Jap powered R10

David Cavanagh

David Cavanagh

Well-known member
1000+ Posts
Fellow Frogger
Joined
Feb 10, 2001
Messages
5,273
Location
Romsey, Victoria, Australia
Has anyone heard of this??
I had a chap from on the phone from somewhere in NSW this week asking about R10 modifications.
He said that he'd contacted the RCCQ and they said that "all the rage down in Victoria is to put Suzuki Swift GTI motors in them", there 1300cc and about 90-100 hp and easily fitted.
I said that at French Connection we do more R10's then any other business in Vic and we'd never heard of it and as President of the RCCV I know what projects people are working on and I've never heard of it.
So, has anybody heard or done it?
It has got me curious.

David.
 
Nah cant say I've heard of a Swift GTI powered 10 or 8, but would proberley be a sweet ass conversion. I drove a mates GTI a while back, and geesh it used to go, and rev like hell.
There quite a small engine, would proberley fit pretty easily I'd say.
 
If you want to go for a jap engine, I'd nominate a Mazda Wankel engine. Small, light and stupidly powerful. Might be fun trying to keep an R10's front wheels on the ground!!! :D
 
Damien Gardner:
An R8 with a rotary was done 20 odd years ago here in melb and it went like hell
Click to expand...
Speaking of which where is the test pilot buried? ..assuming the remains could be located....

cheers!
 
I believe the car is still around i'll try to track it down get the goss on it.

dance

<small>[ 16 September 2002, 07:19 PM: Message edited by: ]</small>
 
Managed to track down some history,
Car an R8 was built by Rob Holtkamp of RCCV in late 70's with 12A Rotary later sold to John Moss then residing in Sale Vic. Now believed to be located in Ballarat area. Around the same time some other cars of interest were a Dauphine with Mid-mounted R16TS motor with Rose-jointed fully independent rear suspension Built by Colin Collyer front guards were flared 5--6" by Ian Dent and yours truely used the guards as plugs and made moulds and produced f/g guards to reduce weight car was later purchased by Steve Cavanagh.
Another was a R16TS mid mounted R10 owned by Glen Williams it still pops up for sale every few years and some unsuspecting person buys it then finds it can't compete as Renault never produced a mid mounted R10 and Cams changed the Regs in the early 80's.
 
Another oddball Renault would be the supercharged 16TS mid engined 750 which was run by Don Tozer here in Adelaide up to a few years ago.
 
Simon tsk tsk,
Odd ball no way, design or performance enhanced maybe I'll go a step further & poke a stick in a hornets nest lol.
RENAULT CREATE CARS some of us Enlightened Froggies RE-CREATE CARS hehehe
Come in all spinners.

dance dance dance dance dance dance dance dance
 
Simon,

I have a photo somewhere of that car at Collingrove Hillclimb in early 1980s or thereabouts. It WENT!!!!!!

JohnW
 
John,
It certainly would go like stink the motor & g/box would weigh more the the rest of the car driver included lol as long as he's smaller than me hehehe. Please have a look for the photo i'm always interested in perusing good works of ART.
dance dance

<small>[ 02 October 2002, 09:50 PM: Message edited by: Damien Gardner ]</small>
 
Damien Gardner:
Simon tsk tsk,

RENAULT CREATE CARS some of us Enlightened Froggies RE-CREATE
Click to expand...
I'm lazy, I just take the easy way out and let the factory modify the car for me.

Simon
 
Damien Gardner:
Each to their own i guess. dance
Click to expand...
It's easier for me, and I just figure Mr Gordini knew what he was doing when it came to swing axled Renault's and lots of power!
 
Hi Damien,

When I find the photo, I'll have another attempt at posting, then send it to gibgib when that fails, so he can put it up somewhere.

It was fire engine red too! Lovely.

JohnW
 
Simon,
purchasing ready built is of course the ideal, however the Gordini's & the Alpines had a limited quantity imported to Aust.And are worth small fortunes these days.Then there those of us that get a buzz from having done all the mod's ourselves, one main reason for the departure from swing axle is the wheel width limitation which causes massive rear end squat.
This R10 owes me around $4k no way to get an Alpine or G for that.
I've said for many years there's usually only one event per month leaving the other 29-30 days to enhance the car.
It really dosen't matter as long as all concerned enjoy their hobby, ie. Their froggy cars.

dance
 
Another addition to the re-engineered Renault brigade in Melbourne is the Red Dauphine Gordini shown in the other peoples cars section of my web site. Keith has now Supercharged the 1.4L motor. Time will tell how successful this is however, it blew a head gasket on its first run pressurising the radiator to the point of splitting the core in several places.

dance dance dance
 
Simon:
Damien Gardner:
Each to their own i guess. dance
Click to expand...
It's easier for me, and I just figure Mr Gordini knew what he was doing when it came to swing axled Renault's and lots of power!
Click to expand...
Gee I dunno about this Gordini cove....only the other week I was contemplating a fiery death when my mind strayed to the fact that in a sandwich impact in an 8G you stand to get toasted both front and rear thanks to the thoughtfully located front fuel tank....hmmm and they say four wheel drives aren't safe.
cheers!
 
I never said it was safe!:) Actually the RHD ones have the added extra bit of unpredictability, by placing the battery on the LHS of the front boot, a lot closer to the vented fuel cap which lies nice and close to the voltage regulator, driving light and horn relays.

And as long as it doesn't backfire too much, the possibility of fire from the rear end isn't too bad as the carbs are fairly well sealed from the fuel filler just above them by the tightly fitting clips of the air cleaner.

Besides, it does have the added safety feature of the spare wheel up front which sticks out just a bit more than the fuel tank, all those safety ads in 1960's Road and Track magazines couldn't be that far wrong! :)
 
Why would any one drive a boring new car??
Air bags, seat belt pretensioners, crumple zones, safety cells, bugger all that, give me twin carbs,plenty of revs, lots of horse power and no intertia seat belts any day.
So why does the road toll keep going up?

David.
 
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