1st drive the good and the bad

[MATTT]

well after almost 2 yrs ive actually drive mine for the 1st time today for about 15 miles

the good
the gears are great being so close to your hand whilst driving

the gears are quite tall so its surprisingly nippy and ive found im in 3rd a lot around the back roads

suspension is lovely over the hundreds of humps around here and it corners really quite well,feels like a limo after using my mini

the rear seats flip up so handy for carrying things

the bad=although mostly due to faults not the car generally

the idle is irratic and sometimes is almosts stalls

brakes squeak when you turn one way slightly,i think the inside pistons are slightly seized as the discs arnt cleaning up evenly on the insides and the brake readings were borderline,although it pulls up evenly and stops quite well

indicators wont turn off by themselves

car is sitting 11mm lower on the drivers side which is even worse when im sat in it!
the suspension is the worst job,could this be where its not been used?

ill stop posting for a bit now or else youll think im a spammer!just got the bug now its finally on the road,well once its taxed

 

[ggcton]

New experience

No need to stop posting it may be old hat to the experienced 4 drivers but to those of us new to the R 4 it all helps with understanding the cars and what to expect.
Keep up the good work
Gary

 

[angel]

the gears are great being so close to your hand whilst driving

I have always wondered, why other cars' drivers look at our "umbrella gearstick" with such disbelief? It's so much nicer to use!

well,feels like a limo after using my mini

The worst case is driving a Mini when your everyday car is a R4 and you are used to it... :-)

the rear seats flip up so handy for carrying things

Welcome to the R4 world!

 

[jjad]

Keep us updated on your progress, it's all very interesting and highly relevant.

Chances are someone else will either have had the same problems as you or will in the future, so we can all learn from each other.

 

[Le Champ]

Exactement!

Congratulations Mattt, keep spamming - Jjad and Gary are spot on. Judging by the responses to 'for sale' posts there's plenty of potential new owner's - thanks to our patient/tireless leader and his devoted assistants Clem and Fred . We don't have 'old hatters' :shock: - we were all once newbies! That's what makes this specialist and dedicated forum special.

 

[paulandpat]

You'll find the gearlever handy to hang your carrier bag from the takeaway on!
Not that there are any here .
Having only ever driven a mini once in over 35 years I would have thought anything was better than that!
You will find it quite addictive once its in regular use.

 

[malcolm]

Don't go away now your cars on the road. It can be nippier still with a Henessey Hot up Kit! Very worth while addition to a GTL.

The indictors ought to self cancel - there's a plastic thing on the stalk that gets bumped by a metal thing on the column. Often if the steering wheel has been repositioned rather than centralising the tracking the metal thing is in totally the wrong place. Try turning the wheel a full revolution and back a full revolution see if anything cancels.

Leaning cars are great fun - it could be the front suspension or the rear that's out, and if you adjust the wrong one the car steers on bumps. Could also be you've just got out of the car before measuring it and it's taken a set - try bumping it up and down and pushing it forwards and backwards then measure again.

 

[MATTT]

I jacked up the front today to free up the sliders on the calipers a little,put the jack right in the middle of the front on the bar that runs from one side to the other
it measured 10mm out still at the rear
it does say in the haynes book 10mm is ok but it should be set so its lower on the passenger side not the drivers side

Ive been hunting through the old posts about this and did anyone make the tool to adjust the rear?
the manual makes it sound tricky,but i do want to get it adjusted still
I guess a main renault dealer would still be able to do this?

 

[malcolm]

Rear is the more normal cause in UK cars, often down to movement in the inner mountings through rust or repairs. It is a pain to remove the rear torsion bars in a GTL. I've never managed it. But I have found the suspension height is very sensitive to the hole positions in the inner members. I ended up building a jig to get them right.

Have yours been repaired in the past or do they look a little flaky in places?

 

[MATTT]

they dont look too bad
i think the underside is original ive not found a single repair or patch anywhere on the whole car,part of the reason i decided to restore it really
are they adjustable then,by moving the mounting or are the holes in a fixed position
i guess there could be some internal rust i cant see that has caused a slight movement although the haynes book did say + - 10mm was within spec so it could have always been like this,im not sure how accurate they were when they were 1st made?

 

[malcolm]

How accurately were they made? Have you seen the door gaps?

The rear mountings aren't adjustable for height. Torsion bars themselves are, but I've never managed to get one out. I'd not worry about it too much personally - 10mm isn't too bad.

 

[MATTT]

maybe im being too picky then
its just i notice it now when its parked and it bugs me

 

[claude van rouge]

its just i notice it now when its parked and it bugs me

Not a problem we have as we have nowhere flat to park Claude outside our house(s) - checking the oil level, now that's a different problem, and is mostly done in supermarket car parks :roll:

PS The lake in the background of the photo is normally a green field but the picture was taken during last November's floods.

 

[MATTT]

mine looks just like that on the flat

i think i need to get a towbar too would be well handy

 

[angel]

The tool to adjust the rear torsion bars is piece of cake to make.
The hard part is to remove the bars.
If they cannot be removed as per the manual (and Haynes is accurate here...) the only solytion is to remove the complete rear suspension, with all the tension removed from the rubber bushes the torsion bars will be easier to remove (but will still require patience).

Maybe easier to convert to LHD so the 10mm difference will be from the correct side? :-)