There is more to life with TurboRenault.co.uk

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Twingo Adey's Twingo GT (F4R+T 2.0ltr engine swap)

Gave it a quick oil and filter change with the oil delivered from Opie Oils, came with a cardboard funnel which made pouring in the fluid easy enough. Filter itself is easy to get access too from underneath. Hand up between the rad and block and you can grab hold and twist with little bother. Checking the level is a bit tight on the dipstick, though looking at the meg version there's a longer dipstick tube so something to think about in the future.

Exhaust blows a little at the joint between the front pipe and mid pipe but I expected that due to sleeving it temporarily until funds allow a nice system to be made. The blow had gotten louder recently so I re sealed and seated everything again. Managed to pull everything up a little nicer so the back box wasn't poking out so much. Started up and it was still blowing loads........ does that if you forget to put the second lambda in properly. Still blowing a little from the joint but Its little quieter with that nipped up 😂


20210418_100850.webp20210418_100846.webpIMG_20210417_133719_055.webpIMG_20210417_133719_096.webp
 
So, what a shite day. Its always the small quick jobs that go wrong and fuck things over. To top it off I'm actually awaiting conformation from EFI Parts of a mapping date change as someone else cant make their booking. That's meant to be next Tuesday ffs.

Right, as we know my gear shift mech was upside down, this was due to fitting a gearbox from a car with a dash mounted shifter and my chassis has a floor mounted shifter. Not a big issue, just need to swap the selector arms off the top of the selector shaft and bobs your uncle (was actually my grandad) job done. Someone kindly removed the arms off a spare gearbox and sent them to me. Should of just been a case of tapping out the scroll pin, removing my arms and replacing with the correct ones............... Yeah fucked that up, lined it all up gave it a tap and thought all was well when the pin was slightly out. Then I noticed the shaft was slightly leant over. Fucking snapped further down at the next weak point where there's another locating pin. So box out job now needed either to replace the box or fix this one. Now being cheap/pikey/brassic I didn't pay much for it in the first place, but all of a sudden they seem to be mega money. Ideally I need to get one here and at my house in the next few days so I can get it all back together for the weekend. FUCK.

So now I've disconnected everything and its ready to be lifted out again, just need to collect my engine crane that I've leant out. So hopefully should have it all out on the deck by tomorrow eve (y) A good mate has also called after seeing some pics/vid on Instagram. He's a wiz machinist and works in motorsport and thinks he can fix it without too much bother, I just need to remove it from the box. Fingers crossed I can whip apart the box tomorrow and get it removed, just need to have a look at the gearbox documentation this eve to see if its possible. Wish me luck.

Before all this I also knocked up a PMT gearbox mount. A squirt of tiger seal and bit of old cambelt pressed into the void around the centre of the mount and the sealed up some more with more tiger seal PMT FTW (y) shame there's no working gearbox to bolt it too 😂 😭

20210420_144716.jpg20210420_144643.jpg20210420_101115.jpgIMG-20210420-WA0000.jpg
received_445316953235379.jpegreceived_297654605083812.jpeg
 
Last edited:
@Adey. Not wishing to tell my Granny how to suck Eggs. Is the Rollpin hole the same orientation? Renault have a habit of offset drilling rollpin holes, so that they only fit one way round. I have fallen foul of this issue before, it is minimal to say the least, usually you can get the pin halfway in and it gets to the opposite side of the outer part and jams up. That said you were unlucky to get a crystalline fracture the way you did. I think this may have been a ticking timebomb with this particular gearbox. I hope it is a one off. Always when there is a deadline too...........
 
Looks to be straight through and it was on removal it went. Hitting the top of the shaft where it was is probably about 2 inch above the break so added abit of leverage. Hopefully today brings some good news. On the cards is hopefully get the engine and box out and I will start stripping down the box, the selector shaft is in the casing side opposite to the gears so it looks like i need to remove 5th than split the box to gain access. In hindsight I should of just made a tool to push the pin out rather than relying on the old punch and hammer method. It was tight for space in there too so there really wasn't much swing on it.

