Practically Classics Forum

That Baines link is regarded as unsafe by my PC and I can't view it at all.

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It finally stopped raining today! Time to crack on with some sealing jobs on the Renault. I was going to squidge some more sealant into the windscreen seal but it sits in so snugly I can't, instead I ran the tidiest bead of sealant I could manage over the edges of the seal where it seems to be letting water into the car and we'll see if it does the trick. If not, I can clean it back and try and different approach. That was fairly quick to do, if a little messy, and left me lots of time to get on with the next bit.

I'd put a shout out on various fora for suggestions on where to get some door seals and after looking at the various wares on offer, it was http://www.woolies-trim.co.uk/ who came up trumps with their larger arrowhead profile foam door seals. This isn't self adhesive so sealant is required to fit. 12.5 metres were needed in total for all four doors, I bought 13 because you can only buy in 1 metre multiples and it's always best to have a little bit extra, just in case.





I worked on one door at a time, stripping off the old seal and fitting the new one. The drivers side was still sealing fairly well so I could have probably got away with not doing it, but I'd rather fit new all round. The old seals were quite tired.


Remember, these are the GOOD old seals. It's no wonder the rain was getting in really.


One thing I did learn is that a lot of the glue holding the old seals on had also failed so water was getting in not just around where the old seals were shrunken but also where they just hadn't bonded to the door frame. Not any use to anyone so in the bin they go.


To make sure I had enough seals to go around, I applied the polyurethane sealant to the door frame and then fed the new seal on from the roll I'd bought. Starting at the centre of the bottom edge so the join was in the least visible place and least likely to cause sealing problems, I worked my way around the door frame, holding the seal in place with tape. I swear I ended up with more sealant on me than on the door and this stuff only seems to clean off with thinners. Got there in the end.


Here we see a rare display of a Renault 6 "peacocking" in a vain attempt to attract a mate.


There wasn't much seal left over.


Ages ago when I jacked up the car, water came out and we couldn't figure out how it had got in to where it was coming out as there didn't seem to be an obvious point of ingress.


On rolling the back seat forward and lifting the floor mat to check for water to mop out - it rained LOADS yesterday - I noticed the blanking plate over the fuel sender was loose and quite a lot of water had got in underneath.


The boot seal is next on my jobs for replacement, look how flat this is.


It got a bit cold so I'm hoping the sealant cures okay, if not I can always reglue things. The doors are more difficult to shut now than they were and you can see the seals are squishing into the places they need to so I'm cautiously optimistic.

Good stuff, Angyl. If the screen rubbers are still reasonably tight, get yourself some CAPTAIN TOLLEY'S CREEPING CRACK CURE. Stop laughing - it works, really, really well (If you follow the instructions exactly).

P45.

If the Baines website had been flagged by a browser as "unsafe" imagine what it would have done with that!

Ah yes, I'm aware of the Captain Tolley's, that's the next option if the current attempt doesn't work.

Little bit of engine news since I got my stuff back from the engine shop and am £180 lighter.

Renault - was two muddled bearing caps. They gave everything the once over which meant taking the head off and disturbing the liners but now it's all sorted and ready to go once my new head gasket arrives. They fitted the spare liner gaskets I'd kept just in case. We should be ready to go on getting this to run pretty rapidly now as it was deemed otherwise fit and healthy.

Rover - head returned with 4 thou skim, general clean up and all ready to refit. The head gasket kit arrived for it today too so I just need to get the special sealant and a couple of oil filters so we can get that sorted.

All in all, bit of a relief to be at this point now, should make some good progress on both cars pretty soon. The only awkward bit is going to be getting the engine crane home so I can refit the Renault's engine once I've finished putting all the extra bits and bobs back on it.

Renault's new boot seal arrived today, again ordered from Woolies. The Laguna one that might have been available suddenly wasn't so I ordered a length of suitable edge seal from Woolies which arrived today. Really easy to fit you just peel the old one off and push the new one on, trimming to size where the lock latch is.


Flat old one can go in the bin.


Again, not a lot left over. I needed just shy of 4 metres to do this and I wish I'd done it ages ago.


