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Alpine Renault 8 GTT

Having remembered to put the N/S spring pan in the car I went to the Garage. The N/S assembled no problem, so I decided to break out the trammel bar and start primary set up. These simple tools are copies of the original Renault special tooling of the time.

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The points fit into the various holes in the shell helpfully provided by Renault for accident repair measurement

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Next up a cheapo 26mm spanner ground down and bent for the purposes of castor adjustment
You put one point in the centrepoint hole in the middle crossmember and set the distance from there to one of the 6mm bolts on the bottom balljoint with a bit of manipulation of the adjusters I equalised both sides to the maximum castor setting

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N/S finished for now

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Same for O/S

Couple general shots of the front end

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I then decided to check the rear axle for square. It is not, so that's tomorrow night's job

More soon.....................
Coming on very well,

Just shows that your years of experience, simplifies the job as you know exactly what needs to be done.

I'm afraid it's not coming through nowadays, we're struggling to find a competent mechanic here.
 
I'm off to my mate's engine reconditioning shop to borrow the press. As it is one gentle curve I am not sure heat will do any good, so I will go with vee blocks and the press and see what happens, localised damage would benefit from heat.
Wish me luck..........
 
Progress report
Vee blocks and the press was the correct answer. Stripping off what I have always believed to be some sort of harmonic damper, I realised that it is the exact shape for the press, maybe that's why Renault fitted them, so as you could straighten them after bending them.

R8TT 18th Nov (2).webp

Then on the press and it all went beautifully

R8TT 18th Nov (1).webp

There are very odd times when I surprise even myself !

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Now it is straight again

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Get it back on the motor and have a square rear axle

Thankyou and goodnight...................
 
Question
What do you do when you've nearly got it all together again?
You take the rest of it apart.
This is because it's getting a slack handful of panels put on it plus other bits

Nothing to see here............

R8TT 19th Nov (1).webp


or hereR8TT 19th Nov (2).webp

Or here

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This looks a bit iffy

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Ok here too.

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If there is going to be any issues its going to be inside or at the back. I'll find that out over the weekend..R8TT 19th Nov (6).webp

More soon........................
 
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It's a no photo update today
It has had all its panels removed. 4 wings, back panel and Bonnet. Good news is that there is rot, but it is not as bad as it could have been. The rear floormat is out and again, a couple of holes, but no rot.
Next get the front seats and mat out , then the bodyshop is on the horizon Perhaps???????????
 
R is for Renault, or is it, R is for Rust. To be fair Renault were no worse than any other cars of the period. They were all rusty scrap!!

R8TT 22nd Nov (1).webp

Usually this is just one big long hole

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N/S slightly better and still has the wing mounting rail, but does have holes in the C pillar the O/S C pillar is good

Then the Child in me took over and I started to stick bits on

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And around the front

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Lots of work to get this lot Fitting

Stay tuned...................
 
Back to reality tonight
The clutch was all together , but just felt shit , further investigation revealed a crack in the floor where the anchor bracket attaches with a shitload of welding doing nothing. I decided to remove the anchor bracket to see what was up....

R8TT 23rd Nov (1).webp

Never in the field of dodgy car repairs was so much weld expended

On doing absolutely fuck all

R8TT 23rd Nov (2).webp

Time to start again on this .............
 
Progress
The clutch bracket is repaired. This has been the usual floor cracks and starts flexing, bracket now not secured starts flexing, bracket snaps. Muppet repair co. cover in weld spatter. Job done

Simple enough repair: Grind all the weld off re weld cut re-enforcing strip and weld on, Paint, admire and post up on here. Just got all the weld to grind off the floor and make a spreader plate to weld to the floor to stiffen.

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EEESss Nice.
Also been transferring all the mounting holes into the GRP panels (deep joy) Maybe go to the car after tea and stick bits on to cheer myself up............
 
Good progress, but no pics due to the nature of the work
Cleaned up the split floor and still need to make a spreader plate to weld on, however a repair washer is being used as a standby and the Clutch now feels much better
Big news is we have brakes! The hydraulics are finished and bled, pedal feels good once bedded in will be dynamite. This is a major job off the list
I am still transferring all the fixtures and fittings to the GRP bits, a time consuming job. The body man has seen it with all its clothes off. I need to get all the GRP dressed and fitted then he comes back to assess how many hours in the new panelwork which is easier to do with the car built again. I am trying to keep as much of the original as possible, there are 3 things to juggle Looks v time v cost. I hate cutting corners here, but when someone else is paying you have to keep the time element down, some non original bits are also going into the mix to keep costs down, but I am fairly confident that, if I don't tell, no-one will notice.

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Surprising just how many holes there are to put in

Then all the other fittings




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Starting handle hole not required
More soon...................
 
Still Fighting with GRP today, but I'm winning, I think
Went to the car and put the anti-roll bar on to measure up for reshaping it, should be dandy.
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I also checked the brake light switch, I have ditched the original pressure switch, as they only bring the lights on when you are actually slowing down, I prefer a mechanical switch on the pedal which brings the lights on as soon as you touch the pedal
The top leg needs to be longer though, so back to the workshop for a small Mod.

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Humble Mk2 Escort switch
more soon.................
 
And if that was not enough for one day.........
Malcolm is away for the weekend, so managed to talk Liz into coming out to the workshop so I can check the Anti-roll bar ends for clearance from the tyres. You can imagine her sitting in a dead car turning the steering form left to right for 10mins or so at minus 1 was not her idea of an ideal Saturday evening. You should see me when I really try!!!


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That is a 61/2" Front rim with a 185/60x13 on it (one of my wets)
More soon.............
 
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