Big Steve's Renault 11 Turbo Project

[Big Steve - Raider]

Now that my little secret was revealed in all it's glory at the 2011 National Day at Mallory Park I thought it about time to start my own project thread on my Renault 11 Turbo as I enjoy reading everyone else's project threads so much!


So where to begin?? Well I've had an itch for a Renault 11 Turbo for a while and loved Adey AKA Ewok's car he had in 2010 & love their rare/quirky factor.

I already had the Raider & the VAG Clio so something had to go to allow me to start this project & after Nick's horiffic accident at Mallory Park in 2010 I made the decision that i'd never be the track driving god I'd hoped to be so decided to part company with the Clio & Flan bought it back off me to use the parts to create the car it should have always been

So with the Clio gone & the Raider safely tucked away in a friends garage I had the room needed to start!!



I had a look around & was initially looking to buy a LHD Silver Phase 2 from Italy which was in beautiful condition but:

• the whole logistics of buying the car
• moving it back to the uk
• insuring a LHD
• it's VERY high price
• and the fact that it would leave me nothing to actually create & rebuild

... knocked it on the head. Here are some pictures of that car:









So I continued my search...

I tried all of the usual avenues and even contacted Bob at CGB Motorsport who had a phase 1 he was looking to shift but as I prefer the look of the phase 2 this one didn't get any further either..

[Big Steve - Raider]

So the search continues... I didn't find anything in the UK but yet again I was tempted by a White Phase 2 which I found in north west France owned by a smashin guy called Jerome.

This car looked pretty complete but yet again I had the same reality check of having a LHD car in the UK (sorry to all 5 Turbo owners , at least that comment should keep Bill happy!) so decided not to go any further:







Next thing you know it was Christmas & I was enjoying the lull between Christmas & the New Year by doing a bit of surfing & found an advert on e-Bay for a Silver Renault 11 Turbo in the UK that caught my eye:

Here we have the sale of my R11 Turbo. 3owners, 39,000miles, 11 months MOT Very original,very solid,no rust,no rot,never ever welded. Has had unleaded cylinder head conversion, Carb re-jet uprated camshaft and valve springs, replacement radiator new sports shock absorbers, new front road springs, 4 yokohama tyres, speedline alloys balljoints,track-rod ends,gaiters, New headlights and indicators.

The car is in really good,original condition. over the years the bonnet has gone flat and been re-sprayed in matt black. a tiny selection of carpark dinks, easily counted on one hand.

The interior again is all original and working, central locking, electric windows, boost gauge etc!!

Fast, forgotten Hothatch with endless Tuning options!! exactly same 1.4t as R5GT-T. Car owned by Retired couple since 1994 SWAP or PX.

OFFERS AROUND £1500 TRY ME.

The advert read well & said that it had a few original bits & was an original car but the pictures told a different story...

[Lomo]

[paul b]

you KNOW I like it

[Big Steve - Raider]

I phoned the guy up & asked why he was selling it?? It turned out he is a Plasterer and was out of work due to the downturn in the housing market in the UK so was having to sell the car to pay the rent.

He'd only owned the car for a few weeks and bought it in the condition it was in. He said he bought it from a guy in Tamworth who had done all the work.

I agreed to go & meet him the next day & have a look at the car.

That night & scoured the Internet & found that it was the same car that had sold on Pistonheads a few months earlier for the same £1500 & noticed that when it was originally sold it wasn't scraping it's belly in the weeds:







I also noticed that the bonnet had a dent in the leading edge which probably explained why it was now sprayed black?

[Big Steve - Raider]

So all full of vim & vinegar & rushed over to see the car the following day & was..... DISAPPOINTED!

In comparison to my Raider the car was mingin. Their were small dents all over the shop, yes the bonnet had been painted black but it wasn't mentioned that the car roof had been sprayed with rattle cans & the bloke hadn't bothered to mask anywhere so there were spots of overspray all over the place.

The interior was dirtyier than a Mumbai Taxi, the front seats were all sagging & swapped around (left to right) becasue the squabs had colapsed

The only redeeming feature was the fact that the car was a 1987 model WITHOUT the sunroof from hell and the test drive proved that the engine ran well!!

I tried to look past all of the SH1TE to see the car underneath but no matter how hard I looked I could only see a number two looking back at me!

I asked him what the lowest he would take for it & he said £1300 but seeing what needed doing I decided I wasn't going to pay that & left him my number with an offer of £1000.

