Renault 11 Turbo Phase 2 Restoration

[Big Steve - Raider]

Front seats and material FINALLY dropped off to my trimmer this week to re-cover…

Hoping she’s at full strength for Retro Rides at Mallory Park.

 

[gordini stu]

Would like to see it at Mallory in tip top condition ,

 

[Big Steve - Raider]

Would like to see it at Mallory in tip top condition ,

That’s the plan mate!! Got a car transporter hired for the weekend again so I can cart it there & back.

 

[Moggy]

That’s the plan mate!! Got a car transporter hired for the weekend again so I can cart it there & back.

Drive it! It’s a car! It’s a very nice car. You know you want too

 

[Big Steve - Raider]

Drive it! It’s a car! It’s a very nice car. You know you want too

Not driving it anywhere until it’s been to the Classic Car show at NEC this November. Want it to be at its best, and I can’t put up with any rock chips etc before that.

 

[Big Steve - Raider]

Front seats and material FINALLY dropped off to my trimmer this week to re-cover…

WOW this guy’s fast!! Got a text off him this morning to say my front seats where finished!!!

Immediately downstairs and grabbed a few more bits out of the 11 I wanted him to look at, and raced over to him.

Was not disappointed:


They look absolutely FABULOUS!!

I’d taken one of the rear seat cushions to him as i’d noticed there was a slight gap in the stitching that opened up when you sat on the seat. Whilst we were looking at it, I compared the red striped material to the one he’d just covered the front seats in…. And The material is different…!!!

It’s subtle, I grant you, but when you’ve got the two materials next to each other, you can see that the new batch of material I have has a wider space between the red stripes…

I’m not going to go this far and have that eating at me every time I look at the car, so thankfully, there’s enough material in this second batch I bought to cover the rear seats again, so that’s what I’m going to do.

In the mean time, I just laid the freshly re-covered seats in the car this evening, whilst I’m refurbishing the rails:

 

[Duncan Grier]

Looks a cracking job and do look nice @Big Steve - Raider , pita ref differences but glad you have enough left to make perfect.....you know it would drive you mad

 

[andybond]

Not sure I would have noticed Steve! Mind you , you have removed all doubt by recovering the rest !

 

[Big Steve - Raider]

Finally got the fully re-trimmed interior back in the car this evening, and gave it all a little vacuum to clean off the dust & debris that had gathered on it:


Took a fair bit of fudging about to get the drivers seat in a position which I was comfortable with, but sorted it now!!

Been putting a few OE Touches on this week also…



All ready for the Retro Rides show this Sunday!!

Thought I would take a few pictures with her family on the driveway this evening:





Off to see auld @sparkie tomorrow for a little bit of carb fettling in Birmingham whilst I’ve got the transportation. Am positive he will see me right with a few snags I’ve still got..

Thanks for stopping by!!

 

[Turbell]

That looks just like E23TTH when I first got it, but better obvs, Love to see it, but I'd just turn into a blubbering mess, happy times, never replicate the excitement of having your first proper newish nice car.

 

[Big Steve - Raider]

Off to see auld @sparkie tomorrow for a little bit of carb fettling in Birmingham whilst I’ve got the transportation. Am positive he will see me right with a few snags I’ve still got..

Well true to my word today, @sparkie worked his magic on the R11 Turbo, and after only a few waves of his magic screwdriver, the car sounded a lot better for itself:



Great to have a catch up on a warm afternoon!! Made me laugh how even tho he was working on my car, he was getting calls from other people asking for help/guidance on their old Renaults!!

 

[Adey]

he is a living legend, cars looking absolutely fantastic Steve, well done

 

[Big Steve - Raider]

Took the 11 Turbo to Retro Rides Gathering on Sunday:


Nice to show it and I got a lot of nice compliments from club members, and strangers who spotted the car

BUT….

The cars in a right sh1t state now because of the dust at the show…! It was like something out of Mad Max at some points..


The cars now running on 3 Cylinders….

 

[Duncan Grier]

Car is looking factory fresh +

Sand storm not ideal but sure some big Steve loving will have it back to pristine in no time.

Hopefully lost cylinder a quick easy c1j fix......cars way of moaning at you for trailering it around and not driving, wants to be free

 

[Steve Swan]

Check the plugs and work back, hopefully it's just fouled one, they have cold plugs in them, too cold for manoeuvring only.

 

[gordini stu]

Looks great. Would love to own one again .
Check the dissy. Cap and roto for damp .

I know I didn’t see it at is best. Hence the dust but, one of the last times I drove mine was up to Mallory to watch BSB bikes many years ago , thanks for the trip down memory lane ,

My next question is what’s next

 

[Big Steve - Raider]

My next question is what’s next

Hmmm… good question that… still feels like there’s a LOT of things to fix still on this 11 Turbo… but I do keep hanging my nose over a Clio Williams..

Trouble with that idea is my Clio 182 is obviously the newer/more improved car over the Williams, so I’d probably find it a bit disappointing…

So I’m just sitting tight for the mean time… and seeing if anything changes/comes up..?

 

[Big Steve - Raider]

The cars in a right sh1t state now because of the dust at the show…! It was like something out of Mad Max at some points..

Been thinking how I can clean the car after the dust storm of Mallory Park…

And I couldn’t think of any better way than getting the auld Jet Wash out, and I getting spraying:

You could see the dust particles just washing off from everything. After the wash, I thoroughly blew everything dry with an airline:

Leaving the engine bay looking great again:


Next I jet-washed the dust off the rest of the car, and gave it a big fat layer of snow foam to loosen anything sticking to the paintwork:

I then went over the whole car with another clay-bar to remove any further decontaminants (you can see here the green sh1te is still coming off)

I then started to properly polish the car with the old Primer Finder:

And a shine soon started to appear:

Trouble was, the buffing pad had better ideas about getting more work done on the car today…

So I called it a day in the end, and put the car back in the garage to continue another day.

In other news, she’s still not happy, and running on 3 cylinders. @sparkie has been great with remote text support, but I’m p1ssed off with it at the moment, so will go back to it when over that hump. I think the plugs have just got fouled up with all the short running, so will get some new plugs ordered and fitted and then go from there..

Thanks for stopping by

 

[DaveL485]

Pull the plugs, clean them with fine wet & dry, gap the electrode. Then get ready to refit, heat the bottom half of the plugs on your gas stove (wear gloves), then refit and start it up ASAP.

 

[Steve Swan]

Pull the plugs, clean them with fine wet & dry, gap the electrode. Then get ready to refit, heat the bottom half of the plugs on your gas stove (wear gloves), then refit and start it up ASAP.

A small Blowtorch will also suffice and keep the Domestic management happier!! These engines used 5 heat range plugs as atmos. 8's are a huge jump in heat range. I have similar issues with my Atmos I use 6's when not competing and 7's when competing. Using 8's without boost will not work at all. Each grade has a self cleaning temperature and you won't get there with 8's without some spirited driving.....
Drive Safe
Happy Motoring (while you still can)