It doesn't make that odd crunchy noise when closing the tailgate now and it feels like it seals, the test will be when it rains. Mike had been kind enough to clean up the access plate from under the back seat. I need to glue some sort of strip seal to it and clean up the car side so this makes a good seal when reattached. I'll likely drill an extra hole in it too so it can be clamped down better, there's no visible hole to screw it into the floor that matches that on the plate itself.


Next thing then was to check how the doors had actually sealed. We've had a small amount of rain and I had noticed the car wasn't fogging up as much so I was hopeful the new seals were working. Started with the best sealing door and yep, that seal is working lovely. The door made that satisfying new seal noise when the door was opened too and there wasn't signs of moisture in the door opening. Good job!


Front door on the driver's side not as good. I really should have removed the mirror before putting the seal on so I have a small section that needs resealing once I've done that. I didn't have my allen keys to hand when fitting the new seals and thought I could get away with it. The leading edge of the door where it joins the lower A pillar also hasn't stuck so I need to reglue that too. Not the end of the world, just niggles and easily remedied. The good thing is that there wasn't really any obvious water ingress on the floor this side now.


The worst door, that being rear passenger side, is still causing problems. Water is still getting past the seal here but it's not clear how. The seal is channeling the water as it should but a small amount is still getting down the back of it. I may have to just push the top of the door frame in a bit like I did on the front door this side so that it meets the bodyshell better. The doors on this car are quite flimsy things.


I did find a small hole. At first I thought it was just black paint. That will need some attention and I'm not sure how I missed it when I did the gutter removal.


I also noticed the headlining at the windscreen edge was dry now so I may have sealed that succesfully. With the exception of the rear passenger door, the cabin was dry inside so I've certainly significantly reduced the water ingress problem. I can't do anything on the Renault's engine today as I have none of my tools at home and my loan car was taken back a couple of days ago so I haven't the transport to go and get them in a timely fashion. I can pick them up on the weekend as I'll hopefully be helping Mike put the Rover back together.

Had a poke around at the door seals today to see if I can figure out why that little bit of water is getting in and found that the seals haven't glued fully in a few places. I was worried this might happen as it got very cold while I was doing the job. They're good enough for now to keep most of the weather out and certainly a vast improvement over where we were. If we get a warm-for-winter day I'll redo the bits that need it, if not I'll wait until after the MoT and do it at the unit where I have enough indoor partially heated space. That can wait.

I wanted to get further with the engine, I'm eager to get it back in the car and tried out. First job was to get the boxes of bits out and lay them out on my useful table in my bombsite of a garage. Unfortunately I have lots of bits of Renault and nowhere to really store any of it while things are on and off the car. This is slightly compounded by having my tools and the engine crane at home after Mike and I fetched them from the unit so space is something of a premium as it's quite a narrow garage and not really designed to be a working one, just a car storing one.


There's not a huge amount to go back on. My goal before the head gasket arrives is to get the sump and gearbox attached to the engine. I can't set the timing or put the other bits on until I've fitted the new headgasket.


Got the sump on and the engine stood up again. The crank turns easily now, you can do it by hand without tools. Didn't get the gearbox on, the engine isn't really stable enough to do it on my own so Mike and I will likely have a crack at that tomorrow. Valve cover plonked on just to keep anything from falling into the top.


Eagle eyed viewers may notice one of the studs for the rocker assembly and rocker cover are missing in the above picture. The other thing that's gone walkabout are the bolts and special washers for the timing chain cover. These will no doubt be in the same box together, all of the Renault engine is in the garage, it's just that my garage is a bit of a mess at the moment, and some of the boxes of bits are under other bits of Renault. Progress is progress though, even if it's only a tiny little bit.

It's pretty annoying that I have to take the car apart to put it together again. Mike lent me a hand today getting the front end undone and then it rained and meant we couldn't finish the job. I need to remove the bumper to get the face and bonnet off so the weather meant I had to leave the car looking like this.


On the plus side, I can now see that the car is definitely leaking a lot less. The new boot seal appears to be working to keep a lot of water out, I just need to redo the side windows properly as that is now the main point of ingress at the back. The weather has been quite annoying today, just showers on and off so I called it quits. I hate working in the rain.


