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

[adey]

This build has been going on for a few years so I will try and port across as much as possible, it may take a while..... 

 

Hi, my names Adey and I have a bit of a problem with old rusty Renaults. You my remember me from such Retro Builds as....

The Renault 5 Campus..... Summer Boostings. A C1J turbo swapped base model r5 (sold to fund the next car)

The 1978 Renault 12 Frog Dog, Definitely slow slight low but saved from rotting away on a driveway (sold to help fund a wedding)

One of my Favourites, The 1957 "The Dope" Dauphine (sold due to ill health)

And the Renault 5 LeCar 2 turbo, with a full itb and efi conversion 

 

[adey]

So its been just over 2 years (at the point of originally posting) since I've had something retro to tinker with. I had a pretty big operation 2 years back and ended up selling the Dope to fund life whilst off work. It was needed, and for a long while after I wouldn't have even been able to drive the thing. It was a needs must decision, and I do miss the car so I have been browsing for something to fill the gap.

I had actually been holding out for an R4, nothing had popped up over the last few months though.... Browsing FB marketplace last week I noticed a Renault R8 S had appeared. I actually sent the link to a friend of mine who already had one, just to show him more than anything. The next day I passed on some contact details from the seller to said friend... and then a few hours later I had a text "do you want to buy an 8?..."

Bit of a back story, Paul has owned the 8 he has for probably 12 years+ I've know of the car all along and have always coveted it. This year I had actually agreed to work on the car to get it back up and running and useable on the road as it had been passed around a bit. I love to tinker anyway and as he's a mate Id have got it going with the agreement I could use it when I wanted. Generally the price of them and rarity had kept them out for reach and off the current radar. (I did have a 1963 yellow R8 briefly but it was a total tea bag)

Anyway, Paul had had a chat with the current owner of the 8S and now had no need for the old 8.

I took a look at it on Saturday, in a 2 birds one stone type setup, and after viewing then took Paul to collect his new 8S. A price was agreed and now all that is left to sort is transporting it home. She comes with already banded steels, a whole host of spare bits that have been collected over the years and a fair amount of work to be done. None of that phases me though, I'm very much looking forward to getting my hands dirty again and getting another rusty Renault back on the road (probably with very little suspension travel and a huge drop in ride height :D)

Let me show you "Dolly" (not sure why its called Dolly but that's what Pauls wife has called it for all the time they have had it)

 

 

[adey]

So it is here and I'm grinning like a kid at Christmas. At first look there are a few issues to sort but really all I've done this eve is empty it of spares.

Paul had gotten an ali rad made up for the car which was a nice find. The wheels have been banded already though the tires may need swapping out for something a little chunkier.

I've removed the spark plugs and the engine rotates with little effort with my hand on the bottom pulley, the head does have a couple of snapped off bolts that will need drilling out and tapping. I have mounted the new water pump so I can use it as a guide to hopefully (fingers crossed) drill out and tap new threads into the head.

Electrically the dash has come alive, as has the dash fan. Headlights work on one setting and thats about it at the moment. i did click it over to try and start the car but got nothing at all. Itll need a trace of a fair few bits to get them up together. Cant hear any clicking for the indicators either.

Brake pedal is on the floor, I think this will be the biggest thing to sort tbh.

Hopefully I can get it back up and working with minimal fuss, a few evenings and weekends should see it moving under its own steam baring a catastrophic issue.

 

 

[adey]

I've been tickling it along in the back ground.

Stripped cleaned and rebuilt the starter motor. It was turning slowly and only sometimes throwing out the gear. Full of dry grease and light rust. That works sweet as a nut now. Im also cleaning all terminals and remaking connections as I go along. This then allowed me to compression check the engine. Came up all good with everything between 115psi and 120psi so pretty equal between the cylinders. Ive also made a start on an alternator swap, using a clio mk1 alternator. This will allow me to ditch the dynamo and external regulator setup and make things more "modern"

A check and clean up of the condenser and points was done, and set to "haynes manual" settings. Plugs were also cleaned before refitting.

I threw a jerry can of fuel in the tank, and with a few mouthfuls of dirty petrol, made it to the pump....

With a little bit of persuasion (fuel down the carb) we managed this

 

[adey]

"Turbell said:
Sounds sweet enough, couple of oil changes be worth the effort, seen a few long standers have black jelly in sump, so keep an eye on oil pressure if you run it, also how much new oil you can actually get in, taken a few old shitters apart and the oil pump is sat in a round recess of solidified oil."

On the list. ill be giving it a fair few changes to start with. I want to get a filter on there too so need to source the 19mm threaded adapter part for the block. The scrap yard doesn't have an abundance of old Cleons anymore.

Once I've got all the water in it and ran it a few times ill reset the clearances (as long as there are no leaks)

I managed to get some thread back in the head, I used the water pump as a guide to to clean up the head and snapped bolts (was a snug 6.7mm hole) then went in with a 5mm to re tap. fingers crossed it holds but if not the head can come off and go for repair (this is probably when I just build another engine up)

On the water pump, it looks like it may be an r12 item...... this means it doesnt have both the heater matrix hose outlets. Ill find the correct pump and replace it in the future.

