1973 Renault 15 - I've broken my own rules.

[High Jetter]

Hero

[Zelandeth]

On 25/07/2025 at 15:38, 4wheeledstool said:

Research suggests no ballast resistor required - I reckon the 52 year old coil just shat itself after a few hundred miles were asked of it after sitting around for a long time.

More pieces arrived today, another glass expansion jar, indicator/side light unit, boot lamp, and a decent wheel trim to replace the one that looks like it was driven over then "straightened".

New coil should be here tomorrow. 👍

Good good.  Just seemed worth mentioning as it would be easy to miss if it wasn't a car you were familiar with. 

I learned the hard way when the replacement coil was cooked in only a month or so before I realised there was a ballast resistor missing.

[4wheeledstool]

400 miles covered as of this afternoon, surprisingly there are now no coolant leaks!

How long this happy situation lasts for remains to be seen. 🤣

[4wheeledstool]

Had a good look over this pretty much identical car at the weekend.  (Same car posted above by Dan302) The guy (Wayne) came all the way from Colchester to Tatton Park for the show. Pretty fortunate for me, as I don't think there will be many (if any) other 1973 Renault 15 TS in the country.

This car is a couple of months later than mine, but very similar in spec. It gave me an ideal opportunity to see what most of the parts missing from my car look like.

After a chunk of something unidentified was removed from my carburettor yesterday, the cold starting problems I've had for the last couple of weeks have now gone. 500 miles now covered since back on the road.👍

 

[Dj_efk]

Is your fuel filter nicely filling up with cack or is it staying clean?

I always found a car resurrected back to the road would need a new one (or the one on it cleaning out, if old enough) pretty soon after..

[4wheeledstool]

After a couple of hundred miles, there is a bit of what looks like sand in there. It's a lot better than I thought it would be!

[Matty]

I'm sure that 15 was there the other year at Tatton as well. First I'd ever seen in the flesh and a lovely thing

[4wheeledstool]

The passenger side window winder mechanism has been seized since I bought the car. Today I managed to un-seize it.

Unfortunately, the channel that the bottom of the drop glass sits in has rotted, meaning that the rollers that run along the channel get so far then drop out. 
I'll add this to the "required parts" list.

[High Jetter]

No surprise, Shirley?

[4wheeledstool]

22 hours ago, High Jetter said:

No surprise, Shirley?

The one on the other side looks pretty fresh. I reckon the passenger side window was left slightly open during a period of outdoor storage - most of the metal pieces inside this door are rustier than the ones in the drivers side. Not a surprise, just another potential pain in the poo pipe. 🤔

[4wheeledstool]

600 miles now covered, I'm getting a bit of confidence in the thing now.

Still need to get the fuel gauge working.

Dashboard out will probably be the next job, I'm aiming for 100% functionality. 

Don't hold your breath. 😂