I love this thread for how dainty all the pieces are. Good stuff.
I love this thread for how dainty all the pieces are. Good stuff.
The turbo is almost comically small and the valve train looks like it's made out of wire. I was wondering what I will do with the spare engine and if I want to try to make that engine rev higher. I think the redline is around 5,500 rpm at the moment. I might have to find some ARP rod bolts.
Funny story about mirrors and garages... I actually had to shave the passenger mirror and put a factory sport (smaller) mirror on the drivers side of my Gmc to get it in my 1 car garage. I know your pain!
With a turbo you might not need real high RPM, but forged pistons might be a good idea. Although some turbo pressure could be OK with the stock pistons and stock compression ratio.
Didn't Lotus use Renault engines, in some of there cars? Wonder if there are some Lotus parts that could be used.
So much GRM win in this thread!
Ive never seen one of these cars, but I love it. I’ll be following this build for sure.
That's neat. I doubt I could even fit in it, but I still think it's really cool.
It's not nearly as tight inside as you would think. I'm 6'1", 180lbs and I fit just fine with head room to spare. But, I've only made engine noises and haven't driven it or any R8. So who knows how a trip to Door County or to Road America will be in it. lol.
Thanks for the interest guys!
In reply to RossD : I'm 6'6" and 175... there's a good reason I drive truck shaped objects. Still, it's an incredibly neat little car; I found myself pondering a VW aircooled swap into something like that. Could be lots of fun!
The car is water cooled, but I pulled the bulkhead and radiator out for more access to the engine since they werent even bolted in when I bought it. Since it is water cooled it really opens up a ton of cool swap ideas from a 1.0 ecoboost, 3.4 V8 SHO, or Zetec SVT. But for now I am planning stock engine, while adding EFI and a turbo.
I had the car unloaded in the garage before I remembered to sit in it for the first time. Could you imagine if I didnt fit!
I pulled bits and pieces off of the spare engine. Then I took the head off. The head bolts were already loose, so I am sure not everything that you are seeing happened when it was in service.
Number 1 cylinder is the far left in both photos.
I am not sure if I have any reason to take it further apart, but I kind of want to...
Some more inspiration for this build: the latest Petrolicious video, of an R8 Gordini.
In reply to stuart in mn :
Thanks for that!
Is this block sleeved?
In reply to Jerry From LA :
The cylinders liners are removable if thats what you are asking, not a repair job.
In reply to DeadSkunk :
Not to me at the moment, at least not for $250 in Dayton. The engine in the car is in pretty good shape and I am not sure if the Renault drivetrain will always be a part of the future for this car.
Not to be difficultt...
No 1 cylinder is at the flywheel end, french motors :)
Wet sleeve motor rebuild is a piston and liner kit, although a quick hone, liner seals and a head gasket usually did the trick
In reply to acheron64 :
I bet you're right since I didn't actually take note of the real number scheme. I was more trying to state they were the same cylinders from left to right.
I missed the beginning of this thread during my sabbatical from the forums, apparently. I'm along for the ride, especially after seeing turbo and megasquirt! I think it could be quite entertaining to show up at an autocross and be able to hand crank the engine over. (I'm assuming that's what the valence hole and crankshaft hook are for on the first page of the thread).
In reply to gearheadE30 :
I never thought about hand cranking it in front of a public crowd.
LOL.
RossD said:In reply to Jerry From LA :
The cylinders liners are removable if thats what you are asking, not a repair job.
That's what I'm asking.
Always amused me that Renault and Peugeot of that era still had crank handles. Was always a good laugh to crank start peugeot 403's just had to be careful not to break your wrist.
Where renault 16's ever available in the states ?
I'm not sure if R16 were here in the states. I relatively new to French Autos other than eyeing other rear engined Renaults on craigslist from time to time.
This build is essentially stalled due to life, and I keep getting a bit of interest so I figured I should provide a bit of an update. Between my and my wife's continuing education, a family Amtrak trip, and kiddos that won't sleep through the night, I just haven't found the time to do much. I'm also have a bit of design paralysis at the moment.
But the other piece of this puzzle is m garage. It's new to me since March and I've barely have any organization in place. Luckily my parents just remodeled their kitchen so I have some sweet '90s red oak cabinets piled in my garage. I also have a nice gas fire place that needs to be installed. Hopefully a buddy will come by on Sunday to help shuffle everything around and start to hang cabinets and maybe begin the install on the fireplace. The fireplace is a necessity because my wife has her work truck that can't freeze that lives in the garage.
Hey Ross,
Heads up, there is a 1969 Renault 10 listed in inventory at the Mason Michigan 'You pull it and save' (pick and pull). Location US127 and Cedar road in Mason
Cool project. You can tell people you have a turbo charged R8 and this is not at all what they will picture. 
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