Alternator swap is all on now, finished the wiring this evening, I gave it a quick check and saw 13.6v on the multimeter so ill assume that's working, will check again once we are up and running properly. Rear light bulbs all swapped out too so nice and fresh (could possibly do with new covers in the future.

Hopefully I can wrap up as much as I can tomorrow and i can start making a move to sort the brakes and suspension.

All in all its going well so far (y)

 

[loserone]

This thread is, as they say, highly relevant to my interests

[adey]

Just now, loserone said:

This thread is, as they say, highly relevant to my interests

There's a few years of posts to get up here. Obviously the convo side of it wont be there or not make sense but the bulk of it will make it here, but I hope you enjoy 

[Matty]

12 minutes ago, loserone said:

This thread is, as they say, highly relevant to my interests

Mine too and i dont own any Renaults!!

[adey]

7 minutes ago, Matty said:

Mine too and i dont own any Renaults!!

you should 😁

[loserone]

We can soon get that sorted out for you @Matty.  

 

Whereabouts are you @adey? 

[adey]

2 minutes ago, loserone said:

We can soon get that sorted out for you @Matty.  

 

Whereabouts are you @adey? 

I live near the outskirts of Gloucestershire towards Ross on Wye 

[Matty]

1 minute ago, loserone said:

We can soon get that sorted out for you

 

4 minutes ago, adey said:

you should 😁

Austins and Triumphs currently providing all the automotive misery i can handle. 🤣

Car looks brilliant though. Welcome along. Theres french car fanciers aplenty here including @loserone as above. @Brigsyis a serial renault botherer too but a slightly differant era of. Youll like it here!

[loserone]

Some very bonny places around there (and marvellous cider).  Anyway. Back to the lozenges!

[adey]

1 minute ago, Matty said:

 

Austins and Triumphs currently providing all the automotive misery i can handle. 🤣

Car looks brilliant though. Welcome along. Theres french car fanciers aplenty here including @loserone as above. @Brigsyis a serial renault botherer too but a slightly differant era of. Youll like it here!

Mr @Brigsy was the one who directed me here. Weve known each other for many years, I'm also partial to the more modern hot Renaults too

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Wow. What a fleet! Your 8 is an old Somerset registration, so it's not strayed a huge distance over the years. I'm guessing it was tucked away somewhere for years hence the solid overall condition? 

Also love the mk1 turbo - I owned a couple of standard mk1s back in the day and they were great little cars, with the exception of the body roll!

[stuboy]

1 hour ago, adey said:

i like this

[adey]

1 minute ago, Dick Cheeseburger said:

Wow. What a fleet! Your 8 is an old Somerset registration, so it's not strayed a huge distance over the years. I'm guessing it was tucked away somewhere for years hence the solid overall condition? 

Also love the mk1 turbo - I owned a couple of standard mk1s back in the day and they were great little cars, with the exception of the body roll!

It was actually tucked up in a old Renault garage for years in the middle of Gloucester I believe, along side it was a genuine gordini. I think it was supposed to be a spares car for it. Externally its pretty "solid", underneath it wasn't but we will get to that. There's still more to do under there but solid enough (y)

[adey]

Jacked up the one side today and whipped the wheels off (haven't got any pics) brake callipers are there and look good, lines look like they may have been replaced in the last decade too, nothing looks like I need to worry too much, got the front up to check some lines there and see why there was no fluid in the brake reservoir to find............ no master cylinder. I think I have it in a box somewhere, so maybe its knackered and can be rebuilt or it just needs replacing completely. More investigation needed it think.

EDIT
So I couldn't help myself and went and had a look at the MC. Didn't look too bad, pulled it to bits as you do and it looks like its either had a rebuild or is a NOS item.
 

 

[adey]

Insurance sorted through Lancaster as I always do. My NCB had lapsed off the dope but managed to still get a cracking deal I think.

Also, alternator conversion doing its thing. Starts strong too 💪🏻 just need to get a battery that fits the box 👍🏼 no leaks to be seen on the cooling system either.

Moving to the brakes this weekend hopefully, need to borrow some kit to make some new lines up. Will be replacing both from the MC to the front brakes and the front section to the rear. Just to get rid of some crusty fittings that are there. Once done i should be able to slip the MC into place then bleed it all.

[adey]

I've been super lax with updates, so I will write something up at a later date. But check this out

 

[adey]

Its been a busy few days, and im definitely starting to feel way too old to be rolling around on the floor messing with old cars. But it has still brought a smile to my face.

