Practically Classics Forum

Wow, it was just over a year ago that I pulled the engine out of the Renault for a 'quick rebuild'. Been a stinker of a year! Today, I got caught up and made some progress with some help and guidance from my brother who has done considerably more engine rebuilds than me of all sorts of different types.

I finally got the expensive piston ring set from Der Franzose which came with instructions as to which went where if I wasn't sure. Some of the old rings did put up quite a fight, others didn't, and while the pistons show their age they're far from knackered so were decoked and kitted out with new rings.





This time, no piston rings were snapped on reassembly. Mike invested in a glaze busting tool for the unit and we tried it out on the Renault's scruffy liners. Worked a treat and they all cleaned up very nicely. Pistons went back in nice and snug and with a few tricks from my brother on how better to use the ring compressor and such we had all four back in the engine in no time. Here's some pictures of just three in situ. I was relying on my camera phone so components look dull when in real life they're actually shiny.




We made sure the correct paper liner gaskets were fitted, that the pistons all pointed the same way (there's marks on the crowns) and that the liners were correctly paired. There does seem to already be signs of good compression, as there was some necessity to rotate the engine while getting everything in and my brother's gloves were being successfully vacuumed into the bores, that bodes well.

With that done it was really a case of reassembly. I didn't get everything done, I'm still a bit unwell and I wasn't in a rush, I'd rather the job be done well than quickly. Got the cam buckets and pushrods refitted, head gasket fitted, head bolts torqued in correct sequence (they'll be retorqued accordingly once the engine has been running) and even got the rocker cover gasket fitted.



On a bit of a roll the crankshaft went in, the exhaust manifold and carburettor were also fitted. I was going to sort the timing and get the chain on but the tensioner has burst into its component parts and doesn't seem to want to stay together. Nothing appears to be broken or missing, it just doesn't seem to want to stay in one piece.


It's looking like a smart little engine now. Looking forward to firing it up when we've finished rebuilding all the various bits and pieces, I'd like to hope it's not going to take another year before it's back in the car but you really never know with the way my life goes.




There's more to update you on with the Rover, I'll do that later/another day.

You've been busy I bet you are itching to get it finished and fire her up!

Absolutely! Got a few more bits to get, like an oil filter because I can't find the one I thought I'd bought, just nick-nacks really. Key thing is to get it all back together and see what's missing, get a few manual rotations before plonking it in the car, that sort of business. Feels good to be working on the Renault after so long. When I'm properly well I can get that sill replaced on the Princess and speed up her recovery somewhat too.

https://www.oscaro.com/filtre-a-huile-r ... 16-1818-gt
does this help mate?

It might. I'm going to check all the places it might be first because I'm still sure I bought one for about £4 or so, then I'll check the local autofactor and Euro Car Parts who are pretty good with this sort of thing. I've got a vague memory that the filter is the same as used on early Clios and some small Fords of the same era. Would help if I could find the old one to compare, I don't remember throwing the old one out.

Today started off well, got the timing chain on and set the timing surprisingly easily.


Things were off to a good start today. Cleaned up and repainted the timing chain cover.


Cleaned out the sump too, the bottom of which still had the horrible grey putty under the oil sludge. Took a while to clean it all up.


I need a new sump plug, the old one looks like someone has used a dinosaur to try and release it. The outside of the sump was a bit pitted from rust and had signs of a bit of a scrape where it looks like the car's hit a rock or something. Nothing too serious and hidden with a fresh coat of black paint.


Feeling pretty good about all this. Time to get the engine turned over a few times and get the tappets set. Then something went wrong.





After getting the engine together, setting the static timing and checking it was rotating freely (and I did use assembly lube on everything so it was all nicely oily), somehow a con rod bearing shell slipped when it was rotated, I don't actually have the faintest idea how, and now I have this problem. The scoring visible in the photograph isn't very visible at all in the real world and there were no scoring marks on the crankshaft before this happened. I've not yet inspected the crankshaft but I'm expecting it too is damaged and will need regrinding unless I'm very, very lucky. Then I'll have the unenviable task of locating oversized con rod bearings, a prospect I am not relishing.

It's the second one from the right in this picture that had spun.


