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Project 1108 F6 engine

harbourseal

Renault R4 Lunatic
Messages
1,045
Location
Breda The Netherlands
Hi All,

I started a new project today.

My F6 was struggling in France on the trip to Thenay. It turned out to have some compression issues on the third cilinder.
Since it is a 956 Renault 5 engine with 44 Hp it should not have been outrun bij an F4 with only 34 Hp.

We had an old 1108cc engine lying around that seemed to be stuck but was loose after all. I decided to use it for my F6. But it needs a complete rebuild.

Today I started to take it apart and clean some of the bits and pieces fullsizeoutput_486.jpeg
The engine as it was, dirty old and neglected. It came original from the GTL sinpar we rescued from a field.
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With the original head gasket. It doesn't look al that bad.
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Cilinder one was the culprit for it seizing lots of rust.
All the other cilinders are filled with carbon flakes.

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Carbon and rust in the head as well, but the valves have not eaten in to the seats. So quite good to use.
Nice clean up job.
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Cilinder 1 looks like the previous owner used water as a coolant.
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Inside the sump.
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Oil pump already cleaned.

More parts are cleaned and in storage already until the new parts arrive.
Ill be taking the crankshaft and flywheel to a machineshop to have them balanced.
The head will be skimmed a bit for a little higher compression.
The engine block is going to have a bath to clean it up.
 
oehh, I love these kind of projects, please share your progress and keep it up!
 
Yesss, nice job Robert, I have suddenly a complete deja-vu looking at your engine rebuild ;)
Greets Joop
 
Update.
After lazing around on the beach for some hours, I made my way to the workshop.
Cleaned the cilinders with a fibredisc on an angle grinder and got the head ready to go off to the machineshop.
I didn't get the broken of bolts from the water pump out but the engineer from the machineshop told me he'd get them out for me and re thread the holes.

Of course some pics.

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broken bolts completely stuck long live electrolytic fusion.
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Dried and rusty cilinders before cleaning all nicely numbered.
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top of the cilinders also rusty
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Fibre disc ready for play
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The rust is gone, the pitting remains. Just some more surface for cooling.:whistle:
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More permanent marking.
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And the tops nicely cleaned.

They can be of to the machineshop to to be honed lightly. There is some rust in the tops of the cilinders. But they are straight as a ruler on the inside. No need to replace them.
 
IMG_2711.JPG IMG_2712.JPG IMG_2714.JPG IMG_2716.JPG IMG_2717.JPG IMG_2719.JPG I have the head back in the workshop.
Asked to take the valves out for me. But they've done the work of cleaning and refitting for me.
Only 1 valve was to be replaced.
To much rust damage.

The other ones are fine.

Taken the new water pump out of storage for fitting.

One small setback.
The piston liners can't be re used anymore. Got a bit of a slap on the wrist from the old mechanic for cleaning the tops with a fiber disc. He says that the tolerance for the height is so small that I have a risk that they will leak.

He will look for new ones for me.
Learning is a costly process:doh:
 
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Some more progress and a small setback.

The machineshop is not able to get new liners for me. They wil be ordered from the Dutch parts supplier http://www.renault4onderdelen.nl/We...ussen-+-zuigerveren-Mot-1108-cc--688-C1E.html

I now have to figure out how to separate the connecting rods from the pistons and the new pistons back on without destroying them.
Last time I tried some years ago I ended up with a destroyed piston and a perfectly good connecting rod for Mojobaby.

Maybe someone has some ideas.

I got the engine block back from the machineshop. They had it soak for some days to clean it up inside and out.

Today I've taken off some of the flaky old paint and re sprayed it with heat resistant hamerite paint. And did the same with the sump. IMG_2909.JPG
Back from the machineshop after bathing for several days
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Sanded down the top of the engine with 400 grit sandpaper. It is smooth to the touch. Same as my wife's bottom
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Masking for paint.
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After painting with silver colored heat resistant hamerite
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Sump cleaned inside and out and painted in the same tone.

