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Alpine 1968 Renault R8

  • Thread starter Thread starter Adey
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Adey

Serial Renault Deviant
Staff member
Hi, my names Adey and I have a bit of a problem with old rusty Renaults. You my remember me from such Retro Builds as

The Renault 5 Campus..... Summer Boostings. A C1J turbo swapped base model r5 (sold to fund the next car)

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The 1978 Renault 12 Frog Dog, Definitely slow slight low (sold to help fund a wedding)

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And one of my Favourites, The 1957 "The Dope" Dauphine (sold due to ill health)

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So its been just over 2 years since I've had something retro to tinker with. I had a pretty big operation 2 years back and ended up selling the Dope to fund life whilst off work. It was needed, and for a long while after I wouldn't have even been able to drive the thing. It was a needs must decision, and I do miss the car so I have been browsing for something to fill the gap.

I had actually been holding out for an R4, nothing had popped up over the last few months though.... Browsing FB marketplace last week I noticed a Renault R8 S had appeared. I actually sent the link to a friend of mine who already had one, just to show him more than anything. The next day I passed on some contact details from the seller to said friend... and then a few hours later I had a text "do you want to buy an 8?..."

Bit of a back story, Paul has owned the 8 he has for probably 12 years+ I've know of the car all along and have always coveted it. This year I had actually agreed to work on the car to get it back up and running and useable on the road as it had been passed around a bit. I love to tinker anyway and as he's a mate Id have got it going with the agreement I could use it when I wanted. Generally the price of them and rarity had kept them out for reach and off the current radar. (I did have a 1963 yellow R8 briefly but it was a total tea bag)

Anyway, Paul had had a chat with the current owner of the 8S and now had no need for the old 8.

I took a look at it on Saturday, in a 2 birds one stone type setup, and after viewing then took Paul to collect his new 8S. A price was agreed and now all that is left to sort is transporting it home. She comes with already banded steels, a whole host of spare bits that have been collected over the years and a fair amount of work to be done. None of that phases me though, I'm very much looking forward to getting my hands dirty again and getting another rusty Renault back on the road (probably with very little suspension travel and a huge drop in ride height :D)

Let me show you "Dolly" (not sure why its called Dolly but that's what Pauls wife has called it for all the time they have had it)

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Thanks for reading




 
Proper car, be interesting to see what you do with this.......bet you've got twin cams somewhere in your mind.....I can hear cogs turning.
@Steve Swan is gonna be in your ribs like a good un .....
I've plenty of ideas, though don't want to go to nuts with it this year. Up and running would be a good start. I'm not sure the stock performance will be enough but then I don't want to madly overpower it.

Its got a 1.1 in there, similar to the one I fitted in the dauphine, it'll prob need to find another 20bhp to be fair. Will have to see what condition the engine is in before planning too far ahead
 
Those wheels have to go! I don't think they'll fit under the arches with their current width.
When you C1J it, I've got a few turbo carbs....😉
it'll tuck in a fair bit as you take the height out of it, how much I'm not sure, hopefully enough.

Would probably cost the price of the car again to go C1J nowadays, gone are the days of cheap spare engines sat under a tarp. Id be tempted to go with a webber on this and maybe a cheeky cam... Not sure what is a direct swap in engine wise. Maybe a r12 engine? that said find one of them too...
 
You can steal an engine from R9,10,11,12, 18,Fuego and Volvo 340. MK1 R 5 has the block ears missing for fitting in an 8, but you could invent something. Get a picture of the bottom spine of the gearbox under where the axles come out. That will give an indication of how Chocolate the box is, plus whether it has a real or stone age clutch, as it's a later car you might have the right bits.
 
1100 has small mains and big ends, only 72 mm stroke. Any 1300/1400 motor from 810- c1j have much better bottom end, in fact they are all the same crank and rods from the R10&12 to the GT Turbo
and would they bolt to the gearbox I have ? (I vaguely remember going through all this with the dauphine but cant recall much of it)
 
They are all the same block crank and rods. What you need as a start point is the later bellhousing and clutch arrangement, which it might actually have. You can convert the early type, but it's not cheap. One of the modern 16 (K4M???) valves fits the box @Wheelers Workshop is working on this and is looking for sump options, your experience here could be invaluable.
 
I think the k4m only came with one sump, cast aluminium? what issues is he coming up against?

ill have to wait till it arrives to check it out then, the only thing I did note is it seemed to have an earlier, non oil filtered engine in it.

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Good Golly Miss Dolly! She looks like you'll have a lot of fun with her. I've spent the last few years rebuilding an 8 myself hear in the Colonies. I look forward to reading about your progress.
 
You better look after her mate!! Sarah will kill you if you don’t lol.
I too am exited for what is planned for this lovely little Renault. Both 8’s ready for RRG hopefully
 
Awh man I'm very jealous, there's loads of k4m about, or maybe a k9k for reliability and drivability, are we gonna get another docu-series out of you?
 
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