sill repair on the nearside was a bit crispy. After ten minutes of prodding with a screwdriver it now has a hole about eight inches square in the floorpan. See the awful truth below.

 

post-22043-0-17671300-1509288861_thumb.jpg

 

BUGGER!

 

This is the bottom of a double skinned section which appears to have rotted all around the edge, such that the metal could be peeled off like a sardine tin.

I can do weldage.

I have done weldage.

I don't do weldage any more.

I am far to old and grumpy to enjoy lying on my back with bits of red-hot metal landing on my face.

Sods law also says that while the same area on the offside, which has already been plated, is easily accessible, the nearside is above the exhaust pipe and close to the petrol tank, so both of these will doubtless have to come off.

 

Bugger again!

 

The current plan is therefore to continue trying to make it start, steer and stop, then try to find a mobile welder who will repair this for me in exchange for some pictures of the queen. At least it is a flat area and I can clean up the existing metal and cut and shape a new plate, so hopefully it shouldn't prove too difficult or expensive to farm this out, assuming I can find someone local who will take it on.

I just hate paying someone else to do stuff for me. Not because of the cost but because it is no longer "my" restoration and I have no control over the quality of the repair.

If anyone knows of a good mobile welder in or around Milton Keynes who would be prepared to do this, please let me know.

 

 

 

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