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I had the Rodeo seats re-trimmed recently retaining the original foam. Initially they were too high but they settled down a long way over a few days and they are fine now. With new foam maybe they won't settle so quickly but it's worth giving it a chance before modifying the seats as there...

I started changing front wheel bearings and found the plastic parts that retain the ball bearings had fallen out. All the balls were at one side of the bearing which would account for the loud knocking on the last run. The other side doesn't turn smoothly so another pair of bearings on order...

I think the NOVA rules have changed since I did mine and now the NOVA needs to be filled in by a specialist. Worth searching the government site for importing a car. Still no duty on an old car but the form needs filling in.

Backfiring on engine braking generally means the exhaust manifold is too hot. That happens when the timing is too retarded. Worth checking the timing once you are happy with the points.

The sealant is difficult to remove. I normally use a heat gun to soften the sealant so I can cut through with a knife. There are photos of all the normal rust spots on https://www.renault4.co.uk/renault-4-restoration.htm which might help work out what the structure should look like.

I fitted a short starter motor on the Rodeo and found the battery cable and the wire from the ignition switch needed to be extended. But if the wires reach to the new starter I can't see any problem with using the shorter one.

That's looking really good. It's nice to see an early car being saved with so much attention to detail.

I took the driveshaft off. The CV joint is very stiff and the joint can't be moved by hand. I think these are old stock reproduction driveshafts and the bearing surface is roughly finished and has a deep wear mark. That's a lot of wear for 100km so I will probably need a pair of driveshafts...

It's 6mm.

The Rodeo broke twice today. 8km away from home I had a bad knocking noise from somewhere near the front left hub. I found the noise mostly went away at about 50km/h so decided to try to make it home. 2km away from home the engine died. It started again after a few minutes then died again...

It takes a lot of applications of penetrating oil. The shaft bearing is about 100mm long and takes a while for the oil to get down it.

So long as the original date of registration was before the start of the year you can apply for historical status and don't need an MOT to do that.

It'll be the shaft that goes into the gearbox to operate the clutch. They seize up after a while. Normally spraying penetrating fluid where the shaft goes into the outside of the gearbox will fix it. Some photos here: https://www.renault4.co.uk/tech-clutch-seize.htm

The coil and condenser made no difference. The problem was the main jet which I had drilled out too much so the engine was running too rich. It runs much better with a standard jet. The only thing I've not figured out yet is why the timing needs to be 15 degrees advanced but it seems to run...

I've just put the standard 1108cc main jet back in as the car ran too rich on the jet I drilled out. If the car is running OK then the existing jet us probably fine.

I've been troubleshooting a weak spark. The points and ignition leads are new and everything else is old. I've fitted a new rotor arm and no longer get zapped touching the distributor cap, and the engine will tolerate a little choke now, but it's still not right. New distributor cap arriving...

I fitted the Zenith 28IF carburettor. Now strange things are happening and the car won't run well. I did take the distributor apart (and replace the head gasket) over the last couple of days and but I think the problem might be a very weak spark that the new carb has shown up. The...

I went out to change a carburettor and went a bit too far. :laughing: There was froth in the expansion bottle which I guessed was combustion gas blowing into the coolant through the head gasket. There was no water in the oil. Sure enough the head gasket was damaged. I've not seen one fail...

Brilliant. I'll fit a 28IF and hopefully the Rodeo will go a little faster.

Turns out the manual says Zenith 28IF carbs were sometimes fitted to 680 engines and it lists the jet sizes. That somewhat answers my own question. :ashamed: I'll give it a try. The Rodeo group on Facebook say their cars can go 10km/h faster than mine so some performance tuning is needed.