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21 Turbo 21 Turbo Quadra joins Renault 5 stable!

Valve clearances 0.10 to 0.15mm inlet, 0.20 to 0.25mm exhaust, Set when engine cold. Retorque head when engine cold.
Personally I set the clearances to an accurate .10 and .20
Heat the caliper around the nipple before cracking off. If the dust caps are missing its a 50/50 snap/undo :-\
 
Good news! Brake nipples are free! Not seized! The garage will be retorquing the head today, doing valve clearances and brake flexi hoses. Let's hope this final part goes according to plan!
 
Thank you! Just heard from them... Nearly there! The car broke down. It starts, runs and dies. Sounds like a relay clicking from the dashboard. Any ideas? I have asked them to check that the connectors are all correct under the plastic ECU cover.
I now know the cost(!) of the labour... I am not going to share it here, but needless to say it is quite a bit. With what is going on in my life right now, it's a hit I'll have to take.
Question - particularly for @DaveL485 - can I drive it for a few hundred miles and then retorque the head? They haven't done it yet and need to crack on with other jobs, particularly with the extra time they've had to spend on the car. If I can leave it that long, presumably I should set the valve clearances first? Hopefully not too difficult a job? I've done my GTT and Gordini Turbo before but not a 21. I have the Haynes book here in front of me. Doesn't look too bad.
 
Relay clicking...check the fuel pump is running constantly. Also check the injection locking relay. Both these control relays are under the panel under the black cover, sandwiched in next to the ECU.

Head retorque: You'd be surprised how much the bolts can slacken. I think @Andyquadra measured cracking off bolts for a retorque down in the 50lb/ft range.
If I had to drive it, i'd do so with the actuator rod disconnected so there was no boost and keep the revs down. Valve clearances...if you take the rocker cover off to set them why on earth wouldnt you retorque the head bolts? It's quite literally an extra few minutes to fully slacken each bolt and razz it straight back around to 70lb/ft. You don't need to drain coolant or remove any extra parts. If you don't have a torque wrench i'll courier you mine.

ETA, DO NOT loosen all ten bolts then retighten, loosen one then retorque immediately, then the next, and the next. Start at the middle bolt, inlet side, then middle exhaust, then up one, right one, down 2, left 1, up 3, right one, down 4, left one. Its a spiral pattern.
 
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Oh, Valve clearances....put it in 5th gear, jack it up so the front passenger wheel is off the floor. Remove rocker cover, turn engine by rotating passenger front wheel (will require some muscle power). Do the inlets first, turn the wheel until you see the cam lobe of no1 inlet rocker pointing the opposite way to the contact point of the rocker on the cam. You are making sure that there is no actuation of the lobe on the rocker, basically.
Take a 13mm ring spanner and crack off the locking nut, then use a hefty flat blade screwdriver to loosen the adjuster and slide a 0.10mm feeler blade between the adjuster base and the valve top. Screw down the adjuster until it traps the feeler blade, then loosen it ever so slightly so the blade moves but there is no rocker play when you waggle it up and down. Hold the adjuster in place with the screwdriver, and nip up the locking nut. You should then be able to remove the screwdriver and tighten the locking nut properly (dont go mad, just normal tight) then finally slide out the feeler blade making sure it hasn't gone tight. If it has, re-do the procedure. Turn engine using the passenger wheel again until number 3 lobe is pointing away from the rocker contact and repeat, then 4, then 2. Then repeat all over again for the exhaust side, with a 0.20mm feeler blade.
 
Thank you Dave! Oh font of knowledge... I have just spoken to the garage. They have set the clearances but not retorqued and we have agreed that there's no point in me collecting the car until next week. The problem is that due to all the delays and problems we've had, they are behind with all their other customers, so the next slot they have to work on my car is next Thursday.

I have agreed to have them work on it then instead of sending it out the door today or tomorrow when it's not quite ready. I won't be able to drive the car next week anyway, so I might as well wait until the end of the week!

I know these are some of the problems with using an everyday garage to work on the car. They have been very good to me and have even offered at 10% discount on the labour because it's such a big job. I will be supplying them with beer and biscuits as a thank you!

I do have a torque wrench but I'm not sure how accurate it is. I am hoping it is, because I used it to torque the head on my GTT! Thinking about it, I did retorque the head on my Gordini Turbo before and the head gasket has survived 10 years so I can't have done that job too badly... Next I will be retorquing the head on the GTT and then resetting the valve clearances on it.

Have passed on the info about the relays to my garage. Hopefully they can get it going!

We need to get all these nuggets of info up on the wiki - then they become an editable, searchable source of reference. Saves you typing it out every time, though I am most grateful to you.

Andrew
 
Argh! Throttle Position Sensor... Not sure if I need a new one or not but I believe they have the car running again. I understand they are expensive from Renault?
 
Dunno... Garage could only spend a few seconds with me on the phone. I am also very busy at work. Need to take a quick trip up to the garage later on to settle the bill. Will report back after then!
 

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