During the journey home I had a few texts off him offering the car to me at £1250 but I stuck to my guns & said it wasn't for me.

A couple of days passed & I watched the e-BAY Auction finish & the car reached a maximum bid of £900.

I then had a text off the seller asking me if I was interested in the car for £1100?? I thought about this & then decided to do what all considerate people would do to a poor guy down on his luck & out of work... Tell him no, I'm sticking to my £1000 offer!!

Again a couple of days passed & he then came back to me & eventually after a few texts we agreed to meet at £1050!

So on the 6th January 2011 (my sister's birthday so i'll never forget the date) Millie & I went to pick the car up.

I paid the money & checked over the paperwork etc & the deal was done. As it was all cold & miserable (January) I got in the car & wondered if it was going to start & on the first turn of the key it fired into life to which the seller was amazed!! I said that it was because I had the C1J knack that all us RTOC'ers posess!!

I reversed it off his drive & then it died..... No matter what tricks I tried I couldn't get it to start?? He then came out to me & said... I think it's out of petrol?! So off I went to the local garage with the lend of a couple of Jerry cans & got some fuel.

After pouring them in she again started on the first turn of the key & whilst she was idling (and kicking out a sh1t load of smoke I took a couple of pictures:





Millie & I then dashed down to the local petrol station to fill it up with enough petrol to get home!





I remember thinking that this must be what it's like to re-fuel a supercar as I dam near had to get on my knees to operate the fuel pump as the car was so friggin low?!

[Big Steve - Raider]

The drive home was fantastic & the car never missed a beat!! It was a bit of fun & games going over the country roads near where the bloke lived as it kept grounding out every now & again but I figured if it's good enough for Spooky, it's good enough for me!!



The car seemed to go really well & although it looked like a complete SL4G, mechanically it was great. I'd never seen the oil pressure gauge so high during a motorway cruise on either of my 2 Raiders?!

We got home & I took a final picture outside the front of my house

[Sam M]

Nice one Steve, didnt realise it was yours at first when I saw it blapping around hte track at Mallory.

I sold my Silver 11 Turbo in better nick than that for £60 , still cant believe I mugged myself off.

[Big Steve - Raider]

Over the following days I started to take stock of what I had purchased and I started to look at what I would need to obtain to return the car to the standard I wanted to?

I continuted to scour all the usual internet resources and managed to unearth an original Renault 11 Microfiche for the Engine & Mechanicals! This was great but I then realised that I didn't have a Microfiche Reader but thankfully my local Library did so I spent a couple of hours there looking through the Fiche & noting down a load of part numbers for my local Tame Renault Dealer to check for me.

Unsurprisingly enough I soon became to realise that Renault weren't going to be of great help in obtaining the parts for me as nearly every number I gave them ended up being returned as "Number No Good"

So I had to start to think out of my usual box and wonder how I could obtain the parts I wanted?? It was then that I remembered that the RTOC's 2nd favourite scotsman Mike Wilson had a 25,000 mile 1 Owner 11 Turbo which hadn't seen the road for a number of years but was 90% complete and those parts were in fairly good order??











That was the start of my first time having to deal with a scotsman and having to figure out how the hell I was going to get this non-running 11 Turbo from way oooop north; home??

Thankfully a deal was finally done & I decided to break my driving to Scotland cherry & hired a trailer for a couple of days & went & picked it up! For some reason of the whole Umpteen mile journey I picking the car up these were the only photos I managed to take?!

[Big Steve - Raider]

So becasue I was now back in the position of having two cars at home and the Silver 11 sitting on the front grass (which cheered Millie up no end! ) I needed to get cracking on breaking down the Red 11 and getting rid of the bodyshell.

Thankfully my parents offered me the use of their drive for a couple of months to give me some breathing space so the breaking began!!

I think I'll let the pictures do the talking here...







































That little lot took 4 Months from January - May! Thankfully my parents were understanding

[Sparkie]

should have saved those rear quarters.....

[Big Steve - Raider]

Now that the Red bodyshell was history I could turn my attention back to the Silver 11 and start to make that in half decent order ready for the National Day last weekend in Mallory Park.

The first thing was to have a good look at the Silver 11 & see what state everything was in & what needed doing to make me feel safe driving it. I had a good look all over & found that the bodyshell & underneath were all in surprisingly good condition:







The next step was then to look at the suspension and I managed to source a new set of Old Stock Front Koni Adjustable Dampers & lowering sport springs & fitted them to raise the front up to something higher than the snakes belly fitting that was there!



