what to take from a scrappie...

[daviddb]

Salut!

I've first dibs on a eighties car that is pretty complete but has been heavily rear and front ended. I think the 'gentlemen' from the scrap yard are going to come and pick it up next weekend so what should I grab.....

My R4 is a '68 so I'm not expecting a huge amount of cross-over in parts but am anxious to salvage as much as poss since after six months with the '68 I'm kinda hooked and might have a later car in the future. Plus Free Things are not to be sniffed at.

The body work is all either bent or too tatty to bother much with and I think getting the engine/box out, may be beyond by resources/tools/ability to unbend the front end enough to get at the bolts that fasten the box to the cross member.

Hayne's book for the earlier models, the only reference I have, speaks of special drifts to get the 'roll pins' out of the drive shafts. Is there perhaps a bodge around this?

Fingers crossed for dryish weather at the weekend but apart from that what would YOU go for first.....

regards

David in the Pyrenees.

ps there is no power on site for grinders and whatnot......

 

[timinder]

Is the interior trim in good condition? That might be worth having. If I were you (and had time!) I'd start at one end and work from there, undoing every major assembly and any smaller bits and bobs I could. Even if you can't use it yourself, someone will probably want it!

 

[angel]

The driveshafts on '73 and later models were not retained with roll-pins, simply pull them off!
Not many body details will be the same as your R4 but it is worth retaining the plastic window frames. Door locks especially front ones are also useful. Rubber mats if they are OK, gear lever, seat belts if you want to go to automatic type. If the engine is 1108cc not many parts will fit, but if it is the 845cc version, remove whatever you can it will be useful!

 

[daviddb]

Thank you for that, I popped up today for a recce and to invest a jumbo can of WD-40 on all visible bolts. The car is drum braked with the silencer under the wing and fixed rear windows. The oval plate says it is a 1123. The square plate has 1983 at the bottom and the engine, on the right hand side of the block is numbered 6400 - 650618.

More as it happens, I'll take a couple of snaps .....

thanks again

David

 

[angel]

That means it is 845cc. Try to get the cylinder head off these late ones are really worth.

 

[daviddb]

Never mind just the cylinder head, in the end the whole engine and g/box plopped out, mind you it's got a quarter of a mil kms on it....in fact apart from one rear shocker and the fuel tank sender ( they must build the tank around it....) most everything managed to fall off in the end....save that I had to take the rear axle off in one lump and still haven't sussed out how to split the torsion bars from the stub axles so that's a bit of an unwieldy lump to have loitering around in the back of the garage.

Front axle bolts were a bit grim, took the farmer's three foot tractor spanner in one direction and a five foot pry bat in the other before they wanted to give in.

Of course no novice stripathon would be complete with a self inflicted damn fool avoidable injury ( the squeamish may want to stop here); mine was undoing the spring that holds the rear hatch open, it let go big time and I just didn't get the forehead back out of the way in time. I now now what the expression to bleed like a stuck pig really means. Mrs B. has kindly pointed out that the three inch vertical scar will look quite distinguished......

Coupla or two snaps ( but not of the blood) attached I hope

till the next one

David

 

[mr-reno-139]

well done ,especially if you did it all your self
dismantling cars to the extent you have achieved is quite a task but a very good way to learn about R4 s
of course now you have all these useful spares you are pretty much guaranteed not to need any
still much better than seeing it all being crushed complete
here in the uk the high demand for metal means that breakers yards are not bothering to keep cars sitting long which is causing a shortage of s/h spares for older models

my local suppliers of spares/repairs type cars are asking me more money for them as at £75 a ton i have to pay up or else :shock:

wonder how many repairable R4s have met a similar fate recently ?

 

[daviddb]

In my neck of the Pyrenees the local villages get a visit about once a year from the scrappie to collect all the old cars that have finished their lives as 'mountain cars', that is cars bought cheaply or yonks ago, and then run into the ground doing the sort of stuff you wouldn't want to use a decent car for. I know at least four people in the village who had this Quatrelle at one time or another. And yes, all my own work apart from the muscle on the wheel nuts and applying the bandage. Trouble is the garage looks like a right steptoe's yard now.

It's the first time I've had a torsion bar in my hand so to speak and it's an impressively solid bit of kit compared to the Citroen stuff I'm used to.

Can't wait for the next one, must get a parts washer tho.......

regards as always

David

 

[angel]

You are a lucky guy to find such a R4...

The rear torsion bars will need LOTS of WD-40 and some days patience before you try to move them from the arms. Try both sides of the bar and use a brass drift to knock them , if you use a steel bar there is a possibility of mushrooming on the ends.

 

[daviddb]

Thanks for the advice , especially the brass drift - I hadn't twigged about the 'mushrooming'. I let you know how I get along - but don't go holding your breath!

regards

David

 

[mike4gtl]

and what about this lot http://www.icmesa.com/tinhunter/Givry/THAGivry.htm