Peppers Renault 4

[bantamallan]

Screwfix sell s/s dome head Allen screws 8mm suitable for bumper bolts for less per 100 than chrome bolts each I used them on my 5
Allan

 

[pepper]

Today I managed to get quite a bit done to BB, I refitted all the interior, painted the front and rear bumpers, straightened and fitted the bent set of front overriders from the white crash damaged car, cleaned all the rubber mats (in a freezing trough!) then I fitted the other set of wheels I managed to buy and got her out of the workshops for a few photos. She's ready for MOT now, though before that I want to have a good session with the rustproofing!


I started off looking at restoring her but decided just to get her on the road and use her as my winter run around, the heaters execellent and the roadholdings very good.

 

[malcolm]

Nice colour match on the wheel detailing. Couldn't have done better myself!

Would you like some nice rubber things to fit on the rear bumpers? I don't think R4s look the same without them. In fact without them they look like Renault 4s missing the rubber things on the rear bumpers.

Quite agree - a good rustproofing and have the old girl on the road earning a living. Mine sits outside and is subjected to salt and damp in the winter. I think she'd hate being off the road for one of my lengthy restorations.

 

[pepper]

Thanks for the offer of the rubber over riders, I've got a pair but I'd taken them off whilst straightening out the bumper irons which were all over the place and thought it best to put them on after I'd painted save having to mask them up!

The wheel detailing wasn't me! It was what was on the wheels when I got them, I haven't decided whether to re do them blue or not yet?

What does everyone else think, Blue detailing or keep the red? or as an outside chance how about the cream I'm using for the bumpers?

 

[malcolm]

Or a further option - paint stripper and leave them wheel colour? Otherwise my vote is for bumper colour.

Have you figured out what you are doing for rust proofing yet? Winter doesn't seem the time for spraying wax based products that will set as soon as they hit something that's a bit cold.

 

[pepper]

Ahh well my workshop (behind BB in the pictures) is an old piggery it has 5" of insulation and is as warm and snug as a bug in a rug, especially once we fire up the heating in there!

We can get it upto 18 degrees no problem at all in there so its as warm as I need it to be to get everything nicely warmed through.

I'm going to re pressure wash it tomorrow night, then leave it to dry till next weekend, Then I'm going to Schutz all the wheel arches and underside then use a very very thinned down waxoyl to get into all the chassis and box sections, if I thin it down enough and get it warmed right through its like a mist when I start spraying and it goes everywhere! I'll just pump everything full of Waxoyl.

It took two weeks for Judiths Twingo to stop dribbling out of the drain holes once I'd done that.

 

[malcolm]

18 degrees? Can I come and live in your workshop? I promise I won't fill it with elderly Renaults (cross fingers).

What kind of heating do you have in there? My little stove once added 5 degrees to the ambient in mine, and that was a record. My roof is insulated (though the stone walls aren't).

I've heard people suggest heating up crossmembers is a good thing even in the summer. My own waxoyl attempts have all been conducted in the summer but I've never been happy with flow into the seams.

 

[pepper]

We've got 3 diesel powered space heaters!!!

These are what we use

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/DIESEL-KEROSE...14&_trkparms=72:1301|66:2|65:12|39:2|240:1318

 

[pepper]

And our workshop is full of 2 VW campers, one split screen minor one Traveller 1000 one Morris Oxford and a Renault 4.

We still have room to work!

 

[John Doe]

Or a further option - paint stripper and leave them wheel colour?

I would go with this option.

 

[pepper]

Well this evening I've finished putting the mats back into the car and tidied up the rear seat belts, I'd previously changed the speedometer into a UK version so it has Kilometres and Miles per hour so its legal for Uk use and French use and whilst I had the dashboard apart I also fitted the fog light switch from the white one as the wires were in the dash and I figured I'd find out where they went and put a wire down to the rear for the fog light later on This evening whilst refitting the bumper I noticed a wire dangling down and lo and behold its live when the fog lights switched on! So I've just got to make a bracket up for a foglight now.

