My journey - G reg black phase 2

[gttjames]

Never done a thread in here so here goes, its going to be nothing like pascal's etc but just a thread showing the stages of my 5 since iv owned it.

1st car was a 1995 silver 1.4 clio rt, i was into renaults anyway, and when viewing cars online i saw a advert for a 1990 G reg renault 5 gtt, it was cheap as was just about to run out of tax and MOT and front end was un painted and a few other bits... heres the picture from the add



after alot of persuasion my dad agreed to drive the other side of london from me (slough) to view it, got there and it was what it was. I was only 18 so obviously insurence wasnt an option, at the price of £500 i knew it was a bargain and the guy was moving to america at the end of the week so was in a rush to sell it, he was also having alot of interest in it. I offered £450, he accepted - I put a £50 deposit down and returned the next day to collect it, with the intention of working on it over time until i was older and able to afford the insurence.

September 2007 and it was home and 1st things 1st a little clean






Well got it home and persuaded my dad to find out about insurence, he managed to get some insurence on it for 2 weeks pretty cheap - he wasnt to keen on me driving it at 18. Fell in love with the 5 and the boost. It was standard inside other than a boost gauge and a switch for the fan as it was on a manual switch. Interior was pretty good for 103k and had wear on drivers seat bolster. Engine was pretty standard, had a pipercross airfilter, and a dumpvalve, and a straped intercooler. Got it into work and mot'd it - FAIL - front coil spring snapped, cv boot split - result nice easy work for a green ticket.



I replaced the cv boot, and striped out the front suspension and also found this - broken top hat, i got 2 repalcement top hats and 2 -50mm apex springs and also lowered the torsion bar to match, couldnt resist. And got that green ticket. Car then went into the shed for abit as insurence ran out



While it was sat in the shed i joined rtoc and got reading etc, found a few bits for the 5 i bought and a few months later insured it again for a couple weeks. I found a bonnet, and wings to replace the non painted ones on mine. Also a few engine bay bits, red boost hoses, alloy carb top, also adjusted the actuator slightly, think it went upto around 12/13psi but i was happy - felt well quick! Also a scorpion system, re located air filter away from next to the turbo and by this point as an 18 year old i was pretty happy






It then went away again as insurence ran out

[gttjames]

The following year, 2008 i got the car out for a few months in the summer and just drove it without any work really not much changes, and by later in the year i sold my 1st car and this now became my daily drive. I did some miles in it up until later in the year when the clutch started giving some grief and a few other bits i had lined up to fit so the engine was coming out.




Engine came out, gearbox out, new volvo valeo clutch fitted, new clutch cable, found a broken engine mount so replaced both front side engine mounts, and a few other goodies, red hose kit, ktec enlarged downpipe, new t25 .47 turbo, braided oil feed, phase 1 'uprated' fuel pump, pace alloy intercooler, chrome rocker cover, rocker cover gasket, exhuast/inlet manifold gasket etc and all went back in. Ran it like this for a while.

[gttjames]

Next on the list was a better intercooler, but i didnt want to cut to much of the bumper and wanted the fogs still. So abit of tweeking to the crossmember and a front mount was bolted in, bought some straight pipe, a few bends and some hosses and it looked like this
(see next picture)

The santa pod meet of 09 was approaching and id bought my ticket, the week leading upto it i took a trip to see tommyb off this forum and his garage put it on there rollers and tweeked the carb for me. - I was pretty impressed with the result, the engine itself is completley unkown inernal wise at this point, allthough i now know from rebuilding its a standard spec lump

With the fettled carb and boost to 17psi It made 187.5bhp @6565RPM (104MPH) 163.1 lbft / 5291RPM - On the way home the new power was lovely... allthough clutch slipped a few times, and with pod a couple of days away - allthough now a few years down the line, i checked the carb and nothin was changed in there and the boost was set at just under a bar. So i did pretty well to run a 14.1 at 14psi lol




I drove to pod anyway as the slipping wasnt to bad and id paid my money, had a good day and managed a best of 14.1 at 101mph - my goal was 13

[gttjames]

Soon later it was time to do the clutch AGAIN so out came the engine AGAIN - cause, clutch was contaminated, oil leaking from crankshaft main oil seal


So, sump came off, new sump seal, crankshaft main oil seal, unkown engine history so replaced timing chain and tensioner, new seal also, and waterpump, all refitted and new clutch again. But this time while i was doing that i had cut out my front bumper and smoothed the reccess, also rear bumper had been smothed so all dropped off to painter, and she rolled out the shed like this

[Markey Mark (BD)]

Its looking good mate, will we be seeing you back at Pod again next year?

