21 Turbo 21 Turbo Quadra joins Renault 5 stable!

[DaveL485]

Mine's debadged....


so...

No LOL

 

[Kondas21]

Badge all the way! Mine is de-badged at the front for a cleaner look, but I like to let people know what passed them

 

[Kondas21]

Whilst the propshaft is away I thought I would add a few more BHP for free!

Before:
View attachment 5932
Cracked out the electric drill:
View attachment 5933
Talking of cracking, the filler was cracked where the original holes were so it was easy enough to see where to drill!
...

Tadaa!!

View attachment 5934
Whaddya reckon? Looks so much better doesn't it? And the badges surely add a couple of BHP each, so I make that 6BHP total!

I see there's a hole cut for the other fog light on the left side. Did you do that or you bought the car like that?

I've done the same, but I thought it looked horrible so I've done some creative bodging:

Good to hear you are making good progress!

 

[r5gordini]

Agreed with Kondas and Andy on the badging! With such a rare car, no-one will know what it is if it's debadged! I wanted the Renault badge on the front too, so in a way it's very good that I replaced the nosecone with one that was badged. And the right colour! See - the crash was a silver lining!
Kondas - argh! I wish you'd not told me about the fog light! I bought the car like that and didn't know. You're right - someone has just cut a hole there. Interesting how the light fitting was already there but there's no proper fog light reflector behind. Looks a bit rubbish without it. Ah well! Something to sort out if I have nothing else to do (fat chance).

Still to do (for me as a to-do list):

1. Fit the propshaft (apparently the engineering people don't balance them unless specifically told to at the time of fitting a new bearing) D'oh...
2. Clean the air idle control valve (hopefully will stop the idle varying up and down)
3. Fit the slimline fans and FMIC from Lee
4. Change exhaust mountings (they are shot to pieces)
5. Sort out the slightly bent driver's wing (my bodywork guy is going to do that for me for about £75)! Fit the wheelarch protector. I have new clips!
6. Pay my tax bill. Ooops. Unexpected. £1400! OUCH month. Need to save. Not spend!
7. After 6. above, hunker down for a bit
8. Sort out the petrol fumes (only happens when the tank is fullish) - just makes the exterior of the car smell, not the interior!
9. Want to sort the exhaust. Scorpion is nice but it's got the silly, restrictive tailpipe. I am wondering if someone can modify the tailpipe for me. I don't want to lose the Scorpion style. I have Scorpion exhausts on my GTT and Gordini Turbo too. Gordini one sounds fantastic!
10. Sunroof: Rattles and bangs. The mechanism is broken. There's also a lot of wind noise from it
11. Fuel computer - display doesn't work properly - I have a spare
12. Still a groan from the driver's side suspension - will get my garage to take a quick look when they fit the propshaft
13. Clean, de-rust and underseal the underside (not rotten - just a load of surface corrosion on everything)
14. Fix left-hand rear electric window
15. Paint the engine bay/strut where the rust repair was done (rattle can will do)
16. Refit the VIN plate
17. Sort the squeaky squeal from the brakes. I bet the last owner didn't use any copper grease!
18. Rear foglight (thanks Kondas)!
19. Fit the Xenons
20. Fit the strut brace I have

Not much then! The car is usable despite the issues...

 

[andybond]

Sort the squeaky squeal from the brakes. I bet the last owner didn't use any copper grease!

Depends on the pads. Some squeal anyway due to microvibration when stopping

 

[Kondas21]

Depends on the pads. Some squeal anyway due to microvibration when stopping

Too right. I had Mintex 1144 pads at the back and they squealed regardless. Now I've got Ferodo pads and they don't make a sound at all.

 

[Andyquadra]

Too right. I had Mintex 1144 pads at the back and they squealed regardless. Now I've got Ferodo pads and they don't make a sound at all.

I had mintex 1144's on my Quadra for a couple of day's. I followed the correct bedding in instructions from the supplier. No feed back through the peddle and the most amount of brake fade I've ever had!

 

[Kondas21]

I had mintex 1144's on my Quadra for a couple of day's. I followed the correct bedding in instructions from the supplier. No feed back through the peddle and the most amount of brake fade I've ever had!

The 1144's only work if you put them through a heat cycle first. Few hard stops after starting the car up did it for me. Once done that they worked really well. Agree on the pedal feel though. Not the greatest pads for everyday use, but after all they are semi-racing pads. I only had to replace mine because the left rear got stuck on and they basically burned away. I could crumble them off the backing. The other side however is still in really good condition. I would buy it again, but I was (am) on a budget so had to go cheap... The Ferodos work well enough for everyday use so happy days.

 

[Andyquadra]

The 1144's only work if you put them through a heat cycle first. Few hard stops after starting the car up did it for me. Once done that they worked really well. Agree on the pedal feel though. Not the greatest pads for everyday use, but after all they are semi-racing pads. I only had to replace mine because the left rear got stuck on and they basically burned away. I could crumble them off the backing. The other side however is still in really good condition. I would buy it again, but I was (am) on a budget so had to go cheap... The Ferodos work well enough for everyday use so happy days.

