Project it will never happen R5 GTT

[LukeRobbo]

Hello

Im Luke I made it to one nationals day in my r5 about 5years back and done only 10,000 miles in the car over a year before the engine started knocking.I stripped the motor down and seen I had scored a piston but instead of just putting a new set of pistons and liners in I decided to do a full restoration.I said that about 5year ago and have been travelling,bad luck with various jobs etc so have only now found a cheap unit where I can begin to restore it with my father.I have always loved the renault 5 from a kid I had a small model and loved the shape.Anyways I now have the car stripped down and it needs quite a bit of welding,new sills,new door and the usual rust but not too bad.Apparently the car was once owned by David Coulthard but I am yet to prove this and I bought it from Kelso In Scotland.I will keep you updated with my project and any input and help will be greatly apreciated. Apologies to the purists im taking it down the stripped out performance track route.My friends said the project would never happen but I am now proving them wrong with my dads skilled engineering help and a few knowledgable friends

[safehands]

Good luck... Can't wait to see it hsppen

[Nad-5GTT]

Good luck... Can't wait to see it hsppen

keep the pics flowing

[Penfold aka The Dealer]

David coulthard did own a GTT, but that was in Monte Carlo.....

Simple way to check tho is to write to the dvla and ask for history of the car (cost around £10),..

[Big Steve - Raider]

Like the french Tricolore Towing Eye Cover!! Nice touch!

[LukeRobbo]

Cheers penfold I will do I have track day and insurance documents with David William Coulthard on and that is his full name but its also probably a common name so will see if its a lie or not

Thanks Mart I had some model airplane film left over in them colours so I thought it was a nice touch.

The pictures wont come fast as i only work on it around 5hours a week at the moment but will do longer hours on it and photograph everything.What manufacturer sell the best panels? Im after a new door/good 2nd hand one/door skin,sills and inner sills.Must be good fit and price.Also how do people go about bracing the car when removing the old sill to stop the body from moving?

[LukeRobbo]

Few pictures of the stripdown from the weekend.Only one bolt needed drilled out amazingly after leaving them to soak in wd40 for a week.The car is bad but considering its never had any restoration I've seen a lot worse I cant wait until its painted.Also does anyone know a where the vet is?? because these swans are sick!!!

[Mr Raider]

Looks a good base for a project, nice work

[B18ftMOJO5]

Great project. Good luck mate.

[fat roofer]

Projects looking good mate, the rust doesn't look too bad! And as for those swans, they don't really need a vet but more a bloody good meal inside to fatten them up a bit!

[Big Supes]

Effin can't stand swans. Viscous little feckers!

Good luck with the project mate.

[TopCat]

Ax GT looks nice too!

[LukeRobbo]

GT TURBO UPDATE
OK this is where we are.
Engine and gearbox removed at home, engine stripped and found No 2 piston had picked-up. Mains and big ends still have white metal, crank very slightly grooved however we have a perfect one that is slightly high in size if anything.
Noted that rocker cam was not bolted securely because M7 studs had stripped on two of the centre journals – easy fix going forward however shame on the fella that did it!

Cause – OVERHEATING. A 5 shilling hose to the inlet manifold has burst and depressurised the system, evidence was found via the dreaded brown/red stains on the manifold casting.

Turbo – Officially goosed.

Oil pump – meets specified clearance dimensions perfectly – like new.

Moved car to Adamscustoms and mounted the beast on to a frame thanks to Joe. The frame gives us good unrestricted accessibility to front and rear once the exhaust system was removed.

Bearing on the front rails that are in perfect condition the rear of the frame rests on the floor pan which is not good at the moment, better if axle stands could be used on the rear chassis rails however the auxiliary tank prevented this at the moment (however I have a plan).

First job was to remove the plastics and reveal the state of the sills. Not too bad as suspected, needs new inners and outers and some local repairs to the rear wings, all underneath the plastics line so nothing perfect needed here. Rust damage seen as much worse on other projects.

Drivers side inner wing has slight corrosion where the relays are next to the headlamp unit, removal of the wing revealed this is an easy fix where a small fabricated panel will do the job.

Next came the rear beam removal because the rear jacking points are shot however the monocock is in good order, we are thinking about a mod that involves a sandwich plate between the monock and the beam mounting that incorporates a new solid jacking point once installed it will relieve the floor pan problem.
Beam removal was not as bad as we had thought – tight nuts on captive bolts of course but a good wire brushing and WD40 soak the week prior provided dividends.

The tanks had to be removed because of the pending welding and required heat to free-off the heavily corroded brake pipe junction, the braided hoses has to be cut because although the braided sections were in good order the unions were shot.
Tanks removal was going well until the “last bolt” that had to be drilled out. Marking the complicated system ins and outs was carefully done.