[gttjames]

If pod gets booked for 2012 il be there mate, hopefully get that 13second run aswell

[g10far]

Great thread! Car looks a mega improvement, the R26 your's too?

[markey b]

[Chris Beer]

Respect for soldiering on with it dude.. !

Got to love that even though it hasn't always been on the road, it's only been down to a bit of insurance etc...

I'm always itchy to crack on and get my GTT on the road never driven it !!!!

[gttjames]

Great thread! Car looks a mega improvement, the R26 your's too?

forge fmic, solid flywheel and r26.r clutch, itg panel filter, forge actuator, milltek full system with decat, stage 2 rstuning remap

[gttjames]

il continue this thread abit more.

After getting it all on the road again, did some miles in it and it started to knock, and engine died on idle... i was changing jobs at the time and had a few things on so the 5 got put in the garage. Job change complete and i spent rest of the summer doing other things.... Idf spent alot of time on the 5 and it ended up taking a back seat for while



THis xmas i finally pulled the engine again and found this to be the problem



Luckily it only happend on idle so i thought id try putting it back together and see if it all timed up, valves moved etc While it was out i used the parts cleaner at work and cleaned up everything, also got hold of a piper 270 cam - fitted this and timed it up, and started putting ti back together

[gttjames]

Got engine home late feb and started putting it all back in, then when it came to starting it i had a few issues with it missfiring but after reseting the position of the dizzy drive gear etc with help from members on here pointing me in the right direction of where my issue's where it was running.

Finally got a few hours this week and weekend on it and got it pretty much there, hopefully get some insurence on it this week and to the mot it will go.

Over the weekend i have removed the centre vents and fitted my oil pressure gauge there and my aem kit, i cut a old number plate to size and then wrapped it the c/f film as was laying around

Since last few pictures the additions are...
piper 270 cam
90degree dizzy
new oil and filter
new gearbox oil
gauges fitted to centre blower postion with aem gauge
finally fitted my BMS downpipe
campus bottom pulley

my gauges mounted (need some double sided tape for turbo timer)


my driveway, yerp we drive renaults lol

[Tony Walker]

Great line up

[gttjames]

And it passed the MOT today, 1 advisory was o/s sill showing deteriation (i am aware of this, after the summer will have to strip it back and see how bad the damage is, n/s sill was repaired 2 years ago)

Now getting some tax and from driving it today a few other issue's

-Battery light is now coming on under hard boost (alternator soon then)

-Exhuast is knocking on rear beam, so rubbers might have stretched since i last set it, il get under there and sort that

-Set the carb up and run some more boost - only running 14psi at the moment

-Sort BMS to downpipe join as its started blowing (il put a question up about this as the bolts wernt long enough for the ktec downpipe and bms)

[Tony Walker]

might be your alty belt slipping, no more power is needed at higher rpm but trying to turn a charging alternator at high rpm puts alot of strain on the belt.

[gttjames]

might be your alty belt slipping, no more power is needed at higher rpm but trying to turn a charging alternator at high rpm puts alot of strain on the belt.

oh right no more power needed at rpm? I thought it might be because iv fitted a campus pulley so is doing less revolutions than before with a bigger standard pulley. I dont think its slipping as tensioned it up well, will still check it tomorrow though

[Tony Walker]

Does it come on with headlights on, heated rear screen? these are the main power consumers, making a coilpack ignite is pretty low amps.

[gttjames]

Didnt get a chance to look at battery light coming on, but it stopped doing it then has started again i think it could just be a bad connection - will look into it

Took car to work today to have a fiddle with it ont he ramp, fitted some lower profile tyres to the 195 50 15's the wheels i got came with, put some toyo 195 45 15's i had on, looks much better.

