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Project Claude

Davemassey1983

Enthusiast
Messages
43
Location
Pembrokeshire
Right then....I have already posted a “hello” thread so instead of spamming that post in the wrong place I thought I would start one in the right place!

This is Claude, a 1986 french r4. 845cc.

He is going to be getting a full restoration (eventually) and I’ll be learning a lot of things along the way. I’m a fairly capable mechanic but my welding experience isn’t quite up to scratch so that’ll be something I’ll have to lean....thank god for forums and YouTube!
Any way I’ll post some pics...
 
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That was on the day of his arrival, I have since had a few minutes to have a dig around. The front floor is 70% shot so I’ll just replace the whole thing, rear has a small patch that will need a repair on the drivers side.
Boot looks great apart from some surface rust.
The chassis is in ok condition, most of the rust appears to be on the drivers side with the exception of a hole on the bottom of the front wing on the passenger side.

Engine wise...all seems to move freely just a little dirty! And I think there may be gearbox issues as the gearstick pulls out a hell of a lot!

Plans are....firstly strip out the interior and engine so they can go in the shed and get some love in the evening when I have most of my free time then as the spring/summer roll around the body will be separated from the frame and I can concentrate on getting it structurally sound before I attempt to prep and repaint the body!
 
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Hi Dave. Claude certainly looks like he's in need of some tlc, so we'll done for saving him from a nasty end. You've come to the right place, coz there's a wealth of experience here. Looking forward to seeing how the rebuild progresses.
Regards Brian.
 
Also looking forward to this restoration, to me it looks like a full restoration judging by the first pictures from Claude.
The chassis is often more affected than seen at first glimpse.
I started in januari 2017 as seen here and since july 2018 on hold due to a house restoration.
But it's fun to do it by yourself and onthis forum there's tons and tons of knowledge.
Keep us updated and everyone loves pictures no matter how rusted, bad, shot, broken it is, it's all about the progress.
Good luck and don't hesitate to ask
Regards, Joop
 
Hi Dave
You may well have come across these sites already, but I'm sure they'll be useful:

https://www.franzose.de/en/Renault/R4/ (Very reliable)

https://www.melun-retro-passion.com/pieces-occasion/renault/re_04-4l/idcat-RE.04.7.1.CHA. (You can even buy a new chassis from them - I saw one in France last year, and it looked excellent).

https://www.4lparts.com/10-carrosserie-chassis-serrurerie
(I haven't ordered anything from them yet, but they seem to have some good stuff).

By the way, your engine looks like an 1108 GTL to me - if it has '688' (or, less likely, C1E) on the engine plate, it'll be an 1108.
Best of luck with the restoration!
 
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Thanks everyone, Andy...I already have the pages saved on my phone haha! Although I may need the help of my teenage son to translate some of them
That’s interesting re: the engine, I will have to have a closer look at that as the logbook states 845cc...it would be nicer to have the slightly bigger cc engine!
I must say everyone on here has been extremely pleasant so far (I’m sure that will change the more I get to know you )

Does anyone know if there are any breakers of these in the uk? I haven’t found anyone as of yet but would like to keep the spend down on some of the smaller bits I need, wing mirrors, headlight glass etc

Thanks all
Dave
 
Had a spare hour today so I decided to get the interior out and have a closer look at what I’m dealing with, a bit more work than I was hoping for but not as much I expected! Rear floor seems to have been replaced at some point as there is an odd looking nut and bolt holding them in near the heel board? Not sure if it was built like this or something someone has done to hold the floor in place before welding.
Frame is fairly rotten but nothing that a little graft won’t sort...just out of curiosity does anyone know what gauge steel the chassis is made from as I can get some ordered ready to go.
Oh and my boot support is a little....warped?! So that’s in the shed awaiting its date with the vice and a hammer.
So the plan for the next week is to hopefully strip the drivers seat down and dust off the old sewing machine and see if I can’t make a new seat cover as the passenger seat and rear bench are in pretty good nick!
 
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This is going to be a very interesting project! Very good you will do a body-off restoration. Have you tried to start the engine? :cool:
 
Yes it will definitely be interesting! No I haven’t yet, it’s missing the fuel cap so I have no idea if the tank is just full of water so I will wait until I have removed the engine and given it a thorough checking over....after all it has done over 240,000kms so it will probably need something!
 
Quick update/question....cleaned off the engine plate, can someone confirm if it’s an 1108?
 
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was just about to post about engine size when I saw the gtl plastic mouldings
 
Afternoon! Bit of a busy month here so not a lot done on Claude...I pulled the front wing in the hope that I could fix the massive hole in it but as soon as the grinder touched it I was greeted with a huge cloud of filler dust ‍♂️ So that’s toast....it’s going on the list of parts o need to order/find.
There’s some very good news for me though, I have managed to find a unit to work on him in! So hopefully next weekend we’ll be moving him and and getting stuck into completely disassembling him... I will keep you posted,
Thanks!!
 
Well I’ve finally got Claude to his new home! Lots to do to make it more comfortable to work in but I’ve already started the strip down. More to follow soon I hope!
 
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Well I had a few hours spare this morning so went on up to start stripping Claude, managed to take one of my mini helpers to lend a hand, we managed to get almost all of the body panels off. I have started to remove the wiring and surprisingly only 2 bolts have sheared so far! (Bumper bolts)

It’s a fair old slog making sure everything has been organised and labelled properly but it’s nice to get the kids out doing something that isn’t playing Xbox!

Next jobs will be drain the tank, remove the rear fenders, finish the wiring and hopefully pull the engine....I’m hoping to have the body removed from the frame over the Easter weekend

Thanks, Dave
 
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