Reno5gtt
Active Member
I might aswell get round to this now...
To be honest I never had an interest in Renaults untill I met Mike at webuyoldrenaults (PCS) through a friend about 7 years ago.
At the age of 13 I aquired my first car, a shiney red citroen AXGT 3 door totally standard with a blown headgasket (F646 GLG, i'll never forget it
) in exchange for a brand new petrol powered go-ped I swapped for a mountain bike :lol: At the time I was living on a rough council estate in Stockport just outside Manchester and was dating a girls who's step dad was the caretaker of the estate I lived on... I mentioned to her step dad (Ralph) I had this car and he said the garage on the end of the row near your house is empty of you would like to use it to do work on your car, so in it popped
I went down to my local car spares shop which my friends dad owned and still owns today (greatmoor auto parts) and bought a citroen ax manual for about £17 (Billy's bible to all my mates). I spent night after night reading it, aquired some tools and set about the headgasket which I completed in about 2 days... not bad for a kid :lol: Once it was running I taught myself to drive it, but it was quite easy as i'd ridden loads of motox bikes everything was the same just in a different place, clutch, throttle, gears and so on.
I could go on with this story for ever but to cut a long story short by time I was 16 i'd had 4 Citreon ax gt's (2 red, white and silver), a black mk1 fiat uno turbo antiskid (F411 TLK), and a mint E reg fiesta xr2 in black (no renaults yet as you can see)
So I fell in love with the Citreon ax gt for somereason? 1360cc TU engine, 4 spoke alloys, electric windows and not to mention a twin choke 32/34 solex cab as standard. Anyone who has driven one will know they are pretty quick for a 1.4 because their excellent power to weight ratio 85bhp @ 722kg is 117bhp per tonne which can whipe the floor with a saxo vtr, 306 dturbo, corsa sri and loads of other small hatchbacks.
So for my first road legal car I had one, red, quad lights, ported head, 285 piper cam, 15in 5 spoke alloys. Then I bough another, then another, then another and by time I turned 19 i'd had 14 of them :roll:.
A few of my AX gt's...
First "legal" car
and all the others..
Even one with a genuine 19 16v scoop!!!
I was then introduced to Mike up at webuyoldrenaults (PCS) Scotlands Renault Turbo Specialist. After going up speaking to him a few times he asked me if I wanted to give him a hand in the workshop so I snapped his hand off to work on Renault 5 turbo's!
So this is where it all began...
It started off I bought a Pearl white Renault 5 gt turbo from him, ended up ditching the shell due to rot (that I could't be bothered fixing) and re-shelling it with a solid campus shell (gold) with no rot at all and building my first R5 gt turbo. The spec was as follow's Group A carb, full stainless, head, 285 cam, Garret T25 hybrid, intercooller and so on... By far the quickest car I have ever owned which ran the quarter mile in 13 seconds no problem with some spin from the line. Most of the time I ran it with the actuator pipe off giving it 34psi, not the smartest thing to do but it would inialate cossies, evo's, scooby's the lot and the boost just became very addictive! Anyone with a turbo car will tell you this i'm sure, all I wanted to do was go quicker all the time but this came with a price 3 bottom ends, 2 gear boxes, a starter, 2 alternators etc etc... My head gasket never blew once and it never over heated either, I don't know where these people who say the headgaskets are very weak get it from??? But it was my big ends everytime that give up in the end and the engines started knocking their balls off
all in the space of 3 months, the turbo never gave up though even at 34psi.
1st pearl white gt turbo, didn't go to plan...
Then we got a 1.4 injection in that I aquired for the re-shell
And then it went out turbo'd
I'd had my fun with 5's then and wanted something a little more classy rather than a boy racer hatchback. By chance I was at a friends one afternoon and a guy had just moved into a massive house across the road, he was getting boxes delivered etc... then this dark metallic blue (I think 449) ph2 19 16v cabby turned up on a trailer and was sneaked in to the garage (as well as a speed boat and two celica gt4's).
