Project Vincent (pic heavy)

[jim23496]

Hi all im james im 14 years old and i buy and sell cars to make a bit of money for when im older,
i bought this cabby 1 month and 5 days ago and it has come along way since including full engine rebuild and alot of painting but more on that later:roll:
This is Vincent he's a 1994 renault 19 cabriolet that i found on the side of the road looking sorry for itself with a bit of paper in the window :? so alot of hageling and a fun drive back he was home

















what drew me to it was its origionality, its got 43,000 miles on the clock and its still rocking its origional spare tyre and there is absolutely no rust and its never been welded all the usual rotten places are solid as a rock the interior is mint aswell not one rip or stain (just a little mold where the roof leaks a little) and all for £350 with 12 months mot

more on the next page
[BREAK=cleaning]

so the day after i got him home he was looking abit sorry for himself so i decided i would give him a bit of a mini detail







as you can see it was a bit chilly in the morning :?
after 2 coats of poor boys black hole





some nice reflection shots





and some overall shots






so as you can see he was looking much better and the paint really shines up nice

[BREAK=refurbishing wheels]

the wheels were looking rather crappy so i thought id have a go at refurbishing them...

so this was one of the better ones that i did process was:
take them off the car
sand them and fill in places
mask up
primer
2-3 coats of aluminium silver
2 coats of lacker
re-fit
pics










didn't turn out too bad as there are still areas that im not happy with but there alot better then they were

[BREAK=problems]

one day whilst running vincent i noticed an exess of smoke from the exhaust and it was running really lumpy so a quick diognosis left me with milky oil no water in the header tank(with no water leaks visable) and overheating which to me told me there was some gasket faliure:evil:

so parts ordered
ht leads

new headbolts

new oilfilter(and some oil)

new cambelt

and most importantly an head rebuild set

should be fun :x
[BREAK=stripdown]

this was fun lol newrly broke a finger and cut my hands many times, this is my first headgasket change so it was a bit of a learning curve, and i had to pick the worst engine to work on didnt i :lol:

let the stripdown commence:twisted:

as the engine was when we started

air box off

draining the water

nice! :x

cambelt exposed and HT leads off

round the back of the carb

headbolts undone

head off

a little caked but hardly any lip and no movement in the pistons

it was about now i descovered the headgasket was completely diffrent and i decided to clean up the engine a bit so another coat of silver and black intake manifold





bottom end done in blue with a silver gearbox and black sump





had to take the wheel off and the inner arch to get to crank pulley

then i locked the flywheel and removed the 19mm bolt then the gently tap the pulley off and the case follows and theres the bottom of the cambelt

taken off

compared to the new one, there was diffinate wear on the old one but it wasn't in bad nick really (new one on the bottom)

were it used to go

i didnt want to put the new cambelt on untill rebuild time so left it off

it was still rolling on its origional headgasket and timing belt lol

[BREAK=rebuilding]

so time to start the rebuild but first a little cleaning

cleaning the face of the bottom end



these are the spark plug/head bolt covors that as you can see were in a right state

so sanded down and 2 coats of gloss black and 1 coat of lacker

the rubbers were covered in oil so the paint that was on the just scraped off so i cleaned them up in some soapy water

and refitted the rubbers (abit of a dodgy picture lol)


much better in my opinion
and now for the airbox as you can see it was pretty mucky lol

so sprayed with APC and worked in with detailing brush

then hosed off and dried

then the top with the same procedure



and a spray of tyre slick

and the inside
mucky


and after

also cleaned the airfilter a bit doesent look too old as it is so just cleaned the rubber and brushed out the insides a bit
before

after


and now the rebuilding

head back on



then i came across a small problem with the pipe for the air mass sensor

which was fixed with a little bit of slightly larger pipe and silicone sealent

fitted


and didnt take much pictures after that as i wanted it to run
but carburettor refitted and all various sensors plugged in and airbox refitted
then new cambelt fitted and tentioned along with alternator belt
topped up the water reconnected the battery put some petrol in and first turn of the key if fired into life no timing issues or sensor issues just running like it should
these ones were taken with it running might be able to see some steam coming out of the front but that was just a minor water leak that was fixed by tightening the clamp:thumbs_up:



and all the final parts back on




not bad for my first go
[BREAK=bodywork]

after i got the engine running i decided it was time to fix the mahoosive dent in the door

it wouldn't push out from behind soo i broke out the filler :lol:
first layer


sanded smooth as i could


then second layer added

then i sprayed a bit of black on to see what it looked like and as you can see it needs a ton of work but its looking a little bit better than it did


and thats it for now, snows currently stopping play but when it clears plans are to finnish the dent repairing and get the door repainted then crawl underneath and give the underside some cleaning and paint various bits like the axels and suspension struts to make it look a bit nicer; de-mold the interior and fix the roof leak fit new rear lights;fix the blow in the exhaust and sell it on :cry:
[BREAK=rocker gasket]

so todays mission was the rocker gasket as it was leaking oil down the side of the engine where the cambelt is.