This is what I did, was told slow stop from 70, then hard stop from 70 a couple of times.

 

[Kondas21]

This is what I did, was told slow stop from 70, then hard stop from 70 a couple of times.

Weird. I believe you but it makes me wonder, perhaps you had a bad batch?

 

[Andyquadra]

Weird. I believe you but it makes me wonder, perhaps you had a bad batch?

was a group buy from years ago, my Quadra's been off the road 10 year this may and DaveL485 is trying to talk me out of selling everything

 

[Kondas21]

I say the same, don't do it! Why do you want to sell it? Fed up with the problems?

 

[andybond]

was a group buy from years ago, my Quadra's been off the road 10 year this may and DaveL485 is trying to talk me out of selling everything

Sell the lot. Buy something modern , faster , better handling , less hassle and more fun.

 

[Andyquadra]

I say the same, don't do it! Why do you want to sell it? Fed up with the problems?

No problems, last time I worked on the car, it was with Dave and that was 2009! I just don't have the time, to many hobbies

 

[Kondas21]

No problems, last time I worked on the car, it was with Dave and that was 2009! I just don't have the time, to many hobbies

I see your point. I also have a few more hobbies, and I'm always in trouble trying to divide my earnings between them (time isn't really the issue for me). At the end of the day, it's everyone's own decision. But I just love people's look on their faces when they see the Plague. "What is that? What? It's a four wheel drive?" That is what keeps me going. I know I could have bought better and newer car(s) from the money I spent, but I don't care.
An old saying from Hungary (there probably is something similar in UK): You always have time for, what you want to spare time for. If you don't feel this way about your Quadra anymore, then yes, you should probably let it go...

 

[DaveL485]

No problems, last time I worked on the car, it was with Dave and that was 2009! I just don't have the time, to many hobbies

I WILL talk you out of it.

 

[r5gordini]

Right, you lot! Let's stop all that stuff about what car's better and what you should sell and keep, etc.!
Not that I really care - it's fun to read! And talking of such, there's no car I've ever owned that has the same overall package as the 21 Quadra. Fun, fast, classic, comfy and handles brilliantly.
And now mine handles brilliantly again! I've had fun tooling around in 2wd mode for a bit but I got the propshaft back and fitted it today. Unbelievable difference. No vibrations - yes, there's a bit more noise and drivetrain shunt and all that stuff, (and maybe very slight vibes at certain speeds, but only very slight).
The other unbelievable difference is the improvement to the handling! I've driven the car for the last two weeks in 2wd and enjoyed it very much. But... after fitting the propshaft, I drove the car for about 15 mins and everything feels so totally different after 2wd. It has been an interesting comparison for me... The steering feels better (more precise, less floaty). The cornering and handling are improved dramatically and there is no torque steer!
There have been a few debates on here about 2wd vs Quadra. And I can say I definitely prefer the Quadra. No question whatsoever. If I want scrabbly front-wheel drive with torque steer I will go back to my Gordini or GTT, thank you very much!
Not that I want to take away from all those 2wd 21 fanatics out there - 2wd is probably more challenging and is, well, just different! Have fun!

 

[DaveL485]

there's no car I've ever owned that has the same overall package as the 21 Quadra.

And rare. Even my postman likes to stop for a chat about it.

 

[r5gordini]

Indeed! So does mine And every delivery driver that comes to the house. I even had an appliance delivery driver stop in passing, even though he wasn't delivering to my house!
Anyway - fresh problem alert! ABS. Now this scares me a bit as I have no idea how to troubleshoot it.
The system initialises fine but if I brake hard (ish), the warning light comes on. Stopping and restarting the engine clears the fault.
I have tested the ABS - it appears to work fine at speeds below 30mph but not at anything above.
The garage replaced one ABS sensor during the work. Is that the first thing to check? Check that the connection is secure?
Otherwise, is there any way to read out a fault or diagnostic code?

 

[DaveL485]

Indeed! So does mine And every delivery driver that comes to the house. I even had an appliance delivery driver stop in passing, even though he wasn't delivering to my house!
Anyway - fresh problem alert! ABS. Now this scares me a bit as I have no idea how to troubleshoot it.
The system initialises fine but if I brake hard (ish), the warning light comes on. Stopping and restarting the engine clears the fault.
I have tested the ABS - it appears to work fine at speeds below 30mph but not at anything above.
The garage replaced one ABS sensor during the work. Is that the first thing to check? Check that the connection is secure?
Otherwise, is there any way to read out a fault or diagnostic code?

Quadra (but not 2wd) have self-diagnosing ABS...to trigger diagnostic mode you connect 2 of the XR ports together and read off the flashing of the ABS light.

...if only I could remember which ports lol