Christian's R10S

[c.lees]

Engine is in, only one catch, it's not quite straight and even after rewelding the mounts on the rear cross member it's still not right as everything is mounted on rubber.

Will this be corrected by the tie bars? Or will I need to remove everything and fix the mounts on the suspension cross member. I slackened off all the mount bolts to attempt to correct it.

 

[JohnW]

Engine is in, only one catch, it's not quite straight and even after rewelding the mounts on the rear cross member it's still not right as everything is mounted on rubber.

Will this be corrected by the tie bars? Or will I need to remove everything and fix the mounts on the suspension cross member. I slackened off all the mount bolts to attempt to correct it.

Those trailing arms are rubber mounted too...... I doubt they'll pull it straight but you can but try. If it works, there'll be a strong shear force on one side at the front mounts so will it last? I honestly don't know but others might have been there.

 

[Bustamif]

Engine is in, only one catch, it's not quite straight and even after rewelding the mounts on the rear cross member it's still not right as everything is mounted on rubber.

Will this be corrected by the tie bars? Or will I need to remove everything and fix the mounts on the suspension cross member. I slackened off all the mount bolts to attempt to correct it.

The crucial issue is the rear wheels being parallel to the chassis and the gearbox input shaft being parallel to the engine. The rear axles should be 90 degrees to the engine/transaxle. If the chassis is straight at the back end of the car, the engine mounts should fit fine, if not, don't worry about it, just make it "look right". Maybe the engine bay side rails are not square to the front half of the chassis, however it's a bit late to start twisting the engine bay now.

Just adjust the engine mount holes to take the load off the engine mounts and it should be OK if everything is straight as I mentioned above.

 

[c.lees]

Measuring anything on this car is difficult and the gearbox doesn't have a lot of flat surfaces and neither does any other part of the car.

Guess we'll find out when it's finally drivable and it doesn't go straight. Nothing else on this car was straight so I'm not that surprised. Probably only out 1 degree, maybe 2.

 

[renault8&10]

I don’t think the tie bars will do anything either.
if it’s any consolation, I got to about your stage on the green car and my panelbeater mate looked at the engine one day and asked “why is it crooked?” - looked at the tie bars which were still off the car and stored, and a PO had cut and welded the LHS tie bar to shorten it. It had taken a hit or hit a gutter at some stage. The bodyshell didn’t show any signs of significant damage.

engine out, and off to a panel shop. My friend got permission to use his friends workshop & auto robot, and we stretched the rails out measuring it to the millimetre. Disheartening to watch on a shell that was already painted to see the rails stretched out and then spring back several times til we got it right. We used datum points in the empty engine bay off the gearbox; and between the chassis rails but I guess that doesn’t help you with the engine in.

KB

 

[c.lees]

All I can think to do is remove the rear cross member from the car and check the gearbox alignment relative to it to make sure it's straight.

At least with the car on its current state it won't be too painful. It does have a R16 internal gearbox so is offset 5.5mm to one side. It's possible the slotted holes are not straight and this causing it to be a little wonky.

 

[JohnW]

I don’t think the tie bars will do anything either.
if it’s any consolation, I got to about your stage on the green car and my panelbeater mate looked at the engine one day and asked “why is it crooked?” - looked at the tie bars which were still off the car and stored, and a PO had cut and welded the LHS tie bar to shorten it. It had taken a hit or hit a gutter at some stage. The bodyshell didn’t show any signs of significant damage.

engine out, and off to a panel shop. My friend got permission to use his friends workshop & auto robot, and we stretched the rails out measuring it to the millimetre. Disheartening to watch on a shell that was already painted to see the rails stretched out and then spring back several times til we got it right. We used datum points in the empty engine bay off the gearbox; and between the chassis rails but I guess that doesn’t help you with the engine in.

KB

Heroic Kevin. I always thought it was a good restoration....

 

[c.lees]

Looks like I may have done this before, once or twice, doesn't take long.

The bracket on the top of the gearbox was off a little so I'll fix that. It's pretty hard to measure. No way I could have done it in the car.

 

[JohnW]

Looks like I may have done this before, once or twice, doesn't take long.