The last thing Mike helped with was getting the gearbox located onto the engine. We've got it held on with two nuts for now. The stud for the rocker bar turned up... in the rocker bar. I still can't find the bolts and washers for the timing chain cover which is annoying me as I've got everything else and I'm not sure how they've got misplaced given that all the components were kept together.

These boxes no longer have bits of engine in them. That's good.


The boot is staying dry enough for me to keep what few spares I do have in it so the garage isn't so cluttered. This is also good.


My table of nuts and bolts and such is emptying. Another good thing.


The engine is looking like an engine properly, which is really the best thing.


Today, I got lots of things back on the engine. The sump bolts are all tightened up, the gearbox is bolted on properly, the engine-to-gearbox braces are done up and the bellhousing guard thing is bolted on. Alternator was taken off when I removed the head to fit the new gasket, then refitted once the head was torqued down as per the instructions in the workshop manual. While the alternator was off I put the spark plugs in the holes more so I don't misplace them than anything at this stage. The rocker bar was bolted on except for the outer two bolts which require a 11mm spanner which I don't have at home. Likewise, I haven't set the distributor properly as that also needs an 11mm spanner. The straightened pushrods were put back in their holes and the camshaft pulley bolted back on.

There's not a huge amount to do:
- fit timing chain tensioner
- fit timing chain
- set timing, both static and ignition
- fit timing chain cover
- bolt down rocker bar
- set tappet/rocker clearances
- fit belts
- fit any hoses with new jubilees that are going to be difficult to do with the engine fitted, like the fuel pump hoses.

Once that's all done I can plonk it back in the engine bay after the bumper and whatnot has been removed. Nearly there, I'm most likely to be held up by the short daylight hours as I need Mike to be a second pair of hands when it comes to removing bodywork and fitting the engine and he's only available in the evenings and weekends.

Quite anxious about the engine going in and firing it up. I'm fully expecting it to all go horribly wrong somehow and have to come out again at which point I may just lose the will with this car. We shall see what happens.

With the engine hopefully timed correctly now there was nothing more to do than get things buttoned up. The weather has been changeable today so I got on with what I could before work while I had the chance. I figured out how to dismantle the front end on my own without removing the bumper or having bits of the car cartwheel down the drive, which was something. The key thing was pulling the face off, which was already unbolted just snagging on things because the weight of the bonnet was holding it when I tried to remove it. Bonnet off and it was much easier to do, easier to store the two pieces separately too.


Then the fun task of putting the engine back together. First off I had to slacken the bolts on the sump (which was a chore) so that I could get the rubber seal on the timing chain cover to sit in properly. Bolt the cover up nice and tight and then retighten the sump (which was a chore again) and that was this end good to go.


Then I could do battle with the belts which is also a chore. For the cam pulley to water pump belt you need to undo the cam pulley to jiggle the belt on and then tighten it all up again. Having the tensioner now working did at least make putting tension on the belt easier. Alternator belt was much easier as that's just a case of undoing the bolt holding the alternator so you can lift it, put the belt on and then effectively let the weight of the alternator tension the belt before tightening the bolt up again. While I was working on this side I got jubilees on both of the fuel pump hoses and tightened up the jubilee for the radiator hose. All the other hoses are easy to get to with the engine in the car. I also put the spark plugs back in and put the rocker cover on properly.


With all that done, the only thing left to do before fitting the engine back in the car is to remove the steering rack. It was too dark to see what I was doing and throwing it down so I'll do that bit tomorrow which is at least straight forward. Plonked the bonnet on and called it a day.

My poor little blue trolley, it was never designed to cope with my bullshit.


It gained that war wound gallantly transporting the Renault's engine and gearbox to the engine bay so it could be battled into position. A late start and short days meant I didn't get as far as some and had to press on after darkness had fallen. Mike helped fight the last few bolts and such into place and Nugget the Corsa illuminated the scene.


It is in. Finally. There's one stubborn balljoint nut that won't be sensible *spinspinspin* and tbh, it was getting difficult to see what I was doing. Engine mounts and gearbox mounts need tightening up and the various ancillaries plumbing in so a test run can be attempted. All of these are jobs for tomorrow if the weather continues to be agreeable.

It's got to get easier from here, right? It's just got to.