Having recently become the proud owner of a 1983 Renault F6 I just thought I'd share my experiences to date. Thankfully all seems to be going well, the little blue van starts pretty much on the first key turn (choke out) and motors along quite happily if noisily. I've been out in it about 4/5 times a week since I got it, generally shortish runs from the village where I live to the nearest towns - Brighton, Haywards Heath and Burgess Hill as well as a trip to the Cuckmere Valley for a picnic. Ever trip seems to turn a few heads and the van gets admiring looks and smiles on almost every trip. Having recently sold my Avensis, the F6 is currently my one and only form of transport.
I've given the rear floor a sanding where it needed it, followed by a couple of coats of black Hammerite, the 'walls' and 'ceiling' in the rear have been Hammerite'd in white internally. I've had all wheels off, one at a time, and stripped the old flaking black paint, given them a sanding and two coats of silver Hammerite (I'm becoming a bit of a Hammerite Fan). The bumpers front and back will get the silver treatment when I have the time later in September. I suppose the 'love handles' (those things at the front corners) should be the same colour as the bumper?
I don't mind the noise too much but am looking at getting some acoustic foam for the 'ceiling' as well as some underlay and carpet for the floor front and rear. I'm hoping this will kill the booming sound from the rear.
I'm also starting to tackle some of the body rust, which it not too bad, but I've no experience of this sort of work so my short-term goal is to stop the progress of the rust and my long-term goal is to have a full body-off bare metal renovation when I can convince myself that I can afford it.
I'm thinking about pressure-washing the wheel arches and coating them with a thick bitumen-like substance to protect against rust but also to act as a sound-deadening agent. I got a tin of something called 'Feltfix' which is a roofing product and dries to a soft rubbery 3-4mm layer. Is that a good idea?
One thing I have tried to find - and failed - is an evening class in motor maintenance (I'm a complete beginner). I remember years ago you could find classes like this at a lot of technical colleges but I haven't been able to find one near where I live. Maybe they don't hold classes like this any more since all the modern cars are not designed to be owner-maintained. (I wonder if there are enough R4 lovers out there to make it worthwhile to organise a Weekend R4 Maintenance Workshop?).
I always referred to my previous cars - Ford, Audi, Toyota - as 'she'. But the F6 seems to have a distinct 'male' character and so, influenced by its KVF reg number, the little blue van has been christened 'Kevin'.
Any thought sre the above much appreciated.
I've given the rear floor a sanding where it needed it, followed by a couple of coats of black Hammerite, the 'walls' and 'ceiling' in the rear have been Hammerite'd in white internally. I've had all wheels off, one at a time, and stripped the old flaking black paint, given them a sanding and two coats of silver Hammerite (I'm becoming a bit of a Hammerite Fan). The bumpers front and back will get the silver treatment when I have the time later in September. I suppose the 'love handles' (those things at the front corners) should be the same colour as the bumper?
I don't mind the noise too much but am looking at getting some acoustic foam for the 'ceiling' as well as some underlay and carpet for the floor front and rear. I'm hoping this will kill the booming sound from the rear.
I'm also starting to tackle some of the body rust, which it not too bad, but I've no experience of this sort of work so my short-term goal is to stop the progress of the rust and my long-term goal is to have a full body-off bare metal renovation when I can convince myself that I can afford it.
I'm thinking about pressure-washing the wheel arches and coating them with a thick bitumen-like substance to protect against rust but also to act as a sound-deadening agent. I got a tin of something called 'Feltfix' which is a roofing product and dries to a soft rubbery 3-4mm layer. Is that a good idea?
One thing I have tried to find - and failed - is an evening class in motor maintenance (I'm a complete beginner). I remember years ago you could find classes like this at a lot of technical colleges but I haven't been able to find one near where I live. Maybe they don't hold classes like this any more since all the modern cars are not designed to be owner-maintained. (I wonder if there are enough R4 lovers out there to make it worthwhile to organise a Weekend R4 Maintenance Workshop?).
I always referred to my previous cars - Ford, Audi, Toyota - as 'she'. But the F6 seems to have a distinct 'male' character and so, influenced by its KVF reg number, the little blue van has been christened 'Kevin'.
Any thought sre the above much appreciated.
