1988 Red R21 Turbo

DaveL485 · Jan 4, 2023

Ive been away from the garage for a while, Skiing in France and Christmas getting in the way (hard life eh!) but got back on it this weekend just gone.

Got the front brakes back together, struggling to find new front discs at the moment so put on a set of used I had on the shelf for now. Rebuilt calipers with new pistons and a new fitting kit, new pads and new braided lines.

The times ive run it up to temp I noticed a bit of steam coming out the heater inlet, when I turned the blower motor on it blew steam out the heater vents. I was hoping it was just some residual damp in the matrix but seeing as its been dry stored for almost 8 years, I knew deep down what was coming.

Heater box out, and yet another parts problem in that I can't get a new matrix for RHD any more! Supply seems to have dried up, so I had to improvise and bought a LHD one. The core is the same, so I set about swapping the top end tanks over. Might seem a faff but the new matrix was £30 and recoring the old one was >£100.

Yeah, definitely a leaky matrix. Yuk!

DaveL485 · Jan 4, 2023

End tank swap.

I sank the end tank in on some sealant after a good clean, put it in a furniture clamp and tapped the tabs back in gently.

I sat that to dry off and went and did the thing in the next post, then once that was done came back to this and dropped it in the heater box

DaveL485 · Jan 4, 2023

One of the plastic tabs that holds the control cables in to the control arms of the heater panel was broken, seriously, f**k these things they suck. Can't get em new any more it seems (surprise surprise). I employed an M5 bolt to secure the cable end in.

View attachment 1626215

DaveL485 · Jan 4, 2023

When I got the brakes back together I filled the res up with fluid and bled some through the system, then bled up the clutch. I go no pedal at all, great! Bled the port on the master, got some yukky fluid through, still no pedal. Bled from the slave again, STILL no pedal.
Another dreaded problem from cars that have sat I prodded the clutch pedal with disdain, trying to feel the piston in the master returning, which it wasnt. So the piston in the master was stuck at the bottom of its sweep. BRILLIANT. While the dash was out, it makes accessing the pedal box easier so I dropped the brake master down a bit, and removed the clutch master.

Popped the front end off and...urgh.

Long story short, big fight and lots of swears later the piston is out of the cylinder, the bore is cleaned up and a refurb seal kit is fitted to the piston. Cylinder reassembled, refitted, bled it up and now I have a fully working clutch pedal...HURRAH. It only took a new clutch kit, a new fork, and a rebuild on both the master and slave cylinders (rolling my eyes as I type). I didnt take any more pics of it for some reason,

So, now, I am getting closer to having it on its wheels. The brakes work but are a bit spongy, so I need to get a proper bleed cycle done next to firm the pedal up. Got all the interior back together as well, and ran the car up to temperature again - nice warm heater and no leaks

DaveL485 · Jan 31, 2023

Still plugging away, was flaming cold this weekend and heater ran out of gas so I didnt stop for many pics. However, I did get the exhaust completed, welding in a gasketed flange join for the back cos a really hate sleeve joints.

new downpipe gasket / old downpipe gasket

Got a bit frustrated with the front end of the car so decided to see how the (brand new!) bumper and splitters would fit up. Well, it would seem!

DaveL485 · Jan 31, 2023

I tarted up the fog surrounds as well, and bolted them in. Had to make some new screws for the fogs also, pain in the arse but the old ones were yukky and rusty.

DaveL485 · Jan 31, 2023

Oh, I also passed my CBT yesterday

Woot!

DaveL485 · Mar 28, 2023

Back once again (with the renegade master?)

Sourced some new front discs & fitted them, wasnt happy with used ones. Then made & soldered in some little patch looms for the headlights, for some reason the blocks that adapt in to the headlight bulb connector to run the main cells were missing.

After that I made another little loom to replace the missing one from the front indicator main harness to the front indicator lens

I got the front arch liners in place and fitted up the front wings. I had to take the whole damn front drivers door off to adjust the hangers to stop the door trim catching the wing as it opened! Pain in the arse but got there eventually. Then headlights, nosecone and bumper (for which I had to take the intercooler and airbox out grumble grumble), though the nose will come back off for fan & fog wiring and some new trim around the headlights if I can find the right profile. However, its looking much more like a car!

Donny_Dog · Mar 29, 2023

It's a great read is this.
Cracking work also

DaveL485 · Apr 3, 2023

Donny_Dog said:
It's a great read is this.
Cracking work also

Doing my best! Should be a fairly nice motor when done and if garaged, which I hope it will for the money ill be asking, should be a good solid classic for many years to come with only routine maintenance.

DaveL485 · Apr 11, 2023

Refitted the rubber trim on the nosecone - if you dont use double sided tape to seat it it never looks right even with the plugs in place.

Found some trim to replace the headlight rubber seal, its not an exact match but I think it'll work. Old ones are all bubbly and horrible.

MUCH better, also got some new trim for the wing leading edges.

Finished off with some brand new side repeaters on the wings, wink wink!

DaveL485 · May 15, 2023

Couple of undercarraige shots before I dropped it off the stands

Oooo shiny heatshield sir?

And we're out! Bloody handbrake doesnt work which is annoying but its moving under its own steam, which I count as excellent.

