Rusty old 1968 Renault R8

Adey. · Feb 8, 2025

Some of you may know me from some of my "rustier" Renault escapades. Had this one for just over a year. a 1968 Renault R8. Ill link to a build thread as its a lot to port over. I love old Renaults and like them wearing their age. It isn't to everyone's taste but has ended up as a great usable retro, easy to work on and tinker with and it my "go-to" relaxation and wind down exercise. This little project came to me after being off the road for about 35 years.

Here are some of my previous rusty tinker toys, campus with a turbo swap, 1957 dauphine with no suspension travel and a r8 1108cc engine swap and the frog dog r12 again with it suspension revised for lows but a super smooth cruiser.

here is the current Renault R8 when I first collected it

Adey. · Feb 8, 2025

And this is how its sitting now. After many hours of wiring, rebuild work and an engine swap to a 1397cc. Next up im converting it to electronic mapable ignition using a Motorsport Electronics Nodiz Gen-X

build thread can be found HERE if you fancy a long read or if watching in the background on YouTube is easier

Can carry on posting updates here if people would like to see it?

Mr Underhill · Feb 8, 2025

I follow it on Instagram. Looks really cool.

Willo40 · Feb 8, 2025

That looks cool, me dad had a Renault 12 for a a little while when i was younger, from memory it wasn't one of the worst cars he had.

Adey. · Feb 8, 2025

Willo40 said:
That looks cool, me dad had a Renault 12 for a a little while when i was younger, from memory it wasn't one of the worst cars he had.

quite possibly one of the comfiest retro Renaults I've owned, for a small car it wafted around and the seats were super comfy, but more akin to an old broken in leather sofa than something to drive from.

Matt Cup · Feb 8, 2025

Love it. f**king awesome little machine 👍

Iain C · Feb 8, 2025

That's brilliant! Great work

Cub. · Feb 8, 2025

Sub f**king scribed.

I doff my cap to you good Sir. Looks awesome. Off to watch the video and read the thread with a drink on the sofa 👍

Adey. · Feb 8, 2025

Once the ecu stuff is wrapped ill try and get some actual fun vids done. They aren't as entertaining as the pro YouTube stuff but putting them together gives me some fun

Wonder if it'll skid..... 🤔

Adey. · Feb 8, 2025

Dyno after the initial engine swap vid

Racky · Feb 8, 2025

I love to see these rust buckets still alive. Seen a few of these last year at French Fest, Brookland museum.

Coming from the land of Dacia, my grandad had one of these under the name of Dacia 1100, and a few R12, under the name of Dacia 1300 and 1310. If I dig though stuff at his place, I am sure I can still find the 1100 'trunk bonnet'. 😆

Adey. · Feb 12, 2025

MarkCup · Feb 13, 2025

That is impossibly cool 😁

Adey. · Feb 18, 2025

Adey. · Feb 22, 2025

The replacement ecu is on and we are running very well. As its running a base map it didn't take too long to set it up again. Managed to get out and about for some testing and all is good so far after completing about 10 miles. Need to get some more done this week before mapping on the 28th

Adey. · Feb 22, 2025

Adey. · Feb 28, 2025

Cub. · Feb 28, 2025

Low car is low 😂😂

Scrooge · Feb 28, 2025

That is lovely!

Adey. · Mar 1, 2025

So a little wrap up of the day. Top line power mapping resulted in pretty much the same peak power it already had (high 60s low 70s), all the bottom and midrange stuff was where we gained everything and not just on full throttle.

Driveability is hugely improved and the engine itself seems quieter and less stressed, even though its doing more as such. As soon as you touch the throttle, even lightly, its very willing to get up go vs the old dizzy setup.

I'm calling it a win, peak power wasn't my main concern, though its always nice to have more, but I'm sure we can address that in the future..... for now, ill enjoy it 😁

Thanks for reading/watching

Adey. · Mar 7, 2025

I was asked a while back if I wanted to be in a a YouTube video, with the car constantly being worked on it wasn't always on the road and available. Things aligned last week though and Will from Resto Revival popped down and we had a little chat.

Tez. · Mar 9, 2025

Love it ! Everytime I look at picture of this I smell petrol lol

Adey. · Mar 14, 2025

Tez. said:
Love it ! Everytime I look at picture of this I smell petrol lol

I stink every time I work on it

Adey. · Mar 14, 2025

Little update on the interior of the car. Gone for an 8 ball gear knob (matches the name and the 8's on the outside), ended up drilling it to suit and then using some epoxy resin to fit it in place. Happy with that.

Also managed to bag some Alcantara covered dash trims and top. Covered by cobra seats for a friends car but he opted not to fit them. Dark grey with silver stitching.

Adey. · Mar 15, 2025

Adey. · Mar 16, 2025

Went for a little drive this morning and picked up a few bits. Potentially a chunk of it will go on the 8..... lets see where this goes

Adey. · Mar 21, 2025

Adey. · Wednesday at 8:10 PM

Adey. · Thursday at 8:27 PM

Been putting a few test miles on the car. Luckily the steel wings were easily manipulated for a little extra clearance. Car rides super smooth on the big tyres and the speedo is only 5mph out vs GPS. Little bit of scrubbing on turning but it already did that anyway.

Stoked so far, just need to sort out the tracking, and find someone who can balance the wheels. The place that did my dope wheels last time seemingly can't do them or tracking on my car anymore...

Adey. · Friday at 2:43 PM

Made it to work and back with no issues at all. Drive is lovely 😁

Someone else also decided to drive their retro to work, so I had to park up with it and get some pics

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Rusty old 1968 Renault R8

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