Floor pans are in superb order, likewise all the surfaces between the tank and floor. Fitting new sills will require a formed angle plate welded to the floor pans in order to pick-up the new inner sills. Removing the underseal being the biggest pain in the arse.
Prior to the sills job we know we will have to think about bracing the whole thing and leaving the poor condition doors on will be key at this point.

Should have stared this little write-up with a piece about removing the non-standard sunroof and cutting a plug from a wreck at Michael Douglas. Initially thought we’d swage the body however we’ve not got a bloke that will swage the plug for us. This being a job for later on once she’s off the stand and on her wheels making reach easier.

Moving on prior to welding we decided to drop the front subframe as we have a new galvanised one for her. Job was a doddle once we cracked the inner mounting bolts that are installed with a retaining clip. Mod here required, thinking along the lines of a nut welded to a captive plate- all to be decided.
During the subframe removal we decided to have a look at the sloppy steering only to find a UJ that was totally goosed, how it passed the last 3 MOT’s is a mystery!

Just a bit of crack. Our nieghbour Andrew’s mate Alf asked if I’d be interested in “some bits”.
A block, a crank, a galvanised front subframe, more blasted galvy bits than you could shake a stick at (circa 130), new discs all round , starter motor, top class poly bushes for wishbones and anti-roll bar, electrical bits and bods. Said yes although at the time cash was scarce. Between now and then I’ve bought brake callipers and silicone hoses and the like that’ll help this project roll again one day.

Things to think about just for now with more later for sure:-
How to brace the car prior to cutting the sills out.
The servo diaphragm casing looks badly corroded .
Where to find a gearbox OR refurb the existing.

2 weeks later.
New subframe best part re-built with poly bushes pressed in, assembled for alignment check, removed, tack welded ready for final fit.
New galv subframe and accessories looks well, worth all the re-tapping and hole cleaning.
Rack cleaned up - seems to be sound but needs gaiters.
Best bottom ball joint of all time! removed from N/S - worth keeping as a trophy its so goosed.
Rear beam splines getting a weekly soaking of WD40 ahead of the day we start to look at it.
Front wing removed and reason for poor gap found - easy fix.
Stripped front struts - shot.
Cleaned fuel tanks - look like new.



List of bits needed so far.
Sills.
Mod plate for jacking points.
Ball joints.
Track rod ends.
Rack Gaiters.
Struts.
Brake hoses front and rear.
Fuel tank jubilee clips.
Front N/S Caliper.
For "sometime" pistons, liners and gasket set. Cash is tight.
A turbo - cash is very tight - need a Lotto win.
We have N/S door hinge pins so this can be a job to get out of the way without spending at the moment, drivers door was done before I cooked it - job to remember "not".
Range of new nylock nuts.

Shot blast list.
Anti roll bar, just savable.
Battery tray. Solid heavy gauge, just surface rust
Sump, exhaust heat area rusty.
Rocker cover, painting just for a finish.

One day she'll roll again with decent steering, a solid body, brakes and suspension I can't imagine how she'll feel. Engine was ok until I cooked it, guess this is all she had going for her! Just goes to show a MOT certificate does not count for much as all the wear didn't happen while she was standing still for 4 years! Wish you could see and feel the ball joint - it could have parted company at anytime.

Will write again soon.

Luke

[LukeRobbo]

[Matt@CodeRedMotorsports]

Nice! Keep it up.

One word of advice though, be very careful of oil carrying components that have been shot blasted, sometimes the blast medium can get lodged in tiny places not easily seen, this can kill your engine if not cleared out.

[gtmatt]

Keep it up mate coming along now

[LukeRobbo]

Will do Cheers.The standard parts im replacing with galv parts will be up for grabs free of charge will get them listed for you guys

[LukeRobbo]

Loads of update info to follow but for now

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhyEs...=youtube_gdata

My first go at making a montage video of my car and other renault bits.Will put it all in order with better music,less random pics and comments etc when I get time was just a practice

Got loads of other pics of this meet at mallory and the rolling road day I will upload to a gallery for everyone some time

Enjoy

[LukeRobbo]

P.C Viewable only sorry due to copyright

[LukeRobbo]

[kial]

Keep up the hard work mate, it pays off

[gttjames]

a lot of work there, good going!

[LiamR]

Good job.

Loving seeing these sorts of threads.

[LukeRobbo]

The daily runabout.Im a closet jap fan


The old man renault project leader came to talk to be about the long day we had spent on the renault and fell asleep on the renault 5 computer chair in 20seconds!


