Homegrown Garage Green One -75

[André4Renaults]

May I ask a question about car heaters in Sweden? I'm a fan of Daf cars, built in Holland in the 1960s & 70s. I think I read a something about Dafs sold in Sweden having to have more powerful heaters than normal. Is this really true or is it an "urban myth"? I suppose if it's true it would apply to ALL cars imported into the country, to help them deal with the extremely cold winters.

 

[Homegrown]

No it's no urban myth!
I don't know about Daf in particular, but cars aimed for car market in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Canada needed extra equipment. On early cars it could be hotter thermostat, bigger heater element with more nossels (R4 have two extra for rear passengers feet area). Grill block or radiator curtain.
All "big" brands had winter packages for northern countries and there were a lot of Dafs in Sweden so l guess they had all above in their cars sold here.
Same with cars sold in hot climates they have bigger cooling systems etc.

Best regard

 

[malcolm]

The rear brake issue is odd. When it's front and rear brakes it's typically adjustment of the master cylinder pushrod. But both rear brakes only must surely be a problem with the rear brake proportioning valve.

Good to hear the brakes aren't locking on any more. Maybe the valve got stuck and has freed off. Have you checked if the rear brakes are working at all now? Maybe jack the car on the RHS and make sure the brakes are responding to the brake pedal.

 

[Homegrown]

The rear brake issue is odd. When it's front and rear brakes it's typically adjustment of the master cylinder pushrod. But both rear brakes only must surely be a problem with the rear brake proportioning valve.

Good to hear the brakes aren't locking on any more. Maybe the valve got stuck and has freed off. Have you checked if the rear brakes are working at all now? Maybe jack the car on the RHS and make sure the brakes are responding to the brake pedal.

Maybe just a hiccup on proportioning valve, but I double check that all lines are correctly positioned on master and distribution block and they seems right (compared to ather cars I have).
Brakes are very good, on gravel all four lock up on demand and on tarmac fronts lock up if applied hard. So I think the breaking capacity is as factory designed it.
Will bleed rear system again and distribution block (guess that’s from the proportioning valve).

 

[Homegrown]

Don’t know how R4 people in Sweden are driving but all my R4 under engine pan seems to hit something hard at least one time during its lifetime.
Just grab tools needed for the job. The white plastic material works a bit like a sandbag (to make shape with the mallets) others for bending and smoothing out. Half an hours work and the shape seems to fit car again. Look in my Renault bolt jars I find spares to screw into the bottom of engine compartment.

 

[Homegrown]

Have used it as a daily now.
Been going to store shopping, visit friends and family, had to tow the trailer to move stuff. Yesterday we going to the coast 40km away, we have really great summer wheather 25 degrees last days. We gave all our cultivations water, make pasta salad, and prepared for a full day in the sun. Just a quick swim (only 13 degrees C in the water) but a lot of sunbathing.
Today it was swap meet and exhibition 50km from home. Wife was going to work so I wen't alone. Had pasta salad leftovers, coffe, sandwich, water, soda and of course sun protection, prepared for full day in the sun again.
Leaving home around seven thou the event start eight.
Lots of seller and enthusiast cars already when I arrive, take a coffee, put on a hat, more sun screen, cash and a bag going shopping. 7.5km later with more coffe, water and food brake emptying bag each time I'm back to the Green One.
Bought lots of hand tools, drillbits, welding gear and three set of Wilwood handbrake calipers. Really great buys (high quality and good price) and clear blue sky morning to night (have been like this all week), very happy I took three week off to help my wife with her farming.
Green One have been on my side and done exillent job since the rear breake hiccup last week. Starts easy cold or warm, goes strong and have no problem to keep up with the pace. 30 - 120km/h on fourth effortless (does 130km/h but then there is nothing left. Practical car I want to put a lot of km on so it gets sorted. Front shocks are not so good so ordered some new, rear seams ok. Think I should check wheel bearings and driveshafts soon though grease deteriorate. Others everything works fine.
Doesn't matter what time or where you are with the R4 people want to look and talk and telling anecdotes from their youth, I think everyone over forty have strong memories (good or bad).

 

[Homegrown]

Bought a cool steering wheel the other day at the swap meet, made me thinking about replace my original that is cracked on three spots.
Directly out on the inter web and search for steering wheel hub to R4. Got a lot of hits here in Sweden and elsewhere but everything was for the face lifted R4, nothing for the early cars.
This forum has tremendous knowledge so I asked here https://www.renault4.co.uk/forum/threads/steering-wheel-hub.11992/
Directly response Big thanks!
Hmmmmm didn't I buy a Renault steering wheel for my R8 that didn't fit? Have to climb and check my random steering wheels and dito Renault. Found a really dirty original crack free wheel, a propably R12 and three random. One of the random I'm almost sure was for BMW 2002. Now I have some options to test but first of all I need to remove the original. Undo the centre cap, remove the nut with the 22mm spanner then use my favourite tool the air chisel. Pull the wheel towards me with one hand, and make one brurrrrt with the chisel, it comes lose directly (since last I praised the air chisel it have been upgraded to an old high quality I&R).
R12 didn't fit, the crack free fits so I clean it. Looks nice but still big and heavy, there were two left to test one was way to small the other on fits What? Yes, Yes. The hub is a Astrali from 1978, steering wheel have nothing engraved but it fits.
My plan was to fit the Sparco I bought, but the Astrali hub have the big bolt pattern so plans alter again. In to the house again and clean hub and wheel.
Test fit again and it feels like it belongs there, didn't I have a Renault horn button also, just a placebo to cover the nut.
Test drive says it's a keeper.
Ps found a semi transparent steering wheel in one of the R4s Ds.

