Practically Classics Forum

Orange thing on the trailer is a Renault Rodeo, another rarity, but missing most of the front end panels, and in a very sorry state. It's the only one that hasn't been claimed from the field, as far as I know, but is up for grabs if someone feels brave.

The 6 is on a massive separate chassis which the body unbolts from. They do like to rust, but this one appeals because it's very cheap and the body tub looks in very good order. I'm expecting the chassis and floor pan will need weld repairs, but it may be surprisingly solid, we shall see. Most of the mechanical parts are just Renault 4 so supply for stuff that's likely to pose a problem with maintenance should be too problematic as the 4 is gaining in popularity and value pretty rapidly from just a few years ago.

I will agree, it is not a sensible car to go for, but I don't think I'm capable of sensible. I don't think this one is a basket case but I am aware of its very obvious flaws. However, it's complete, it's been in the dry for a long time until recently and it's unusual and stylish enough to warrant saving. I'm not alone though, I've got help from some fellow mentalists. The registration being Welsh isn't surprising as that's where the car is and where it will be living until the red Princess I have is rehomed next year.

In other news...

After completely failing to DIY refit the tyre that I'd managed to pop off the wheel, I took it to my local friendly tyre place to see if they could help. They could, took all of two seconds and cost me the grand total of nothing. The chap that sorted the tyre was very complimentary about the wheels too, as everyone that sees them seems to be. I didn't get as far as jiggling with suspension settings on the back because after sorting the tyre and giving the car a much needed proper wash to get the deadly winter muck off I'm left with little daylight to work in, as is usual for this time of year.

The weird ride height is now resolved with the steel wheel back in the boot where it belongs. I will still try and find the time to sort out the rear arms, but since there's no issues driving the car at all at the current settings I'm not in a rush. The new wheels are quieter on all but the roughest road surfaces, the car stops considerably better and goes around corners like it's glued to the tarmac. So not only are they a nice aesthetic improvement, they're a massive driving improvement too.







The car itself seems a lot healthier. Temperature guage seems to stick at 1/4 and go no higher. Engine idles much quieter and is far more willing to go from a standstill, I'm using about half the amount of pedal I used to for the same effect. Fuel economy seems much the same, not really better or worse. I'm not consuming oil or water, several smells that used to come into the cabin through the air vents that I'd considered to be 'old car smells' have disappeared. I don't have to run up and down the gearbox so much when I'm in traffic and more often than not I can get the car up into fourth and leave it there, where it seems happy to stay, where before I'd be hopping in and out of third just to keep things smooth. This all makes the driving experience much more relaxing and inspires greater confidence.

I am yet to go on the motorway to get a feel for the car post head gasket fix and alloys but I have had it up to 50mph on some of the back roads around here and experienced absolutely nothing untoward. I keep marvelling at how different this car is to drive than when I bought it, I do feel like my effort and money spent is being rewarded and that in turn makes me more willing to reward the car with more effort and money as and when I can.

Really, I could leave the car as it is now and probably have no problems at all for a good long while, but I'd rather continue to work through the niggles, the following are what I'm aware of:

> Dashboard switches - Need cleaning, they're 98% reliable but I think there's some mucky contacts
> Radio & Speakers - Radio needs fitting properly, I can do this when the dash comes out for the switches. Need to swap the old BL speakers out for some better Lexus ones I have to match up with the radio better.
> Rear suspension - Need to reset the trim level and double check torque settings since doing the sphere
> Brakes - Bleeding required. Brakes are very effective, but a bleed wouldn't hurt.
> Handbrake - Needs adjusting, again. Doesn't always work properly and I'm still not sure why.
> Fan/Temperature switch - cooling fan is permanently on with ignition and has been for a while, I need to find out why.
> Headlights - Need adjusting, but resetting the rear suspension may mean they don't.
> Interior - Still have interior trim to swap to finish off the paler interior that's going in.
> Paint - yeah... I need to sort that when the weather gets better
> Rust Protection - ongoing, as usual, but not too bad at the moment.

