Clementine's Garage
Clementine the Cat
 
Image of flower
Yellow R4
 
Réparateur d'automobiles

1975 Renault 6TL - the fine line between brave and stupid

On this end, I had to purchase the paper gasket things from a Renault shop in Florida. They were likely discards from old piston and liner sets but they still cost me $20 each (£13).
 
I'll probably get it cleaned up a bit better and trundle over to see what they want to rebuild it. If it's cheap enough then I'll let the shop do it for me, if not I'll DIY. Providing I can get the right gasket paper thickness I could always make the under-liner gasket myself.

No reason why you can't rebuild the engine yourself. Looks like you are doing well so far.
 
I bought a complete gasket set from Franzose for my 845cc. It cost 60Euro plus 12 Euro postage and the paper liner seals were included in the pack. If you get new rings at the same time, the postage stays the same
 
Many of the kits and parts I'm finding are for the smaller engine, not the 1108 I've got in this one and that's a bit frustrating. I'm trying to find a supplier or seller I can buy everything from in one go so I'm not paying multiple lots of postage and stand a chance of everything arriving together. Shame the car is too old and obscure for me to just wander into Eurocarparts or GSF to place an order XD. Barely anyone seems to even know what a Renault 6 is.
 
The liner seals are same as 956 and 1108.renault 8
Which are possibly listed on other classic parts suppliers as they have been a mainstream classic car for longer if that makes sense
 
I found Franzose do a full set for about £55 delivered so I'm going to go with that, it has every gasket and seal I'm likely to need and is a good price. Still a bit baffled by the bearing shells, I reckon replacing them will be the best option from what people are advising but there seem to be several different sizes for the 1108 that I've found listed in eBay.co.uk, eBay.com and RockAuto. Probably don't need piston rings as the ones presently fitted aren't damaged, providing the liners clean up okay of course.

I'm going to prioritise cleaning and inspection of the components over buying any parts, that way I'll know whether or not to get standard, oversized or replacement parts. I'm also trying to decide on an engine colour and I'm not sure if I want to go red, orange, powder blue or some sort of green at the moment.
 
The main bearing crankshaft diameter changed end of 1975 which affects sump gasket too
You will need exact engine code 688 followed by 3 numbers to work out type
 
Mine was registered early in '75. I'll find out what the engine code is, I assume that's stamped on the little aluminium plaque on the block?
 
Yours will definitely be the earlier engine as you mentioned a Woodruff key on the camshaft
This will have the smaller crankshaft which uses 160 millimetre clutch this means the sump gasket rubber strips are smaller and the cork sections gasket i are larger other than this all the gaskets will be the same but they may list two different kits this smaller design was never used on any actual Renault 4 engines
 
688 then three numbers? I have only two numbers followed by a /, as follows:

688-10/
3 461 668

I can post up a picture of the block plaque from my phone once it lets me transfer the files.
 
Not sure what bits you still need but found 5 !! new headlamps and some rear lights 8 !!
Front wing and a headlamp trim
Brake master cylinders
And last pic there is still a mountain of stuff to go through yet all new genuine parts I've had 20 plus years unsorted
 
  • 20151002_180758.jpg
    20151002_180758.jpg
    85.4 KB · Views: 5
  • 20151002_131224.jpg
    20151002_131224.jpg
    108.1 KB · Views: 5
  • 20151002_110540.jpg
    20151002_110540.jpg
    54 KB · Views: 5
  • 20151002_105135.jpg
    20151002_105135.jpg
    91.9 KB · Views: 5
  • 20150918_113049.jpg
    20150918_113049.jpg
    82.1 KB · Views: 4
  • 20150918_124901.jpg
    20150918_124901.jpg
    71.1 KB · Views: 4
  • 20151002_145251.jpg
    20151002_145251.jpg
    107.2 KB · Views: 6
Fell off the seat when I saw this post, Mr Reno139. I am the owner of a Renault 6TL in Ireland, and would like to make contact as I am looking for parts, some of which I'm sure you have, with a view to purchase. However, I'm not sure if it's OK to post email addresses, etc on the forum??? Renosleuth.
 
Hi there renault sleuth if you use your Sherlock Holmes type skills you will track me down ☺
My phone number is listed on here on my profile page call text or whatsapp me
Or Google paul cunningham renault repairs worthing are you clues for today
Also on renault owners club facebook page
Mr vulgalour has so far been resisted my offers of parts even when I offered parts he was looking for a year or so back ☺
 
That's great Paul, am on the case! I will give you a call on Monday/Tuesday once my Argentina-sized rugby win/lose hangover clears.
 
New computer meant I missed that post! Is anything still available? I have a much better idea of what I need now so I'd be far more willing to throw some pictures of the queen at you.

---

Oooo, an actual update! First up, good news on the head, it's not warped at all so that can go on the block happily. I've been told various other components are tired but usable, since the car is likely to only do light duties for a long time they shouldn't cause me any issues so we're going to reuse what's there and replace them if need be in the future. Couple of things holding me back from putting the engine together, the first being the honing tool being out on loan so the liners aren't ready to go in yet. The liners appear to be in good shape, they just need the carbon and muck cleaning off so things are happy on reassembly. The second issue is my back is still giving me grief and the third is that I really wanted to make the mechanical bits and pieces look nice as I work through and sort them out.



