Welsh 5 GT Turbo Restoration

[Wren5]

Hello everyone, Finally bought my first Renault 5 GT Turbo last saturday with the intention of restoring it to being in immaculate OE condition. The car was bought as a non-runner, however i paid slightly over the odds in order to get one without rust in the usual spots etc - i.e. windscreen, boot, arches etc.

The Renault also has a significant amount of history, from new - with Renault history up to 88,000 miles, and almost all previous MOT's. It also bears the original GT Turbo decals on the side - which is nice! The car's E-Reg, which is the same age as me!

Here's a pic of the Renault 5 GT Turbo on the trailer on the way home

[Wren5]

Upon getting the Car home, a 3 hour drive!... The first step was to try and get the thing started. The owner stated that the car smoked due to needing a bottom end rebuild before it decided not to run. However i was prepared for the worst.

After several attempts with the battery pack, it seemed it was dead! However i decided to give it one last try - and it came alive

Initially it didnt give out much smoke, but after a while it was giving a few clouds of blue smoke!

Anyway - the next step before sorting the rebuild was to give it a good clean - as it looked like it hadnt had one for a few years!

[Wren5]

After gathering all the valeting equipment together - i decided to embark on the underestimated task of cleaning the 5.

The first step was to give it a clean, using Meguiars gold class shampoo & conditioner to remove any unwanted dirt & grime - then dry of any excess water with the autoglym chamois leather.

The next step was to give the paint a nice cut using T-Cut, which took around two hours!.

Other steps involved removing the roof trim & getting rid of 22 years worth of grime under the trim - See photo's

After t-cutting the car - i used Autoglym Super Glym polish in order to give the car a worthy shine!

The final step involved using Autoglym High Gloss protector which upon application has to be left for an hour before buffing off in order to further protect the paint, and provide a unique finish to the bodywork.

- Next on the List - Sort out engine rebuild!

[Wren5]

After having the look at the Haynes manual, i decided that i wouldnt be confident enough in order to tackle the rebuild myself, And upon speaking to Richie - a fellow member on the RTOC forum - i decided it would be best if i left the rebuild in his capable hands.

The rebuild includes:

An acid cleaned block - which will be painted in gloss black,

New Pistons, Liners & Gudgeon pins + piston rings,

New Timing chain,

Timing chain tensioner,

Main Bearings,

Big end Bearings,

Head Gasket Set,

Head Bolts,

Bottom end gasket set,

Oil Pump refurb,

New Water Pump,

Head pressure test & skim,

Crank Regrind,

Complete clutch kit,

The engine will hopefully be finished within the next two weeks - depending on items that have been required to be sent to the engineers - & cant wait to fit into the 5.

Next Step whilst waiting for engine rebuild - Sort out interior!

+ refurb spare rocker cover to be fitted onto the new engine!

[Wren5]

Upon refurbing the rocker cover, the first task was removing the paint in order to gain the best surface for re-spraying.

After removing the paint to the point of bare metal - i re-sprayed the cover with metallic black heat proof paint which is sutable for use up to 650 degrees - which may be a bit too much in this instance.

The finish is perfect, however the colour seems slightly different - i.e. looks like it has metal flakes in it. It still looks very good, - See the pictures!

- Next Step - Interior! ! ! !

[gtmatt]

looks nice for its age mate ,red always stands out ,i am doing a rebuild as well just collecting parts as i go along keep up the good work and keep us posted ???

[diggerdog36]

I nearly bought that car if it is the same one, was it in Buxton, Derbyshire??

[Wren5]

The interior, where to start really! - numerous peaces of trim are missing & + Or need to be replaced due to being neglected and brutally removed (i.e. cracked etc).

I decided to however start at the boot!. I firstly removed the boot mat to be cleaned as it looked like it had been used as a courier for delivering engines! (full of oil everywhere + stank of gearbox oil!)

After that i degreased the boot floor to remove any grime & oily substances, and gave it a quick polish to protect the paint (a bit excessive i know)

I then used the Karcher interior cleaner with tons of autoglym car shampoo to remove oil and grease from the boot mat & the parcel shelf - which took longer than expected.

The next step involved treating the rear plastics + cleaning the plastics around the back seats & the boot area (those that werent in peaces or cracked )

I then removed the back seats in order to remove 22 years of built up dirt - and clean under the seats (again with some more degreaser!)

I also removed the seat belts in order to give them a quick clean. I didnt bother with the rear door cards as they will need replacing & are beyond being saved!

