1959 4cv Restoration in North Carolina USA

I have done a lot of "A Frame" towing and I think you need a bit more substantial car mount bars that the standard bumper bars on most cars. My Renault R4 had the bumper unbolt, and bolted on a purpose frame. The frame was used for the Off-Road as well. Removable bracket can beseen on front of "Off-Road"
 

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I retorqued the head and manifold, adjusted the valves and changed the oil in the engine and transaxle. I tried 85W-140 plus some STP in the transaxle to quiet it down a bit. That worked well and shifting is not difficult. It seems that the engine oil leak was just an oil pan bolt that needed to be snugged up. I ran it for about two miles. After that run, it did not leak at all. Would this be considered a minor miracle?

The only downside today is that the bearings in the rebuilt water pump are bad. They are tight, but very noisy. No amount of grease through the fitting makes a difference. The bearings are probably sealed. It may be that it was rebuild many decades ago and the grease has turned to non-lubricating crud. I ordered new bearings. I think it is much easier to replace bearings than the seal.

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My original rear shock absorbers are working, but will need to be replaced eventually. Does anyone know of an inexpensive shock that will work? The austin mini rear shocks work really well on the front of the 4cv.
 
My original rear shock absorbers are working, but will need to be replaced eventually. Does anyone know of an inexpensive shock that will work? The austin mini rear shocks work really well on the front of the 4cv.
Der Franzose have modern repro telescopics

I fitted them to mine and they work well, not sure about lifespan, as Reg has been sulking in garage for a while and has not done many km, but ride and roadholding are good

Andrew
 
Der Franzose will not ship to the USA unfortunately. I am hoping there is a shock absorber commonly available in the US that will work.

On another topic, the 289 gearbox has a much lower oil level in the final drive area than the 314 and later Dauphine transaxles. Would the 289 function properly if more the oil level in the differential area were higher (as in the 314)?
 
Der Franzose will not ship to the USA unfortunately. I am hoping there is a shock absorber commonly available in the US that will work.

On another topic, the 289 gearbox has a much lower oil level in the final drive area than the 314 and later Dauphine transaxles. Would the 289 function properly if more the oil level in the differential area were higher (as in the 314)?
This may not help with your 4CV, but I've recently installed new rear dampers my 1959 R1090 Dauphine. They are NOS Spax adjustable, labelled 164/172. They were given to me by a friend many years ago, so I don't know where he got them or how much they cost. I do know that they work well, after a bit of experimentation with settings.
 
I finally removed the windshield wiper assembly for cleaning and repair. The wipers did not operate when I tested them on 6v, but they worked on 12v. I only tried this briefly because I did not want to burn up the motor. The wiper gearbox outlet arm was so hard to turn, I needed pliers to free it up. Lots of cleaning along with new grease and oil had everything turning freely. I installed new rubber bushings and cleaned the motor brushes and commutator. I used two 100 watt 1 ohm resistors to drop the voltage for the wipers. They work perfectly now. I was surprised to see that the "switch" was just a device to pull one of the brushes away from the commutator. I have been driving around the neighborhood almost every day.

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I am ready to start on the bodywork. The front and rear fenders (wings) will probably be the most difficult. All four have been repaired poorly. I need to find a book titled "How to repair bodged up bodywork". It would much easier if the damage had not been repaired at all. I need to know where the edge of the wheel openings should be. The rolled beads around the wheels are kinked and cracked. Are the wheel openings supposed to be in the same plane? In other words, would a flat surface touch the entire edge of the fender wheel opening? Here are some pictures, but they don't really show the problem.

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I know that a lot of people like that look, but I am going for the "slightly better than new" look since I can do the bodywork. The other factor is that I have already purchased all the paint, primer and clear coat. If the paint were original and the car undented, I would not paint it. These pictures show the front fender issue a little better.

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That is what a sports car should look like. Really nice shape.
 
My rebuilt water pump (the one with bad bearings) is working again. I installed new bearings and it is now quiet. I had trouble getting the shaft to expand the little circlip, so I ground a thin nut into a cone shape, and put a sleeve below it. That worked well and was easy to remove once the shaft was pushed in. The bad bearings were corroded. They were not sealed bearings and were full of grease (because I greased then through the fitting). It is possible that they were not sufficiently greased when installed and corroded over the years. The pump was probably rebuilt many decades ago.

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Now that the water pump is quiet, there may be a little noise from the water pump belt tensioner. One of my parts books lists the bearings as 10x26x6. This is not a common size, but 10x26x8 is very common. There is a spacer between the bearings, so it could be shortened by 4mm to use 10x26x8 bearings. Has anyone else rebuild the tensioner?

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Now that the water pump is quiet, there may be a little noise from the water pump belt tensioner. One of my parts books lists the bearings as 10x26x6. This is not a common size, but 10x26x8 is very common. There is a spacer between the bearings, so it could be shortened by 4mm to use 10x26x8 bearings. Has anyone else rebuild the tensioner?

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Hi Stan

Those bearings are available on Ebay's US site.

 
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