Dauphine Gordini restoration

Fewgo said:
My Dauphine runs well but suffers from bump steer and the gear change is a bit sloppy.

I took it the local raceway for a track day and it appears to also suffer from valve bounce. Stiffer valve springs might help.

Yes, you get a few looks when out on the road

Damien
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A much loved former President of the Renault Car Club Dandenong originally had a Morris Minor side valve 918cc and competed enthusiastically in all forms of motor sport during the late sixties, so enthusiastically that he earned the name, "Revs" Taylor. On swapping the Morrie for a Dauphine, as befitting a President of the RCCD, the nick-name was retained and the valves of the Dauphine engine were as much if not more stretched as those in the previous Minor...................
 
Kim Luck said:
A much loved former President of the Renault Car Club Dandenong originally had a Morris Minor side valve 918cc and competed enthusiastically in all forms of motor sport during the late sixties, so enthusiastically that he earned the name, "Revs" Taylor. On swapping the Morrie for a Dauphine, as befitting a President of the RCCD, the nick-name was retained and the valves of the Dauphine engine were as much if not more stretched as those in the previous Minor...................
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Noble effort. I've driven a side-valve Minor.
 
jjperko said:
View attachment 124449

Still some more finishing touches to do. I have 7 of 8 side trim strips which is annoying. May be able to make the 8th with spare car under door strips.

Not in love with the mirrors. Didn't blank off the holes before painting so they'll stay for now.

The other car awaits disassembly or sale. Not sure if it's worth anything in its current state. Might be better to get a bank of spare parts off it for other's future projects/spares.
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Which of the eight trim strips do you still need? If you can give me the length measurement I may be able to help. Chris.
 
jjperko said:
View attachment 124449

Still some more finishing touches to do. I have 7 of 8 side trim strips which is annoying. May be able to make the 8th with spare car under door strips.

Not in love with the mirrors. Didn't blank off the holes before painting so they'll stay for now.

The other car awaits disassembly or sale. Not sure if it's worth anything in its current state. Might be better to get a bank of spare parts off it for other's future projects/spares.
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Hi jjperko,
I thought that I'd replied to your post yesterday but it doesn't appear , so here goes again. I may be able to help with your missing trim strip, what is the measurement and position? Chris.
 
Any 750 or dauphine owners able to give me an idea of typical running temps?

I've put 25 or so days on my log book without issue. Starting to push the distances out a bit and wondering if I need to make some improvements to the cooling. Drove from my house up to Beechworth twice in the last month (fairly tough 450m vertical over 15km). The car has enough power to pull top gear all the way up but I take it easy. The gauge starts to climb toward the upper side of the green 'normal' range under these conditions, never into the red zone.

Things to note:
Ambient temps are pretty high this time of year.
Gauge drops back down to just under half on a descent
Not pushing coolant out the cap and can be undone slowly when hot without issue.

Thinking about getting radiator professionally checked or maybe swapping to my spare? I also need to make up a blind of some sort for above the radiator. Did dauphines have these standard?
 
jjperko said:
Any 750 or dauphine owners able to give me an idea of typical running temps?

I've put 25 or so days on my log book without issue. Starting to push the distances out a bit and wondering if I need to make some improvements to the cooling. Drove from my house up to Beechworth twice in the last month (fairly tough 450m vertical over 15km). The car has enough power to pull top gear all the way up but I take it easy. The gauge starts to climb toward the upper side of the green 'normal' range under these conditions, never into the red zone.

Things to note:
Ambient temps are pretty high this time of year.
Gauge drops back down to just under half on a descent
Not pushing coolant out the cap and can be undone slowly when hot without issue.

Thinking about getting radiator professionally checked or maybe swapping to my spare? I also need to make up a blind of some sort for above the radiator. Did dauphines have these standard?
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This is for a 4CV of course but might be useful to you.
It takes 35+ degree days to get mine up towards "hot" on the standard guage. Most days, under 30 degrees, mine struggles to reach the low end of the normal area unless I'm on the freeway. They over-cool I reckon.
Here's my 1950 gauge - there isn't a specified "normal" zone, just the word. Under the "m" is the start of the "red zone", where it boils!
1615102444974.png


Years ago, I checked the guage calibration with my infra-red gun against the top hose I think. I was pleasantly surprised.

1615102188891.png


The next image is of mine during testing with my (then) new 3-row radiator core.

1615102299586.png


With water as coolant, it boils when the gauge needle hits the hot red line. I use Peugeot coolant which seems to boil at 107 degrees, and my car doesn't have a pressurised system.
Hope that is some help.
 
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I took it in a pre-78 sprint event that was run on a short local circuit last weekend and had a lot of fun. Handled the 120km round trip as well as 3 sessions without issue.