I left it a few weeks and then I spotted him (Dave) cutting his grass so obviously I had to go over for a chat
we talked away for abit and I just said "you have a ph2 19 16v cabby don't you" he just laughed and said "yes, want to take a look?" just like that!
I spent my next hour admiring the cabby in his garage, which was seeminly an ex sound car for infinity that they took to shows in the 90's to show off their sounds, brand new roof, 17's, koni's, full s/s with decat, chipped, quick shift etc etc back then it was only a 9 year old car same as a 54 plate today so you can imagine it was pretty dam good.
I said to him if you ever want to sell it give me a call but he said he would never part with it because he had it for years and it was very sentimental. I think then I bought a diesel 95 escort for a bit just to get back and forward to the workshop in which did me a good while, then out the blue I got a call from Dave asking if I was still interested in the cabby. Of course I am!! How much? £800 with no tax or MOT bargain! Snapped it up straight away. Roll on number one cabby.
It did however have rot on the front edge of the bonnet which you can see in one of the pic's but Mike soon sorted that for me and the car was taxed and MOT'd by the end of the following week.
I had that cabby for quite a while untill I got caught at 130mph in it racing a flip painted Mitsibishi fto on the way back to Scotland from Stockport after a visit to my mums. I got away after we both passed a T5 coming out of a motorway slip road in Cumbria, the fto stopped but I just kept the foot down. 2 weeks later I got a letter through my door saying the driver of M273 TWJ was looking at a driving ban. The documents were then sent here and there if you get what I mean and dates were also messed with... The cabby was then off the road for a good while at the bottom of a friends yard mentioning no names of course :lol: Tax and MOT had also expired.
It sat and it sat months went by then a lad (Martin) came in to buy some r5 gtt bit's and spotted it :roll: He asked if it was for sale and I said it's a wanted car and it should't really go back on the road again and if it does it will be a puller. After another one of these long talks about cars you get into with people he ended up buying it for £800, he gave me £650 up front and he was going to give me the other £150 at the end of the month. I emphasised under no circumstances must he mention my name if he got caught in it for obvious reasons, he agreed and we shook hands.
So the cabby was gone and I ended up buying a mint 205 1.9 gti in black to drive about in. The car was absolutely immaculate, unmarked interior, refurbed speedlines, not a ding on it and I got it for £250 with no tax or MOT, put it in for an MOT the same and it failed on two front tyres and the MOT tester said it was the cleanest 205 gti he'd ever seen. Mike at webuyoldrenaults straight away said "sell it and I'd make a massive profit", it was £250 for the car, £30 for the MOT, £50 for tyres and £90 to tax it which comes in at £420 for a minter worth £1500+ all day long, but me being me I ended up keeping it and nearly killing myself in it 2 weeks later in a 80-90mph car crash.
Then the end of the month came and I got a call from Martin who had bought the cabby with a bit of a situation on his hands... He explained "errr I've been pulled buy the police in the cabby" and what happened? :roll: "Well I was nailing it down Princess street in Edinburgh, roof down, tunes up and a T5 police car spotted me and pulled me over" Did you mention my name? "Nope but they've took the car from me and impounded it, and they want to know who was driving it on such a date" F*cksake, what are you going to say because you got the car on one condition and you knew the risk, I knew I shouldn't of sold it to you. It's ok he said, i'll sort it... but in the end they didn't give him the car back and they crushed it :cry: so that was the end of my first cabby for good.
So nearly 7 years had past I always said I would have another cabby but it would have to be a minter, or at least as close to as I could get it so I could bring it back to it's glory. Over the years I had seen them come up on Ebay and I fancied trying to get one but i'd started an appreticeship on the railway, had a baby girl and money was a bit tight. I had just finished the 1st year of my appreticeship and was awarded a £1000 bonus for completing it and I thought this is my chance to get another cabby... but instead I went for something abit more sensible for the family a 51 plate (PL51 LSF) Vectra Sri 2.6 v6 hatchback. It was the rare 170bhp version with the 2.6 v6 instead of the 2.5 v6 150bhp which made it a little more apealing and it would pull 150mph all day long and 135mph just in 4th gear quite happily.