My friends bandit powered supercarry kicking about


Decided to get inner sills made instead of adapting the repair panel I bought


Jacking up point looks well.Beefy custom version being made soon






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Fiesta in getting turned into a rally beast





Smaller gap than standard on the doors.We where hoping for a better finish on the inside of the doors but the sills we bought from imperial panels are a terrible fit and the shape is very hard to replicate.Will look great from the outside though and be nice and strong with no rust.The other side wont need as much repair so should be perfect and will tidy both sides up with some solder.





Coming along well but the sills are very time consuming and frustrating especially when the welder plays up,aftermarket parts dont fit and your dads temper is short :-) Learning a lot though and enjoying it.I have decided to vinyl wrap the full car.Cant wait to get to the fun parts like building the motor back up :-)

Thanks for looking and for the advice,info on this site and support from a few friends and family.

[TopCat]

Crikey mate you're not hanging around!

What carbon wrap are you going to go for? Carbon would be a bit naughty looking.

[Trevhib]

This will be an epic save.

[LukeRobbo]

Crikey mate you're not hanging around!

What carbon wrap are you going to go for? Carbon would be a bit naughty looking.

Im going for a 3M matt gunmetal grey to keep it fairly original colour but with a twist and I like the idea of vinyl and no polishing needed.

[TopCat]

Im going for a 3M matt gunmetal grey to keep it fairly original colour but with a twist and I like the idea of vinyl and no polishing needed.

Like the sound of that. Carbon carbon carbon

[LukeRobbo]

No carbon this isn't a show car or with fancy parts I just want it to be a solid track capable car.If I could afford carbon Id get my mate to make me a bonnet, wings, tailgate etc but thats not gonna happen.Only place il maybe use carbon/carbon wrap is on inside of the doors to blank off where the doorcards where.

[LukeRobbo]

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------It’s been a while but this is where we are now October 2013.

O/S Sills fitted and welded apart from small repair in drivers foot well, ¼ panel joint looking quite good along this rear arch repair and new rear bumper mount (had to be made bigger in order to catch *the rear arch damage). The remains of the bumper mount were initially retained in order to guarantee the socket hole position, match marked then remains chopped off.

Worth noting – the bottom door gap setting was a nightmare and the rear joint to the door pillar will require some painful finishing to make it look decent. **

Area ready for filler and primer.

Forgot to weld the seat belt mount nut inside the inner sill so we’ll buy a harness mount and weld it on the inside.

The outer sill was a strange fit at the front where the door/wing joint line was to long despite the rear end of the door alignment working out! One to watch for the N/S, best to have the front aligned and save the fight for the back.

Checked alignment of skirts and it looks good, need new clips for the main section and guess we’ll rivet these on with steel rivets.

Still need to do the mod at the new jacking point so we need to crack on and get a template made and the thing fabricated/fitted.

*

Got that small area of rust damage to repair on the front inner wing but that’s a doddle compared to the rest of the O/S work.

All in all it makes you wonder what the hell was holding the shell together as there is nothing else providing strength down the sides, the monocock must have been flexing like mad considering we swept most of the existing shell off the garage floor! On this little beast the big sunroof hole wouldn’t have helped either (sunroof to be plugged with a swaged panel). A side exit exhaust is therefore out of the question in my book, dare say the notch could be strengthened but enough is enough.

Once the time is right we’ll WAXOIL the void between the sills, thinking of making a long lance out of brake pipe made to spray radially ensuring the whole void gets a good coating.

So what’s next on the O/S fully fit all the side skirts and rear bumper, repair inner front wing, new jacking point mod, filler and finish rear arches and ¼ panel, seal new joints, primer, WAXOIL then remove skirts and rear bumper ready for wrapping while we start on the N/S.

N/S is in much better condition and we hope to be able to use the inner repair section rather than replacing the whole thing all the way through. Can’t wait to cut the bracing out, drop it onto axle stands and fingers crossed see the door fits still work.

*

Will write again soon.Pictures to follow

[LukeRobbo]

[LukeRobbo]

Project is going well got drivers side inner and outer full sill replaced and on passenger side we are using a sill repair panel and about 70% of the new outer sill.Hopefully going to put a different roof on off a GTS as my roof has a sunroof which I don't like.We did plan to plug the sunroof using a renault from the scrapyard but a full roof skin will be a proper job.

Upgraded jacking points are being made this week.Bodywork should be finished by Christmas/just after once we have taken the front screen out and repaired round the edges etc.Then the car will go back to a rolling chassis and be taken home on the metal frame where the engine will be rebuilt and put back in.Fingers crossed she will be back for the summer!!

Thanks for looking, Luke

[LukeRobbo]

[LukeRobbo]

We have decided to put a roof skin on the car instead of using the sunroof blanking section we cut off another car.It was a big job to remove all the spot welds and will be a bigger job removing/fitting it on the car.O well atleast it will be rite im the end

[LukeRobbo]

The roof was off a great condition GTS 5door.RIP!