I'd like to know how I managed this and what went wrong. I've read other engine rebuild threads where bearings just do this sometimes, both new and old re-used ones. Where I'm lucky is that this has happened on hand cranking and not when I was driving the car as seems to be the norm for this sort of thing from what I've read over the course of the last year or so. It's my first full engine rebuild so mistakes are inevitable and hopefully this one won't be too costly to resolve.

On the positive side I don't have to dismantle the entire engine to replace the bearings and inspect the crankshaft and before the bearing span the engine did turn over really smoothly and operated all the pushrods as it ought so there was a moment of sunshine today.

Think we figured out how it happened now. We were quite tired putting the last few bolts in so theory is that I didn't tighten this one up enough so after a couple of slow hand turns it slipped and moved. Photographs make the damage look far worse than it is, as the macro setting always does. Clear head tomorrow I'll go in and inspect and clean everything and get new pictures. Looks like a rookie error. I don't recall there being any difficulty refitting any of them and that they'd only go in one way. This is probably a salvageable situation. I'm getting lots of "don't panic" messages about this, which is reassuring.

So good news first then. The bearing shell cleaned up well enough to be reused, most of the damage was where oil had been displaced rather than an actual stamping on the metal. The crankshaft had no damage at all. Everything that should be round still was. Second opinion agreed and a decision was made to put things together, torque it up and hand crank to see how it went. Everything was fine, no untoward noises or stickiness. We carried on and bolted things up. It has been decided that if, upon running the car, there are bad things we will haul it all out and replace the bearings. I'm told it's likely there will be no issues as the engine is crude enough to get away with it, especially since I'm unlikely to do more than 2000 miles a year in it off motorway.

The bad news is that the camera was entirely forgotten about until packing up time. Got a bit carried away and now appear to have an engine.

Here we are, end of day pictures. This is the business end. New gaskets for the water pump, plate and pump cleaned up as best I could, it's a difficult shape to work with. The pump turns freely with no play. Alternator bracket bolted on but not adjusted. Belt tensioner loosely bolted in place, not adjusted. Crankshaft pulley just plonked in place, also not adjusted. A new crankshaft end seal was fitted too.


Timing gear and distributor fitted with new gasket as per static timing instructions. Ignition timing not yet set. Still has the old plug leads, rotor arm, points and distributor cap fitted here, I'm finding out what's missing so I can order the consumables in one go. Vacuum hose still good as is the solid part of the fuel line, the rubber ends of the fuel line need replacing. Fuel pump fitted with new gaskets. Oil pressure switch fitted (old one, not yet tested). Dipstick put back in tube.


Cam chain cover and sump repainted, and fitted with new cork gaskets. Air filter box fitted with old air filter still inside which will be replaced.


The less interesting side of the engine.



Next big job is to clean up the gearbox and fit the new clutch kit. I've already got new points and rotor arm, I need to acquire a new air filter, oil filter, spark plugs, spark leads, possibly a distributor cap (though the one fitted does look quite healthy), at least one drive belt and a bunch of rubber fuel hoses. May need some coolant hoses too, I need to check through those properly.

Bit of a flat day today. Ages ago I bought what should have been the correct clutch, on inspection it appeared to check out. However, on attempting to fit it today it is not correct. I bought it so long ago I can't even return it now and funds are too far depleted to go and buy the correct one. That's another problem I'm now having too, I can't seem to find a clutch kit listed anywhere for this engine just more like the one I bought that I know is wrong.

The big difference is that the spline shaft hole on the friction plate is too small. Superficially in every other way the kit is the same as that fitted to the car. This has really annoyed me. The old clutch is, realistically, far too worn to be of much use but without a clutch fitted I can't put the engine and gearbox back in the car where it belongs. Any help locating the correct clutch for this car would be most welcome.

We did other jobs too, but nothing of enough significance to report.

Been trawling around the internet and found a clutch plate that looks to be correct for under £15 delivered. The budget can stretch to that. It's the same design as the old one and looks to have the same measurements. We'll see if it's right when it arrives next week.

EDITED TO ADD
That clutch plate was wrong too! Luckily, Mr Reno on another forum came to the rescue yet again and has pointed me to the correct kit on Jolly Good Car Spares and I'm hoping to get a refund on the second wrong clutch before it's even posted.

What a sodding nightmare.