Introducing 'ETHEL'

[Slammed 66]

So, an exciting day today.

Popped over to Leeds with a mate to collect the phase 1 I bought from StuTHC back in the summer.

There's a lot of work to be done to get it right but it's basically sound and I'm quite pleased with her.



As it turns out, today is supposedly "national give your car a name day"

There are a few cars on here with nice or cute names already such as "Doris" "fluffy" and the recently departed "Bonnie" so I thought a nice cute girls name would suit her aswell. So here it is. "Ethel"













I'll give her a good look over at the weekend and make a list of jobs to do but I'm quite confident that it shouldn't be too bad.

Sangliers 2014, here we come!

[Guybrush]

Looking good!

Is it me or does the exhaust tailpipe stick out way to far, is it trying to compensate?

[casper]

Nice.

[Mr Raider]

Sweet, rare phase 1 with the infamous THC number plate

[safehands]

smashing

[Slammed 66]

Well I've had it on the ramp for 2 minutes and got quite a grim list already.

Rear caliper bleed nipple snapped (no brakes at all)
Both front jacking points are toast
Both doors rotten
Bonnet absolutely rotten through
Tailgate has rust
Drivers window won't work (non electric type)
Rust in roof
Sills rotting
Water pump pissing water out. Was told that this has only just been sorted so maybe it's just a gasket that's not seated???
Rear window catch one side.

A good look at the weekend will no doubt reveal plenty more.

I can see mike @ GT Turbo spares will be earning a bit more shortly

[mingblus3]

I'll have 2 very good doors soon which I am taking off my car. Will also have a good tailgate too with only 2 small light areas of rust which can easily be sorted.

[mingblus3]

and I've got a new bonnet too.

[Kris M]

Welcome to the elite ph1 club. Such a rare car now. Keep it o.e!!

[rs250nut]

Welcome to the elite ph1 club. Such a rare car now. Keep it o.e!!

Or fit a rather large turbo and hoon the s**t out of it!!!!!

[TNT ANDY]

Good work fella - I have a bonnet FOC if you're in the Eastern region should you want it.

[jesus in the seat of a 5]

Welcome to the elite ph1 club. Such a rare car now. Keep it o.e!!

couldnt of said it better, well done ross....

[LeeR5GTT]

Good to see this back on the road soon!! Good darts mate

[Slammed 66]

Good work fella - I have a bonnet FOC if you're in the Eastern region should you want it.

I think I love you Andy

I am in the eastern region buddy, roughly where Lincolnshire and Yorkshire meet.

It wouldn't happen to be a red bonnet by any stroke of luck?

Thanks for the positive comments guys.

Ross

[TNT ANDY]

You're right.

It isn't

[Robbo]

the 'clowns car' lives on

[Robbo]

got some piss funny memories about that car, keep up the good work

[Dave Reed]

Water pump may have a hair line crack.. It cought me out once, changed the gasket twice thinking I'd messed up, then noticed a tiny little crack that was opening up as t got hotter

[Slammed 66]

Water pump may have a hair line crack.. It cought me out once, changed the gasket twice thinking I'd messed up, then noticed a tiny little crack that was opening up as t got hotter

Thanks Dave, I'll check that when I remove it. Hopefully it'll just be the gasket not seated right if stu has only just changed it.



I put it on the ramp tonight and it is a lot worse than I was expecting it to be.

Really disheartened with this one to be fair and if I wasn't so sentimental about cars I'd just break it to try to get my money back.

O/S jacking point






N/S jacking point





O/S sill






Boot floor rotten all over









O/S front arch and inner wing







Front of bonnet rotten through and all but one bolts on the hinges snapped clean off. I knew about this and the boot floor though.







Rotten drivers door. Didn't get a picture of the passenger one but it's just as bad






Rust breaking through on the roof.





^^^ this is the bit that worries me most as I don't know what to do about it. I never spotted it when collecting the car as it was pissing it down and knew nothing about it until I got it home



Evidence of previous bodgery on the boot floor. Appears to be silicone smeared over holes.




And as it turns out, both rear caliper bleed nipples are snapped off


Really gutted but I'm in too deep to pass it on now.

I'm told that it's a very early one and one of the first into the country.

Can anyone confirm that? It was registered on 10/06/86 and chassis ends with 0501012

[LeeR5GTT]

Keep the faith Ross! For inspiration read the thread "meet bajjer" .... Now that was a rotbox

[chris]

Oh dear mate that's not good hope you got it very cheap so what's the plans for it I will have a look with you when I come up

[Slammed 66]

I don't really know mate. Obviously I'm gonna have to get someone to weld her up for me but god knows what to do with that roof

The smaller bits like sorting the brakes is something I can manage and water pump etc. upon reflection I think I paid over the odds for it, more than double what I gave for my electric blue phase 1 that didn't need welding but, 'live and learn' I guess.