The bracket on the top of the gearbox was off a little so I'll fix that. It's pretty hard to measure. No way I could have done it in the car.

That's curious. I'm wondering how it could be offline? Good you found THAT problem instead of a bent chassis.

 

[c.lees]

It's had the mount holes moved and looks like I didn't get it straight enough. Modified gearbox needs to be shifted 5.5mm to one side to compensate for the 11mm spacer on one side.

 

[JohnW]

It's had the mount holes moved and looks like I didn't get it straight enough. Modified gearbox needs to be shifted 5.5mm to one side to compensate for the 11mm spacer on one side.

Of course, I understand now. Just 1 mm at that location would be enough to be pretty crooked I imagine.

 

[J-man]

It's had the mount holes moved and looks like I didn't get it straight enough. Modified gearbox needs to be shifted 5.5mm to one side to compensate for the 11mm spacer on one side.

Hi Christian, is that not what is making it on an angle? If the gearbox is moved to one side, then the engine will need to be moved to one side by equal amounts also, or it will angle the engine if you don't shorten and lengthen your engine mounts by 5mm, or am I missing something here?

 

[c.lees]

Engine mounts have also been moved, it's a pretty heavily modified engine mount cross member

 

[c.lees]

The starter motor I had from an R18 was a bit large, was going to make it pretty tight with the exhaust as the throw out solenoid stuck straight out the side.

This could be solved by modifying a K4M starter, just a little bit. Flange was machined down 5mm, the corner M10 hole was filled and redrilled and taped M8. The other top hole had to be moved and I had to make a new ear for the bottom one. Casting welded ok, just ok. For this I actually started with a brand new starter as they are only $140.

Engagement has been checked using bearing blue.

 

[dauphproto]

Just had a quick read through this. The Labours of Hercules for sure, good news is you seem to have it well and truly on the run now.
When you are on your 7th or 8th rebuild you will find things go much easier, as you have seen most of the problems before and know how to deal with them. As for the chassis. once its all together you can drop check it to the floor (plumb bob and chalk) mark all inner, outer and any other relevant points to the floor and join the dots. it should form a rectangle, if it does not then its a case of loosening things off and moving them about until it is. Once that bit is right you can get to sorting out what it does when it moves. Rear tie rods always worth a look incase someone has used them as a jacking point, the arm bends and the rear is squint. An easy fix though. it is incredible what can be done with string,chalk and a couple of spirit levels. One last thing make sure there is a bit of rake on the engine/gearbox front of box low rear of engine high, not much, a degree or so. Having the motor low/box high will result in an awful driving experience on the road.

 

[c.lees]

I feel I'll be cutting and rewelding the rear engine mounts again.

There seems to be no way to put the engine side mounts without current the sump flange on so they'll need to be left off. I've looked to see if I could adapt the bolt holes already there but I don't think it'll be possible/easy

 

[c.lees]

Long time between updates but work has been progressing.

Getting ready to pull the trigger on getting a fuel tank made, getting the parts together for clutch and accelerator cables.

The intake manifold is being designed by a friend of mine who is a mechanical engineer, it going to be 3D printed out of carbon fibre reinforced nylon most probably.

Cooling system is pretty much finished minus the overflow bottle.

Now for the good part. The exhaust. Primaries are 1.5", I made a 4 to 1 merge collector as I couldn't buy one that went to 2". The primary rotation into the collector is in the firing order. They are all close to the same length but I didn't work out the tuned length, it's just what would fit.

The main exhaust is 2", I put a catalytic converter in and the muffler is a sports oval type.

I even made a couple of heat shields.

 

[Bowie]

That exhaust looks fantastic! Straight out of the port, relatively gentle bends given the space, so good!

Ah excited for you!

 

[c.lees]

The fuel tank is done. I designed it in cardboard, the CAD, then verified it in cardboard again. Then changed it multiple times. Found a company on the sunshine coast to make it at a reasonable price.

It's not that large, about 36 litres but should keep the engineer happy, behind the front axle, 100mm from all external fixed panels.

I went with a submerged pump on a custom hanger. I still need to make a spill tray but figured I'd just glue it on.

 

[Dano]

Nice work! Everything is looking promising