 

[Homegrown]

Green One is readily used, as a daily, going car meets, hauling trailer, and yesterday evening towing my competition 911 after a fuel pump failure. On the slalom event the 911 did really great but after on the way home the fuel pump sized. Son picked me up in his 996 Turbo and we went home and picked the R4 for the duty. Some smoking fronttyres on the R4 in first gear but once the 911 was up one the tarmac we go throu gears to third that was the one we used the hole trip.
Today it was time to give her fuel, 23,8 litres 95okt on 346 km that is around 7l/100km. A bit high for being a Billancourt but mostly above 100km/h or towing trailer or car.
Very versatile car

 

[Homegrown]

After driving my R4 hard and on more attack then most R4 ever see, I can get you feed back that the simple oil control system (the baffle) works great. Long sweeping bends left or right under acceleration or hard breaking the oil light haven't even flickered. All this with oil level in the middle of the dipstick.
Link to baffle design.

Homegrown Garage Green One -75

I have some Renaults i will try to make a tread on each. I made tiny presentation on my cars earlier. Green One is supposed to be a daily driver. I used it a lot until engine gave up due to faulty cylinder gaskets with the result of major overheating and sized engine. I from 1975 845cc 800-05...

www.renault4.co.uk

 

[Homegrown]

Green One keeps going strong.
Used for everything and my wife’s favorite. She’s sadly not allowed to drive it cos she only have automatic license.
Car has good terrain capability, tow a 750kg trailer (with 300kg load makes it allowed 500kg) easily. About the sport steering wheel car got, it transforms driving with its smaller diameter and chubbier grip. Makes car much more agile between turns.
The 135-13 rubbers are 2.2 resp 2.0 bar pressure to cope with my driving style.
Lately just fueling and checking oil level and it seem not take oil.
Also gave my alternator a drip of oil as showed on the forum.
Question my engine have some crank case pressure (I think it’s on the high side) is that normal for this engine?
She doesn’t consume oil so I guess it’s ok.

 

[Homegrown]

Green One keeps going strong. I give her fuel and she's doing her shores without protesting, towing cars and trailers, go shopping, car meets. Right front tire wants some air now and then.
I will keep trying to get more hp and fuel economy to get there we need some tools.
Have an Inovative MTX-L lambda meter since a while and I bought some turbo stuff to another car the other day it seemed proper to start It up and the Green One can be the guinea pig.
Lambda bungs I do some when I need so I have in stock. The ugliest was an old big wheel nut bored out and threaded M18x1,5 had to weld on a piece of pipe so the sensor just barely enters the exhaust pipe. Drilling a 17mm hole in the exhaust and weld all together. The sensor will be in a slight angle so moist don't get stuck in the sensor. Remount the pipe on the car.
Wiring is straight forward.
Red wire needs switched 12V fused 5 amp.
Black wire earth
White and yellow not needed so they just got some electric tape in the open end.
Sensor wire connects to an extension cable which connects to the meter.
Meter housing I just tie to the rew counter, final check that all tools are out of the way, connect my 12V thief on the fuse box where it's switched when ignition is on. Turn the ignition and yes meter informs that sond is heating. Start the engine and now lambda values comes on display. Some test driving gives me facts that car is on the fat side everywhere except on tickover. Lambda is between 11,5-13,5 that's really fat for a naturally asperated engine and okey for a turbo engine under load. Soot in the exhaust have indicated that it's rich so does fuel consumption, spark plugs looked great when I checked before but with the lambda I don't need to guess.
Have to check what options that is available for my Solex 30/35 pdsit, smaller fuel jets, bigger air jets, lower float lever, free up the air box /filter.

 

[Homegrown]

Some pictures of the temporary lambda installation.
The complete lambda devise are going to be moved to car I work on. So soon it's moved over to the next project. I thing it will be a 10min work to move it between cars.

 

[angel]

The AFR meter is one of the most useful tools I've ever had. It eliminates guesstimating when doing jobs like carburettor change or setting up an engine with different camshaft etc.
I have loads of Solex jets, main, idle and air, if you can't find them there. Let me know what are you going to need and I will send you some for the price of postage.

 

[Homegrown]

The AFR meter is one of the most useful tools I've ever had. It eliminates guesstimating when doing jobs like carburettor change or setting up an engine with different camshaft etc.
I have loads of Solex jets, main, idle and air, if you can't find them there. Let me know what are you going to need and I will send you some for the price of postage.