Bled the brakes, all bleed nipples came undo bar the n/s/r - it didnt feel like it wanted to go so instead of snapping it i bleed it from the brake pipe instead - fresh volvo dot 4 brake fluid, pedal feels good

Had a look at the o/s sill that was advised on mot - really not that bad, no holes, just abit more than surface rust - will be sorting this over xmas

I had a good look round the car and found some slight play in the rear wheels - 2 years ago i fitted new rear discs with new bearings so i made sure they where torqued up but play is still there. Also abit of movement in rear shocks and think they may be past it, all iv done suspension wise is lower it on the rear and 50mm apex springs upfront, the car is very bouncy - whats the best suspenion setup for a 5 to give it good feel without being really harsh or bouncey?

Sorted the exhaust - aligned it nice and high up, no more knocking or catching on speed bumps, also sorted downpipe join, had to put springs and bolts up then use a jack to compress springs in order to get threads poking through just enough to get a nut started. No more blowing but can hear the engine alot more now - tappy - might have to do valve clearances again

[Danny4da]

nice work mate, car's progrssion is awesome

[Tony Walker]

lol mine started doing it yesterday

[gttjames]

lol mine started doing it yesterday

lol! My silicone boost hose runs over top of the alt so i think when i wind it up the boost hose might slightly push on the top 2 wires to alternator causing the light to flicker on.

Cheers danny

[gttjames]

Better update this

Well managed no more than 300miles after getting it on the road, then it was idling funny and had lost about a litre of water

uh oew




so head came off - could see no2 was the problem but no signs of gasket failure, checked alot of things





then out she came (again yawn)



got striped down



and it turned out to be this liner, corroded through just a tiny pin hole that you cant even see from the inside



So while its all apart

crank is with machine shop getting ground - new bearings/shells to be fitted

oil pump has been checked and is well within tolerance so cleaning that up

new piston rings will be fitted along with all new gaskets and seals

I have dropped the sump, timing chain cover, gearbox end cover and some brackets to a friend to blast and paint them and while iv been waiting iv cleaned and painted the block

[gttjames]

so then...

delay on this, the place that was supposed to be doing my crank messed me around for 2months as there machine broke and they promised 'itl be done by end of week' this went on for 2months so in the end i just took it back, not there fault machine broke but caused a delay to all this. Then took it to a mate of a mate who told me it was fu~~ed and needed alot of work (i knew this wasnt true) took it back, now onto 3rd place, they told me it was pretty good and just needed a polish - result!

In the mean time i sourced

all new bearings/shells/thrust washers
tarabusi liners
tarabusi rings
all gaskets and seals i would need
had the flywheel lightened by 1.9kgs
painted my gearbox and engine
dropped the sump and timming cover etc to a mate who blasted them and painted them black

crank in


pistons where ok so cleaned up and new rings


liners and pistons going in


fresh


all timed up (piper 270 cam), timing cover on etc


lightened flywheel etc
this head came from a member off here, mine was abit thin, this is 73mm and has had the squish area modified (will this help? we'l see), piper valve springs... i also polished the ports while i was waiting for my crank, and the inlet manifold and also gasket matched it, so we'l see what sort of power it makes and if its any good


bottom end and gearbox in


put the head on etc and got it all piped in and running - so far have done 150miles on it, will do 300 then give it a oil and filter change and providing all ok hopefully be upping the boost. Nows the time to learn about these carbs then....

also put my koni shocks on - so much better, i was lowered on standard shocks which where well past it

[Mr Raider]

Good work mate

[gttjames]

Ok so done 500miles on the build at 13psi - so this weekend just gone iv had the carb off



After doing some research and reading alot of different ways of doing it, i went with the following
120 main standard
1.2mm 2nd stage
1mm AC

after a few problems on initial start up with the idle jet blocking up a couple times, i got it running. Got boost upto 16psi and was in the 10's, so went to 18psi and still in 10's, then 20psi and wow she boosts hard! And its still in the 10's giving me a reading of 10.9 - so rich still.

