french r4

[jaa]

I am thinking of buying a french registered R4, it will be my first one. Any tips?

 

[malcolm]

The main thing is to get one with a solid chassis. There are some photos in the restoration section of what to look for. Then a rust free cosmetically good body and interior are good to have. Mechanicals are readily available secondhand (from cars without solid chassis).

 

[jaa]

I have found one with a new CT, but has a few problems hand brake cable and a few other silly things, I have only seen pics so cant be sure of the chassis. what is the most common spots for rust?

 

[malcolm]

It's very common to find chassis rot around the inner rear suspension mounting (hidden behind the damper) as in the photo. That can cause the car to sag to one side. The outer rear suspension mounts can also rust, and to fix them the body really needs to be removed. Also the 4 corners of the floor can rust, although they are easy to patch. See the chassis welding page for more photos of where the cars rust.

For the body, the most annoying rust is at the rear just above where the rear wings. That's tricky to fix neatly. See other places to look on the body welding page.