16V F7R · May 15, 2023

Great work Dave. It must have felt so good firing it up and driving out of the garage, really enjoy reading the updates and the efforts you’ve gone to. Seriously rare, cool turbo Renault you’ve saved there.😎

DaveL485 · May 18, 2023

16V F7R said:
Great work Dave. It must have felt so good firing it up and driving out of the garage, really enjoy reading the updates and the efforts you’ve gone to. Seriously rare, cool turbo Renault you’ve saved there.😎

Yes mate it did, thanks! Pleased its at least drivable to make garage logistics easier. Also nice to be working on something I might make a few quid on when done! (assuming I can bring myself to sell it!)

16V F7R · May 18, 2023

Don’t sell it if you don’t have to. It will go up in value as all petrol cars become museum pieces in the future. It could not be in safer hands in your ownership 👍

DaveL485 · Oct 18, 2023

Dragged this thing out of the garage so I could get moving on it again, its been a while...too long! I've got a fair bit of cashflow tied up in it now so I need to get it done and gone.

Managed to get the sideskirts sorted, the clips aren't available any more but I found some that were close. I had to drill the holes in the sill out a little tiny bit, protect the holes, knock the clips in, and then mod the brackets on the sideskirts to make them a little bit wider - once that was done and they were painted too it all slotted into place! Even better the new style clips are plentiful and readily available on eBay.

DaveL485 · Oct 18, 2023

Oh yes, I also wired the fog lights in, at last. Fan loom next.

DaveL485 · Jan 15, 2024

Fitted the new pump & filter, drained the tank of old fuel while I was there.

View attachment 216190

Of course the bracket studs snapped so I had to drill those out, and replaced some fuel pipe.

DaveL485 · Apr 3, 2024

Despite the entire handbrake system being new and the calipers rebuilt as you saw earlier in the thread, the handbrake wasnt working. I traced the issue to the OSR caliper, the lever was just moving and not binding the brake on. Tried to fiddle with it in place but ended up taking the whole thing off and stripped the caliper down...again.

Couldnt find anything wrong, so reassembled and refitted and this time set the piston as close as I could to the pad/disc (no free play). Then put the handbrake on first, and then bled and hit the foot brake. This worked, and the handbrake is now sweet

Then I fitted the new fan switch and made a whole new fan loom with a beefy fuse and 80amp relay, the terminals are massive! I used the 80 as its one relay for both fans.

Tucked the wiring away

DaveL485 · Apr 3, 2024

Decided to refit the brake cooling ducts and trim, this meant dealing with the rusty crap that was stuck in place

And also remaking the brackets which had done a fairly good job of disintigrating, I did triangulate the corners to reinforce, pics later when I paint them.

Refitted with new spire clips - these will have to come off again though as I spotted a few crusty bits under the wheel arch I want to deal with before final fitting.

This is the vent exit into the wheel arch, you can just see on the back left of the pic a scoop shaped deflector panel on the wishbone that guides the air from the duct into the wheel dish to cool the brakes a bit.

And the vents from the front bumper

Not many cars have these left on, the fittings get mashed when they sieze up and people just didnt bother refitting. Hopefully with the stainless fastners and living in a garage from now on, this wont be a problem going forward!

DaveL485 · Apr 3, 2024

With the fan loom and fog light loom done I refitted the nosecone and bonnet, again stainless fastners and new spire clips everywhere.

DaveL485 · Apr 22, 2024

Gravitex on the inner arches - repaired areas looking nice now. NS

OS

Painted up the topmount retainers, topmounts etc, reassembled with new bolts and bearings

And refitted, along with all the brake vents and stuff, then wheels. Ready to come off the jacks now, possibly for a short test drive!

DaveL485 · Apr 22, 2024

Oh, looks like I missed the inner arch repairs, so the above wont make much sense! This is what I discovered under the inner front arches, behind a fairly poor attempt at covering it with underseal lol

NS

Grinder action

Templated

Replacement cut

Welded in and primed

And the OS

DaveL485 · Apr 22, 2024

And stripping the struts down, cleaning and treating

Quick clean and sand blast

Treated, then painted as per the above posts

DaveL485 · Aug 21, 2024

Right, now where were we. Throttle linkage fell off (and on investigation fell apart)

So had to make a new one

Then after that I got the horn sorted, the wash/wipe and washer jets working properly (after driving to frigging Manchester to get a spare washer jet!) and then I did a short test drive up the street. Seemed OK but boost was very slow to come in and also found a water leak from the bottom hose.

SO

Fixed the water leak and tightened the actuator up, went for a slightly longer test drive. Engine is really nice and picking up boost as it should now.

BUT

I'm not very happy with the gearbox, it crunches into third and theres a funny whine on decel in 2nd. So now thats going to have to come out for a rebuild!

f***s sake.

DaveL485 · Sep 2, 2024

DaveL485 said:
f***s sake.

Out it comes.

Messenger_creation_2E737612-8E6C-44AF-9F05-C8154D80A80D.jpg

DaveL485 · Nov 1, 2024

Box is back, turns out there was a whole load of issues inside with mismatched gearsets - whoever rebuilt it didnt really do it very well!

Now reassembled with a lower final drive and a longer 5th gear from a R25V6 Turbo

Managed to get it in place and bolted in on the engine and box mounts, hoping to have it all reassembled this weekend.

DaveL485 · Nov 4, 2024

Got it all bolted back together at the weekend, filled with oil, fired it up while on ramps to check it was OK.

No second gear.

Absolutely fuming.

Optimista · Wednesday at 6:22 PM

Wow, nice!
Really fond of this car, remember as a child, guys from town next to mine had it, ph1 white turbo.. Man it looked so mean.
Today these are ultra rare in Croatia, dont remember if I ever saw a Turbo model since my childhood..
Great to see them saved

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1988 Red R21 Turbo

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