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My R4 nostalgia trip

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NickApp

Enthusiast
Messages
27
Location
Warrington
Hello all, I'm just about to embark on an R4 adventure, having recently 'accidentally' bought an '83 lhd TL off Ebay from a nice English gent who now resides in France.

There is some rear sill/outside suspension mount welding required, but otherwise appears very honest & remarkably rust free.

140k kilometres & having had 2 R4s as my first two cars as a youngster, I'm looking forward to tinkering with this one

How do I insert pics from the laptop or do they all have to be from a hosting site?
 
Do post photos. There is an 'upload a photo' button beside the post reply button which makes it easy to upload photos.
 
NickApp said:
Hello all, I'm just about to embark on an R4 adventure, having recently 'accidentally' bought an '83 lhd TL off Ebay from a nice English gent who now resides in France.

There is some rear sill/outside suspension mount welding required, but otherwise appears very honest & remarkably rust free.

140k kilometres & having had 2 R4s as my first two cars as a youngster, I'm looking forward to tinkering with this one

How do I insert pics from the laptop or do they all have to be from a hosting site?
Click to expand...
R4 b.JPG R4 c.JPG R4 d.JPG R4.JPG R4 b.JPG R4 c.JPG R4 d.JPG R4.JPG
 
I will need to go through the process of registering it in the UK, so all tips & hints welcome & the same goes for installing rear foglamp. I'll be modifying the headlamps as per the thread on here.
 
It's not too hard to get the MOT sorted, but all the local dvla offices have now shut, so the easiest way is to print the forms out from online, fill them in and send them off.
 
Remember to do the NOVA form as soon as your home or they can apply charges. I did it for a Citroen GS last year, it's quite straight forward...
Car looks great!
 
Where do I get the paper NOVA form, as the online one seems to relate to business importing a car?
 
NickApp said:
Where do I get the paper NOVA form, as the online one seems to relate to business importing a car?
Click to expand...
Its OK, I've found it & posted it!

How do I amend the thread title so as to be able to spell nostalgia correctly?!!
 
Ha, so it does!

On a more serious note, who has fitted a foglamp to their cars & where did you wire the live feed to & did you add a relay or simply wire to earth & the head lamp feed?

One other thing, is there a list of spec changes anywhere that details what changed in which years? For instance when did front drums give way to discs for GTLs & did this ever happen to French market TLs etc?

Cheers
Nick
 
Well finally got underneath my new toy this weekend & she's unbelievably solid apart from the small area of welding adjacent to rear sill/outer suspension mount that I already knew about!

The underside and inside the wheel arches are dusty but with no other rust apart from some surface stuff on the suspension components.

In short, it appears to be as described, an R4 that has spent its life on or around a farm in the southwest of France with the warm weather & limited exposure to wet/muddy roads with the interior full of sand & dust. I'll gut the interior, shovel out the sand (!) & generally steam clean/Hoover it all but it's all in sound, honest conduit.

The engine sounds very quiet & sweet & the clutch bites low down & even the wire bonnet stops are still intact!

In short I'm well chuffed!

Now to get it MOTd!!

Wish me luck
 
Welcome from me too
See you edited the title
Make sure that if the suspension mounting area is badly corroded that it hasn't started to move out of alignment because if welded in the wrong position it will upset handling and cause tyre wear
Ideally cutting as much rust out as possible and not just welding over the top
 
The wiring for the fog lamp is normally already there, just need a switch and to extend the wire from the left hand side of the boot to the right.
 
If you really lucky there will be a spare connector plug behind blanking plug on dash fit genuine switch In hole job done
Think depending on year and spec
 
mr-reno-139 said:
Welcome from me too
See you edited the title
Make sure that if the suspension mounting area is badly corroded that it hasn't started to move out of alignment because if welded in the wrong position it will upset handling and cause tyre wear
Ideally cutting as much rust out as possible and not just welding over the top
Click to expand...

He has cut out all the rust & fabricated new 'box' to weld in. Collected car today & first proper drive.

Love it!

Issues are - will not idle off choke & won't run cleanly - was almost out of fuel so suspect that idle jet has been partially blocked, so will remove & blow through.

Brakes are erm, interesting! Will be stripping & inspecting before MOT

Engine sweet & will drop some flushing oil into it before I change the oil & filter

Cant get the rear door to open, suspect the latch is stuck

Interior just needs stripping out & cleaning

Onwards & upwards!
 
Wow, just exactly same year, colour, engine etc as my own TL :) Mine is also from france
 
So whilst having a brief exploration of the interior, one of the switch blanks below the hazard & hrw switches has wires to it, which I'm hoping might be the feed for a rear fog lamp switch, as someone previously suggested might be the case.

Won't have chance to start working on her for a week or 2, but I'm itching to get started!
 
Forgot to ask, has anyone got a spare original fog lamp switch that they don't need that they'd be willing to sell?

Otherwise I'll have a look in Der Franzosiche catalogue
 
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