Im really liking the piper 270 cam and t25 turbo, gives a good mid to top end pull without having to rev as far as the 285 - heres a little power run

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pW9_OESnsI

[gttjames]

Well everthing was going well for 1st time in ages, done 500 odd miles and a couple oiul changes. As per last post, got it boosting and fueling well for 20psi - loved it, for the 20 miles or so till it started smoking.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrThE0jZHrg

turbo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXGYSuTCbO0

So my t2/t25 .47 let go at 20psi after 20 odd miles. Allthough its well out of any warranty, think iv had it 3 years now, allthough only done about 2k miles on it at low boost 12/13psi, all was fine, then 20psi and it lets go. Swarf from engine is the suggestion im getting, but still not to happy about it - im getting some views on turbos off people and will make up my mind over the winter months as to which route to go. Replace with what i had
t2/25 .47
full t25? - still thinking this will be to laggy
t28 .49 - allthough i think this is a no no on the 270 cam
or custom t28 with t2 rear housing as usggested - but dont know if i can fund this

So this weekend iv sorted my garage out, mid clean


clean space for the 5


5 tucked in for winter


So got quiete abit to do, maybe more depending on how things go but it looks like this

-remove windscreen to sort windscreen surround
-fit my new 2nd hand drivers door i have
-sort ripply o/s 1/4 panel, want it straight
-remove side skirts to check sills - address any issues
-remove interior to check it all - address any issues
-loose tailgate wiper and washer
-some how paint the gtturbo badge... might need help here
Then get it to bodyshop to paint the bits that need it roof/windscreen surround/skirts/osr 1/4/tailgate/wing mirrors/upper and lower light trims - i had the rest all painted 2 years ago so this will make it virtually a full respray - engine bay will get done next time engines out (porbably be very soon lol!!!!)

Also whyile thats being done i would like to
-sort wobbly front seats (subframes?) and repair drivers bolster
-replace the boost and oil pressure gauge so they match (anal??)
-while carpets and seats and door cards are off clean and repair/replace and bits i can to make it as fresh as i can
-sort out my locks, i have a different lock for each door!! ideal want 1 key for it all, or 1 key for all doors/1 for ignition. And is it possibly to get a key fob for the central locking?

Engine bay
- make fmic pipework neater
- tidy whole engine bay, maybe loose a few hoses like iv seen some members do
-have a go at making the oe oil pressure gauge work
-then last job will be fit new turbo with whatever i decide on next year and hoipefully bring it out in april and it be freshhhh

[gttjames]

Started stripping it down to find what i expected. Osf outer sil is pretty solid and only has the first ft affected so this will be getting patch repaired as doesnt require a full sil. I think windscreen surround will be my hardest bit, waiting for screen to come out now. Quiete impreseed with window seals in 1/4's and behind the arch

The top of windscreen surround is ok, just needs a clean up, couple of patches on bottom and big patch on side, i will be cutting a good surround i have here on a donor car and welding sections in then tidying up - think thats best route?

[gttjames]

Well cut the A pillers off the good shell, the bottom strip was no good. So was planning on using these a pillars of the tungy shell and repairing the bottom, then this came up. BOOM!

[gttjames]

Update on this - behind original plan (these things normally fall behind schedule) - but mainly because where i work have a bodyshop, they showed interest in doing the job for a fair price, took about 6weeks of talking before the boos eventually stepped in and said it was going to be 800 in materials alone, at that point i told him 'thanks'. So got messed around by my own work place. Got to love how your own workplace try to rape you, they told me labour rates would be 23.50+vat as im staff - so id estimated around 20hours which they agree'd and then i thought paint and materials would be 150-300 and i was happy at that price, then they came back with materials cost which was bull**** and im sure end bill would work its way up to 2k - nice!!

Then had to go quote hunting, got down to 2 options - a mate who works in a bodyshop got the all clear from his boss that we could it as a weekend job, id have had to put in probably 2 weekends work with him - then pay him mates rates and pay the bodyshop to paint it. Would of worked out £xxx amount all in but i would have to put in a lot of my own time. In the end a guy involved with a pretty big company took it on as a cash job and his quote was the same as option above - but advantage is I don't have to give up 2 full weekend prepping it with my mate so thought this option be easier. Iv seen his work and its good so happy its getting done. It wont be going in untill end of this month though. He has agree'd to...
fit oe windscreen surround
repair os sill
prep os sil, entire osr 1/4 panel, tailgate, windscreen surround and roof and os drivers door
Also i have prepped rear light trims, wing mirrors, tailgate, side skirts and he will be painting these aswell.

