bigger engine for towing power

[tim]

Greetings people,
I have a lovely little renault 4 f4 (1979) that I restored last year to move a few bee hives around in. Its ideal. However, this year I am expanding my apiary to about 50 hives and will be moving them around the countryside with a trailer. I want to keep using the f4 but it only has a 845cc engine. Is it possible/practical to fit a reasonable sized engine to give me some towing power? And I guess, some bigger brakes.

any advice please, tim.

 

[malcolm]

Welcome to the forum.

It's reasonably easy to fit an 1108cc engine from a later GTL, but you'll need to use quite a lot of the GTL as gearbox, radiator and general bits and pieces under the engine bay are mostly different. Should be possible to pick up a scrap GTL for £50.

Engine and gearbox mounting points are the same, and you can use the same witing loom, so it's a bolt on job. You need to hit the bulkhead with a hammer to clear the oil filter, and the fuel pump will foul the handbrake on RHD cars. I moved the handbrake across to the other side of the car when I did the conversion, but it would be easier to fit an electric pump.

For the brakes I'm reasonably certain the GTL front upright and hubs, and the rear drums will bolt on to the earlier car, but you'd also need to transfer the floor mounted handbrake across as the handbrake is on the rear wheels. I think you need the GTL steering rack too.

The GTL radiator is much further forward in the car so you'd need to chop the reinforcing bars off the bonnet (makes for a floppy bonnet) or replace the bonnet with one from the GTL.

 

[tim]

greedy

Thanks for the advice on the GTL engine. However, I think I need to be more greedy as I will be towing a reasonable sized trailer with a few million bees. I've a bit more of a nose around the forum and the 1.4 R5 option looks interesting:

Is it a difficult conversion (I'm used to only tinkering a bit with cars but am a competent engineer (used to fix aeroplanes))?

What model R5s are practiacle for the engine, gearbox, other bits?

How rare is a (Mk1?) R5?

How difficult is it likely to be to get insurance once I've altered the vehicle?

Can I use the R5 brakes or do I have to find a R4 GTL?

And to put in an existential Rumsfeldism. Are there any 'unknown unknowns' that I should know about?

cheers, tim.

 

[malcolm]

Don't worry about the unknown unknowns - we can help you with those. It's the unknown unknown unknowns you've got to worry about. :eek:

You'll need to look for a Mk 1 Renault 5 1400 - they were made up until approximately 1984 so are reasonably rare. Keep your eyes on Andrew's Renault 5 site for spares or scrappers. Bear in mind that MK2 super cinq (later R5 with the transverse engine) parts won't fit.

The early 1400 R5 engine is interchangeable with the 1108 Renault 4 engine with a little extra work on the throttle linkage and air filter arrangement.

The suspension and brake bits are much the same as the R4 GTL, so you could use the brakes off the R5. The radiator mountings are slightly different in that one of the lower mounts is missing, but I have been known to use a R5 radiator in a R4.

You'll probably still need to buy a few bits from Liam, but going the R5 route it won't make sense to buy a whole R4 GTL as well.

For the gearbox - I'm not sure. A GTL box will fit the 1400 for sure, but the 5 speeder I have from a 1400 R5 TX needs a little work on the front crossmember to fit.