I chose this color because, You can see all the oil leaks if it starts to leak.
 
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Hello Robert. I'm enjoying following the story of your engine rebuild as I'm planning on doing the same in the new year. I've located an 1108cc motor, and the idea is to totally refurbish it while I can still use my car, then around springtime do a swap over.
I'll leave it to the "experts" to suggest how you remove your pistons, sorry buddy I can't help you there, but I look forward to the next installment.

Regards Brian.
 
Well Robert, the CIE starts to look nice and clean again but dis- and reassembling the connectng rod pins hmmm that's a small challenge.
Youtube has some household video's but as the R4 connecting rod pins are really good shrink fitted you'll need a good press and dry ice (-78 degrees Celsius !!!) for the pins and heat for the connecting rod.
It's time consuming and the job has certain risk factors so I'd suggest leave it to a specialist.
But then the challenge to do it all by yourself is more rewarding at the end and gives you a learning curve and experience.

Regards, Joop
 
It's time consuming and the job has certain risk factors so I'd suggest leave it to a specialist.
But then the challenge to do it all by yourself is more rewarding at the end and gives you a learning curve and experience.

I think this is one of those jobs you better could do it by a specialist. It would be a real burner if you screw up! It cost me about 120 euros.

Loving your progress!

chreers,
Jurjen
 
And gotten somewhat further again.

I found some ancient stock cilinder liners for the engine.
The outside is dusted with rust but the inside of the liners are clean and the pistons are a bit dusty. But fine.

I cleaned the seatings for the liners inside the engine block.

Coming Monday I will take the pistons to the machine shop to get the connecting rods attached to the new pistons.
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Does anybody have an idea on how to stop the rust on the inside of the engine.
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The liners shall be lightly honed and the tops cleaned with fine grit sandpaper
 
Does anybody have an idea on how to stop the rust on the inside of the engine.
Good job Robert, and while still in engine restore and construction fase I'd smear a thin layer of engine oil on the inside to prevent rust formation. It won't harm any future cooling liquid whatsoever.
Keep up the pace.
Regards, Joop
 
Stil moving on with the engine.
I picked up my pistons and liners yesterday. The machine shop has done a super job in honing the liners and putting the new pistons on to the connecting rods.
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Today I have started with putting the engine back together.
First fitting the right thickness of paper gasket underneath the piston liners. @mojobaby explains it very well in his topic What have I found.

The ones with the red stripe this time with a thickness of 0,08mm

After the measuring I had to fit put the pistons back into the liners.

Either the Cleon engines you have to put the pistons in the liners and put them in their seatE8AA1BD7-8EBF-48AE-8FB7-403B178AB74A.jpeg
Fortunately the liner is a little tapered at the bottom end, no need to use a piston ring clamp. With some pushing the pistons took there place inside the liner.1FD916AF-44F1-4738-963B-76859D33F8BA.jpeg

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Lowering the pistons and liners into the engine block went like a breeze. I lightly oiled the paper gaskets so the would stick to the liners and don’t fall of.
 
Having done the pistons and liners next thing to do was the camshaft. after lightly oiling the bearing surface it slid in its place being carefull not to damage the cams and the new camshaft seal.71FE74FC-BCEB-40C1-9C6C-625543620A5A.jpeg
Then came the valve piston cups.
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First a bit of oil and then in its seat.
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Now the head gasket and the head went in to its right place.7ED97DE7-DFE4-4847-BD66-9503D3EAC254.jpeg
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The head was titled in place with new head bolts.

I turned the engine round after fastening the head. And put the crankshaft. In place. After having first put in the bearing scales.
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Not forgetting the spacer bearing on both sides of bearing number 3

Oiling all the bearings before putting in the crankshaft also the connecting rod bearings.
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The crankshaft seal was put in place before closing the number 1 crankshaft bearing.
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That’s it for now. More to come
 
Thats a nice looking head gasket, was it part of an engine gasket set, or did you buy it separately?
 
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