-84 Renault 11 Turbo (& TXE,GTL) -> new BW drawing

[masi]

As the other torsion bar broke from the TXE, I needed a new daily. I got this red R11 GTL free from a friend, repaired, MOTd and taxed it. Here's a photo of it going through it's daily work

[owen]

Got a complete gtxl in a scrap yard not too far from me..
Had nothing taken off it as far as i can see..

[masi]

Feb 1, 2013 20:13:42 GMT owen said:

Got a complete gtxl in a scrap yard not too far from me..
Had nothing taken off it as far as I can see..

Thanks for the info, might be too long a distance though

Now, one night I had a little peak at the torsion bars after removing the dust caps. I was so surprised, they looked so clean, and so little rust. I am now starting to think that it is the end cap which makes a difference, as these were a little bit different compared to the others. Or the bars have been changed at some point. For fun, tried to take them out, and in 15min I had succeeded -> mojo boost!

So this was the starting point:



Then I installed turbo front springs, and lowered the rear. Front dropped 50-55mm and rear 10mm.



Last night, raised the rear as much as possible without touching the shocks, managed to raise it a little. So currently rear is at a drop of arounf 80mm.





Just realised I could open the top nut for the shocks to still raise it a little, but going go with this for the moment. And need to see how it looks then with the summer wheels in a couple of months.

I also ordered a VW caddy front lip for around £10 and £15 p&p from German ebay, waiting for it to arrive. Maybe then paint or plastidip the bumpers and side plastics...

[prab]

Your cars are lovely, the TXE really sits well on the 25 pepperpot wheels

[Brigsy]

Raise the back up 30mm and it will look sweet. Take ten mins to do

[masi]

Mar 12, 2013 13:33:17 GMT Brigsy said:

Raise the back up 30mm and it will look sweet. Take ten mins to do

Check

[masi]

Wanted to take some night pics today, enjoy:







Heh, wanted to have a pic with trails of the lights of cars passing. The problem, no cars! After 10 mins at least one car passed so took this one. Maybe need to go over the motorway or something...

[Brigsy]

Looks 100% better cheeky turbo conversion next??

[prab]

Mar 14, 2013 12:25:53 GMT Brigsy said:

Looks 100% better cheeky turbo conversion next??

He already has a turbo, i'd go for an F7P/R Hybrid

Prab

[Brigsy]

They are slow in standard form though, you need to strap a turbo to one to make things interesting

[masi]

Well, the only issue is that I want to keep it street legal. In Finland, that means that the engine conversion must not exceed 20% of the power of the most powerfull factory made R11. This means 115hp x 1,2 = 138hp which as suggested above, pushes me to the F7P conversion (135hp or something?). Also, having already two turbos (one bare shell and one hopefully running this summer), a NA car would be nice for a change. Also, the F7P should mount quite easily into the R11. I was thinking of just doing for the fun, to mate it to JB1 gearbox, as the JC5 and JB3 are hard to find and cost a lot. Also, I have already 2 extra JB1s.

I have a mate willing to sell a F7P for aroun£75, not sure about the wiring and has been outdoor under a cover for years. Another one would sell one for around £150, with wiring etc. The only issue I have, with the SWMBO being at home, is that I can't afford even the £75 for the moment. Also, I must think my priorities, and maybe getting the turbo ready for summer is no1. I also have the TXE with the 1.7 F2N, which I would like to convert to bike carbs. Already changed a R19 16V axle on that one. Due to insurance, only one of the R11 will be used at a time. So this means an interesting and a lot of decisions to make during this summer.

[masi]

So, as the paint is 30y old and knackered, decided to give the £15 polish machine a go. On the left (looking from the front), tried a wax with small rubbing particles, on the right it's "Scratch Remover" from Farecla + wax afterwards. The wax only stayed a little orange and isn't as good as the Farecla.

Please also notice that the whole hood has been washed, so it's not dirt traces which would go with a wash, they are permanent traces.