For a refresher, this is how the engine did look.

20150309-08.jpg




20150309-09.jpg




The rocker cover got a fresh coat of black paint. It was pretty tatty all over but still nice and solid. The filler cap is in great shape so that just needed a clean.

20160207-01.jpg




I wanted to paint the block green and then decided against it because we had some red paint and I like red and hey, it's free so why not. After taking a wire wheel to the loose stuff I applied three coats as per the instruction on the tin and got a reasonable finish. I'll go back over important mating surfaces with some thinners to make sure everything is clean before reassembly.

20160207-02.jpg




Plonked the rocker cover onto the head when it was dry enough to handle to keep things tidy. I'll get the new seal fitted before bolting this all back together properly.

20160207-03.jpg




Not the most exciting update, I know. At least I'm progressing a bit now. I should add, since my last post I have acquired a full gasket set from Der Franzose and their Book of Temptations.
 
Today, I volunteered Mike to rebuild my engine. This is because I've been next to useless all day thanks to my stupid spine which hates me. Still, better than sitting at home watching daytime tellybox. To kick things off, the various mating surfaces on the block were cleaned of any overpaint on the edges and parts were got together so we could start reinstalling them and making the engine look like an engine again. This all went very smoothly thanks to Mike's ultra-methodical approach to everything and the fact I'd put everything away in specific order so we didn't have to guess at where things went.

20160211-01.jpg




There was a bit of an issue when we found one of the crankshaft end seals in the kit was the wrong size. Everything else in the kit looks the same as what came off the car. I did wonder if the old one had shrunk and the new one just needed compressing but the new one doesn't appear to physically fit where it's supposed to go. I'll be getting in touch with Der Franzose about that one.

20160211-02.jpg




Not to worry, we don't need that bit as we're not ready to put the flywheel on yet. The liners were cleaned up and found to be free of steps and scores, the pistons inspected and found to have a good set of rings on all and to likewise be free of damage. Paper liners (literally paper rings that go at the bottom of the liners) of the relevant thickness for the wet liners were fitted and the task of installing the pistons began. This went very smoothly for two which were installed in the block very quickly. Unfortunately, on the other two the ring compressor slipped which let to snapping the end off one of the compression rings and deforming the end of one of the oil scraper rings. That was quite annoying. Luckily, you can get single sets of rings from Der Franzose for about £15 plus postage. I've been unable to find an alternative supplier for these at the time of writing. Even so, we got far enough that the oil pick up could be fitted and the pile of parts to reinstate has shrunk considerably.

20160211-03.jpg




To avoid and catastrophies, the engine was put right way up and covered until we have the piston rings needed to finish the installation. There's still other engine jobs that can be done without the piston rings being available so we can still progress with things in the meantime.
 
If you scroll back up to my post from 1st September 2015 I warned you that crank diameter was smaller on pre 1976 engines
This also affects sump gaskets by a very small amount but enough to leak after engine is fitted
Carry on and I will wait for you next faux pas
 
I'm aware of that comment. However, I did go over the engine date, numbers and type with Der Franzose to check it was exactly the kit I needed. About the only thing I didn't do was give them measurements of every component, instead choosing to trust a company that I had been led to believe know their stuff. Rather than a faux pas, I suspect this was just a mistake and mistakes do happen.

In better news, correct rotor arm, points and condenser have been sourced using my old distributor as reference. I'm still looking for a reliable supplier for the spark leads but getting there. Doesn't matter how research you do you still come unstuck.

If you have any parts that might be able to help me out do let me know. Be aware, I don't use the Facebook though.
 
Apologies from me as I didn't meant to be disrespectful
You are doing a fine job and all my R6 parts shown previous pics are still in my possession
The man in Ireland has gone silent on me so as long as you definitely want parts I will unbox anything you fancy
Just a bit frustrating to me and tempted to skip anything that doesn't fit cars I own ☺
 
There's definitely parts I need and I'd be happy to rehome just about anything suitable for my R6 as it will be used. From memory, I think the following would be of use:
Rear shock - suspect one is leaking
Front shock lower bushes
Upper or lower ball joints (I can't remember which, I need a pair. I'll have to check what I've got with the car)
Oil filter
Spark leads
Radiator
Door button grommets
disc pads

There's other things I may need in the future, but don't need yet as far as I know:
rear light lenses
locking fuel cap
spare headlights

I'm not really sure what else I can make use of at the moment. It's a case of working through what's there and that's going to take time. This is a _very_ slow project. I don't want to pull the whole car apart to find out exactly what I need because I don't want to lose bits or what little momentum I've got. Please do let me know what sort of cost is involved at any rate. I am usually in Maidstone once a month which is a good bit closer to Sussex than I am usually up here in Stockton-on-Tees and might make collecting things cheaper/more convenient.
 
Back
Top