Renault 6 - Crunch time?

[purplebargeken]

Stuff in France is generally more expensive, in many cases, stupidly so unless it has no CG/CT. 
 Use the one you have, until you really can’t. Save like fuck for another, enjoy it and remind yourself that you have some handy spares.

This is more or less what I have just done with a much loved Alumina Green MGF.

There has to be a time to call it a day….

[barrett]

Didn't somebody on here have a fairly solid R6 (which had been given a ghastly coachpaint effort) with a seized engine? Whatever happened to that one? Seems like a good opportunity, in the words of the Spice Girls, for two to become one.

[quicksilver]

2 minutes ago, barrett said:

Didn't somebody on here have a fairly solid R6 (which had been given a ghastly coachpaint effort) with a seized engine? Whatever happened to that one? Seems like a good opportunity, in the words of the Spice Girls, for two to become one.

That would be this one (Bob). Not sure what his current status is but Bob is an 850 and Wuvvum's IIRC is an 1100, and I think there are other mechanical differences besides the bigger engine that might not make an engine swap feasible.

 

[barrett]

I can't believe you can't just swap over the complete engine/drivetrain from one to t'other though. I'd be very surprised if there were any tooling differences to the structure, and you've got a complete 1100 car to swap any necessary bits (ike the front panel with the extra vents in)

[quicksilver]

43 minutes ago, barrett said:

I can't believe you can't just swap over the complete engine/drivetrain from one to t'other though. I'd be very surprised if there were any tooling differences to the structure, and you've got a complete 1100 car to swap any necessary bits (ike the front panel with the extra vents in)

I doubt the differences are insurmountable but it wouldn't be a straight swap. You'd probably want to upgrade the brakes as the 1100 has front discs but the 850 is drums all round, which comes with the complication that the handbrake works on the front wheels of the 850 but the rear of the 1100 so you'll be re-routing cables. Bob did need some welding (in an awkward place above the exhaust and near the fuel tank IIRC) so it wouldn't just be a case of swapping the engine/box and job done. A determined restorer could do it, but would it be worth it? It's all moot anyway if Bob isn't available.

[quicksilver]

And the other question is does Wuvvum want an R6 that looks like a BR loco? As much as I'd love to see Bob back on the road I suspect not, in which case the cost of a strip and repaint makes the whole thing a non-starter. I can't imagine brush-painted BR coach enamel from 40-odd years ago being very easy to remove or even sand.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

1 hour ago, barrett said:

Didn't somebody on here have a fairly solid R6 (which had been given a ghastly coachpaint effort) with a seized engine? Whatever happened to that one? Seems like a good opportunity, in the words of the Spice Girls, for two to become one.

Who ended up with that one? 

[loserone]

28 minutes ago, Dick Cheeseburger said:

Who ended up with that one? 

@djoptix.  

 

I'm sadly still not in a place to take it on.  🙁

[djoptix]

This has been on my mind as well. @wuvvum feel free to pm me. Bob is dry stored.

[wuvvum]

On 18/09/2025 at 12:28, mk2_craig said:

This probably isn’t massively helpful, but no harm in sharing (not sure if the link is to a private group that needs to be joined first)

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CjzwjXnPP/

Ooh, some interesting stuff there.  A lot of it is Series 2, and I already have a spare tailgate and inner wing, but I could do with a better set of doors (although that would smack of rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic at the moment, but then again decent R6 panels don't come up very often).  I might drop them a message.

[mcmolloy1]

A workshop manual is available on the FB as well