The deal was car is delivered all stripped down with no seals in place etc and he will just do the skilled work and return to me and i can re fit all bits to keep cost down. On strip down on car found a couple of more rust spots like where fuel filler neck bolt was has rottted so iv cut it out and ask him to do this aswell, but dont mind paying extra if he asks.

[gttjames]

a few progress pics
plate glued over rear wiper hole and rear washer jet (I never use it and think it looks ugly so its gone)


ground area to take off lip from holes and to create a rough surface for filler


as it was a small area and not deep no need for fibreglass etc so out came the filler

[gttjames]

postie turned up with some bits iv bought to fit when its back


nice to see bumper mounts where ok when taking kit off (allways worried when stripping down as more work becomes visible)

not bad


thought while im here id do best job I can at preventing any rust, washed area with soapy water, panel prep, then por15 metal ready, then por15 rust preventative paint







mmmmm lovely looking ns sill


not so lovely looking os sill - although not to bad, seen a lot worse


cut out the section from rot from fuel filler neck bit - again not to bad really



good to see al boot surround, rear 1/4 window surround not rusted


started prepping side skirts, a lot of scrapes and cracks etc, but they will do - fillerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[gttjames]

stripped down drivers seat abit to replace some fabric and bolster - found 10p, a receipt, a business card and a dodgy bag lol - someones have a good time in my 5 before me

[JRP]

I used the por15 gear on my subframe s and arches and under the whole whilst doing mine 3 years ago. Great gear

[gttjames]

yer I did abit of reading up on it all 1st and this looked the best route for home use and seen some great reviews on it

[gttjames]

Today did abit more - nothin else i can do now so just waiting for the bodyshop to become free. Finished prepping all these bits today which will also get a blast of paint

[gttjames]

having a nightmare getting bodywork done.

Bloke who was supposed to be doing it has put me off until now, then bailed on me last minute, very nice of him. So he put me on to a mate who said to drop it off, hired trailer dropped it at bodyshop thursday, lad was 22 so was a little nervous... he looked over it 'yer yer no problem' - he then rung me over weekend at bumped original price up to a grand more, i dont think he has the skill to do the job and also he was paying someone else to paint it as he cant paint, so hes wasted my time aswell. I would pay the money but its way over what a cash job should cost and i dont trust them. I did offer for him to come view the car at my garage so he knew what he was taking on, but he said 'itl be fine il do it'. Abit of a yes man.

So as it stands im going to pick 5 up again friday with no work being done to it. If anyone knows of anywhere that is good and will do the work needed for a fair private job cash rate let me know. Theres around 20 to 25hours of prep work needed then plus paint. Or even if anyone has the skill to weld/fit windscreen panel and wants to earn some cash come round. Then il just book it in for paint somewhere

original plan was to get this done over xmas, and have it put back together by now, grrrrrr

[TopCat]

Might be worth having a word with Tom Tom on here mate, he's in the trade and can recommend him. He's sprayed all sorts for me and its been bang on. He knows people that can do bodywork.

Could be worth a PM

[philr5t]

having a nightmare getting bodywork done.

Bloke who was supposed to be doing it has put me off until now, then bailed on me last minute, very nice of him. So he put me on to a mate who said to drop it off, hired trailer dropped it at bodyshop thursday, lad was 22 so was a little nervous... he looked over it 'yer yer no problem' - he then rung me over weekend at bumped original price up to a grand more, i dont think he has the skill to do the job and also he was paying someone else to paint it as he cant paint, so hes wasted my time aswell. I would pay the money but its way over what a cash job should cost and i dont trust them. I did offer for him to come view the car at my garage so he knew what he was taking on, but he said 'itl be fine il do it'. Abit of a yes man.

