Renault 5 Mk1 - Debugging After Restoration

This restoration story went quiet for a a couple of years. So what happened next?

I moved house at the start of 2013, and despite a last minute rush the Renault 5 wasn't quite finished.

The Renault 5 sat in a barn waiting for me to build a garage at the new house. After a year and a half it was clear that the new garage wasn't going to appear any time soon so I brought her over to finish off outside.

There were a lot of small things to sort out. The front ride height was too high, then there were a few days of finishing fiddly little bits. The wipers didn't work (there was an earth on the RHS behind the bumper I forgot to connect).

The MOT was passed in September 2014 (first time in 7 years) but there were still a lot of problems to fix.

Idle was very lumpy causing gear rattle. It turns out the bong bong noise from the timing chain had also been caused by this. The idle mixture screw was turned fully in! Unscrewing it by one and a half turns made the idle lovely.

Changing the starter motor in a Mk 1 Renault 5 is a pain. It is much easier to do after removing the exhaust manifold. Fortunately I also wanted to rebuild the carb to sort lean running on the first choke.

The problem with the old starter was the solenoid which allowed current to spin the starter before it had engaged in the flywheel.

The carburettor took a while to figure out. The car was lean on the second venturoi and would almost die when the second throttle was just opening. I'm still not convinced I found the problem but blowing out all the jets and passageways on four different occasions seemed to fix it.

I think the picture is a gordini carb as I forgot to take a photo of the R5 one.

FInally with the carburettor working properly the car was properly driveable for the first time. It was only then that I realised I didn't fit inside it. My leg touched the steering wheel whatever position the seat was in.

I've fitted an aftermarket Intersport steering wheel found on a scrap Renault 5 Gordini which has a deep boss. I now have an inch of clearance between my leg and the steering wheel. I prefer the look of the TX steering wheel but couldn't live with it.