Renault 4 full resto

[Briangrech]

Hi peeps this is my first resto on a French car. The car is in a bad state but doable. Here are some pics, Thanks for watching

 

[petak]

Really hard work is ahead of you.

 

[angel]

Bon courage!

 

[Briangrech]

Got the chassis on the jig.Unsure whether to replace the whole floor of just the front part.What are your views? Thanks

 

[Briangrech]

Any idea how this is supposed to be before rust did its job ,in the sense that is there a metal reinforcement and than another sheet metal to mend the rusted hole?

 

[petak]

Give us some closer look at rear end floor and we might say you few thoughts!

Whole new floor is nice to have but more expensive and harder (expensive) to deliver than quarters.

In any case you will have to do heavy welding here.

Jig is your work?

 

[petak]

Any idea how this is supposed to be before rust did its job ,in the sense that is there a metal reinforcement and than another sheet metal to mend the rusted hole?

Inside is reinforcement (you can see it clear on your photo )that holds side of cross member not to crush while you tightening front wheel bracket that hold upper and lower arm. Pipes which bolts goes thru are welded to side reinforcement (like letter H) and then all together is spot-welded to side of the cross member
On top is one layer of metal

Detail drawing i do not have

 

[Briangrech]

Inside is reinforcement (you can see it clear on your photo )that holds side of cross member not to crush while you tightening front wheel bracket that hold upper and lower arm. Pipes which bolts goes thru are welded to side reinforcement (like letter H) and then all together is spot-welded to side of the cross member
On top is one layer of metal

Detail drawing i do not have

Thanks a lot for your help much appreciated
!

 

[Briangrech]

Give us some closer look at rear end floor and we might say you few thoughts!

Whole new floor is nice to have but more expensive and harder (expensive) to deliver than quarters.

In any case you will have to do heavy welding here.

Jig is your work?

Will post pics of rear,yes a whole floor panel is very expensive especially due to size to have it shipped over. The cheapest i got was from Demarco parts, as Italy is closer to Malta.Yes i did Jig myself,thanks for feedback will give you pics of rear floor

 

[Briangrech]

Give us some closer look at rear end floor and we might say you few thoughts!

Whole new floor is nice to have but more expensive and harder (expensive) to deliver than quarters.

In any case you will have to do heavy welding here.

Jig is your work?

 

[petak]

It looks much better than front end

Seems that you have a lot of surface rust at the rear.

I would recommend that you clean it from dirt and old paint to get to clean metal.

Than you can tell if you need patch here and there.
But definitely i think that you do not need whole floor

 

[JdeW]

I agree with petak about the floor, floorquarters are easier to install. In my opinion, restoring is just to replace the rusty bits and keep as much as possible the good original bits.
Still the chassis needs a lot of repairs, every lateral beam corner will be seriously affected, also the front foot wells (a front cross section) will be affected.
The picture of the left front beam is a true challenge to repair but doable when you know how the front beam is factory designed and assembled.
Here you can follow my chassis repairs including how to attack the the front beam

 

[Jurjenz]

Hi Brian,

Thanks for sharing your photos on the chassis, it recalls a lot of memories when I had to fix all the various rusty spots. I found it most practical to work piece by piece, only restoring the very bad parts like Joop said. You will also 'save' the structural integrity on the chassis.

Good job on 'tha jig ', it will save you a lot of time & fiddling with the chassis.

I'm looking forward to your process!

cheers

 

[Briangrech]

I would like to publicaly thank Jurjenz for the great help offered by providing the windscreen trim shown below! Good people still exist!

 

[Briangrech]

Decision has been taken ..new floor pan ordered, Fabricating some homemade panels before box sill repairs.

 

[Jurjenz]

Nice, keep it going!

 

[Briangrech]

Nice, keep it going!

Thanks Jurjenz

 

[Briangrech]

Some more work carried on..

 

[Briangrech]

...on a side note as i was welding wondered which way this should be positioned when eventually the torsion bar will be refitted. Any help much appreciated.

 

[Briangrech]

Left side almost done.
Before and after photos