Richard1 - Renault Ondine Project

I just realized I hadn't started a thread on this project car, only mentioned in my introduction.
I'll summarize the progress so far here. All the details are on my site. This afternoon I'll start assembling pieces.
Original condition
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Straightening the A arms
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Painting parts
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Fabricated eccentrics for steering
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Fabricated bushings
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Engine out for disassembly
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Hi Richard, I have moved your thread into the Project & WIPs section where it deserves to be.

Marvellous work done so far by the way :)
 
Fantastic thread! I love to see these restoration projects as it's often a shame when a car is left to rot. Great work so far and I'll look forward to the next update.
 
A little more as I progress towards assembly

The original set of manifolds
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A little polishing of the intake manifold, plus removal of rust from exhaust manifold and painting with BBQ paint.
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Got around to polishing one of the rear grills I picked up in Argentina, plus welding and basic sanding of the other.
Then today assembled the transmission. Lesson learned, when you don't have a manual, you need a lot of pictures. Anyway, before it was all together I realized where the spacer was supposed to go.
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Got back to Tarija for 10 days and squeezed in a little work on the car.
First I got the package from Buenos Aires with my conversion parts to 12 volt, plus the steering wheel and lighting controls
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Of course that alternator has to sparkle, so I took some buffing compound and Meguair's to it.
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Then I took apart the steering rack I picked up in Argentina a couple of months ago. Inside was almost new, so I'll use this one.
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A little honing of the new cylinder sleeve
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And sanding off the scratches from the pistons. This engine was only run a few miles after the last rebuild, then sat for about 25 years. The new pistons were scratched from the cracked bridge between the 2nd and 3rd cylinders allowing the block to expand and the sleeves to oval.
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The machine shop broke their 12mm x 18 in bit making my water tube, So the engine will have to wait for me to come back in a couple of weeks.

Might as well get started on the trim, right?
I'm not sure how this is supposed to come off, but this spring steel did the trick
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Of course there were some dents in the stainless
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Back in Tarija grabbing a few mornings to work on the car.
Started by inserting the stainless water tube I had made
Inserting_water_tube.jpg

And then assembling all of the engine parts, with a slight delay as I ordered new rings after discovering a missing piece in an oil control ring.
engine_parts_to _assemble.jpg


The ring set must be for various models, as it had expanders that would not fit, but I ended up with enough pieces.
New_set_of _rings.jpg

Assembling_engine.jpg


Here is the before and after series for the engine
Engine_before_left.jpg

Engine_after_left.jpg
 
Here is yesterday's finishing touches
Engine_right_before.jpg

Engine_right_after.jpg


And a little more assembly this morning, including the fabrication of a bushing for the engine support.
Engine_support_bushing_fabricated.jpg


Before
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And after
Trans_differential_after.jpg


Rear brakes
Rear_brake_before.jpg

Rear_brake_after.jpg
 
Got some more done this week, taking the seats to my upholsterer so he can have the framework and cushions ready for me to buy the fabric at the end of the month.

Seats_to_upholsterer.jpg


Also got my body guy turned on to cutting out the rust and making replacement panels.

Rocker_cut_off.jpg

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My brother-in-law will be sending me updates these next two weeks while I'm away.
 
Back in Tarija and got some pics at the body shop this morning. He has done a nice job of replacing the left side frame, rockers and sills. The doors actually close now that it is not sagging.
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Now he has been working on the right side, where he had to replace a long section of the rail, then rocker, and then will be putting the final sills on.
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He has been cutting up some Toyotas, Nissans and Mitsubishis for steel. Once the rockers and sills are done, he will cut out the front floor and replace it.
 
Nope, Now that I've found an engine for the Mini, it will move back to the front line to finish first, if possible, since I have tags and paperwork for it. The Renault still has paperwork flaws that will take some time to straighten out.

I'll update the mini project later today.
 
The body shop finally got back to work on the body, which was close, but after pulling the rear fenders found a lot of rust to correct.

Renault_front.jpg

Hood_ready.jpg

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So I took a day and took the dents out of the windshield and rear window stainless, polishing it up a bit

removing_trim.jpg

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Taking_out_dent.jpg

sanding_trim.jpg

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Polishing_trim.jpg

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Am stunned at the skills you have to restore something that would normally have been crushed :eek:|B|B|B|B
 
Before coming to the states for a few weeks I had a chance to get this moving again and we made a lot of progress, finishing the body work and painting the car. Then I took it home to wait under the protection of my garage until I get back. I ordered a bunch of trim parts, headlights, etc. which have now arrived from Argentina(I'm told). When I get back I'll start on the upholstery, electrical, radiator, etc., then back to the body shop to sand and polish, install trim, etc.

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Also re-chromed the hood hinges and bumpers

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There are quite a few people reading this thread looking at the stats but we've not had any updates from you in a while any updates on this project - or have you moved on to another one?

What are your plans for the future?
 
Oh, yes. Time to update a bit.
When I finally got back to Tarija I got going on the assembly. Good to have the car at home where I can work on it a few hours at a time, as time permits.
First I set out to restore and assemble the steering column controls (bought used), steering wheel, and dash parts.
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cluster_assembled.jpg

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Then time to assemble the bumpers and align them, making a new joint cover from stainless steel.
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One of the side vents that I bought "restored" did not meet my standards, so I sanded it and polished it.
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Also went through the inside, painting everything with an anti-corrosive and then covering with Fatmat for sound absorbance.

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Part 2
Then filled the sprayer anti-corrosive and then with undercoating, taking care of the undercarriage.
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Turning to the electrical, the wiper arm pivots were stuck, so had to be taken apart and cleaned, lubed, etc.
wiper-restoration.jpg


For the wiring I ripped out everything and started over with an assortment of wires and terminals from my local electrical supply store and a nice panel from Racers Inc that included the relays, fuses, and about everything in one place.
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With the wires run I installed the radiator and it's side panels that divide the engine from the firewall, discovering a couple of small cracks in one of the supports, so a little welding was in order, then the install with the new spout that I had to correct rom manufacturing defects.
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Then I remembered I had done nothing with my gas tank, so cut the bottom part off and fabbed a new bottom out of an old fender from the body shop, cleaning everything up with phosphoric acid and sealing it inside with epoxy.
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I'd like to say it is running, but I found that my supposedly rebuild starter was not rebuilt, so it is being rebuilt. I leave you with some pics of the engine compartment before and after.
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engine-left_before.jpg

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