New chassis or welded one

[castorlex]

Hi friends, here in Colombia (South America). There are lots of R4 and always main trouble with them is corrosion. My R4 77 (which has a Photo album published here) is in restoration process. I have to choice between repair a chassis that has 30% of acceptable condition, the rest of it need to be welded with new panels including floors, transversal member (where torsion bars are attached), etc, or buy a new one (a company is still selling them). Dealer told me that new chassis is made of coll rolled steel. I need your advice. Which is the thickness of metal used to construct original Renault 4 chassises?

thanks

 

[John Doe]

Did I get this right, you can buy new chassis? Malcolm what do you think about import business?

 

[malcolm]

I'd fit a new one if it is good quality. All older car panels are made from cold rolled steel. The R4 had roughly 1.2mm to 1.5mm sill and chassis sections, and 0.8mm floor. And a lot of reinforcements to cause rust.

How much are the replacement chassis, and are there any photos on the net?

 

[castorlex]

Chassis

The new chassis cost is about €280 ($800.000 colombian pesos), they delivers it to the garage where restoration takes place. I´m going to take some pictures for you. If you are interested in import them from my country, manufacturers (they construct many parts including body parts) price must be lower than dealers one. So I can contact them and you can ask for taxes of importing them to your country.

 

[John Doe]

€280?! That is next to nothing!

 

[malcolm]

Thanks, it will be great to see the photos so see how similar the chassis are to the originals. New chassis aren't available in Europe at all, but we still have lots of rust.

 

[RichardIRL]

That sounds great.

 

[malcolm]

I spotted photos of the new chassis in your album http://www.renault4.co.uk/forum/album.php?albumid=102

It looks very well made and even has the swaging in the same place as the original. There would probably be enough interest from the UK to have a number of chassis shipped in a container.

 

[Richard Williams]

New Chassis

May I add my name to the list, if this turns out to be true your website has just contributed an even greater amount towards the extending the lives of this wonderful little car in the U.K. Very exciting

 

[maurice mathews]

This could be the life line so badly needed,fair play

 

[John Doe]

Mainland Europe would also be interested.

 

[angel]

I would add south-eastern Europe, too :-D.

 

[David M]

Rust

In the Antipodes, where I live, rust seems to afflict a number of cars. About half, I think I've read on a local forum. Apparently, rust begins on the inside and migrates outwards along the seams.

This could be a global discovery of immense (yet strangely small) global proprtions!




David

 

[RichardIRL]

Would you be able to provide us with the name and any details of the supplier of the chassis?

It would be great if you could