I also fitted a set of Renault 25 wheels & tyres I had been hanging onto for a while to see how they looked?



The car then looked like it was scraping it's @rse on the floor so I decided to again break another cherry with this car & that was my first time at adjusting the rear torsion bars?! Thankfully everything worked our there & they were not siezed at all!!

I managed to get a picture of the two cars together before the red shell went to the crushers!!



With the car sitting level now I wanted to bin off the Renault 25 wheels I had that had the STUPID small tyres on that made the car look like it was a bleedin rollerskate so I sourced a set of Clio Williams Steel Wheels and had them powdercoated Shiney Silver.

I think you can see the difference between the old and new wheel rolling diameter?!



It was then the best part of getting some new wheels for any car.... the fitting & pictures before & after?!!!





I fitted the tyres with 195/50/15 Kumho Ecsta tyres which more closely match the original rolling diameter of the 175/60/14 original's

I was then ready for National Day last weekend and had a cheeky picture of my two girls together



The final step was to fit the new Private plate I treat myself too becasue I'm a bit of a tart like that!

[Big Steve - Raider]

So that leads us up to last weekend's National Day at Mallory Park & the first time I actually drove the car any reasonable distance AND in anger?!

Thankfully the trusty old C1J didn't disappoint me and the car ran beautifully all day!! I really enjoyed driving the 11 and can certainly see why Paul B is such a fan of his 9 Turbo on track. I think it feels slightly more stable than my 5 does??









To make sure that the Raider didn't feel left out, I made sure I took her out for a run at the end of the day to blow all that wax off!!





Thanks for wading your way through this little lot to date!!

My plan is to bring the 11 Turbo back to it's former glory but at the moment i'm not EXACTLY sure what form that is going to take?? Whether it's going to be a full OE restoration like the Raider or a good useable road car to enjoy??

I'll keep updating this thread as & when I have something new to share!

[Lomo]

Excellent Steve and good work!!

[stuTHC]

You missed out telling us what you had for your dinner...... other than that its certainly a thorough report. The car looked well on track fella, keep up the good work

[Big Steve - Raider]

You missed out telling us what you had for your dinner...... other than that its certainly a thorough report. The car looked well on track fella, keep up the good work

Northern Monkey & Chips!

You can't beat a thorough thread! I didn't have chance to say to you how your new 197 was also looking fiercly fast around the track?! Totally different animal to the old THC i'm guessing?

[Big Steve - Raider]

should have saved those rear quarters.....

Yeah I deliberated about that so many times it was unreal! But I had to draw a line at exactly how much stuff I could physically store, plus the fact that the ones on the Silver 11 were in pretty good shape already*

*I'm sure that'll come back to haunt me at some time in the future?!

[tonesGTT]

Great thread - really enjoyed reading that. Top work there too

[Nad-5GTT]

Great thread - really enjoyed reading that. Top work there too

top work

[stuTHC]

Northern Monkey & Chips!

You can't beat a thorough thread! I didn't have chance to say to you how your new 197 was also looking fiercly fast around the track?! Totally different animal to the old THC i'm guessing?

cheers- yeah, it's a totally different car to drive to the phase 1. I'm glad it looked quick cos it didn't feel it. It turns in, handles and brakes like an absolute dream but lacks power low down in a big way, accelerating out of the hairpin was a bit frustrating! I was passing the 5's but couldn't keep with a lot of the track based clios out there, the fact I had 'Nexen' tyres on the front with about 2mm of tread left didn't help tho, still- 95 around Gerrards ain't bad going, and a lot of fun, l love that corner!

[gimme5]

Really good thread, was nice to meet you at FCS, i was the guy with the black gtt on the meguires stand,met a few people from the club that day,top guys

[Big Steve - Raider]

.....was nice to meet you at FCS

Yeah likewise mate

Your car is truly AWESOME!!! There wasn't a scratch or swirl on it & the black was JET black!? I could see you've spent a lot of love, time & money getting it in that condition.

How did you get on in the Megs Top 25 then?? Did you bring it home for the RTOC??

[Mr Raider]

Good work Big Steve, looking very clean and tidy

[gimme5]

Yeah likewise mate

Your car is truly AWESOME!!! There wasn't a scratch or swirl on it & the black was JET black!? I could see you've spent a lot of love, time & money getting it in that condition.

How did you get on in the Megs Top 25 then?? Did you bring it home for the RTOC??

