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S u carb

Foofighters 27

Foofighters 27

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112
Hi my 1975 r4 tl came with an s u carburettor on ,does anyone know if this performs better than the original zenith ????
Thanks mark
 
Can you please send a photo of the setup, particularly of the inlet/exhaust manifold used? I have always been thinking that these little marvels would offer way better performance than the stock carbs, but couldn't think a way of fitting one other than a custom made inlet manifold.
 
SU carbs are brilliant! Very economical, with a very smooth fuel delivery!

I ran a little Suzuki SJ on an SU carb they run so smooth, like little sewing machines.
 
SU carb

Hi Mark,
If you bought Dave Grays bronze R4TL from Scotland then yes, it's a big improvement. I fitted one to my '76 TL and Dave, who's my pal, fitted one to his. I think I made the manifold adaptor for him, but the old memory aint what it used to be. It's from a Reliant Robin, the carb that is. I was at Thenay for the 50th and I'm sure Malcolm took photo's?. Malcolm?
Angell, I'll see if I can take/locate a photo, better do it soon as I'm probably going to put the car up for sale, I did 178 miles last year, what a waste, and I'll be losing the garage I keep it in.
Alan.
 
Hi did you do a bit of work on daves renault 4 ????,just wondering why the clock is running backwards,could it be something to do with the speedo cable ??
Thanks mark
 
Su carb

angel said:
Can you please send a photo of the setup, particularly of the inlet/exhaust manifold used? I have always been thinking that these little marvels would offer way better performance than the stock carbs, but couldn't think a way of fitting one other than a custom made inlet manifold.
Click to expand...

Hi I'll take some pics for you ,do you have an e mail address I could send them to ???
Also would you know why the odometer would be running backwards and the speedo not working ?????
Thanks mark
 
bison said:
Hi Mark,
If you bought Dave Grays bronze R4TL from Scotland then yes, it's a big improvement. I fitted one to my '76 TL and Dave, who's my pal, fitted one to his. I think I made the manifold adaptor for him, but the old memory aint what it used to be. It's from a Reliant Robin, the carb that is. I was at Thenay for the 50th and I'm sure Malcolm took photo's?. Malcolm?
Angell, I'll see if I can take/locate a photo, better do it soon as I'm probably going to put the car up for sale, I did 178 miles last year, what a waste, and I'll be losing the garage I keep it in.
Alan.
Click to expand...

Hi Alan did you do a bit of work on daves car ,would you know why the odometer is running backwards ,also the speedo not working ???
Tanks mark
 
Hmm, that's interesting, didn't notice that when I was in it last.
It's a brand new old stock gearbox we fitted, but we had to fit the diff from the original box as the one that came with the new box went backwards!. Although it was bought as a NOS R4 box I have a feeling it might have been a Dauphine box or similar, that would tie in with the odometer working backwards?. I'm not sure the speedo has ever worked? Perhaps the speedo drive runs in the opposite rotation?. There was nothing really wrong with the original box as I remember apart from it being slightly crunchy on the synchromesh?, maybe third gear?, can't remember exactly.
Have you got the car fixed and on the road?
It's a great wee car you've got there, I hope you get as much fun out of it as Dave did.
Alan.
 
bison said:
Hmm, that's interesting, didn't notice that when I was in it last.
It's a brand new old stock gearbox we fitted, but we had to fit the diff from the original box as the one that came with the new box went backwards!. Although it was bought as a NOS R4 box I have a feeling it might have been a Dauphine box or similar, that would tie in with the odometer working backwards?. I'm not sure the speedo has ever worked? Perhaps the speedo drive runs in the opposite rotation?. There was nothing really wrong with the original box as I remember apart from it being slightly crunchy on the synchromesh?, maybe third gear?, can't remember exactly.
Have you got the car fixed and on the road?
It's a great wee car you've got there, I hope you get as much fun out of it as Dave did.
Alan.
Click to expand...

Hi Alan ye the car is back on the road ,so back to the speedo ,how could I sort this problem out ????do I need a new cable would this solve it ????
Thanks mark
 
Until someone more knowledgeable chimes in:

The "small" engines turn in the opposite direction of the 1100cm³ ones, so the gearboxes are not directly exchangeable.

If you've adapted the gearbox to drive the car correctly, maybe the speedo connection would have to be changed as well inside the gearbox.

Just a thought

Robert
 
Berti is correct, however, the gearboxes between the small and larger engine cars are not interchangeable, (that I know of), the gearbox we fitted was for sure new old stock, and for sure intended to be fitted to the 845cc engine, there were however many variations of this engine, and they were fitted to many cars, the Dauphine, Caravelle, R3, R5 R6, perhaps others? did one variation have the engine turning in the GTL direction?. There are people much more clued up about these things than me on the forum, any comments?.
I think the speedo drive gear must revolve in the opposite direction in this box. As the speedos are wildly inaccurate I would leave it alone and buy a small cheap GPS type speedo and fit it to the dash. I think I remember a square hole cut in the Perspex?, I think a previous owner has been into the speedo already?. Take the cable off at the gearbox end and fit it to a drill, spin it in each direction and watch the speedo. Just think, in a few years you will have a brand new zero miles R4!!!, unique!, priceless!
Really glad to hear Lulu is back on the road, excellent car.
Alan.
 
It's impossible to fit a Dauphine, R8 etc. rear engined Renault gearbox on the R4.

All speedometers have the same direction of rotation (counterclockwise when viewing from behind), no matter if the engine is left hand or right hand turning, so it should have to do with how the worm gear that drives the cable was cut. Maybe someone changed it at some point and fitted a GTL one.

It may be possible to replace this with the gearbox in place, as only the front cover needs to be removed.

I have PM'd you my email, so you can send me the photos.
 
Hi Angel,
I've found a couple of photo's of my SU conversion, send me your Email address if you would like me to forward them.
As the Reliant swan neck manifold is water heated I tapped into the heater hoses by removing the straight pipes at the bulkhead and fitted T pipes I bought on Ebay, rigged up a choke cable from a mini and a motorcycle throttle cable. I did have plans for a remote air filter with a flexible hose, but fitted a pancake air filter for the time being, it works fine. I would only revert to the old carb for originality, I kept everything, and the good thing is you don't have to modify the car in any way, so you can fit the original carb back no problem. You will see the carb faces the bulkhead, there is no problem with clearance or breathing. Just ask if you need more info.
Alan.

PS, just uploaded a couple of photo's, look in Photo albums "Rene' and the SU"

PPS, all this activity reminds me of how much I love my R4, can't make up my mind whether to sell it or now.
 
Thanks to both for the photos!

As it's a Reliant part, not a "conversion kit", I think it would not be hard to find a manifold.
 
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