A Tale of Three Renaults

FCS Event Manager Joined: 04 Jan 2005 Posts: 3680

130,000 miles on the clock but bodywork on the car, interior etc is in really good condition even the drivers seat is only just starting to show signs of wear.

and yes heh the title does need changing.

Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2005 2:15 am

danlp6 wrote:

should it not be called a tale of 3 renaults?

- and parts from lots of others!

FCS Event Manager Joined: 04 Jan 2005 Posts: 3680

lol Mals

righty, got my head (JB's) and head gasket set from Neal last night
picking up my cam belt kit from renault this afternoon.

just waiting on GSF to send my new head bolts.

if the weather holds off i will be taking the cambelt, idle pully and tensioner pully off the car tonight as well as the head.

Mr Quoter-vator Joined: 16 Feb 2004 Posts: 7405

Hope its a good un (the head) and all goes to plan for you.

FCS Event Manager Joined: 04 Jan 2005 Posts: 3680

Head looks good to me.

spent this evening taking off the inlet and exhaust manifolds from it, the old cam belt tensioner, CTS and temp sender, the thermostat housing was already removed from it
gave it a good old clean up, getting rid of the little bits of old rocker cover gasket and head gasket, cleaning all the crap out of the injector holes, inlet ports and exhaust ports, taken out the old spark plugs and given the plug well a good clean as well and a good old blow through with the air gun.
the valve heads look in good nick as do the cams Smile

also started to dismantile the ph2 in preperation of the head swap.

there must have been some kind of heat produced by the cambelt not being able to spin freely, it was melted onto the idle pully! and the tensioner pully has changed colour from the heat!

did not have my cam with me today but i will remember to take it tomorrow and get some pics.

FCS Event Manager Joined: 04 Jan 2005 Posts: 3680

well over the last couple of days i have been trying to get the ph2 sorted.

as you know it had an cam idle pully seizure last week which shredded the cambelt and mashed some valves.

Below are pics of the cambelt tensioner

its that colour from heat discolouration from where the camblet was being forced over it.

Thats the buggered idle pully

and this is whats left of the cambelt

not pretty is it?

time to get the head off

take off airbox and airhose, took off rear heatsheild, off with some water pipes, fuel injector rail and injectors with thier cables which i have put onto the other head. off with the rocker cover.
also removed any cables bolted to head and removed screws from the alt bracket to the inlet manifold.
also undo the bolts that hold the inlet manifold on the support brackets underneath.

now to undo the downpipe to manifold bolts and the starter-manifold bracket

this prooved really very tricky, could not get a socket onto them or a spanner because of lack of space so in the end i undid all the manfold-head bolts and removed the decat pipe from the downpipe which enabled me to move the exhaust manifold around a bit and got the bolts undone.

time to remove the headbolts.
this needs a torx 55 but mine was the 1/2 drive one, to get into the holes you need a 3/8 drive one, so a visit to halfords and i had the 3/8 drive t55.
first headbolt i try to undo and the t55 snaps in half!!
so another visit to halfords, they exchange the t55 and back to it.
all 10 headbolts freed off.

now with a bit of grunt, i managed to get the head off.

ick state of the headgasket!

state of the valves on the head

as you can see more of them are open than they should be, this is due to them being mashed and unable to close properly.

the block itself was also a total mess

cleaned it up and what do i find

so the block is fucked as well, what a wonderful week i am having.

Site Subscriber Joined: 28 Jan 2005 Posts: 3547

jeez! feeling it this week then! but atleast youve got a spare engine to drop in it!

Site Subscriber Joined: 13 Oct 2004 Posts: 4722

things like this puts my quote of "cars are eaiser then woman"

in a slightly less true state.[/i]

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

get the white hatches lump in there pronto!

Get that woman neal down there to help!

Site Subscriber Joined: 13 Oct 2004 Posts: 4722

got a month to get it running neo, easily do-able.