I kept the Vectra for quite a while, and for a family car I can't knock it, then ended up swapping it for a BMW 318is coupe M tech in medira violet.
I loved this car, but it was no where as quick as the Vectra and probably one of the slowest cars I have owned, with only a 1.8 16v pulling a big heavy car it was like a snail. The car soon became a full on project though and went from violet with 18" MV3 alloys to being lowered, Black 3 M-Kontor alloys and a full respray in "Renault liquid yellow" (I absolutely love the colour).
That stayed for quite a while then I decided to move back to England with the family this time so I needed something cheap to run and spacious, the BMW was a good car but trying to get a baby (Destiny) in and out all the time was nothing but hassle.
I ended up doing a part ex with a guy for a 306 hdi estate that did me for quite a while, good mpg and a big boot to put stuff in (mainly 25L drums of red diesel
) I used to drive up to the local canal basin where they have a big tank of the stuff and fill my drums up. That was untill it closed for the end of season... It took me ages to find another supplier and it came under the name of gas oil I think that's the real name but cherryade was the name on the streets. There was some sort of fuel depot on the edge of Stockport that had all sorts of stuff for sale, so I gave them a call and went down to pay them a visit taking two 25L empty drums ofcourse. I'm pretty sure it was only about 72p per litre at the time just about half price if I remember correctly. Who honestly wants to pay the riduclous fuel prices these days anyway? Especially if you are an apprentice, with a child and have to rent a house, even with family tax credits it's a real struggle. Every week I went down to the fuel depot filled up my drums then tipped it into my car, then I noticed it was starting to get a little smokey. Luckily it was only the fuel filter in the engine bay that started to get a dirty and it had to be changed on a monthly basis just to reduce the smoke. I continued using the fuel depot untill my MOT was a month away and I thought I better stop just incase it doesn't pass the emissions test
.
I'm going to leave it here for tonight "again", pic's and more to follow...
To be honest I never had an interest in Renaults untill I met Mike at webuyoldrenaults (PCS) through a friend about 7 years ago.
At the age of 13 I aquired my first car, a shiney red citroen AXGT 3 door totally standard with a blown headgasket (F646 GLG, i'll never forget it
) in exchange for a brand new petrol powered go-ped I swapped for a mountain bike :lol: At the time I was living on a rough council estate in Stockport just outside Manchester and was dating a girls who's step dad was the caretaker of the estate I lived on... I mentioned to her step dad (Ralph) I had this car and he said the garage on the end of the row near your house is empty of you would like to use it to do work on your car, so in it popped I went down to my local car spares shop which my friends dad owned and still owns today (greatmoor auto parts) and bought a citroen ax manual for about £17 (Billy's bible to all my mates). I spent night after night reading it, aquired some tools and set about the headgasket which I completed in about 2 days... not bad for a kid :lol: Once it was running I taught myself to drive it, but it was quite easy as i'd ridden loads of motox bikes everything was the same just in a different place, clutch, throttle, gears and so on.
I could go on with this story for ever but to cut a long story short by time I was 16 i'd had 4 Citreon ax gt's (2 red, white and silver), a black mk1 fiat uno turbo antiskid (F411 TLK), and a mint E reg fiesta xr2 in black (no renaults yet as you can see)
So I fell in love with the Citreon ax gt for somereason? 1360cc TU engine, 4 spoke alloys, electric windows and not to mention a twin choke 32/34 solex cab as standard. Anyone who has driven one will know they are pretty quick for a 1.4 because their excellent power to weight ratio 85bhp @ 722kg is 117bhp per tonne which can whipe the floor with a saxo vtr, 306 dturbo, corsa sri and loads of other small hatchbacks.
So for my first road legal car I had one, red, quad lights, ported head, 285 piper cam, 15in 5 spoke alloys. Then I bough another, then another, then another and by time I turned 19 i'd had 14 of them :roll:.
