Rene 'I go, therefore I am, Descartes

[Geoff in the Gully]

Here's what I was thinking of for the 'modest improvements'.
Most are based on my experience of living with a 6-volt Dauphine and its compromises

1. 4-speed gearbox instead of 3-speed - for a little bit livelier performance
2. 12-volt electrics - 'cos 6-volts is so finicky on the connections, alternator instead of gennie
3. Disk brakes - drum brakes all round are just hard work and I like my cars to stop, sometimes like RIGHT NOW
4. Electric radiator fan - in Australia cooling can be problematic
5. Sliding windows in rear doors - fixed glass just seems too closed in for the rear passengers
6. Split system brake lines - improved safety
7. Heated rear window in hatch - better visibility on wet nights
8. Reversing lights - improved safety

All these are are things that later model Quatrelles had so I figured I had a good chance of finding part to suit. I'm not so sure of the last two though; I'm probably not going to use him much in adverse conditions like wet dark nights. The other ideas would be largely 'invisible' to the untrained eye - of course any R4 aficionado would see that they're not original to the year and model.

Also
9. 2-speed wipers - but maybe not, as above
10. Relays for headlights, horns, fans - stop burning out wires in main looms, for brighter lights
11. Dauphine Gordini carby and dizzy - some improved performance
12. Brake booster - for stopping better. Ok, so I have a thing about having really good brakes - I got my reasons.
13. Maybe a temperature gauge

I'd found Clementine's Garage by then and had started reading all the tech info. Gosh but I'm glad you guys have done all this wonderful work. Anyway, it led me to believe that most of the above would not be unduly difficult to tackle. After all the whole car is being stripped down totally and rebuilt from scratch. As long as I decided what I wanted to do up front I could 'mix and match' to an extent.

I did think about trying for a bigger Sierra series engine - it would be like the R10 - but I noted Malcolm's opinion that the extra weight altered the balance of the front to be less sweet. I decided that I stick with the 845cc and liven it up a bit.

The final idea I had at that time was to seriously improve lumbar support when the beach-chair front seats were redone. The missus has a bit of a dicky back, so do I to a lesser extent, and I thought that if I made it really really comfortable for her we'd be allowed to go out an play with him more

Of course, there's a bit of working out to do with these ideas.

 

[Geoff in the Gully]

After I did the initial assessment I placed an order for repair panels (from Melun Retro Passion) before starting on removing the remaining items off the chassis. This was supposed to result in the parts doing their travelling while I did those initial steps.

Outsmarted ourselves with that parts order we did.

Brother Graeme is restoring a 1960 Dauphine and a '59 4CV and other brother Peter is in the middle of a Caravelle resto for his missus - if he does that he's allowed to play with his R12 Gordini. Other brother David doesn't like old cars - what's with that eh? We figured on saving on freight costs by pooling our parts orders as one. Well, the freight was cheaper we patted ourselves on our backs and smiled at our smartness.

When the package arrived, Mr Customs Man said ‘What ho, a package worth more than $1,000! I’ll have some GST (same as VAT) and some Duty and some Processing Fee and, for good measure, some extra for paying by credit card for that please.’ He did say ‘please’, I’ll give him that.

Peter was smarter than me – he said ‘how about you sort out the paperwork’ and I, like a fool, said ‘OK’. Several days later, after a lot of hours on the customs website later, downloading a massive form with a 50-page instruction guide (yes, really 50 pages, I was perturbed alright), and finding out what was needed, etc. I found an obscure link that was for ‘Imports via Aussie Post’. 'I better have a look at that', I thought. It was only a single page and could be emailed! An hour and three email exchanges later it was all done and paid for – couldn’t be easier. The secret, as usual, is in the knowing.

At the end of the day, the GST, Duty, etc. cost quite a bit more that our savings on the freight. Individually, none of our orders were over $1,000 so we wouldn’t have had to pay anything. Smart? Us? Pah!

The only thing I was missing was the inner right guard. It had been chewed in half by the corrosion from the brake / battery leaks that took out that part of the chassis.


In the meantime, I stripped the chassis. No problems lifting the engine-gearbox out. Only had to disconnect the drive shafts, undo engine mounts and front gearbox mount. Easy peasy.

I was a bit concerned about the torsion bars having read this forum and not having a suitable torsion bar tool. But in actuality was also easy peasy.

'How so?' do I hear someone ask? I took all the bits off except for the lower arm and the carrier that bolts to the chassis. Graeme slipped a pinch bar (aka wrecking bar) in the carrier between the arm and wishbone bolt tube and took the tension of the torsion bar. It was a bit of a push but that much. I'd already undone the bolts holding the carrier to the chassis. Once the tension was taken up the carrier moved freely on the bolts and with a bit of sideways push on the torsion bar the carrier came free of the bolts and we could release the tension fully by rotating the carrier and arm until it went slack. Which wasn't that far.

Granted the body and inner guards were off the chassis; it might not be so easy doing this with them in place. But I'm thinking an 'L' shaped bar with the long arm coming out the wheel well might do as nicely for taking the tension. Could be an easier alternative to make than the special shape to go around the torsion bar mount.

Rear suspension also easy to take off. Again the absence of the body made for easy access. Having removed the shockers, I could simply put a foot on the swing arm to release the torsion bar tension. A dozen bolts and it was all down on the ground.

I have wondered whether the easy of removal simple meant that the torsion bars have become weaker with age. I know I have

Here's the rear suspension off and resting on top of the chassis.

 

[simonandjuliet]

Progress

Great to see the progress, it helps keep me slogging away when I see a much bigger job on the go !