Level 10 User Joined: 22 Mar 2005 Posts: 621

You're having a week like me Neo! Crap innit? Least you've already got an engine to put in! I'm looking to get a temporary car (mega cheap) to get me mobile while I try to sort the car out! Crying or Very sad

FCS Event Manager Joined: 04 Jan 2005 Posts: 3680

Yes Lindsey, it stinks.
ah well these things are sent to test us.

right where do i go from here then?

to get the block out is it just a case now of undoing the engine mounts and gearbox to engine bolts ?

FCS Event Manager Joined: 04 Jan 2005 Posts: 3680

thinking about it, it's prolly gonna be easier to get the block out by bolting the old head back on, so i can lift it on the lifting mounts that bolt to the head.

so i still need to obtain another engine from somewhere for the chammy, the white hatch's lump was going to go in the chammy but will now go into the ph2 hatch.
the chammy can wait for a while now, looking for somewhere to store it whilst i sort out the ph2.

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

leave the head off, take the box and engine out, much easier, but if you have to remove the box - engine bolts then move the enging over and hope it clears.

head off, get 2 head bolts put them in diagonal corners, put the bolts through angle brackets connected to a hoist.

FCS Event Manager Joined: 04 Jan 2005 Posts: 3680

i am planning to get the block out without having to remove the gearbox at the same time, i dont want the extra hassle of removing driveshafts and roll pins etc.
today i have unbolted everything else that connects to the block like bottom water hose, brackets, starter motor, alt and brackets etc

i think all that is left now is the bolts holding the block onto the mounts and gearbox. if the sump does not clear than i will take that off too as its been emptied of oil.

with any luck the block will be out of the ph2 tomorrow night after work, will support the block underneath and undo the mount bolts and box to block bolts at dinnertime then after work, get my mate to lift it out with the fork truck.

put the wheels back on it and move it out of the way, then can get the white 19 into the yard and start getting all the bits off of that ready to get the lump out.

i am wondering if the internals are gonna be any good as the big ends have gone on the chammys lump, i was thinking of swapping the internals over, perhaps, maybe or that may just be too much hassle and it would be easier just to drop another lump into the chammy.

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

its a lot easier with the box still attached, you don;t even need to remove the driveshafts!

since the heads off you can acess the os roill pin, bang it out from the top. drain the box oil. unscrew the 13mm nut and bolt on the link rod.

wheels off, loosen the lower strut to hub bolt and remove the top one, pivot the hub outward and the shafts will fall off the box.

whip it out the easy quick way.

trying to take short cuts just makes for a lot more work in the long run, trust been there done it all before.

FCS Event Manager Joined: 04 Jan 2005 Posts: 3680

i will go with your suggestion Chris, thinking about it, it will make the job a whole lot easier when i go to put the lump back into the car as i can put the starter motor on with related brackets whilst the engine is out of the car, will make the job a whole lot less fiddly.
Cheers Chris.

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

happy to help.

You can also give it all a good clean!

Mr Quoter-vator Joined: 16 Feb 2004 Posts: 7405

wow....what a shocker...but could be a blessing in disgiuse i gues...before u pump more money into it, you have discovered this crack.

man you waterways almost look closed up with the amount of build up in some of them.

big ends on the chammy prolly just a case of new bearings, so shouldnt need any bits from anywhere else...if it does then u have a supply. new shells arent expensive from local factors.

ergh...as u now see, leaving the box on to remove the whole lot is a much better and easier way to do it...get the whole lot out, so u can clean and rebuild it all out of the car with ease.

FCS Event Manager Joined: 04 Jan 2005 Posts: 3680

right an update:

plan was to get the engine and box out in one go but of course the best laid plans of mice and men go astray.
You can tell this car is female cos it makes me want to do everything the hard way.

well the engine is out at last

woah check out how fecked the idle pully is . .

the engine bay

and why the engine had to come out with out the box

my bloody pin punch got stuck trying to get the roll pin out of the driveshaft and snapped, half the roll pin fell out, so feck knows what i am gonna do about at the mo.

FCS Event Manager Joined: 04 Jan 2005 Posts: 3680

right so with the engine out, ideal time to get the knackered power steering rack out

and with it removed give the bay a bit of a clean

woooo daylight where the rack is meant to be

and also get the feckered steering column out too

from inside the engine bay looking up into the cabin

old column and rack