Lost out to the pug 205,then found out two of the three judges were in the peugeot owners club,but never mind it was nice to see alot of people appricate the 5,they was always a good crowd looking at it and alot of nice comments, not like the 205

[Big Steve - Raider]

Lost out to the pug 205,then found out two of the three judges were in the peugeot owners club,but never mind it was nice to see alot of people appricate the 5,they was always a good crowd looking at it and alot of nice comments, not like the 205

WOW!?I'm quite surprised to read that?? Darren Williams (Talking Fish) won it last year with his Minty OE Clio Williams & then this year the car that wins it was another OE Pug 205 Convertible (which I have to say although clean was a bit gash :\ 205 Cabbie's never did it for me).

You have to feel sorry for all those guys who have spent thousands modifying their cars from standard then low & behold a guy who has effectively just cleaned/restored what he started with wins the competition??

I would have thought that because an OE car won last year a modified car would win this year but obviously that's not the case!?! Either that or the judges are now all of the age like us where they think all these bodykits & four 12" subs in the back has passed!?

[Gibbo69]

Great read steve

Look forward to seeing the finished article

Gibbo

[Mart]

Great thread mate Keep the updates coming

Always had a soft spot for the 11t, and imho is a better handling car than the GTT - The old girl certainly helped prove that at Mallory on Saturday (thanks for the pax laps btw )

[Brigsy]

Nice read steve, looking forward to more updates. Brought back a few meomries of my old ones when sitting in it at mallory, sadly mine ended up as stripped as your red one due to major rot

Id agree with mart my old 11 certainly felt more planted on the road compared to most gtt's.

[gtmatt]

amazing project steve well done with all the effort

[Sparkie]

Id agree with mart my old 11 certainly felt more planted on the road compared to most gtt's.

which is why renault used them instead of the gtt for rallying.....?

i know the rear arm bushes take a pounding - they dont seem to last as long as the gtt ones. - keep yer eyes peeled!

[Haz]

nice to see another one croppin up, its like they're making a revival lol. real shame about that red one tho you must have bought that around the same time i was tryin to, the amount of welding mines had to have, and still have, i would have had some sections off that has it been crushed yet or does the scrappers still have it?
it doesn't look like yours needs much spares, if you want some space let me know
what plans have you got for it next? is it staying a track toy?

[Big Steve - Raider]

nice to see another one croppin up, its like they're making a revival lol. real shame about that red one tho you must have bought that around the same time i was tryin to, the amount of welding mines had to have, and still have, i would have had some sections off that has it been crushed yet or does the scrappers still have it?
it doesn't look like yours needs much spares, if you want some space let me know
what plans have you got for it next? is it staying a track toy?

Sorry Haz, I was told by the guy who picked it up that it would be a small cube 2 hours later so don't think it's going to be there still...

It wasn't in that great condition anyway, it had a sunroof & that had leaked over time & rotted out the inner & outer sills both sides in addition to the boot floor that was drilled for a tow bar & was in a right state.

As my project continues I will be having a few spares surplus to requirements so keep your eyes peeled mate! I'll be looking to get rid of the Red Bonnet soon if that's any good for you? It's not in great condition with a few dents here & there & the fixing points have some rust on? Let me know if your interested at all?

My plans after Pod are to start to strip it down and then take stock of what needs to be done & what parts I need to get

[Big Steve - Raider]

Wanted to update the thread with a couple of the things I had done over previous weeks.

As usual with old Renault's both front doors are suffering from the dreaded drop so thanks to philg's guide in his thread I got hold of some new bushes & drilled out the hinges on the drivers door and car with an 8mm Right Angled Drill and fitted bushes and 6mm bolts.

Was a little concerned that it was all going to end in tears, but thankfully it all worked out well!!



I also noticed that the engine mount on the gearbox had broken so I got a new mount from E-bay and fixed that. I thought that the mount was the same as a 5GTT but it isn't.





Yesterday I thought I would make a start in sorting the seats out becasue I noticed that the previous owner had swapped the front seats around becasue the right hand squabs were both buggered and torn.



I took the seat out and stripped it down to the bare shell and found that the metal bracket had broken in the frame So that made the seat frame useless.



I ended up poaching the best parts from the Red 11's seats & re-fitting them,

[Nayls]

BREAKER!!!!!!!!

[Big Steve - Raider]

BREAKER!!!!!!!!

[Trevhib]

What a great thread

Btw, I think those R25 wheels look ace, I'd always assumed they were 5 stud so never bothered to look into getting a set. Maybe they'd go better on a GTT with the current tyres but with more appropriate tyres for the R11, I reckon they'd be mint.

