GBR Renault 8 from 1968 (Adey) Rusty survivor

I thought i would show you briefly my latest r8. Not seen the road since 1989. In 4 weeks we have gone from unused, non running to its first test drive yesterday
from this


to this




i have a build thread on turborenault.co.uk, and some videos on youtube

i plan to put the car back into use a lot more especially through the summer.

Using information from this site i have converted the car to use a 12v alternator and added a modern flasher unit for the indicators. I needed a newer headlight but it came without a sidelight so I modified the housing to accept a sidelight bulb.

Ive also replaced all the flexi brake hoses with braided items, replaced a good chunk of the original hard lines and fitted a new master cylinder with refurbished callipers all round. The brakes are still suggestive though i hope with some miles they will get better.

good job

Starting to add the miles onto this now. Need to adjust the front camber and then I can settle on the ride height. Retro and modern together.

Beautiful rims in 15

sympa
l'ancienne et la récente ensemble
nos autos ont bien changées
Pascal

R113521 à dit:

Beautiful rims in 15

Cliquez pour agrandir...

thank you, also they have been made staggard, 0.5 inch wider at the rear than the front

Pascal 44 à dit:

nice
the old and the new together
our cars have changed a lot
Pascal

Cliquez pour agrandir...

indeed, worlds apart but still familiar. The 8 has about 40bhp and the Clio is near 310bhp

Im putting plenty of miles on it now. I moved the front wishbones out slightly as per the A110 info found on this website. I need to adjust the front tracking, any tips? other than that she rides beautifully

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjPilZBuroSf6ZqX-GJp8wA

Hello Adrian
to do these adjustments you can look at this which is for an A110 Alpine, same front-end
http://loutrel.org/chasse.php

Bonjour,
pourrai je avoir une photo du dessous de la voiture
pour voir comment sont les tôles de protection en
dessous la voiture?

Phl à dit:

Hello Adrian
to do these adjustments you can look at this which is for an A110 Alpine, same front-end
http://loutrel.org/chasse.php

Cliquez pour agrandir...

great stuff thank you

Jean Paul à dit:

Good morning,
Can I have a photo of the underside of the car?
to see how the protective sheets are in
under the car?

Cliquez pour agrandir...

the ones that cover the mid section and rear? ill get some next time im on a ramp

i love the wheels.. looks cool

she's pretty you've done a great job

I popped to a local car show over the weekend, was spotted and the photographer sent over some pictures.











after driving it for a few months, ive decided to try and swap the engine out for a 1397cc from a mk2 R5. Currently still trying to find an engine, the increase in power should hopefully make it a little easier to keep up with modern traffic

what do i need to do to put in a 1397cc from a mk2 R5? im not sure what i should be searching for in French?

so not a great update. The engine that is in there is the same one that was stood for 30 years. It has always been a heavy breather. Recently ive had a littel more tapping though, bar the blow by it dove very well. Compression was coming back at around 8.5bar in every cylinder. I decided to look deeper though and found damage....


then this


and now this....


i think it may be time to upgrade the engine....

I managed to find a replacement engine over here. Is temporary until I can fit a 1397 in the future (also purchased a late bellhousing and fork to adapt the gearbox) but the engine I can't find info on. It looks to be a factory recon engine but the codes don't line up with anything I can find? 688 - S58?Can anyone shed any light on the specification of the engine?



Also not that there are differences in the block compared to the 688 i removed. The mounting lugs on the side of the black are different? The side plates now dont fit the same



We are back on the road. Car seems smoother and more eager with the newer engine in.

I have a build thread on a UK site

https://turborenault.co.uk/threads/1968-Renault-r8.179033/page-17#post-1219586


if anyone would like a read, there are no limitations on photo upload size so I can post pictures there

ok thanks

weird my posts are gone? edited?



my pictures are smaller than 5mb but wont upload. is this a problem for everyone?

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Mes images ne sont pas téléchargées. est-ce un problème pour tout le monde ?