Right where are we up too. Started on all the brakes. Fitted the MC, new front hard lines and remade some of the rear fittings. Got everything filled with fluid on Thursday and then spent ages trying to get fluid through everything. No joy at all. Initially I thought it was because the system was bone dry but after cracking off some fittings I realised that the brake hoses I hade mentioned earlier as looking ok were actually fucked. Internally blocked. Anyway, a quick jaunt over to HoseTechnik (attached to Forge Motorsport) saw me with a custom set of orange braided lines. Managed to get them all fitted up and the first round of bleeding done. I do think it needs another go as there isn't much feedback on the pedal and it feels a little spongy so ill revisit that soon. Once i was happy that was 90% wrapped up I moved on to the next job.

 

 

[adey]

The suspension. Now long term I have some ideas on what I want to do to get the best of both worlds, lows and drivability. Now I used be hardcore static but these days with the amount of shite roads and speed bumps I feel I need the adjustability of air. That's further down the line though so for now we are going povo spec static lows. I needed to get some measurements from it all anyway so did a test with no suspension fitted at all, and resting on the bump stops. It looks cool as fuck tbh (don't care what anyone else thinks or the practicality of it all the car is getting built to go low and cruise) After I got what i needed I chopped the front springs to give me some useable lows. The front is good where it is, bar a little positive camber on one side which I need to address. I've started on the rear but will wrap that up in the next week. Once ive finished the suspension and brakes ill move to the rest of the electrics and we can hopefully start putting some miles on it 🤞

No Suspension fitted

[adey]

The sun was shining, and I was itching to get back on the 8, so I pulled a half day today so I could finish up on the ride height. 2 hours of messing about but we are there. Not massively slammed but it drives on and off my drive so its good to go in my eyes. Front camber still needs addressing but I need to get a tool made to accurately adjust it. Brakes are also starting to come to life now so ill bleed them again soon. Lots of little bits to sort and finish up so I can start using it. The carb being a big one. It'll start nicely but I think the auto choke part of it is stuck on. Once it gets some heat into it it'll stall every time you touch the throttle, and for some reason when you do tap it, the chock goes fully closed again.

Anyway, here are some pics

 

[Hertz]

Blimey another TurboRenault dude, you haven't told Sibley about this place have you?😉

Renault 8 is fantastic btw, looking forward to how it comes along. 

[adey]

So where are we at... handbrake sorted (big thanks @Steve Swan ) brakes... i had a leak that required me to get another line replaced. I think its ok now, they work of sorts, and hold spongy pressure with no current loss of fluid. I think they will need a further bleed though.

Engine was starting perfectly from cold, I was working on the hot running (or lack of) when the starter motor gave up. That is currently off for investigation though there is a place not far from me that refurbish starters and alternators so unless I can fix it it'll be going to them.

Electrics, headlights are now working, ideally I need a new unit on the one side. Brake lights all sorted. Wipers work as does the interior fan (though the matrix isn't plumbed in) that leaves the indicators to rewire with a modern flasher and the horn to sort.

Other than a good service and a deep clean it's not a million miles off usable.

Also managed to get to a post office that deals with the tax side of things. Log book has been sent off for changing to historic and the car is now taxed for 12 months at the new rate of £0 😁

[adey]

Just now, Hertz said:

Blimey another TurboRenault dude, you haven't told Sibley about this place have you?😉

Renault 8 is fantastic btw, looking forward to how it comes along. 

Indeed, and no. I feel for you if you know him too..... 🤣

[adey]

Managed to find a refurbished starter on ebay so that has been ordered, Fingers crossed with me for next weekend.

I couldn't not tinker though so spent some time today removing the upper and lower dash so I could rewire the indicators with a modern hella 12v flasher relay. Very easy job once I went through the wiring diagram, the oem wiring has 3 wires to the flasher, you reuse the same 3 wires and just add an earth from the relay. Throw in some new bulbs and bingo, left and right indicators with a modern flashing speed.

Horn is next on the list, I've also noticed a washer pump looks to have been retro fitted. it'll need removing and redoing as the tank has disintegrated but not a biggy to sort out, maybe a universal bag style one that kit cars use can go back in.

Considering it was dropped off on the 5th of Feb as a nonrunning and unused car I think I'm doing well, properly excited to get it out on the road soon

Thanks for reading (y)

 

[adey]

I have some second hand parts on their way this week, a pair of rear lights, some front indicators and a headlight. Looking forward to getting them all fitted. The starter motor will hopefully be here by the end of the week too so all being well i can get some test miles on it this weekend 🤞

I popped my head out earlier and gave one corner a rub with some citrus pre wash and a sponge, and a quick rinse off. The pictures don't show how big a difference there is but WOW. Looking forward to giving it a good scrub all over. Will still look ropey but loads better than it currently does

 

[adey]

So I usually try and document most of the builds on video, though this time I've been so busy trying to get it back on the road asap I've not had chance to get the camara out every time I'm tinkering. Ive slapped together a little bit of footage for those who like to watch on YouTube

 

[Rocket88]

1 hour ago, adey said:

So I usually try and document most of the builds on video, though this time I've been so busy trying to get it back on the road asap I've not had chance to get the camara out every time I'm tinkering. Ive slapped together a little bit of footage for those who like to watch on YouTube