So as it stands im going to pick 5 up again friday with no work being done to it. If anyone knows of anywhere that is good and will do the work needed for a fair private job cash rate let me know. Theres around 20 to 25hours of prep work needed then plus paint. Or even if anyone has the skill to weld/fit windscreen panel and wants to earn some cash come round. Then il just book it in for paint somewhere

original plan was to get this done over xmas, and have it put back together by now, grrrrrr

speak to robbie turbo ted he may be able to help you out look at all the work he has recently done to loggs 5 great job

[gttjames]

cheers for the heads up il fire some pm's and see what they say.

So annoyed as matey said he'd do it now bailed on me.

Got mates in the trade but none will make time for it. And a bodyshop near me agreed with the 20 t0 25hours plus paint but he says hes so busy with his insurence contracts he just cant take it on

[gttjames]

So got a couple of quotes outside of cambridge area, essex area was cheapest with some very competitive quotes at what i was prepaired to pay. Then a mate who works in a bodyshop 10mins away said he wanted. The guys good but is also busy himself sometimes hence not using him before. He cleared it with his boss and got close to the essex quotes, but with ease of it being 10mins away, and its there.

So now its at bodyshop its given me abit more interest to get moving again. So...

before it went to bodyshop, tidied fmic run, and trial fitted mocal and new rad moved over


some bits from renault, side skirt clips, rivets, sandwhich plate seal, rear no. lamps etc


new koni's from group buy turned up


il slip this cheeky pic in, my mates evo 440bhp (think he said 440) which i tinted for him, all adds to the 5 funds

[gttjames]

started stripping my seats


bad bolster and ripped cover off


i had 4 seats in total, 2 where well past it but had a couple of good bolsters and 1 has a good base, and backing, and some of the covers where good etc so stripped them and made 2 pretty good ones. They still need a wet/vac and will come up pretty good


took my carpet into work and used there wet vac stuff - came out very nice - so much dirty water just kept on flowing out - still has a few wear marks but is good enough for my car as im not aiming for 100% oe (carpet on left is as dirty as the one on right before)


had abit of bad bits on the door cards. rears are to sagging i tried repairing them but not brilliant, but will do for now. Fronts needed some work, one armrest was collapsed, corners where broken, so repaired these on the backside, and rear stuck the fabric down on the edges. Using some spray glue and pegs to hold in place. Then wet vacced them and used some uphosltry cleaner aswell. Quiete happy with how these came out - i think in a few years il end up getting them all flocked when they start looking tatty again

[gttjames]

just got back from a evening at the bodyshop, its basically ready for paint, the sill needed a little more time than we 1st thought so i went along tonight to help my mate out, also i prepped the drivers door for paint aswell. Got loads of pics will get them up. Hopefully get this thing painted in next week

[Trevhib]

[Mr Raider]

Good work James, be great to see it in fresh paint, you keeping it black?

[gttjames]

havnt uploaded pics yet - will do

yes I am keeping it black, it was originally black and iv already had the front end and n/s painted in the last few years so its staying black

[gttjames]

seats all got wet vacced, then took over the ramp next to me at work for a week drying lol


My mate has all the repair pictures, but I got these the other day when there
old windscreen surround


he was busy doing this, repairing a few patches in floor pan and finishing off sill



while he was doing that, I prepped the drivers door


close up of fresh oe windscreen surround and dent free roof



and os almost ready for paint, repaired 1/4 and sill

[gttjames]

mates being long with pics of it in booth

[gttjames]

so for now il do some recent updates and fill in these blanks later

[gttjames]

how I got badges back after paint


polished the front various sandpaper upto polishing with dremmel and then finished with a loose leaf buffing wheel


rubbed down front raised section abit to give it a key, then applied masking tape where possible and liquid mask


went through all the cans at work and picked best match I could, a tad lighter than oe, but it was all I had and I like it - painted in the 'spray booth' (my work bench next to my ramp lol, did wet the area to keep dust down)


lacquered both bits, finished. Happy with my effort


car back home from bodyshop and made a start

[gttjames]

my engine bay was a real mess, tidyied it up a bit, got rid of some wiring and routed things a bit better, and lost some breather pipes. Not the tidiest but will do for now, in the future il remove engine and paint the bay


fresh sill and new side skirt clips


How it is now sitting - rear screen, front bumper, bonnet and a couple little bits and hopefully mot this week coming. Still needs a clean, wet sand and a polish