I think I'm over the worst of the problems now, regular maintenance and tinker time should see this car sorted fairly easily now, I hope.

vulgalour wrote:Orange thing on the trailer is a Renault Rodeo, another rarity, but missing most of the front end panels, and in a very sorry state. It's the only one that hasn't been claimed from the field, as far as I know, but is up for grabs if someone feels brave.

Thanks. Never heard of that one so had to do a search and found this - same colour as well
http://www.eurocarblog.com/galleria/renault-rodeo-02/3

G*d it's ugly

Mike

renault rodeo, a friends dad drives one.. he bought it after he sold a 50s caddilac

Now there is a chalk and cheese moment!

he's worse than me when it comes to cars..

Topaz wrote:

vulgalour wrote:Orange thing on the trailer is a Renault Rodeo, another rarity, but missing most of the front end panels, and in a very sorry state. It's the only one that hasn't been claimed from the field, as far as I know, but is up for grabs if someone feels brave.

Thanks. Never heard of that one so had to do a search and found this - same colour as well
http://www.eurocarblog.com/galleria/renault-rodeo-02/3

G*d it's ugly

Mike

Looks like the big sister of the Citroen Mehari

Done well with the old Wedge there, glad it's all sorted. I'm not a great Renault fan, but that 6 is quirky and different, and rare, good luck with it, hope it's better than you hope

Hopefully your hope that it will be better than I hope it will be proves true. I live near Hope.

It's been a month, just about, since I last did anything visible to the '81 Princess, so it's high time I did some more. I've been steadily rebuilding the dashboard (no pictures of that) to get it ready to go back in the car and that's looking very nice. Today I decided to crack on since the weather was okay and get the interior a bit more shipshape.

First up was to empty out the car. I found that someone had been in the car *again* so Dad helped me rejiggle the locks so that I can lock everything. Getting a bit annoyed with whatever scrote is nosying about my stuff, as is Dad and the neighbour, so another outdoor security light is going up and we're investigating cameras too. Nothing has been taken, there's nothing of worth to your average scrote to take, but yet again it's the principle of the matter.


The seats came out very easily, which was nice. I refitted the glovebox and pulled out the remains of the completely ruined original carpet, even I couldn't save what was left of it. Car must be staying nice and dry, the cat poo that was under the passenger seat had dessicated and was terrific fun* to clean up after the carpet was removed.

Goodbye manky old carpet.


I sorted through the three carpet sets I have, one the original from my HL and two of them my 99p eBay purchase. None of the carpets were perfect, but all of them were better than what was in and now that it's fitted the car looks far more inviting.

After much deliberation I've put the very rare contrast-pipe seats in the HLS too. Fact is, I'm more comfortable as a driver in the HL seats and as a passenger in the HLS seats so for me it makes sense to keep the excellent HL seats I have and put these in the HLS. They also match the carpets better than the original seats.




So what's to do now?

Interior
C Pillar interior trims - I've got replacements, need to modify them to accept the HLS courtesy lights
Headlining - probably won't get done in my ownership.
Dashboard - rebuild and make sure it all works. Two telltales need new filters
Seats - bolt them down, swap the rear seat back for the contrast piping one
Mirror - I accidentally headbutted it off, need to put it back on again
Door cards - passenger front needs some regluing, both passenger ones need cleaning
Window winders - rear driver's door needs and '81 winder and spacer
Parcel shelf - Needs retrimming
Sun visors - replacement HL items to fit.

Mechanical
Rear passenger side - new sphere, handbrake cable, brake line, drum backplate and shoes to fit
Rear drivers side - new shoes to fit
Engine - valve stem seals, core plugs, head gasket, timing belt and waxstat to fit and test.
Tyres - using the wheels and tyres from the HL as they're okay and MoT-able
Exhaust - find and resolve blow
There's going to be more things, I just haven't found them yet

Exterior
Rust - tidy up localised areas of surface rust.
Bootlid - replacement to fit that isn't rotted through.


There really isn't much to do. I reckon with enough good weather, time and drive I can have this sorted by February.