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Renault Twingo Mk 1


RichardK

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Leboncoin. Nord Pas de Calais. Twingo. Voitures. . > 1997. >750. 41 cars today. Many of those close to Calais.

 

Take the offers of help, get it drive able, enjoy the summer. Make it lovely later.

 

Or go get another. Plenty to choose from.

Same here in germanland, Twingo galore avec TÜV around 500-700€ + some coins for Export-plate. Pick yours.

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Have a look at the back of the valves, if they're not oily then no need to change the valve seals.

 

Best thing to clean up the head + block is to try and get a block of metal or something and wrap a sheet of wet'n'dry paper around it - you can then clean the faces up whilst making sure they stay flat for good sealing. 

 

Clean - reassemble - enjoy.

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How to clean the crap from around the engine? I have an air blaster (and worried I'd blasted oxidised shit into the ports, and parts washers - one big enough to immerse the head in, but it needs a lot of fluid to do that.

 

I've got to get a new thermostat, the old one's gasket had split and it's gummed up - there's gunk down one side of the radiator. Not expensive, will order now. And I feel like spraying a lot of parts washer fluid around the block, then dropping the sump, cleaning it and repainting it once the head and thus, engine mount are reinstated.

 

Exhaust manifold came off in two songs and an advert on Absolute '80s. All the studs came out so I've decided to buy a pack of all the studs and nuts if I can find one.

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Clean the worst of the crap off. Then get a steel rule and use it 'edge on' on the face of the head to check it's flat. If there's any doubt then take it to an engine recon place and get them to check. I wouldn't bother with the valve guides unless it burnt oil and was smokey before, unless you end up having to do the head to get it skimmed.

It's normal to use a gasket scraper, which is a blunt scraper, to get any old material off the head. If you have to 'sand' it them only use fine wet and dry wrapped around something flat, avoid localized pressure!

It'll be fine though. Obviously the more effort you put in to it the better the chances of success but these have been fixed successfully by people with far less common sense and resources than you!

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Yellow, OHV, not rusty, with a full-length ragtop please.

Had a 1995 one in sunny yellow (not lemon) with said canvas roof. Quite cute but the driving position is weird! They are nice cars, Europe is full of them for a reason. I'd prefer a FIVE/5/Cinque/LeCar over a Twingo, though. And I know both cars.

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I have one now, early yellow with full length roof, sitting on yellow turbovecs.

It's cute, fun, depreciation free and economical- but for some reason I prefer my green hardtop.

 

Pleased to see progress being made Richard. Much cheaper/ simpler than an engine change. Few weeks from now, you'll be wondering what all the fuss was about!

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I have one now, early yellow with full length roof, sitting on yellow turbovecs.

It's cute, fun, depreciation free and economical- but for some reason I prefer my green hardtop.

 

Pleased to see progress being made Richard. Much cheaper/ simpler than an engine change. Few weeks from now, you'll be wondering what all the fuss was about!

 

 

Pictures please :D

 

I think I will be very happy with the glass roof on mine, but not so fond of the insipid colour. Even so if the engine repair works and it hits the road again I'll be paying £200 to have the driver's door repainted where the topcoat has come off in a weird way.

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It would have been simpler than an engine change if I'd left it at just doing the head, but I have a lot to reinstall now! Annoyingly I reckon I'd have been quite comfortable with the engine change. All that crap around the heatshield/rocker cover seems so pointlessly complex though!

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I dont tend to take a lot of pics- cos they are still just working tools in my household, 

 

so heres' the original sales ad photos

 

Gobby:-

 

post-758-0-74521700-1503141219_thumb.jpeg

 

 

Currently residing in France, standard save for yellow turbovecs..

 

And Snotty- now Uk naturalised 

 

post-758-0-85982700-1503141282_thumb.jpeg

 

grenn mk1 -rear.htm

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Yep. Yellow with grey bumpers. Perfect. Shall see how I get one with mine, then consider selling and buying one in Europe. I bet they stopped doing yellow around the time of the phase 2 body improvements, just to be annoying.

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Yellow seems to be a bit rarer, but it's the only colour my wife will drive.

 

I found this one ( thru obv) on the outskirts of Lille, 350 euros cos it was out of ticket, had a tug by the local rozzers, needed the standard welding etc.