Thanks for the offer.
With the current tune on the car I guess a 32mm carb had been good enough, engine really needs more cam to wake up.
Plan is to build extractor pipe and new intake pipe and open up the exhaust.
After that a turbo install may occur.

Now it’s Porsche seasons as well so time is limited.

Car works great with the 35mm Solex as is but can be better. Have a Weber 34ICH for next Billancourt.

 

[Homegrown]

The daily driver works good!
Car is in the rich side carb wise so I like to do some experimenting.
Down to the petrol station and put in 10L E85, guess it was 7-8L E10 left in the tank. With this blend it’s no problem to drive the car but it’s very lean at some spots. Decided to test this blend if it works.
Next morning when cold start I realized it was too lean have to use acc pump to get car moving. Down to petrol station and fill it up with E10, 9L later she is full and now lambda values start looking ok.
The very next day we go to my old locomotive shed and pick up my 911 1972 Targa.
In the luggage compartment there was cleaned and upgraded twin IDA-3 40 for my targa, petrol, batteries some tools. Also some winter tyres and some herbs that need to be put in the ground.
It became an extra 50km due to I forgot Porsche keys at home. After some hours work on the Targa she was working ok so the GreenOne had to stay in the shed and the 911 go with me cos in Sweden we celebrate midsummer.

 

[Homegrown]

GreenOne keeps up doing a great work.
Now with 40% mix E85 in the normal E10 fuel mixture is almost perfect at fast highway 110-130km/h lamda 14,7-15,2 when full throttle 13,5.
Some spots are lean but all in all it’s an good experiment. Will go back to E10 and go down in jet sizes.
Wife and I went to the ocean for a day sunbathing and swimming. Last time i may it was 25*C in the air and only 13 in the water niw it was 29 and 23 very nice spending time in the water. On the way back home we meet some enthusiast cars and realized that it was an meet so we went along.
Been there before and it’s for all makes/brands and styles. As usual the R4 is an everyones lips love/hate if/but lol it makes people feel something.
Lots of nice American and Euroean cars attended.
Way home we drove 35km 115-130km/h at lambda 14.7-15.2 so I can check spark plugs for what’s happening inside combustion chambers.
After working long shifts in the weekend I took a look this morning. They look great all have even golden tone. Water and oil levels are spot on. Consumes no oil but have a bit to much breathing from engine (maybe ok but I am not used a steady stream from breather pipe).

 

[JdeW]

Good experiment and nice color on the plugs and that for a horrible ethanol based fuel mixture. You're using bigger jets so fuel consumption is increased I suppose.
I remember my GTL average fuel consumption (not ethanol based) with the 28IF7 carb was 1 liter per 22 km.
And living near the German border I still can refuel with non ethanol based fuel and that is still more fuel efficient that the modern ones. Our Honda CR-V consumption has a 30% increase with E10 and less power.

 

[Homegrown]

1L/22km sounds great.
Mine is 1L/15km as is now. Having the Billancourt short gearing (feels like missing 5th and 6th gear) very high revs and we often in the 4-5000rpm range (100-130km/h) sometimes a trailer behind.
She is over fueled a bit all over the range (but goes strong) hense mixed E85 in to get the right mixture. Next time I fill her up it will be E10 only and then do some jetting. Having a 35mm carb is good to grow into but I thing a 32 is better in current tune. Drawback with the big carb is that it takes fuel from wrong place. (Throttle angle to small for given engine rpm) cruising a 120km/h is like part throttle (1/3-1/2 open) when it should be around).
Here in Sweden most of us love E85 we see it as a really cheap race fuel. To get the benefits from E85 you need high compression (makes engine mathematically more efficient) and add more timing. We use it mostly in our turbo charged cars.
Best regards.

 

[Homegrown]

Now we are back to ordinary E10 fuel again and the car works great, Before winter season i need to sort out so the choke is functional. Last fill up resulted in 6,7L/100km lately with a roof rack and now and then a trailer behind.
GreenOne have been used a lot this summer, a car that makes you happy! On the trailer we have moved garden waste, moving plants and bushes between my plots, also moved some machines.
My son have asked me to have the R4 as crew car at various car event. Some weeks ago we where at a sprint event and now latest he go dragracing with his 996Turbo with 700hp at the wheels. Roof rack on environment blanket and rear tyres on top and tool, fuel cans and food in the rear. And of course my lovely wife, who made all food.
Son focused on the driving part and I coached him to do right thing in the burnout and how to get away at the three. My responsibility was also check/adjust the tyre pressures film all burnouts and passes. Collect time slips and give some advise.
Day ended well with a second place in class

 

[Pascal's pilot]

Wow, what an article, what a workshop, what equipment !!!! (not that I am jealous or anything, yea right haha)
I am in awe of your skill set. Thx for posting all this.
What I need is similar on an 1108cc unit.