R4 restoration made in France

[iMacThere4iAm]

I hate taking off that plastic grille! It feels like it's going to break and I always end up hurting myself. There is a trick to make it easier though. Once you have levered it off enough to get a small gap, slip a long cable tie behind it until it pokes out the bottom. Then you can slide the cable tie sideways until it is very close to the clips, and pull hard without risk of breaking the grille.

 

[Snoopy1974]

Good evening,

Some pictures of the following of the reassembly...

 

[Lobster]

Well done, that looks really nice!

 

[DavidN]

I love all these shiny nuts, washers, and bolts!
That was a great idea to have them galvanized!

 

[Snoopy1974]

Hi,
I carefully fitted the nut cages to fit the inner wings, Renault put 7 mm ones but I didn't be able to find these kind of parts, so I chose 6 mm ones:

I used the same seal as the pedal-box to fit the inner wing:

Then I installed the first of my "famous" fiberglass inner wings which fit perfectly on the car, except the outside view, no one can guess they are made in fiberglass:


After tightening all the bolts and nuts:

Then I continued to fit the accessories in the engine bay:




The following (boring) job was to fit the heather radiator in the car:

 

[petak]

Snoopy:

I must say that i am very "jealous" on your note-book.

It goes so much in details that i must love it.

I have tried doing something similar but not even close to yours

Perfection how you are assembling your R4 is perfection that I am aiming to.

Please, continue doing such perfect job, and do not stop posting pictures here.

 

[plallenuk]

Brilliant. Were they ever that shiny and new when first put together?!

 

[Snoopy1974]

Petak, indeed, my note-book really do help me to remember how some details are fitted, but even with that, I have to admit that sometimes I'm completely lost :eek: :eek: :eek: My second blue GTL is precious, I often go to the engine bay and other to see how it's built !...

All the hardware has been zinc plated, I find that it makes the final touch

 

[Cornish4]

You are doing a great job there snoopy. Do you think you will need a heat-shield where the exhaust passes through the inner wing? Burning fibre-glass is not good :eek: A nice piece of polished stainless steel would do the job and look good.

 

[Snoopy1974]

You are doing a great job there snoopy. Do you think you will need a heat-shield where the exhaust passes through the inner wing? Burning fibre-glass is not good :eek: A nice piece of polished stainless steel would do the job and look good.

Exact, I often wonder if this kind of thing would be useful, or totally useless Some people tell that I would have to install such a part, the hood of my Lotus Super Seven is made in fiberglass and I effectively put an insulation to protect the fiberglass and paint:


If I have to do the same thing on the R4, as you told me I will have to put a "NICE" piece of polished stainless steel or other not to waste the rest of the job...

In another genre, for those who are interested, here is a fast summary of the beginning of the story, with an awesome music of an english band: Incognito
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4kzFoUWXg0

 

[jeffr4]

I would see, use some heat wrap like I did on the manifold and downipe :

Keeps the heat inside , also see : http://www.renault4.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=5519&page=2

And as I am very busy with my winterproject, the Quatrelle Sport, a complete composite car ,so out of fiberglass and alumnium parts you can use a part of welding-blanket and laminate it.

See : http://www.harborfreight.com/4-ft-x-6-ft-fiberglass-welding-blanket-67833.html

I am not to this part yet, but you can follow my polly on : http://jeffr4.weebly.com/design--build-a-new-kitcar-quatrelle-sport.html

And a very nice job Snoopy !!

 

[Snoopy1974]

Thanks you jeffr4 At the reading of your comments, I think I'm going to order an insulation for the exhaust, I don't want to take the risk of damaging the paint or fiberglass :eek: :eek: I started to work on the wiring loom... you know what ? I hate electricity ! I fit old bulbs and plates to try to put on the wiring loom:


Even if the first tries worked correctly, there were always strange things: the lever of the indicators put on the rear lights for example... Considering the rear wiring loom has been already tinkered, I decided to remove evrything and make a new one with new wire strand. Mine is more simply and the main difference is also that every element has its own negative earth, which goes to the battery:




This days, I started working on my car at 9.00 AM, 10 hours later all my electricity was ok, Undoubtedly I'm really not bright


I ended this day by fitting the battery bought the day before Oh, I forgot to tell you that my little tamed friend was there to support me

 

[Snoopy1974]

Hi everybody,

here are some news of my car, after ending the wiring loom, I started to fit he interior, at first the dashboard was carefully cleaned, and renewed with a special product, that I used on every outside and inside plastic parts:



As I'm completely lashed, I took the screw of the rocket panel protectors and painted their head in black to have a nice result As you can see the handbrake light wire has not the same way than Renault did it, I prefer mine, more discreet:



After washing, the headline top has been refitted:

Then the exhaust system with all the hardware and bushes in new or restored, please notice that I didn't do the same treatment on the muffler because I think, considering this part is visible, it's more esthetic in bright gray


While I was under the car I took advantage of it totake a picture of the underneath of the chassis... except the dust on the tank, I love it

 

[Lobster]

Absolutely brilliant. Very impressive stuff!

 

[DavidN]

Thanks for the pictures !!!
What can I say - I'm speechless.

 

[iMacThere4iAm]

You were lashed? That's no condition to work on your car!

(I have no idea what you mean, but it sounds like one of our infinite words for being drunk)

 

[Snoopy1974]

You were lashed? That's no condition to work on your car!

(I have no idea what you mean, but it sounds like one of our infinite words for being drunk)

It's clear that I wasn't drunk ! I looked for a word which seems "crazy", I admit that to paint even the head of the bolts is really "too much"

 

[DavidN]

... I admit that to paint even the head of the bolts is really "too much"

Not at all, don't say this Alexandre !!!

And I can't express how jealous I am of all these little shiny zinc platetd washers, bolts and nuts you have there.
I wish I had done something like that with all my little rusty parts when I did my resto back then!

Keep the pictures coming!

Cheers,

David

P.S. - I sent you an e-mail this morning -

 

[DavidN]

BTW - Alexandre, are you sure you have the front torsion bars set right?
To me it looks like you have too much tension on them!

I know, your car is still missing seats, doors, wings, hood, and bumpers but I guess that your front axle shouldn't be that high.

You know my F6 and that it is pretty high on the front.
So compare these two pics and decide for yourself:

 

[DavidN]

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