Everything sorted for you coming over mate. Just make sure you pack your MIG in your bag

[TNT ANDY]

Ross - it's all doable my friend - like anything complex, don't think of everything at the same time, it'll just make your head spin.

Do 1 part at a time and you will be amazed how quickly things start coming together, it's not as bad as you think.

Roof - get stripping the paint off in those area's to see what is going on there. Patches can be welded in, carbon roofs can be fitted after treatment etc. The lads @ national day with the twin engined 5 (White) where a dab hand at the carbon.

Keep your chin up and make that ph1 what it once was - but maybe with a carbon roof

What are your plans btw - oe or whatever you can?

[JRP]

That is all do able... Did you ever see mine when I got it?

[Slammed 66]

Thanks guys.

Yeah it's all do able but just frigging annoying. It was meant to be a quick turn around and on the road in a week. There was even talk of me driving away from stu's house in it but I'm pleased I never did as it wouldn't have made it a mile away in this state.

I may aswell have it done properly, otherwise I'll never have a phase 1 on the road

[gtmatt]

Thanks guys.

Yeah it's all do able but just frigging annoying. It was meant to be a quick turn around and on the road in a week. There was even talk of me driving away from stud house in it but I'm pleased I never did as it wouldn't have made it a mile away in this state.

I may aswell have it done properly, otherwise I'll never have a phase 1 on the road

Not like stu to let his car go bad , I've been in that car many of times , I'm sure you will get it sorted look at my project , mine was rotten as well , you will do it mate

[Brigsy]

I would pull the kit off and inspect the sills properly. Definitely needs more than a week to sort properly

[Moggy]

find the fab' plate (oval plate). it should be on one of the front wheel arches in the engine bay on a phase 1

earliest one I have seen that wasn't a cup car was K 001111. K being made in Dieppe (home of renault sport) so it was the 1111 made, and I was told that the first 1000 where LHD

[Trevhib]

Blimey, where's that been parked up? On the beach?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSEFIPew9Tg

Best of luck with it tho. Will be another great RTOC save

Roof - Harri would be happy to hear from you

[Slammed 66]

find the fab' plate (oval plate). it should be on one of the front wheel arches in the engine bay on a phase 1

earliest one I have seen that wasn't a cup car was K 001111. K being made in Dieppe (home of renault sport) so it was the 1111 made, and I was told that the first 1000 where LHD

Fab plate reads

C405

600 031

K011827

So by being sold on the 10/06/86 it can't be the 10,827th rhd GT Turbo surely?

Any other ways to tell?

[tommy_boi]

Got a red phase 1 bonnet from a car i broke nearly 10 years ago.your's if you want it.iam in burton upon trent

[Harri]

Blimey, where's that been parked up? On the beach?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSEFIPew9Tg

Best of luck with it tho. Will be another great RTOC save

Roof - Harri would be happy to hear from you

yep, definetly needs roof replacement

[paul b]

Fab plate reads

C405

600 031

K011827

So by being sold on the 10/06/86 it can't be the 10,827th rhd GT Turbo surely?

Any other ways to tell?

Ok, C405 , C means 3 door, 40 means "supercinq" 5 means 1.4 turbo engine

600 means UK right hand drive spec

031 means ,options fitted to UK spec car, rear wiper , etc..

K011827 , K = France,Dieppe build. 011827 could mean the 11,827 5Gtt but more likely the 11,827 Renault 5 "Supercinq" as they didn't just build the 5Gtt there but other models too...

Sorry I cannot give you more info but I could only find 1 old parts book, need the other one to work out build dates from engine numbers..

[Slammed 66]

Ok, C405 , C means 3 door, 40 means "supercinq" 5 means 1.4 turbo engine

600 means UK right hand drive spec

031 means ,options fitted to UK spec car, rear wiper , etc..

K011827 , K = France,Dieppe build. 011827 could mean the 11,827 5Gtt but more likely the 11,827 Renault 5 "Supercinq" as they didn't just build the 5Gtt there but other models too...

Sorry I cannot give you more info but I could only find 1 old parts book, need the other one to work out build dates from engine numbers..

Thanks for taking the time to do that for me Paul

When I collected it from Stu, I was told it was the 27th into the country. I'm very sceptical of this though. Were 'keep fit' windows all that was available on early cars or was electric an option?

Thanks.

[markg]

Thanks for taking the time to do that for me Paul

When I collected it from Stu, I was told it was the 27th into the country. I'm very sceptical of this though. Were 'keep fit' windows all that was available on early cars or was electric an option?