Finally i removed the front passengers seat in order to send to the upholster for repair (hopefully) and gave the carpets a nice clean - They came up a treat!

- Next Step (Monday) - Send Passanger side seat for repair (Hopefully)

- Find drivers side seat in good nick!

- Find missing plastics + replace damaged plastics!

[Wren5]

I nearly bought that car if it is the same one, was it in Buxton, Derbyshire??

Yes mate! - Car wouldnt start when i got there, (owner hadnt started the car for several months)

You'd have thought he would have started it before the add went up! - anyway, good for me as i managed to haggle quite succesfully!

[Wren5]

Thought id add a picture up of the passenger side seat - which only has a small tear, therefore it would be a shame to buy a new one for that reason! - well, i'll see how much the upholster wants first!

The drivers side, is beyond repair - so im on the hunt for one now!

[Wren5]

looks nice for its age mate ,red always stands out ,i am doing a rebuild as well just collecting parts as i go along keep up the good work and keep us posted ???

Thanks mate, Have you got your own project thread? - So i can have a gander

[diggerdog36]

Is that the one with all the spares that he was offering? IIRC there was a whole bottom end, turbo, wheels, doors etc etc.

Well, I hope you got it for a good price. It does look gleaming now, good work, keep us up to date.

Bloody hell mate, what you using to clean the carpets?? Machine or elbow grease.....or both!!! They look spankers

[Wren5]

Is that the one with all the spares that he was offering? IIRC there was a whole bottom end, turbo, wheels, doors etc etc.

Well, I hope you got it for a good price. It does look gleaming now, good work, keep us up to date.

Bloody hell mate, what you using to clean the carpets?? Machine or elbow grease.....or both!!! They look spankers

I like to think i got it for a good price! - Ye loads of spare's!, i'll need to sell some of them! - i've stripped the engine, although i wouldnt like to go through all the time to fit it, only to find its the same as the other one!

I use a Karcher machine for the carpets! + elbow grease! ha ha. I've been using near boiling hot water aswell!, although the plastic pipe inevitably burst earlier! ha ha ha, so i might have to resort to a slightly lower temp water!

[Penfold aka The Dealer]

Blimey looks very nice and clean...

Fair play to put in the hard work on that carpet... i really wish i had a standard 5 & not a cup car now.

[Wren5]

Blimey looks very nice and clean...

Fair play to put in the hard work on that carpet... i really wish i had a standard 5 & not a cup car now.

Thanks! It's nice to see the work appreciated! - Cant wait to get the engine sorted as its the only area which in not too sure on at the moment, although im sure ill learn in the future!

[gtmatt]

Thanks mate, Have you got your own project thread? - So i can have a gander

Love how clean the carpet is mate good job ,

Yep here is my project full restore
https://www.rtoc.org/boards/showthread.php?t=4338

[RICHIE]

i love it when the red is actually red looking looks a very nice car keep up the good work

[Rob@Backyardracing]

Fancy cleaning my car one day ..... Good work

[Wren5]

Fancy cleaning my car one day ..... Good work

I wouldnt mind! you dont live far away + im in Manchester this weekend!

Thanks for the comment!

[NayJ]

lookin at the car after you washed and polished it and it looks great, dont see that many in red anymore. now im lookin for some standard wheels,

[Wren5]

2nd August: Sunday

Right then, Today I did a few bits + bobs since my girlfriend went shopping with her sister.

Firstly i had a go at trying to save the passenger side door card (& some money at the same time)

Again, there was a lot of oil + grease, plus other stains which made the 'card look awful when in combination with faded and filthy door plastics.

I removed all plastic trims, the top hand door card plastic had a large crack in (around £8.99 @ CGB), so i had a quick go at repairing - see photo's. It came up quite well, and will do for the time being.

The next step was to remove (TRY) the grime and dirt from the 'cards, which came up quite satisfactory, and then re-furb the plastics using Autoglym Bumper care then finished with some dash shine.

I finished with removing th dirt from around the door + sills, and greased the door hinges and other moving parts around that area.

Will keep you posted with how it goes at the upholsters tomorrow!

[gtmatt]

Looks great mate what did u use to clean the front door cards ? Are you getting the rear card re trimed as I need mine doing ? ? Keep up the good work

[Wren5]

Looks great mate what did u use to clean the front door cards ? Are you getting the rear card re trimed as I need mine doing ? ? Keep up the good work

I used a lot of Stain remover, and dabbed boiling water into the trim, then removed the dirt using the interior cleaner. To be honest, they didnt come up 'Mint', but they're ok untill i find some mint ones.

