I want to drive my 4L for whole my life. Please help me.

[magon]

Hello.
My name is Haeryong NAM, Korean. My wife is Youngae.
My english is not good. Please understand my english. :-)

We started our 1 year wedding tour in Europe last year September from Paris.
We bought lovely Renault 4 (1985, GTL) in Paris.
And then we traveled from Paris to almost all Europe nations(more than 35 nations, even Moroco) with R4. :-)
It was 115000km when I bought my car in Paris. After that we droven 38000km so far. So now is about 153000km.
I want to drive my car for whole my life, if I can.
Because we loves R4. and it will be beautiful trip with R4 during for our whole life.

We have to come back to Korea after 10days from Paris.
Therefore I decided bring my car to Korea by ship from Hamburg, Germany.

If I birng my R4 to Korea, it will be the First Renault 4. (I saw a few 2CV, mini etc, but never ever about R4)

The problem is......
I really don`t about car, especially R4.
There is not any spare parts or pieces for R4 in Korea.
It`s really problem.
If I order the pieces from France to Korea, it will be so expensive to me. Delivery fee is huge.
So I want to buy many spare parts and pieces now.
I will send whole pieces with my car in container by ship.
Because I can save transportion cost at least. (there is many space(2*2.5*2.5m) in the container. I will use whole container.

Sir. Can you help me? I really need your help.

How can I prepare some parts for next some years or next 100000km?

1. My 4L is not good balanced. It`s out of the horizontal. Lest side is more taller(?) than right side. So left back tire are worn away just edge of inside. How can I repair this problem?

2. Lamp part is not good. Front samll lamp is totally not working. And also back break lamp is not work. I exchanged new lamps, but it doesn`t work. excahange whole part?

3. Broken down galss protector of front head lamp. How can I find this glass?

4. damaged a door. How can I repair? Can I find a door?

5. long crack on left side. How can I repair?

6. Broken down one piece on front plastic panel.

7. Renault mark on the wheel. one piece is missed.

8. Bolt for engine oil tank are damaged. How can I find?

9. Bolts for wheels are worn away. How can I find?

10. I need original supporter for parcels on the top. Can I find 4L original supporter?

11. I think impact absorber part is not good condition. Between tire and car body is very closed.

12. When I change gear, especially from 1 to 2, it`s not smooth.

13. and... Break pads and some parts which will worn away... I don't know what R4 needs..

14. Where can I buy subtitued lead for good price?

I really don't know what I need. Please teach to me.


Could you let me know about spare parts and pieces for future?
Of course I can not buy all things, But I want do my best as possible as I can.
And Do you know how can I find those parts and pieces(for resonable price) in France(Paris) or somewhere?
Cheap price is very important to me.

Thank you so much for leading loooooooooooong text.
My email is 7honeycombingod@gmail.com
Have a good day.

Warm greeting
Haeryong

 

[angel]

Welcome Haeryong! Your R4 seems sovely, and you will certainly enjoy it.

In my opinion, take the R4 to a garage while you are still in France to have all those things sorted out. and have the whole car checked for anything that you may have not noticed.
It is very hard to predict what a R4 will need over time. Certainly some consumables like brake pads/shoes, filters, contact points, gaskets etc. can be bought in anticipation. I think however that your best bet would be to search for a second complete R4 to be used as a parts donor. R4s like yours are very common in France, and you can find a rusty one without Controle Technique cheaply.
You can also source parts on Ebay.
Lead substitute is not needed for these engines.

Have a nice time with your new R4!

 

[pepper]

It may be the photo but the right hand rear wheel looks like its pointing to the left in a very strong way!

 

[malcolm]

The rear wheel is adjustable for tracking by three bolts in the outer mounting. See the bottom of this page: http://www.renault4.co.uk/rosalie_repair_sensible.htm. Possibly this will improve the height too.

There are a lot of questions all at once. It might be cheaper in the long term to buy a very good rust free car rather than a car that needs repair.

For long term use, brake, balljoint and engine service parts are the main things that are needed to keep the car running. I keep a spare set for mine.

 

[The_Blacksmith]

Personally I'm not in favor of messing with the ride height and such before you have figured out what the exact cause of the problem is. What you can check for is the suspension mount. If it has gone to dust the car will have a distinct lean and the wheel will point out to the side. Handling will be dismal as the car now has the same feature as the new megane and laguna ( steering on the rear axle ) without the benefit of working at the same time as the front wheels.

I agree with the option of taking the car to a Renault dealer and having it repared there.

Renault dealers might say that the whole axle needs to be changed to fix the suspension mount problem. This is not exactly true. For the mount to be changed you need to take the axle off the car.
It is then less fiddly to change the axle then it is to grind of the remnants of the suspension mount and put on a new one. Get the mount on wrong by a few degrees and you are back at square 1. It is a very precise job and not every mechanic is a very precise type of person.

Don't worry to much about not being very knowledgeable about cars. You'll learn in time.