On the cards if I can remove the shaft successfully is have it repaired or replace it. The chap who sent the arms of his is going to look at possibly removing the shaft from his old gearbox this eve. A friend also said he should be able to fix it or make a new one. Ill also call around gearbox repair places to see if a spare is available.

I've also found a few gearbox's that aren't massive money but within an hour of home that I might be able to collect and fit. I know my gearbox works and the ratios are nice though (well did work)

Either way it all needs to get out and on to the garage floor first.
 
Ah man, one of those "oh shit" moments. I think the last one I had was when the swivel hub on my 197 broke fitting a new swivel balljoint in.

Good luck finding what you need, but i'd certainly relace rather than repair that shaft.
 
Busy busy day today.

So id been firing off lots of offers on eBay since yesterday, but last night, whilst having a 3am shit I spotted a gearbox that looked correct but it couldn't be identified. No pictures of the label or anything. So i fired off an email asking for the info. Got a reply at lunch time today, JR5 113 (y) that will do, diesel box, slightly longer than mine but it will fit. Oh and its from a modus so has the correct selector arm arrangement for the gears so (hopefully) in the correct orientation.

So straight from work at lunch time to pick up my engine crane. Got home then contacted the seller, he was in Bristol (y) so quickly paid for it and jumped in the car with one of the boys and did a quick road trip to pick it up. All looked good so chucked it the boot and head home.

Everything was here now so time to get cracking, id already prepped everything for the removal so that was quick and easy. Once it was out I swapped in the new slave cylinder and my crank sensor, Had dinner then slapped the box back on the block. @Jezer101 then popped over to give some abuse and some help and we got it back in the hole. driveshafts in, exhaust on hubs all loosely assembled and the box filled with oil. Boost pipes and wiring all thrown on and ready to test. A brief bit of worry when it struggled to idle but that was due to me forgetting I bagged the turbo inlet. Once that was removed a quick try of the gears seem to show everything working perfectly well, it might have a slight weep from the end cap so I've popped some cardboard under it to check (y) The PMT gearbox mount has made everything pretty solid as well so pleased with that too.

Tomorrow should see the cooling system back on, the front end reassembled and the brakes and hubs all aligned and bolted back up properly. Oh and the clutch to bleed. But hopefully a test drive before the end of the night.

Thanks for reading, here have some pics (y)

TLDR We have fired the car up and have 5 forward gears and 1 reveres and they look to be in the correct place too (y)

JR5113.PNG20210421_204009.jpg20210421_201554.jpg20210421_185853.jpgIMG-20210421-WA0010.jpgIMG-20210421-WA0011.jpgIMG-20210421-WA0012.jpg20210421_170735.jpg20210421_164340.jpg
 
Well done, for getting it out and back in again..

I find it hard to motivate myself these days. Trouble with working on Cars all day long..

Need to get on with mine. It's almost out. I may do it at the weekend as they're taking 2 cars 2 Brands so may have some space in the workshop.
 
We are ready (I think)

Replaced some fuel hose and neatened a few parts up this morning. Cant find any leaks, or strong smells of petrol on that so all seems good. I did have a hissing noise from the map sensor, initially I though it just needed holding down tighter so I used a piece of scrap to make a PMT clamp to hold it but actually found a small crack in the sensor itself. Luckily I had a few kicking about so swapped it out. Seems less jerky but I've not put many miles on it. Gearbox seems fine so far and is longer, 70mph now comes in at around 2750rpm so easy cruising on the motorways. Depending on the rev limit it might just clip 60 in 2nd gear. I don't think I will test the 160+mph top speed though.

Camber was miles out, positive on one side so I've eyeballed it to match a little negative each side, I need a new tyre soon anyway so when I go get one sorted ill have it all realigned.

I will carry on putting the miles on it to check everything over in the next few days but hopefully I can relax and tidy the garage up a little. Roll on Tuesdays mapping session with Chris at EFI Parts. Hopefully we don't find any weak spots. If it comes away in one piece and with me not calling the RAC I will be very surprised.

20210423_114707.webp20210423_113109.webp20210423_102231.webp
 
Back
Top