I just drove to Ashford, jumped on Eurostar to Lille, drove it back to Ashford via the tunnel& A framed it home.

Door back to door in 8 hours, from memory.

 

It was going to be used in the Uk but Snotty fills that role so its gone back to Belgium with a ( wasted) uk mot.

Green one is 93, yellow 94 , both ohv base models, but plenty fun nevertheless.

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Coincidentally, there's a yellow one in Dunkirk .( Grand Synthe- which is actually closer to the Dunkirk ferry, than Dunkirk) for 200 euros!

For parts obviously, cos it'll have the standard rust- but as John F will confirm, that's no deal breaker.

 

200! If I wasn't bed bound, I'd be all over that.

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I'd probably be aiming to spend £2K if I sold mine in search of a yellow, which I'd hope would get one that has by luck or otherwise, avoided rust. Mine's not rust anywhere as far as I can tell!

 

Have had a go at cleaning the cylinder head a bit, pondering if it's worth trying to dislodge the carbon deposits off the valves and top of the pistons. It all looks very clean and straight, gently cleaned the head (still a bit messy looking but feels smooth). Now waiting for the new waterpump/timing belt kit. When they arrive, the engine will go back together. Reassembly is reversal etc.

 

Feeling moderately concerned that the gasket has the same red sealer as the one that failed and hoping it's not a crappy gasket.

 

200 is insane. These cars are 25 years old now? And so unusual, and IMO last of the really efficient 5-seater city cars (though I suspect a rear engine Twingo would appeal to me).

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So, either I have some damage due to the HGF, or I've found why the HGF was there...

 

post-19568-0-87311200-1503315567_thumb.jpg

 

That looks like there's a shallow pit between the bores. The metal sealing rings aren't gonna fill that very effectively.

 

My current thinking is "this is why I wanted the NOS engine, to avoid this sort of thing", and "Clean up as much as possible, JB Weld, carefully sand down. Y/N?

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Very gingerly cleaned with the little brass wire wheel in the dremel kit. VERY carefully.

 

Steel rule suggests it should be fine. I almost wonder if this is actually build up (you can feel it with a fingernail) rather than pitted and is residue from the old metal part of the gasket.

 

And yes, I am going to vacuum out the bores and channels, I'm not thick ;)

post-19568-0-48793000-1503339784_thumb.jpg

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And it does look like all the pistons have carbon build up in that location. It corresponds with plug placement.

 

post-19568-0-02694900-1503340332_thumb.jpg

 

(Cleaning valves is being pondered - this seems to be getting further away from the "if it ain't broke just throw it back together" philosophy).

 

post-19568-0-19832400-1503340333_thumb.jpg

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STEEL RULE!

 

Ben

 

Do you see the bit where I say "steel rule suggests it should be fine", thus implying that I've been out there with a steel rule and attempted to shine a torch and wiggle a tiny feeler gauge under said rule?

 

The more I look at this the more I'm baffled that the head gasket I removed had very clear red lines on the top part, but no evidence of them at all on the bottom. I wonder if the car was made with a faulty gasket. There's no indication in the history of it having been replaced.

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I notice the Big Bad Benz is not on your list of vee-hic-uls. Has it departed?

 

 

Yes. It's been replaced by a smaller and much worse Benz, but since getting the fleet to a more manageable size (physically as well as numerically) has let me get a lot of my life back on track, I think it was the right choice.

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Sorry, posted before that.

 

But the steel rule should show clearly whether it is low or high at that point, yet you still seem unsure?

 

Ben

 

 

Yeah, I was unsure when Steve suggested the steel rule and torch bit, and nigel suggested the steel rule, and a third person shouting steel rule just seemed, well, kinda redundant, particularly after I'd been in the garage, applied the steel rule and torch and found the results inconclusive because I can feel something with my fingernail, but can't get the tiniest feeler gauge in it or see a torch through it ;)

 

(and yes, the rule is flat across the bit, not lifted by it).

 

Any remaining uncertainty is merely a natural state of life remaining due to questioning the very nature of perception itself, the validity of the movement of these molecules and the apparent meaning our alleged consciousness chooses to attach to it, and whether or not this lake I've been jumping into pretending to be a lemon really does believe that it's a gin & tonic.

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