Was the slowest thing there for sure but didn't affect the fun factor. I feel like with a bit more driver experience on my part it would actually be quite capable in the corners, the weight transfer definitely pivots the car toward the apex but I wasn't game to really push the limit. Caught the bug enough to start thinking about suspension etc. and how I can extract a little more out of it.

I've recently bought an Alfa as its more suited to handle bigger track days but still might use the Dauphine in some historic events as its so enjoyable to drive. Just need a sub 1000cc class for it to be really competitive.
 
jjperko said:
Thanks John, I've joined up and enjoying the newsletters.

I've been thinking about seatbelt options recently. Does anyone have any experience retrofitting? My Morris is registered on the vic club scheme without any as per original but I'd like some form of protection in this project. The 2 main obstacles seem to be adequate mounting on the b pillar as well as possibly engineering (not sure on this one given the cars age?)

My spare car has lap sashes installed but mounting brackets dont seem up to scratch by a modern standard.
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I put shoulder belts on mine, bought from amazon.com
seats-panels-belts.jpg
 
jjperko said:
6v starter on 6v system. Thanks will see what the sparky comes back with. Was just interested to see whether all those with 12v converted 4cv's or Dauphine's were running original 6v starters or whether there's something equivalent and 12v out there that fits in the space. Don't want to spend a lot on my 6v starter that might not equate to better cranking performance.
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I run the 6V starter with the later 12 V solenoid (I put in a later model 12 volt alternator, wiper motor, headlights, and dash gauges). I was told the starter could handle it, and it appears to.
 
jjperko said:
Any 750 or dauphine owners able to give me an idea of typical running temps?

I've put 25 or so days on my log book without issue. Starting to push the distances out a bit and wondering if I need to make some improvements to the cooling. Drove from my house up to Beechworth twice in the last month (fairly tough 450m vertical over 15km). The car has enough power to pull top gear all the way up but I take it easy. The gauge starts to climb toward the upper side of the green 'normal' range under these conditions, never into the red zone.

Things to note:
Ambient temps are pretty high this time of year.
Gauge drops back down to just under half on a descent
Not pushing coolant out the cap and can be undone slowly when hot without issue.

Thinking about getting radiator professionally checked or maybe swapping to my spare? I also need to make up a blind of some sort for above the radiator. Did dauphines have these standard?
Click to expand...
Sorry for slowness in commenting on this

I fitted a modern 6V temp gauge to Reg ( 1960 4CV ) for the Inverell trip, as had just "unstored" him and didn't want to cook engine( mine is the 'poverty pack' model without temp gauge). Temp sender is threaded into the steel plate at rear of head, so it is a head temp rather than radiator tank temp.

Generally runs at about 92C and the most I saw when flogging on a warm day was about 96. This was without a functioning radiator blind, so it was using all the radiator

The radiator/engine/airflow combination does seem to be pretty well sorted

Best Wishes

Andrew
 
Andrew Watkins said:
Sorry for slowness in commenting on this

I fitted a modern 6V temp gauge to Reg ( 1960 4CV ) for the Inverell trip, as had just "unstored" him and didn't want to cook engine( mine is the 'poverty pack' model without temp gauge). Temp sender is threaded into the steel plate at rear of head, so it is a head temp rather than radiator tank temp.

Generally runs at about 92C and the most I saw when flogging on a warm day was about 96. This was without a functioning radiator blind, so it was using all the radiator

The radiator/engine/airflow combination does seem to be pretty well sorted

Best Wishes

Andrew
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Thanks Andrew. Fitted a blind to mine and seems to be running cooler now. Sounds like getting a modern sensor as a double check wouldn't be a bad idea.
 
I've got one of these infrared thermometers in the kit which I use for other pursuits. However after I have taken my old cars for a run I check the temperature of the wheels, to ascertain if I have a dragging brake and of course I check the engine temperature which is usually 82 degrees funnily enough. It gives some assurance that things are kosher.

Werleo Temperature Gun Dual Laser Non-Contact Infrared Thermometer -58°F to 1202°F Accurate Digital Surface IR Thermometer Instant Read Handheld with Adjustable Emissivity - Newegg.com
 
59 Floride said:
I've got one of these infrared thermometers in the kit which I use for other pursuits. However after I have taken my old cars for a run I check the temperature of the wheels, to ascertain if I have a dragging brake and of course I check the engine temperature which is usually 82 degrees funnily enough. It gives some assurance that things are kosher.

Werleo Temperature Gun Dual Laser Non-Contact Infrared Thermometer -58°F to 1202°F Accurate Digital Surface IR Thermometer Instant Read Handheld with Adjustable Emissivity - Newegg.com
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those are a must. Gauges get out of calibration after a while, or a ground gets corroded and give a bad reading. I've saved thousands of dollars of repairs with those as diagnostics.
 
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