Col's Renault R12 Wagon restoration

I had a R 12 wagon as my first car which had a Hayman Reece tow bar fitted to it from new.
The plates on the end of the tow bar slid inside the slid inside the bumper brackets and and were bolted through the bumper bar mounting holes.
There weren't any bolts through the floor.
 
Yours was probably a copy of the euro spec tow bars. Maybe dealers ordered a batch to sell as optional extra and used that as a model?

I've had one wagon with a tow bar and have seen another few here (looking for a correct tow bar) and they were all bolted through the floor (the far end of the tow bar).
 
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Our R12 wagon had the very slick and neat fit where the bumper bar fitting rubbers were rmoved, the flat bars slipped into the chassis rail to bolt through existing holes with bolts fixed to nuts in the rails. Certainly neat and easy to fit.
 
A little progress today removing the dents from the previous tow bar installation.
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Left chassis rail

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Right chassis rail

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The basic tools that I have been using to remove the dents so far.

Still got a bit more work to do to remove these dents completely.

I have a stud welder coming so that I can remove the dents that I can't get in behind, will put up some pics when that arrives next week.
 

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Enjoyed a quick read of this thread Col, bit preoccupied with other things. I do have a replacement R12 front grill brand new, if it is any use to you and a few other odds and ends that I would donate (no cost) as a mark of respect of the good work you do with everything you touch and if I can help in any other way, happy to do so. Appreciate your help on many things in the past mate.

Will watch with interest as you do this rebuild and upgrade.

Ken
 
Many years ago I bought a stud puller. You put in a row of self tapping screws connected the puller with a slotted end that hooked over the head of the screw and the result was the same as the electric thing. I have forgotten I had it. Must try it out again when I start my next car with dents.
 
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Kenfuego said:
Enjoyed a quick read of this thread Col, bit preoccupied with other things. I do have a replacement R12 front grill brand new, if it is any use to you and a few other odds and ends that I would donate (no cost) as a mark of respect of the good work you do with everything you touch and if I can help in any other way, happy to do so. Appreciate your help on many things in the past mate.

Will watch with interest as you do this rebuild and upgrade.

Ken
Click to expand...

Thanks Ken for the offer. I'm going to use the four head light version, but I think you can use any R12 grill with them. I have most of the bits required. This will not be a concourse car, just a usable modernised R12. Will catch up with you when you are down this way next.
 
Sunroof said:
Many years ago I bought a stud puller. You put in a row of self tapping screws connected the puller with a slotted end that hooked over the head of the screw and the result was the same as the electric thing. I have forgotten I had it. Must try it out again when I start my next car with dents.
Click to expand...

I made up a slide hammer like you have described many years ago. There are a few things a don't like about this method:

a) You need to drill holes in the panel

b) There seems to be more defamation of the panel

c) Need weld the holes back up

With the stud welder, the studs are welded on, pull dent out, break off stud and give a light grind to remove the small weld. The disadvantages of the stud welder is the initial cost and purchasing studs.

I'm no expert at this but will report back when I have had a go and let you know how I got on with it.
 
It would be interesting to test on some thin metal see how long it takes to get the opposite side red hot. I guess that would be an upper limit to welding those pins.
 
Aust Post and the Couriers have been good to me this week, the stud welder turned up at 2:30 pm today and some 100mm Polly Discs yesterday. I bought some 50mm sanding discs today from the Green Shed.

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Stud Welder in it's polystyrene packaging.


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100mm Polly Discs and 50mm sanding discs with holder.

I'm now set to remove a few dents that I can't get to the back of.
 
rmac said:
Our R12 wagon had the very slick and neat fit where the bumper bar fitting rubbers were rmoved, the flat bars slipped into the chassis rail to bolt through existing holes with bolts fixed to nuts in the rails. Certainly neat and easy to fit.
Click to expand...
Good to see you are out there!! Just discovered two family friends in Denmark!
 
COL said:
Aust Post and the Couriers have been good to me this week, the stud welder turned up at 2:30 pm today and some 100mm Polly Discs yesterday. I bought some 50mm sanding discs today from the Green Shed.

View attachment 127793
Stud Welder in it's polystyrene packaging.


View attachment 127794
100mm Polly Discs and 50mm sanding discs with holder.

I'm now set to remove a few dents that I can't get to the back of.
Click to expand...
Now the million dollar question: how many studs did they give you and can you get more easily?

Good luck and hope we'll see some pictures.
 
schlitzaugen said:
Now the million dollar question: how many studs did they give you and can you get more easily?

Good luck and hope we'll see some pictures.
Click to expand...
I tried out the stud welder on a scrap piece of steel this morning as per the instructions. Held the button down for 1 - 2 seconds and here is the result.

I tried the slide hammer on the stud as well and seems to grip ok.

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2mm Stud welded to a piece of 1mm steel


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The back side of the steel

The kit came with:
100 @ 2mm x 50mm studs
100 @ 3mm x 50mm studs

Replacements studs are available off Ebay.

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/500-x-2...m2f2d2f5cd6:g:7oEAAOSwzThcGEdV&frcectupt=true
 
Now the pull test. Can you try to pull the stud see what happens to the metal? I guess you could attach that somehow to say a block of wood and try pulling the stud see what happens.
 
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