Get a good welder to do the job..

[LeBlanc]

Well, we were restoring a 1969 R4 until things went a bit wrong.
There was some work on the chassis, which was then sandblasted, and a good and reliable welder was sourced..
Only when picking up the chassis it seemed that Mr. Welder wasn't as experienced in welding sheet metal as he was in welding steel strucures I presume. Result, probably a familiar story, a very badly welded chassis and the project to halt for the moment (and some money thrown away !)

The chassis is torn quite bad, the sheets of metal are completely uneven, the sheet metal is only 1mm because of welding it too hot, the outriggers on the back are torn and completely unusable, a lot of sticky stuff is still hiding it's secrets..

Now it's quite difficult to restore the chassis because so much material is lost, even replacement panels don't fill the gaps anymore. Anyone an idea ?

A good welder is hard to find..

 

[malcolm]

It is terrible to have a set back in a project like this. I also have a project that's not going too well just now and it's frustrating.

For your chassis - post some photos of the parts you are not happy with and we can make some suggestions. It's true a good bodywork welder is hard to find. That's why many of us do it ourselves.

 

[LeBlanc]

 

[LeBlanc]

It might still look okay on picture, but in reality it's not so good. I haven't measured the dimensions, but when cutting away the front panels it's not stable anymore and not level. Which means the welder has to respect all the specs, and preferrably weld it on a chassis jig, as on your site. I'm sure mine will not fit anymore, even with the eye it's not OK.

I hope I can salvage some parts from a second car I bought last week and get the chassis back in a "restoration" condition. Welding myself would have been an option, but I rather gave it to the experts.

If you have time and patience, learn it yourself, that's what I've experienced, maybe it's not too late

 

[malcolm]

The grinding on the floor looks bad - the metal does look very thin where the blue heat marks are. Other parts look untidy. I wouldn't be happy with that work.

The chassis will have no stiffness with the floor removed at the front. If it was not supported on a level surface for welding it will have twisted. Well worth checking. There is no need for a jig to replace the floor but you do need a level surface.

The rear suspension mounting looks angled from the photo. Those should be replaced with the help of a simple jig or else it is difficult to fit the suspension or set the tracking to the correct angle. It's good to know if they have been joined to the crossmember correctly too.

If it were me I'd probably remove the repairs and do them again. The rest of the chassis looks good though.

 

[pepper]

Thats a terrible shame, I really hope you can either get it repaired properly or find another chassis.

 

[John Doe]

This doesn't look good

 

[LeBlanc]

OK, so we're back on track..

Grinding all that shit out and starting neatly all over, this time with somebody who knows what he's doiing.

Now what I would like to know.. Has anyone experience with the replacement floor panels from Warny or other suppliers ?

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Warney Panels: http://www.warny.be/data/pieces.php?p_id=257&p_trade=5
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I would like to know that when I buy the Left, right and middle secion repairs, going from the front to the back, that they overlap enough to make one section.

I'd like to replace the front floor pan with the front end of these repair sections, and then replace the inner side with the complete inner floor, as it was previously.

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Der Franzose panels: http://www.franzose.de/en/Renault/R4/Bodenbleche/
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Does anybody know if the panels 10-11 and 10right line up, or are they too narrow for the whole floor ?

Thanks to derfranzose for the pictures

 

[malcolm]

I don't think the 2 (number 11) side floor panels would meet in the centre - from the photos I think they are designed to fit either side of the 100mm wide reinforcement found on later chassis. I'd expect the third part (number 10) is intended to fill the gap, but I've never used those parts.

It was once possible to buy a complete floor from Renault, but they weren't available when I restored my chassis, so I used two half floors (unknown supplier from UK eBay). I cut them to size as my swaging pattern is unusual. Adds a lot of time to the job when you have the two long seam welds.