I'm going to fit one in the middle rather than to one side, ala Peugeot 206 then it won't matter which country it gets tested in then.

Good old Renault just using one wiring loom and omitting the switch and light rather than having two different looms.

 

[malcolm]

Sorry for a slow response, I was drooling over your workshop and shorted out my keyboard. I'll have a look at heaters like yours - maintaining my stove is a full time job and leaves very little time for actual work. Heat and light have to be the key to successful work in the winter. I've become weak and only manage 3 hours a day in my garage so progress is slowing.

The wiring loom options are handy. It's also possible to fit reversing lights to later R4s with the addition of a little switch on the side of the gearbox. You might have the wires for that in yours too.

PS - I don't think the UK MOT people bother about the speedo. I'm going to try getting through with km/h only on mine. Though I think there could be other laws.

 

[pepper]

It does depend upon the MOT man Mine is very very good but I had a spare speedo and thought hey ho I may as well change it over whilst I've got it here. Our Twingo had never been changed over and must have been through 4 or 5 MOT's though it had a brand new MPH speedo in the glovebox and a convertor too! If you're driving a car for everyday use then having it in MPH in these camera ridden counties is a must!

The other way of course would be to just to use a modern sat nav or pick up a second hand talex lite, they are small and tiny and sit there telling you your MPH.

One of these would be the puppy

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/?_from=R40&_trksid=m38&_nkw=talex+lite&_sacat=See-All-Categories

For a cheapish way of heating the workshop initial purchase wise would be a clarke little devil heater, here's one on ebay with 19kg bottle (which are £26 on their own)
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SPACE-HEATER-...14&_trkparms=72:1301|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318

Here's a link to machinemarts specs for it!

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/p...red-space-heater/path/gas-fired-space-heaters

Even the BIN is a bargain for that and its only a quick nip up the road to Coventry, (if U asked me nicely I may be able to pick it up for you)

 

[jjad]

We've never had a problem with a km/h speedo. Nor with the rear fog light on the left-hand side! Fingers crossed...

 

[pepper]

You won't from the MOT man, but you would from a VOSA inspection team or if you were pulled over by the police.

 

[malcolm]

That's a good point. Maybe I should alter Ornella's speedo. I have a couple of spares in mph that might work, and the km/h one has been fiddled with anyway.

I've sorted myself out with some heating Pepper! There was an old calor gas heater in the back of the barn. New bottle of gas and it's toasty within a couple of feet of the heater, and the whole garage got to 5 degrees. Wood burner has a new chimney, so just need to source a supply of wood and it'll be tropical in there.

 

[pepper]

Wow 5 degrees you say! Did you manage to take a layer of clothing off at all?

 

[pepper]

Well I've been busy cleaning the underside of BB this afternoon and whilst it was ticking over drying out I finally found out where most of the oil leaks coming from.

It seems its leaking from the fuel pump, not sure quite how yet, but at least I can whip the old one off and replace it with a spare and see if that cures it.

Its the only part of it which seems to be leaking badly so it will be a real bonus not to have it peeing oil all over the place!

 

[pepper]

Well its been far too cold in France for playing with cars, whats it been like in your areas?

I managed to go scrapyard hunting whilst in France and although my old favourite is now closed and the land up for sale another yard had a 4 and a F6 in the yard. Chantonnay so I managed to get hold of a couple of headlights for BB. I started taking the light out of the F6 it was the nearest but realised that although the lenses on the 4 were slightly different that they were holding H4 halogen bulbs (in yellow) so I thought I'd take the pair of them as it would give me a great upgrade in the lighting department.

Looking at them I reckon it won't be hard to take the bulb holders off the back and then swap them over so I have matching glass and without disturbing the seal on the front either.

 

[pepper]

Ooo I almost forgot I did do a fair bit of work whilst over there really, I got my Volvo 480es through its Controle Technique so thats ready to sell now, (does anyone want a French registered 480ES with full controle Technique?

500 euros or pounds, either way at the moment as the exchange rates so bad.