A few of my AX gt's...
First "legal" car
and all the others..
Even one with a genuine 19 16v scoop!!!
I was then introduced to Mike up at webuyoldrenaults (PCS) Scotlands Renault Turbo Specialist. After going up speaking to him a few times he asked me if I wanted to give him a hand in the workshop so I snapped his hand off to work on Renault 5 turbo's!
So this is where it all began...
It started off I bought a Pearl white Renault 5 gt turbo from him, ended up ditching the shell due to rot (that I could't be bothered fixing) and re-shelling it with a solid campus shell (gold) with no rot at all and building my first R5 gt turbo. The spec was as follow's Group A carb, full stainless, head, 285 cam, Garret T25 hybrid, intercooller and so on... By far the quickest car I have ever owned which ran the quarter mile in 13 seconds no problem with some spin from the line. Most of the time I ran it with the actuator pipe off giving it 34psi, not the smartest thing to do but it would inialate cossies, evo's, scooby's the lot and the boost just became very addictive! Anyone with a turbo car will tell you this i'm sure, all I wanted to do was go quicker all the time but this came with a price 3 bottom ends, 2 gear boxes, a starter, 2 alternators etc etc... My head gasket never blew once and it never over heated either, I don't know where these people who say the headgaskets are very weak get it from??? But it was my big ends everytime that give up in the end and the engines started knocking their balls off
all in the space of 3 months, the turbo never gave up though even at 34psi.1st pearl white gt turbo, didn't go to plan...
Then we got a 1.4 injection in that I aquired for the re-shell
And then it went out turbo'd
I'd had my fun with 5's then and wanted something a little more classy rather than a boy racer hatchback. By chance I was at a friends one afternoon and a guy had just moved into a massive house across the road, he was getting boxes delivered etc... then this dark metallic blue (I think 449) ph2 19 16v cabby turned up on a trailer and was sneaked in to the garage (as well as a speed boat and two celica gt4's).
I left it a few weeks and then I spotted him (Dave) cutting his grass so obviously I had to go over for a chat
we talked away for abit and I just said "you have a ph2 19 16v cabby don't you" he just laughed and said "yes, want to take a look?" just like that! I spent my next hour admiring the cabby in his garage, which was seeminly an ex sound car for infinity that they took to shows in the 90's to show off their sounds, brand new roof, 17's, koni's, full s/s with decat, chipped, quick shift etc etc back then it was only a 9 year old car same as a 54 plate today so you can imagine it was pretty dam good.
I said to him if you ever want to sell it give me a call but he said he would never part with it because he had it for years and it was very sentimental. I think then I bought a diesel 95 escort for a bit just to get back and forward to the workshop in which did me a good while, then out the blue I got a call from Dave asking if I was still interested in the cabby
. Of course I am!! How much? £800 with no tax or MOT bargain! Snapped it up straight away. Roll on number one cabby.It did however have rot on the front edge of the bonnet which you can see in one of the pic's but Mike soon sorted that for me and the car was taxed and MOT'd by the end of the following week.
I had that cabby for quite a while untill I got caught at 130mph in it racing a flip painted Mitsibishi fto on the way back to Scotland from Stockport after a visit to my mums. I got away after we both passed a T5 coming out of a motorway slip road in Cumbria, the fto stopped but I just kept the foot down. 2 weeks later I got a letter through my door saying the driver of M273 TWJ was looking at a driving ban. The documents were then sent here and there if you get what I mean and dates were also messed with... The cabby was then off the road for a good while at the bottom of a friends yard mentioning no names of course :lol: Tax and MOT had also expired.
It sat and it sat months went by then a lad (Martin) came in to buy some r5 gtt bit's and spotted it :roll: He asked if it was for sale and I said it's a wanted car and it should't really go back on the road again and if it does it will be a puller. After another one of these long talks about cars you get into with people he ended up buying it for £800, he gave me £650 up front and he was going to give me the other £150 at the end of the month. I emphasised under no circumstances must he mention my name if he got caught in it for obvious reasons, he agreed and we shook hands.