[masi]

Here's an even better example of the paint situation, last night managed to restore the wings. Painted the plastic black.






Also bought a lip for VW Caddy from German ebay for around £10 + £20 p&p. Installed it, and at the same time moved the licence plate and painted all black with bumper spray.

[prab]

The wiring conversion to F7P is quite simple, many people have done it before

Prab

[masi]

My clubs quarter-mile day was approaching, and my cars needed some work. I didn't manage to get the turbo running, or even starting

So, next plan, take the GTL First things first, with that much power on tap, better fix the brakes:





Then, changed the gearbox oil. Hmm, seems a little mayonaise...



And ofcourse, the most important thing before a drag race, some waxing and painting

[masi]

And the day is here. This is so much fun, even with this kind of car. It's just an attiture question



And with that much power, the rear is struggling. Maybe the two kid seats and the trunk full of beer doesn't help either.







And the most important, the best run was under 20s!

Time: 19.713s Speed: 105,42km/h

[Siert]

Nice. I skipped that event as it's not so much fun in the 309 and I was trying to keep it in one piece for the autoslalom training yesterday. Are you going to Ahvenisto on 3.6?

[masi]

Working hard to get at least this one turbo MOT'd. Trailered it to a friend mechanic 50km away from me, and after a couple of days, he said the problem was in the carb. As I had provided two carbs, he combined them into and should be working now. Collected it, and then started MOT preparation.

• All lights working. Check.
• Wipers and washer... After some work, managed to get the washer jets to point towards the windscreen by raising them with some washers. Before it was soaking pedestrians and drivers behind...
• Remove 15" wheels and spacers from rear, put original 14" turbo rims. The cars papers state only 13" (as this has been converted from 1.1 to turbo previously), and in Finland you can put legally only 1" bigger rims without having to make a modification-MOT to have them stated on the paper (and they would still need to fit without spacers).
  
• Inserted a backseat from spare car and seat belts. Disconnected the 3 point harness.
  

So, off I went towards the garage to have the smoke test (exhaust fumes measured). I always do it at my local garage beforehand. If it passes, the print the results for me which are valid a week or two I think. If not, then I don't need to go to the MOT station... Everything was fine, got my piece of paper and set off.

After 3km of driving, I see the lambda go 11 -> 14 -> 15 -> 16 -> stalled. This was already the issue last year! curse word. But after 1 min of waiting and checking it started, and I continued. After a couple of kilometers, the same thing. The only difference was that it always restarted. Managed to get to the parking next to the MOT station, the car was smoking so parked it there. Seems to leak oil from the rocker cover seal, and the coolant was sprayed everywhere under the bonnet.

Left it there. Came back in the afternoon on bicycle, put some coolant in and went to the MOT station with engine cold

The guy checked the brakes, short spin, lights, washers, horn. Then inside. It started to steam again so I asked if I could turn of the car. "Sure" was the reply. "Heh heh, these French cars..." I said to him. The guy said nothing checked the car, showed the broken cv boot, the play in the front wheel bearing, the rust hole in one wheel well... So I was expecting a failure, but but, IT PASSED with advisories.

I'm so happy. Started my first turbo project in 2008 by stripping it down, and now is the first time I get to drive it really. Now I can continue to sort out the fueling (carb?) issue, and the heating issue. But at least I can now always take it for a spin to test everything...

Here it is just after the MOT...


... and here at the place where I had to leave it to cool down while getting back home on bicycle

[masi]

I decided to bite the bullet and bought (£280) a brand new Solex 32 DIS carb for the car. At least if it doesn't solve the fueling issue, then I know it is the fuel tank, as I have already changed the pump and filter.

Found this on ebay, don't seem to be very easy to find as new anymore:



As I (will) have two cars running this carb, I know it makes sense to have at least one new one, as in the next 50 years one carb will at least give up. And it seams that neither of the two I have now are fully working

[homeforsummer]

Really enjoying this thread. Big fan of old French metal and R11s are just about non-existent in the UK.