"Serial Renault Deviant" Adey's current Renault R8 adventure

[adey]

been messing about like a child trying to get it poping flames with launch control.... it hasnt worked yet

 

[adey]

Managed to get out of shopping but only for a few hours.... in the morning I tacked the 36-1 trigger to the bottom pulley, this allows me to keep the timing wheel fixed and not have to adjust it every time I remove it. Whipped everything off and gave it a clean. Used the "shopping" time to allow some wrinkle black paint to dry. Came back to it in the afternoon and refitted everything with a fresh lip seal, bottom seal and added a cork gasket to assist. Have given it a little test drive this morning and cant see any issues as of yet so will keep an eye on it.

 

[adey]

Decided with some spare time to give the rear of the car some light prep/treatment. Gave it a clean and then inspected the area. Found 2 small holes by the wing tops which I will address in the future. Hit any rust with a wire wheel and then coated it with Fertan. Gave it 48 hrs dry time then gave everything a quick wipe and then coated with Por15. Used this in the old dauphine and it gave a very good finish. The chap who did the welding has some blue left over so I will hopefully drop it with him sometime next year and get him to paint over it.

 

[adey]

 

[adey]

Been putting some limiter bashing miles on the car over the last few days. Been a blast, the car gets loads of love from others on the road and I think it actually shocks them (plus me and the wife) at how well it gets up and goes! once it gets on cam It'll shoot up and clip the limiter in 3rd with relative ease (nearly80mph) Might have to put the draggy in there and measure its performance lol.

Anyway timing cover doesn't seem to be leaking now, well there's no oil sitting on the back box anymore 🤷‍♂️

[adey]

Went to take the car out to caffeine and machine today, and it let me down..... my fault it seems. One of the wires snapped off from the crank sensor plug, my poor workmanship in the past coming back to haunt me . Luckily the wife was driving the support Clio with the kids in, I had the laptop in there that allowed me to see the ecu wasn't seeing a crank signal. Limped the car home after finding the issue using a plaster to hold the wire pressed into the back of the sensor. I may go back and investigate/correct everything I've done previously. Shame as I really wanted to get the car out and about for some use.

I also trailed some new stickers for the car. Need to get back in and do a better job now I have the factory info on where to place them, kind eyeballed it this time. Let me introduce to you, the Faux Gordini
 

[adey]

After seeing the real Gordini measurements for the stripes I got annoyed with my work. Its now redone to spec (y) also received my springs and ball joints from meca parts France, so now just waiting on the shocks. On a side note I cancelled my order for over fenders and am now trying to order complete wider arches for the car.

 

[adey]

We are up to Jan 9th now. Not too much left to post. 

Hopefully you are enjoying the build and the videos aren't too annoying

[dozeydustman]

10 hours ago, adey said:

We are up to Jan 9th now. Not too much left to post. 

Hopefully you are enjoying the build and the videos aren't too annoying

By no means are videos annoying. Sometimes they help with descriptions in text etc.

I tend to go through threads and binge watch attached videos

[adey]

Today did not go to plan....

I needed a little "me" time to clear my head so thought id give my self a day to tinker on the car. The plan was replace as much of the suspension gubbins as I could.

Started on the rear. Drivers side rear, flew in in about an hour. Bit of grief removing the shock top nut but nowt major. Faff with the new brake pads that are million miles off the shape needed, so scuffed up the pads that were there and refit as they still had 90% of their material, bleed of the calliper, job jobbed.

Moved to the pass side and this is where it went to crap. Top nut would not budge and the rear shock mount bolt was seized in the shock. On inspection one side of the shock mount was completely dethatched too!!! the other side was also very thin. With the shock pinned top and bottom I had to get brutal with a hammer and angle grinder. Got it all out after about 2 hrs of messing about.

Soooo, can some one in the know tell me if I can just replace the shock mount and/or cup. Or am I now on the hunt for a complete rear trailing arm/axle tube??? please say its the easier of the 2 options.... @Turbell @Steve Swan @Wheelers Workshop

 

[adey]

Sorted, bit of angle chopped and welded to suit. Its also now on the car and the rear group a springs and gaz shocks are now on (y)

Ill leave the front for another day.....

Thanks again for the quick reply and advice @Steve Swan (y)

 

[adey]

hocks and springs out at the front and I managed to get one sides new ball joints completed before the rain set in. If there's no rain tomorrow I will hopefully get it wrapped up with all the new stuff back on. Looking at the length of the front springs the front may be worryingly high again...
 

[adey]

We are back on all 4 wheels. I tried the springs and didnt like them so took 15mm off 😁🤣

Car drives so much nicer now, will let it all settle for a few weeks then get the alignment done.

 

[adey]

 

[adey]

So it seems I have made a bit of an error..... So looking back at my shocks order I asked for some a chunk shorter than OEM. This works at the front where there is a huge drop in height.

The rear on the other hand isn't that much lower than stock even though it looks it. Oem springs are around 270mm and mine are 240mm

I have had them made too short..... I can bounce the car and it will lock out the shocks in their full extension. So with that in mind, I have ordered up some normal length items. Mildly annoying and expensive mistake.... but best to sort as it could potentially cause a quite dangerous situation

[adey]

Insurance time again. Not as cheap as usual but adding in the engine swap bumped it a little. Still through Lancaster insurance as a broker. Mods declared, SDPC, 5k miles and 2 x sp30s for £144.

I did try a few others, tried that new custodian insurance but they came in at nearly double

[adey]

So whilst waiting for the shocks to be manufactured I gave them a call to find out the thread size, 7/16 unf. Had a look for something suitable to extend the shock tops similar to steves suggestion and found these



Have fitted them and have no banging when jumping on the car, need to give it some test miles but if all is good I can start using it again. Gaz take about 4 weeks to manufacture shocks if they aren't on the shelf and I want to get some use out of it. Will update over the next few days

[adey]

The car drives amazingly in comparison to how it was. I didn't even think it was bad! Loads smoother and soaks up the shitty roads nicely. Even took it for a blast on the M50, noisy but will sit at 70mph with little stress (y)

Will give it some more use then get everything aligned

 

[adey]

Still not received the replacement gaz shocks but the "bodge" is working perfectly tbh. I "adjusted" the rear ride height after a few miles use. Loving how it rides now. Took it for a run out to Hereford to a little Sunday morning coffee meet up. Had a very spirited drive home.... alignment and some rack height adjustment is next on the list. Apart from being noisy its such a nice place to be now

 

[adey]

And you are all now up to date with my build thread over on TurboRenault. 51 pages condensed into 7. 

[adey]

Decided to add the wheel decals back on, Wheels are defo next on my hit list, one is buckled and the others are starting to show their age and need stripping and powder coating.

Also gave the dash a quick wrap, couldn't figure out how to remove the air vents (any tips?) so its not the best job but not having the fake wood there looks loads better in my eyes.