Restoring Rosy Renault

[newonda1]

Hey guys, I have been around this site for a little while but I have finally started to document the restoration process. If any of you guys want to check out what a restoring a Renault looks like in Laos please check out my new Xanga site at http://www.xanga.com/RosyRenault .

Also, I would really appreciate any feedback about ideas for the design of the car!

 

[malcolm]

The restoration looks great. I like the idea of fitting air conditioning in place of the heater.

For the design I like the '68 to '72 wide aluminium grille and chrome hubcaps, but that's just my preference. What did the car look like to start with?

 

[newonda1]

I wish I had some good pictures of the car from when I first bought it. She was pretty beat up. None of the doors closed quite right, water poured in from all directions (even from the floor) when it rained and she was full of mosquitos. She was painted a light blue but within a few months rust was coming through that in many a place.

Reading about how all of you guys in Europe can go and just buy a new engine has made me a little jealous I must admit. I have basically had to rebuild the entire thing from scratch. I have one final load to get from Angel and then I'll be ready to put her together again.

One question I do have is: Has anyone installed an air conditioner in their R4? We are having quite a time trying to figure out where to put the compressor. There's not a whole lot of room for it up front unless I stick it in the passengers leg room. Do you think it could go in the floor board in between the driver and passenger?

 

[malcolm]

Might be easier finding a smaller aircon system - the Ford Fiesta aircon is very popular for classic cars as it's very compact.

Otherwise you might make more room in the centre console by fitting the radio holder. That would give another 50mm or so into the car.

 

[Simon.AU]

What motor does the car have? An 850cc or 1108cc GTL motor? I've seen pics of GTL's in Japan fitted with A/C, (I'll find the pics), the compressors driven off the cam pulley.

Now next question, if it has the GTL motor, are these fitted with a dual row timing chain? As the shock when the compressor kicks in could break the single chain, the 5 Alpine motors have a dual row chain probably for extra strength too. One other thing, some R16's in Australia (different motor but similar layout) suffered from broken cam shafts due to shock loading on the cam, a rubber donut connector minimised the shock loading as the A/C cut in.

 

[dg]

On the subject of air conditioning, does anyone have any experience of fitting aircon to classic cars? Clemantine you mention Fiesta system, have you done this? I would like to fit air con to my Citroen DS but don't know if I need to have all parts from one car or can cobble together bits from several. Although the DS was available with AC, parts are hard to come by so a custom installation seems the way to go. Any advice gratefully revieved.

 

[newonda1]

Air Con....

Rosy is fitted with an 850cc engine. Does that change any of the suggestions for the air con?

Also, I would like to hear the comments relating to dg's question. There is not a big variety of cars here in Laos, so piecing together an air con sounds tempting.

Does anyone have any suggestions or concerns with using a Daihatsu car? That seems to be the most readily available air con replacement.

 

[malcolm]

I've never really investigated aircon systems - the Fiesta recommendation came from a vintage bentley dealer who finds them easy to install in tight spaces.

The 850cc doesn't have much power, so it would make sense to pull the system from a small engined basic car. The parts should be smaller. and the system should take less power. I'm not sure if mismatching of parts from different cars would be a problem, but it must be easier just to get the bits from a single crashed car from a scrapyard.

 

[newonda1]

Restoration page updated

Hey guys, I've updated the restoration page with some more pictures from the past couple of weeks. Swing by and have a look if you'd like!

http://www.xanga.com/RosyRenault