Im not re-trimming the back 'cards - well, not yet. I might ask tomorrow how much it will cost, then i'll let you know. Im still on the hunt for them aswell!.

Will keep you posted tomorrow

[dickiegtt]

Looks very nice mate and gttmatts Love seein the gtt goin back to mint oe condition, niceone for tips on how to save bits of interior trim, need to do that myself. nice to see how it pans out

[Gttnutter]

Some really good work there buddy. keep it up

[Wren5]

August 3rd - Monday

Today, amongst other things, i managed to get time to strip the speedline wheels to begin refurbishment, get some primer to be ready to work this weekend, and made a short start on removing the paint + grime from the wheels.

I also took the seat to the upholsterer to be repaired - bearing in mind they are a furniture store! - A few people were looking at me funny as i was carrying my GT Turbo seat through the high street!

Around 25 minuites later, and only a £10, he managed to sort out the slight tear, and also sorted out the side support on the bottom of the seat. - (saving me around £70 - 80 for another seat)

It looks very good, is only very slightly noticable upon close inspection - see the pictures.

Probarbly wont do much now till the weekend, apart from order some remaining plastic trims which i need, and look forward to getting my rebuilt engine back from Richie.

Thanks for looking - Wren 5

[gtmatt]

your doing well mate , looks like you got the bug already keep it up matt

[Wren5]

your doing well mate , looks like you got the bug already keep it up matt

Thanks mate, Yes - definetly got the bug!

I regret not giving the engine rebuild a go myself at the moment, although its better for it to be done properly just incase i'd do something wrong

Your thread also looks very impressive!

[gtmatt]

Thanks mate, Yes - definetly got the bug!

I regret not giving the engine rebuild a go myself at the moment, although its better for it to be done properly just incase i'd do something wrong

Your thread also looks very impressive!

Thanks mate , if you need a hand with any thing give us shout

[raj]

Upon refurbing the rocker cover, the first task was removing the paint in order to gain the best surface for re-spraying.

After removing the paint to the point of bare metal - i re-sprayed the cover with metallic black heat proof paint which is sutable for use up to 650 degrees - which may be a bit too much in this instance.

The finish is perfect, however the colour seems slightly different - i.e. looks like it has metal flakes in it. It still looks very good, - See the pictures!

- Next Step - Interior! ! ! !

what paint did you use to get this finish? im liking the look of that weird finish, almost looks like you've had the rocker flocked lol

[Wren5]

what paint did you use to get this finish? im liking the look of that weird finish, almost looks like you've had the rocker flocked lol

Hi mate, the paint i used was Metallic Black heat proof paint from halfords. It wasnt the colour i expected, but either way - it does look very nice! although not the O.E look i was after

You should be able to pick it up at Halfords mate, no probs.

[Wren5]

Thursday 6th of August

Since i finished work early today, and since it was such a lovely day in North Wales (for a change), i decided to give the rear brake calibers a new coating of paint.

The paint i used was gloss black, in order to keep the rest of the car as O.E as possible. I've never been a fan of painted calibers, however - in gloss black they just look like new instead of some tacky boy racer addition.

I've also purchased some red silicone hoses from Unstable cable, which will be a great addition once i get my rebuilt engine back. I originally planned to keep everything original, however i think the standard hoses make the engine bay look rather tacky.

Next on the list to do:

- Finish refurbing the alloys,
- Finish rennovating the interior.

[Wren5]

11th August - Update

Over the weekend as i was in Manchester, i managed to get the interior parts i needed in order to complete that side of things - apart from the front seat. (Thanks Pete@backyard). Also got a chance to meet Rob at Backyard - who's 5 has truly motivated me - alhough has made me realise how much i need to do to mine!

On Sunday night i fitted the plastics, had a bit of trouble with the window surround - and was trying my best not to break it! - and managed to cross thread the bolt for the seat belts - amateur i know!.

Anyway - started stripping the paint of the genuine Renault wing i also got of Pete, so prepping will be next!

Alloy wheel rennovation has been put on hold !

[gtmatt]

nice 1 mate keep at it

[Pete@Backyard Racing]

everyones going resto crazy lol

looks good m8, good progress

[markey b]

Thursday 6th of August

Since i finished work early today, and since it was such a lovely day in North Wales (for a change), i decided to give the rear brake calibers a new coating of paint.