so the car


the gasket

rocker off

new gasket fitted


head cleaned

back on



and no leaks so far

[BREAK=sensors]

as some of you may know the engine wasnt running right at all, it wouldent start in the mornings and it would missfire quite badly untill it eventually died

so i decided to check the sensors the first one beinf the tdc sensor which was fine then i checked the coolent temperature sensor, and look what i found



not brilliant pictures but basically the end had rotted away and you could put your fingernail in the top of it and allmost pull the top of it off:lol:

so new one fitted and it started straight up

now just got to fix the missfire :roll:
[BREAK=door again]

got some more fillering done on the door today

as it was when i started



sanded sown



rest of door flated

guide coat


paint


whilst that was drying i decided to touch up the rear bumper

looks alot better

now as you can see the door still had quite a visable indent in it so sanded it back and back out with the filleralm:


and sanded back


from what i can see it has a couple of little pinholes and a little ripple that needs smoothing over but its pretty much there now

[BREAK=door finished]

hi all
doors in paint now
some pics




had some pinholes so i applyed some more filler and there now gone

and final paint and lackered


just needs flatting and polishing then it should look better
just a slight ripple that im not happy with but il have to see what i can do with it

[BREAK=more on the door]

right so wasnt happy with the door so decided to have another go:roll:

another layer of filler :roll:

and my new purchase filler primer




then some blue








just got to flat it and lacker it then should be nice and shiney, and alot tidyer lol

 

[Larry]

awesome, good pics, identical to my first cabby

 

[Neal R19]

Now I'm not trying to be negative here and you're doing a good job but spraying it with the handle still in place... I mean... really?

 

[jim23496]

Now I'm not trying to be negative here and you're doing a good job but spraying it with the handle still in place... I mean... really?

yeah... well the paint i put on isnt the final finish nor is it the right colour it was just to see what it looked like and the handles are getting repainted matt black anyway so i thought why not

 

[Neal R19]

Doesn't make much sense to me but fair enough.

Have you got any photos of the full engine rebuild?

 

[jim23496]

the only ones i took are that on pages "stipdown" and "rebuild", i didnt take many photos because i just wanted it back together and running

 

[Neal R19]

I only see photos of a head gasket change :?

 

[Larry]

the head gasket on my one of them literally exploded all over the plave about a month after i got it

 

[jim23496]

I only see photos of a head gasket change :?

yeah that was the main part but i fitted new oil seals, new inlet and exhaust manifold gasket, new water pump gasket, new sump gasket, then all the ht leads, new distributor, new rotor arm, new oil filter, new spark plugs, new cambelt and tentioners, new rocker gasket, new downpipe as the old one had a hole in it, new headbolts and fresh antifreeze and fresh oil
just didn take pics of me fitting them

i fitted the rocker gakset today so pics will be up later of that

 

[jim23496]

the head gasket on my one of them literally exploded all over the plave about a month after i got it

that was a bit of bad luck, did you fix it??

 

[Neal R19]

yeah that was the main part but i fitted new oil seals, new inlet and exhaust manifold gasket, new water pump gasket, new sump gasket, then all the ht leads, new distributor, new rotor arm, new oil filter, new spark plugs, new cambelt and tentioners, new rocker gasket, new downpipe as the old one had a hole in it, new headbolts and fresh antifreeze and fresh oil
just didn take pics of me fitting them

i fitted the rocker gakset today so pics will be up later of that

OK fair play, changing some gaskets and giving it a service is not in any way a 'full engine rebuild' though is it?

Anyway, welcome to the site - good project, keep up the good work, and keep the thread updated. Looks like it's a nice example.

You only do Renaults or is it whatever comes up?

 

[Larry]

that was a bit of bad luck, did you fix it??

sadly mate i never got the chance, i had bought a donor laguna with a great engine to do the transplant but sadly while i was waiting to get work underway the car was stolen, it was retrieved several weeks later but had sustained too much damage so she went to the great breakers yard in the sky, she was identical in every way to your one, there are pics in my garage on here

as neal said welcome along to rr

 

[JR]

hi James welcome to retro-renault. Are you really 14? That is a lot of mechanical expertise for someone your age, did you get some help? Is it legal for a 14 year old to be doing mechanical work on a car to sell on?

You certainly are getting the car to look alot nicer!

 

[minichapperz]

anyone can work on a car and anyone can open a garage and start working on other peoples cars without having any mechanical knowledge

 

[bidderman1969]

good to see you over here fella, saw when you got it on DW

 

[jim23496]

OK fair play, changing some gaskets and giving it a service is not in any way a 'full engine rebuild' though is it?

Anyway, welcome to the site - good project, keep up the good work, and keep the thread updated. Looks like it's a nice example.

You only do Renaults or is it whatever comes up?

usually whatever comes up, mostly i get them from car auctions and the cheapest and most tatty one is the one i usually get lol they always look nice when i sell them though

 

[jim23496]

hi James welcome to retro-renault. Are you really 14? That is a lot of mechanical expertise for someone your age, did you get some help? Is it legal for a 14 year old to be doing mechanical work on a car to sell on?

You certainly are getting the car to look alot nicer!

yep im really 14, i was 12 when i had my first car which was a granny green 106 lol though it was alright for a learners car

the only help i had with the engine was lifting the head off and resitting it as it was a bit heavy :lol: im not aware of any laws against me doing it but i always make sure i do a proper job and i have put many a car through and mot succesfully

 

[Larry]

keep up the good work in that case, im not aware of any law that would disallow you from working on the car, is it 17 you can get your license over there?

 

[jim23496]

i think its 16 when you can get a learners license but you have to be 17 to have a full licence and legally drive

 

[Larry]

so you going to stick with some renault action or is this just a brief project?