So the cabby was gone and I ended up buying a mint 205 1.9 gti in black to drive about in. The car was absolutely immaculate, unmarked interior, refurbed speedlines, not a ding on it and I got it for £250 with no tax or MOT, put it in for an MOT the same and it failed on two front tyres and the MOT tester said it was the cleanest 205 gti he'd ever seen. Mike at webuyoldrenaults straight away said "sell it and I'd make a massive profit", it was £250 for the car, £30 for the MOT, £50 for tyres and £90 to tax it which comes in at £420 for a minter worth £1500+ all day long, but me being me I ended up keeping it and nearly killing myself in it 2 weeks later in a 80-90mph car crash.
Then the end of the month came and I got a call from Martin who had bought the cabby with a bit of a situation on his hands... He explained "errr I've been pulled buy the police in the cabby" and what happened? :roll: "Well I was nailing it down Princess street in Edinburgh, roof down, tunes up and a T5 police car spotted me and pulled me over" Did you mention my name? "Nope but they've took the car from me and impounded it, and they want to know who was driving it on such a date" F*cksake, what are you going to say because you got the car on one condition and you knew the risk, I knew I shouldn't of sold it to you. It's ok he said, i'll sort it... but in the end they didn't give him the car back and they crushed it :cry: so that was the end of my first cabby for good.
So nearly 7 years had past I always said I would have another cabby but it would have to be a minter, or at least as close to as I could get it so I could bring it back to it's glory. Over the years I had seen them come up on Ebay and I fancied trying to get one but i'd started an appreticeship on the railway, had a baby girl and money was a bit tight. I had just finished the 1st year of my appreticeship and was awarded a £1000 bonus for completing it and I thought this is my chance to get another cabby... but instead I went for something abit more sensible for the family a 51 plate (PL51 LSF) Vectra Sri 2.6 v6 hatchback. It was the rare 170bhp version with the 2.6 v6 instead of the 2.5 v6 150bhp which made it a little more apealing and it would pull 150mph all day long and 135mph just in 4th gear quite happily.
I kept the Vectra for quite a while, and for a family car I can't knock it, then ended up swapping it for a BMW 318is coupe M tech in medira violet.
I loved this car, but it was no where as quick as the Vectra and probably one of the slowest cars I have owned, with only a 1.8 16v pulling a big heavy car it was like a snail. The car soon became a full on project though and went from violet with 18" MV3 alloys to being lowered, Black 3 M-Kontor alloys and a full respray in "Renault liquid yellow"
(I absolutely love the colour). That stayed for quite a while then I decided to move back to England with the family this time so I needed something cheap to run and spacious, the BMW was a good car but trying to get a baby (Destiny) in and out all the time was nothing but hassle.
I ended up doing a part ex with a guy for a 306 hdi estate that did me for quite a while, good mpg and a big boot to put stuff in (mainly 25L drums of red diesel
) I used to drive up to the local canal basin where they have a big tank of the stuff and fill my drums up. That was untill it closed for the end of season... It took me ages to find another supplier and it came under the name of gas oil I think that's the real name but cherryade was the name on the streets. There was some sort of fuel depot on the edge of Stockport that had all sorts of stuff for sale, so I gave them a call and went down to pay them a visit taking two 25L empty drums ofcourse. I'm pretty sure it was only about 72p per litre at the time just about half price if I remember correctly. Who honestly wants to pay the riduclous fuel prices these days anyway? Especially if you are an apprentice, with a child and have to rent a house, even with family tax credits it's a real struggle. Every week I went down to the fuel depot filled up my drums then tipped it into my car, then I noticed it was starting to get a little smokey. Luckily it was only the fuel filter in the engine bay that started to get a dirty and it had to be changed on a monthly basis just to reduce the smoke. I continued using the fuel depot untill my MOT was a month away and I thought I better stop just incase it doesn't pass the emissions test.
I'm going to leave it here for tonight "again", pic's and more to follow...
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