The paint i used was gloss black, in order to keep the rest of the car as O.E as possible. I've never been a fan of painted calibers, however - in gloss black they just look like new instead of some tacky boy racer addition.

silver spray is a cheap way of making ya brakes look brand new, just spray it on the disc centre and edges, dont worry about getting it on the braking surface as the pads will take it off as soon as you drive off.

[Wren5]

13th August - Thursday

After work today I decided to carry on with the alloy wheel re-furb, as the prep work is the side of things that seems to be time consuming.

Sorted all the primer out, spent a rather long time prepping the surface, then cleaned to ensure the best possible surface for priming.

Used some grey primer from Part Co - I must say, what a pile of ****e - had to keep cleaning the nozzle with an air line But got there in the end.

I only managed to get a light coat of primer, but im looking at giving them a better coat once i have some more time - most likely weekend.

I've attached a picture so you can all have a look - next step is finding a suitable match to the original colour.

Also - Treat all the 'New' interior plastics, and get a pic of the improving interior!

& find an original GT Turbo badge for my car, to replace the phase 1 badge i have!

[Wren5]

Thursday - My Second Fix!

Went back down to the garage, did a few more bits - & treated some more of the interior plastics - They've come up really well.

Also changed the Kick panel trim on the passengers side (see photo of damaged one + new).

Also, as the cars started to gather some dust from storage - i decided to give it a nice clean with some high concentrated shampoo & conditioner.

+ took some pictures of the 5 in its glory - Love the yellow fogs! ! ! !

Again, I've managed to find some tasks for the future - such as remove the seat belt stalks & give them a little re-furb as they look rather tacky.

Engine's also coming along very well - & wont be long until that will be ready to replace the current one.

Thanks for looking - Wren 5

[gtmatt]

shes looking well mate , like my old five , get some black bump strips on the front bumper , keep up the good work mate , keep us posted on engine

oh get your name down for rr day in the north west

[Wren5]

Thanks mate - I've got a spare black bump strip for the back, do you think i'd be able to strip the paint of the front one using something like nitromors? - or would it damage the surface of the plastic?

Thanks - Wren 5

[gtmatt]

bit risky that , and its a bit risky pulling them off as i did it last on my old car and it pulled the paint of the bumper so its your call

[Wren5]

Tuesday 18th August,

Today I managed to finish my attempt on refurbing the spare set of alloys i had with the car.

The colour i eventually decided was a decent match was Ford Machined Silver, although it was amongst a few others. I also purchased some more primer, as the cheap trade cans from Part Co were hopeless!.

Anyway, after priming - I prepped the wheels using Wet & Dry, with a very Fine Grade (1,200) - which gave me a very suitable smooth finish for spraying.

The next step was to heat up the alloy wheel & bring up the paint can to a decent temperature (using a retro hairdryer!) - i find by doing this, the paint adheres better to the wheel & leaves a superior finish - this can also be done to various other components not only wheels.

After spraying all wheels, & leaving the paint to dry - the next step was to laquer, which for some reason was the most rewarding side of the refurb!

The finish is very good, there are a few marks although look very presentable & saving a fortune rather than paying someone £250+ for a refurb!
Unfortunalty, one of the centre caps hasnt turned out great for some reason, but itll be re-done soon - not bad for an amateur!

Thanks for looking & check out the pictures!

Next on the list - Carry on with the interior refurbishment! !

[gtmatt]

they look ace mate well done

[Penfold aka The Dealer]

good looking colour there, i find some of the vauxhall silvers look very good on wheels to...

Defo better than the "alloy" paint's you get.

[Wren5]

Hello everyone, sorry i havent been on for a while - need to update with some pictures as soon as I can.

Just started my Masters in Business & marketing - so i havent had much time on that front!

Anyway - Still waiting for my engine, might have to get one from CGB.

I just thought id post to let you know that im still around! & its good to see other people's progress!

Will update soon!

[Markey Mark (BD)]

Whats wrong with your original engine mate? Does it need rebuilding or you just a rebuilt one for piece of mind

[James5]

Whats wrong with your original engine mate? Does it need rebuilding or you just a rebuilt one for piece of mind

Thought RICHIE was building you an engine?

[Markey Mark (BD)]

Yeah thought so too, i remember him saying he was doing one but its not the original engine out of the car i think, Wren may corect me if i'm wrong.