Bringing Juliette back to life.

[harbourseal]

Today I started helping my friend Andrej to bring his 1962 4L Juliette back to life.

We spend most of the day taking het from the storage position on to the bridge.

And we started with removing all the old brake parts and and putting a new master cilinder and slave cilinders in.
We have also done the ball joints on both the upper and lower wheel arms.

Juliette came from Clairemont Ferrant being owned by a mechanic from a local Renault garage.
He converted her to 12v as soon as it became available and did some more modifications.
The last control technique and tax sticker were from 1994.
She has always been kept dry. She has been well cared for in the past.
It is nice to work on a well cared for car for a change. All the parts that had to be taken of came off quite easily.

 

[Cornish4]

What a great looking car Robert, and such an early example. Wow!

 

[Jurjenz]

Wow, beautiful!

 

[Stuart Delahoy]

Just perfect!

 

[jjad]

Really very nice. It must be one of the oldest ones still alive!

I do think that the earliest ones are the prettiest looking.

 

[JonathanT]

It's lovely! The simplicity is delightful

 

[Iain]

Great stuff, looks like she'll be back on the road with a new CT in next to no time.

 

[harbourseal]

Today was a day of ups and downs.

First the downs. I hate working on drum brakes. Specially the front brakes with the handbrake are a pain. If anybody knows an easy way to attach the handbrake assembly without hailing the lord in names I will not repeat Please let me know.

Andrej bought the wrong brake hoses for the back brakes so they are not finished yet.
That was it for the downs.
Had I mentioned the that Juliette was well cared for yet. Adjusting the the brakes was a breeze. The adjustment pieces on the anchor plate were loose. On This 55 year old lady everything works, nothing is seized.

We put in two new drive shafts.
Tried to turn the engine by hand and it is not seized either.
The gearbox was empty but it is turning the wheels when put in gear.

We think that the previous owner was doing a service and then suddenly was stopped short in doing so because the whole left front brake assembly was missing.
There was nothing in the drum. We suspect that he was changing the oil from the gearbox to.

Here are some more photo's

The floor. No rust what so ever. And it is untreated.



Just some dust on the petrol tank

Front bake assembly with new driveshaft and blocks

A little rust on the front crossbar

Juliette is flying

Thursday morning I will be back at her finishing the brakes.

 

[JonathanT]

How do you find such a beautiful car!?

 

[harbourseal]

Andrej found her at an auction.

In France you can still find them.

 

[JdeW]

Wow, a very nice early grey almost original R4.
Last year I almost bought a 1965 Blue one, still regret it I didn't do it

 

[JonathanT]

I believe 'Ornella' ex Malcolm is up for sale via Mr Reno. She is left hand drive too and quite delightful

 

[mr-reno-139]

When did anyone mention ornella for sale I've only got it for mot and a new battery
Being collected tomorrow
Having just bought more expensive 6v battery on owners request can't see it being for sale

 

[malcolm]

How is the lovely Ornella getting on?

 

[mr-reno-139]

Behaving very well after I refitted the insulated carb spacer last year
Video from 2015
Few others on my YouTube channel

 

[harbourseal]

We made it today, Juliette lives.

After a long search for a spark and some time of eliminating possibilities.
We finally found the source for the absence of the illusive spark.
My trusted test light brought the illuminating truth to light
The new bought contact points were not sparking because of a lak off bare metal to make the spark jump.
A fine file to the top of the points and we had a spark. After that it was a walk in the park.

We even managed to drive her round the block without getting in to an accident.
She runs but needs some more fine tuning.
Gearshift and braking are ok.
Next step, getting her imported and MOTed

 

[Jurjenz]

Oowwwwwwww yeah!!!

Congrats! Lovely sound

 

[harbourseal]

Today we did the import MOT.
I had to drive her for 20km to the MOT station. On temporary white plates.
It was an absolute joy to drive her.

It was a boring MOT according to the technician that did it.
He couldn’t find anything.

Juliette will get her new plates in the coming week. After that the road safety MOT.

 

[jjad]

Awesome! Well done

 

[petak]

Fantastic news....
It is so magnificent in all hers simplicity.