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Moderation.
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here's an update video

Oil swapped out for some 20w50 mineral. now I can confidently take it for a drive

What a run out and weekend. The car did its thing and did nearly 200miles with no issues (well nothing that stopped it running) super comfy and compliant on the flat, the wife didn't complain, only when on really bad roads does the height become an issue. The constant slight correction on the steering is a little tiresome but I'm hoping with the tracking sorted after adding the more modern adjustment that will go away.

Anyway we headed up in the sat to RRG to a little air bnb around the back of the circuit, meaning I had a 3 min trundle to the track on the Sunday, spent longer getting in mind... was great to catch up with all the usuals and some new people. The 8 ended up being awarded the "different" award for the whole show. Ill take that, not won an award a a show before so chuffed

Only things to note are a rotational/slight grinding noise from the rear right, seems to happen when hot or after driving some miles. And only noticeable at slow speed. Ill whip it all off and take a look. Could be a calliper hanging on but the wheel wasn't any warmer than the other when I got home. I think I may need a new temperature sensor too. It brought the light on the way home. When checking everything at the side of the road, there wasn't anything to suggest it was hot or over heating, I carried on home with the light on for 60 miles no issues. I'm still yet to go check her over this morning to see if there's anything obvious going on.

Anyway, thoroughly enjoyed driving it despite a very sweaty ass due to the heat 🤣




Took a trip over to Caffeine and Machine with Renaultsport Wiltshire club. Car ran sweet as a nut, all the noises have gone so the brake clean and handbrake reset seem to have worked well. Covered 80+ miles, cruises around nicely at 50mph everywhere. I do have an issue I think. A small one, I've lost some coolant again, though I'm not currently sure where it is going

here have some pics

Congratulations!
I love the wheels

I have managed to get hold of a 1397cc engine very locally and for a good price. The plan is to get it fitted to the 8 over winter. The engine is very clean inside and seems well maintained, 60k on the clock and from an auto R5 so hopefully its had an easy life.
















Not much has happened with this at all. Managed to get a flywheel of the dimensions requested by Steve Swan . I gave it a clean off, measured the friction face at 181mm to confirm it was the one I wanted then rummaged through my bolts drawer to find some flywheel bolts. Gave them a clean, some fresh Loctite and fitted and torqued them up. Now waiting on a new clutch to arrive and we aren't far off needing to get the old engine out! New/old engine needs a clean up but I'm not to fussed by it looking show standard, just working is fine by me, I will get the rocker cover painted though.

On a side note, its not a good idea to let the flywheel fall off the engine and onto your pinky on the floor, even from a low height, a few kgs and a tooth edge does a decent amount of damage...

Decided to make a start on removing the "replacement" 1108 engine to make way for the 1397. everything came out easily as you would expect. In the next few days I hope to remove the bellhousing to make way for a guided stop setup and I will replace the input shaft for a modified unit that Steve Swan has provided for me. Getting it in and running I don't think will be a problem, it will be the smaller jobs that take the longest to finish off. Engine wise I need to swap the fuel pump over, I've already fitted the vacuum dizzy off the 1108. If it works fine I can send it to Salv Sacco to have the curve changed.

Best of luck, Adrian. I love your 8, so much character!! Hope you get it running soon

Thank you very much :D

I think we are onto a winner. With Steve Swans expert guidance the later bellhousing is on along with the Steve Swan special input shaft (immediately puts the value of the car up, just wait till I get Salv Sacco on the list too for modding a dizzy or something 🤣)

Old bell housing off, engine mount out of the way, hole drilled in the side to punch the scroll pin out holding the input shaft. Same hole used to refit the modded input shaft. A clean out of the box and the mating faces, some sealant. Bit of lube on the new lip seal and bish bash bosh the gearbox bellhousing is on.



engine now sat in place



It's a long one....

All my encouragement !

Nice video!
No trouble with the shaft alignment between the engine and gear box, thru the clutch?
Usually it's a pain, not that easy at all.