Thanks.

Have a read of this thread - https://www.rtoc.org/boards/showthrea...ase+difference

Looks like PH1 had electric windows as an option.

[paul b]

LOL, Keep fit windows,

Elec windows were fitted as an option only, usually because of time it was just a kit fitted once the car got to the UK... along with alarms, sunroofs etc...

then the Dealers got to make the profit as it was sold as "Factory Fitted Equipment" ... well, the box supplied came from the factory anyway.. a factory near Birmingham, a factory near Derby too....

[Slammed 66]

Well, LOTS and LOTS to report on this.

Chris has been doing sterling work on the restoration of Ethel and has been at it almost non stop for the last 3 months. I owe this guy so much it's unreal. If it wasn't for his enthusiasm and patience then I'd probably have scrapped this by now. It really was that bad. Cheers homie

The car has had a full shell strip down and is in for paint at the moment which is hugely exciting for me

Not going to be red though

Any how. I made a catastrophic balls up choosing the colour for the kit to be painted. I wanted a faded plastic grey colour for the kit so chose a similar colour to the faded plastic in the small GT TURBO badge on the front grill. The results are not pretty and a total waste of £160 that I paid my painter







They just look like primer grey


So I'm going to have to get them painted all over again. I don't want jet black but very dark charcoal this time I think. Has anyone got any recommendations?

Thanks

[mingblus3]

The end results in this video are a pretty nice looking colour match.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNv7IIdxFSw

[Woznaldo]

The end results in this video are a pretty nice looking colour match.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNv7IIdxFSw

I love the polished Turbines on his car!

[Ashy]

Wow, never realised how bad this car was, I've known it for years!

Suppose it lived outside which is never good for a 28 year old car!

Well done for sticking with it, I like to use the phrase "where there's a welder there's a way" which is certainly the case with my latest project

Got any pics of the welding repairs and the shell before going for paint?

What colour have you decided on?

[DaveL485]

Can anyone confirm that? It was registered on 10/06/86 and chassis ends with 0501012

Date of registration @ DVLA is 28/06/1986

[Slammed 66]

Wow, never realised how bad this car was, I've known it for years!

You wouldn't believe how bad the car was Ashy

Floors were gone front to rear, boot floor pushed through with little pressure from my hand, jacking points, inner and outer sills, roof full of filler and twisted, rear axle mountings rotten, front inner arches and front panel rotten, bulkhead holed, battery tray holed, rear inner arches made from filler, silicone sealer and filler bodged over holes front to rear.

I've never seen one this bad.

It was impossible to rescue the original shell so I had to purchase a rust free mint shell at a fair expense just to be able to put it right.

What I purchased was an absolutely bare shell. No clips, rubbers or anything.

I am however having it properly re-shelled and will be having an IVA/SVA test to keep the original numbers.

Here's what I've dug up from DVLA on the matter:



In order to retain the original registration mark:
cars and car-derived vans must use:

The original unmodified chassis or unaltered bodyshell (i.e. body and chassis as one unit - monocoque); or a new chassis or monocoque bodyshell of the same specification as the original supported by evidence from the dealer or manufacturer (e.g. receipt).

And two other major components from the original vehicle - ie suspension (front & back); steering assembly; axles (both); transmission or engine.

If a second-hand chassis or monocoque bodyshell is used a car must pass an Individual Vehicle Approval (IVA) and light goods vans must have a enhanced single vehicle approval (ESVA) or single vehicle approval (SVA) test.


I'll try to find some pics of how bad the original shell really was.

[Haz]

Fair play to you, I did think from the pics that it would require alot of work. Reshelling does seem to be the way to go since most of the car needs to be stripped when the rust is that bad, and as I'm sure some have, it's easier to just swap turrets over. Imo, unless its one of the special cars that has a history to boost the value, not just a mag feature it doesn't matter. If the donor shell is a gtt then is it worth all the hassle just for the plates when they could be transferred with dvla anyway? Especially since its known to be reshelled now. Campus shells tend to be less rotten too so worth using when this is the case.
Good luck, be good to see it back on the road.

[Slammed 66]

Here's a few pics of the strip down of the original shell

[Slammed 66]

More

[Slammed 66]

Nearly ready for scrap

[Slammed 66]

Dash coming out

[Slammed 66]

Previous owners drugs stash from the steering wheel.

[Slammed 66]

This is the new shell in the spray shop today getting a base coat to check for high and low spots. It's not going to be this colour though.

I'll add more pics when photobucket stood messing me around

[GTphil]

Previous owners drugs stash from the steering wheel.

It's all in the reg plate

Shame it was so neglected, I remember it being very tidy a few years back.