[Nad-5GTT]

Good work going on here, put plenty of pics up of the roof swap. I'd like to do this at some stage.

[LukeRobbo]

Will do mate its a nightmair.Wish I had bought a 5 without a big ugly sunroof!!

[mingblus3]

Going to town on this one. Lots of graft.

[LukeRobbo]

Yep doing well considering how long we have been on it and only work on the car a few times a month.My dad deserves most of the credit but I have learned a lot so far.

Sourced a gearbox which Im picking up in a few week and been cleaning the engine up ready for new pistons and liners!

[Goobie]

Good work going on here, put plenty of pics up of the roof swap.

A Few people on here looking/wanting todo this, so best get snapping with the camera on the roof swap.

Looks like a good build so far, good effort gone into this I can see. Sticking with the same colour?

[LukeRobbo]

Not sure I dont really want to spray it in the unit as its dusty and my mate has offered to vinyl wrap or plasti dip.Gonna get a quote from a bodyshop nearby and if too steep I will wrap it an original looking grey colour.

Is their any basic cheap rollcages out their? I know a guy who used to work for custom cages so if l got a basic cage could maybe get him to add a few extra peices.

Im after some new/almost new suspension if anyone has any for sale? Aftermarket prefered as I will use the car on track quite a bit.

[TopCat]

Not sure I dont really want to spray it in the unit as its dusty and my mate has offered to vinyl wrap or plasti dip.Gonna get a quote from a bodyshop nearby and if too steep I will wrap it an original looking grey colour.

Is their any basic cheap rollcages out their? I know a guy who used to work for custom cages so if l got a basic cage could maybe get him to add a few extra peices.

Im after some new/almost new suspension if anyone has any for sale? Aftermarket prefered as I will use the car on track quite a bit.

Marky mark had a good cage for sale a while ago fella- not sure if its a show cage or race spec though. I know it was cheap though!

[LukeRobbo]

Thanks it would have to be real to stiffen up the shell and hopefully never used as a protection aid

[LukeRobbo]

Will get some more pics at the weekend.We are still on the job!

[bood]

Looking forward to the pics

[LukeRobbo]

I have plenty update photos on my computer which I will try and put up at the weekend but for now heres a few from this weekend off my phone :-)


Undersealing


Fitted a GT tuning trim peice which needed the rear bumper cut to go on









Been cleaning the rear underside of the car which is taking a lot of time and cant wait for it to be done.As you guys know everything is rotten and falling apart like most r5's.Im going to make a new reserve tank strap, cleaned rear brake compensator up, welded rear beam mounting points where their was a few little holes, repaired patch on arch rub.

Still lots to do with only working on the car once a week but getting their and still enjoying it.Getting rocker, sump anti rollbar blasted soon hopefully

[Trevhib]

Cracking.

While you have the front end open and the horn/compressor is easy to get to, do some thorough removal/cleaning/testing of both components. 2/1 it's wheezy or completely silent. It can be a pain in butt to get to once everything else is back together and all you want to do is get through an MOT.

[LukeRobbo]

Cheers Trev will check it out

[LukeRobbo]

Quick update.Had a busy weeekend got a new bits shot plasted and zinc painted, new brake lines and petrol tanks back in.Plus got the beam in and back shocks.







Tray getting some rust killer treatment

[LukeRobbo]

Bit of an update its coming along well just a bit sick of finding rust holes when we think the shell is nearly done another appears!


Galvanised subframe finally fitted

Wrong inner anti rollbar bush!! The inner measures 19mm but I need an earlier type which isn't as chunky if anyone knows a part number as I'm struggling a bit? Must be polly

Nice little hole where the accelerator pedal fixes on

My dad ran all new fuel and brake lines which where needed badly

A sneaky hole found whilst scraping off old underseal

Nice bit of rott around the fuel filler hole

I need one of these in 8mm or any size one with bolts that match the hole? I ordered one from CGB but was too big and the bolts where not supplied

More Galv bits going on I love the bling bits

Shocker on just need bearings pressed into the hubs then shes nearly back to a rolling chassis

Does anyone know what this means? Its on the door pillar and similar to a raider badge?

Horn bracket riveted on and the other galv mount is for the airbox I think?

Thought we where going to get away with not taking the dashboard out but found this mess today up from the battery tray.Nice hold in the bulkhead

And as she shits


Thought their was a small spec of rust under the window and turned out to be this huge hole which has took strength out of the panel even with a new piece welded in so going to maybe back it with fibreglass to stop it flexing as much.

Its hard to make big progress with only doing 7 hours restoration on the car a week but getting their and don't want to rush it.Does anyone have any advice on bodywork as me and my dad haven't done any in a while.What are the stages after rust killer? Is it etch primer then high build primer then paint?

Thanks, Luke