[g10far]

Great read Steve, top efforts on the work done so far.

Get it painted and have it as a nice road car!

[xenon]

superb back in shape of the 11 gray!!

the 11 was red rotted?
do you intend to optimize the engine ? to pass in injection ?

[J$£5GTT]

agree with sparkie maybe you should have saved those rear quarters...

like the number plate tho steve nice find!!


usable road car i reckon...give it some boost an make it a weapon like!!

[Big Steve - Raider]

superb back in shape of the 11 gray!!

the 11 was red rotted?
do you intend to optimize the engine ? to pass in injection ?

Salut Xénon!

Oui la voiture rouge a été pourri, il semblait bon, mais il était très rouillé.

Je ne suis pas sûr de ce que je vais faire avec le moteur encore? Je pense que je peut juste le restaurer, mais aussi une partie de moi voudrait mettre dans un arbre à cames améliorés et un plus gros turbo?!
____________________________________

Hi Xenon!

Yes the Red Car was rotten, it looked good, but it was very rusty.

I am not sure what I will do with the engine yet? I think I may just restore it but part of me also would like to put in an uprated camshaft and a bigger Turbo?!

[Big Steve - Raider]

Today I sorted out the sagging fabric on the drivers door card.



Like a good RTOC'er I searched the boards & had a read of Gimmie5's thread where he detailed the re-covering of his rear quarter door cards in post 13.

I bought a tin of spray adhesive from ebay (nothing specific, just a cheap can) and first of all removed the door card from the door and peeled all the fabric away from the door card



As gimmie5 instructed, I just sprayed the adhesive in small 2 inch strips along the length of the door card and then carefully stuck the fabric back to the foam panel step by step.

When I had finished sticking the fabric back to the door panel, I noticed that it looked a little dimpled in places where the adhesive had been a bit patchy I thought that it may have dried out smooth but didn't want to take the chance that it stayed like that so I Ironed the door panel using the lowest heat setting & some steam and soon enough it smoothed out ok!



Halfway through doing the panel my can of adhesive ran out so I had to dash to B&Q to get another one and the one I got from them was better as the glue came out in more of a mist rather than something from the end of a porno shoot?!

I'd recommend you have a go if the fabric on your door panels are peeling away and I'm definately going to have a go on the Raider sometime soon!!

[Big Steve - Raider]

Did the passenger door today & took a few more pictures to explain the process

Passenger door looking remarkably sorry for itself:



Took all of the fittings off the top of the door then carefully peeled all of the fabric to the bottom chrome line:



Then using my new super doopa spray adhesive from B&Q with the thin spray pattern nozzle I sprayed along the whole length of the door panel to spray a 2 inch wide strip. You can see that the glue was coming out in a fine mist in a vertical line which makes the job a breeze! You can even see the brand of adhesive I used if you're looking to do the same thing!! HOW GOOD TO YOU AM I?!



I then carefully lifted up the fabric & stuck it pack to the door panel. Whole process only took about 30 minutes & the final result looks great!!


This time with the finer spray B&Q Adhesive I didn't have any of the dimpled effect I saw last time!

[Adey aka Ewok]

long time since an update, whats the score?

[Big Steve - Raider]

long time since an update, whats the score?

I've put this project on hold until I move house as I don't want to be stripping the car to nuts & bolts until I'm in my new garage. Dont want to try & move house with a half stripped car

Just got to sell my house & find a new one.....

[Big Steve - Raider]

I've put this project on hold until I move house as I don't want to be stripping the car to nuts & bolts until I'm in my new garage. Dont want to try & move house with a half stripped car

Just got to sell my house & find a new one.....

House sold! New house bought, new house moved in! Big Feck off Double Garage FTW! Consider this project back in the game!

[chris]

Just read this project thread from the start really good steve

[Ashy]

Big Feck off Double Garage!

Ya can't beat a big feck off double garage! Good work

[Big Steve - Raider]

Ya can't beat a big feck off double garage! Good work

thanks Ashy, yours has to be the biggest feckin offist Double Garage I've ever seen!

[Nad-5GTT]

House sold! New house bought, new house moved in! Big Feck off Double Garage FTW! Consider this project back in the game!

Back of the net. double garage , umm very nice

[Ashy]

thanks Ashy, yours has to be the biggest feckin offist Double Garage I've ever seen!

Just what you need when you collect rusty Reno's tho