Rusty old 1968 Renault R8

Had a lovely drive out to Goodwood this weekend for the Retro Rides Weekender. The car was displayed in the "French Connection" area along with some other lovely machinery. The show was great and defo one of the best in the year for me.

The car was nearly faultless on its 300mile round trip. Clocking around 45 to 47mpg which was nice. Cruised lovely though I really do need to sort the wheels, I think years of skinny tyres and no give in the suspension has defo buckled a few. Cruising speed has a decent wobble, though being so light resting a hand on the wheel steadies it. Also my tracking.... yeah the car pulls left lol.

Any way we drove down on Friday night to an airbnb 30 min from Goodwood. Stopped for a bite to eat at the local Caffeine and Machine on the way there too. Up and out by 8.30 the following morning. Queue in was a bit long but I got the 360 cam out for a laugh.

What a great venue, never been to Goodwood track before (though I've been to the hill climb down the road) properly posh setting with and air field attached. Really didn't manage to get many pics of the 8 but have been tagged in a few so have copied them in. Absolutely loved it though and will defo return in the future, either for a longer stop over or in the quicker car..... 3.5/4ish hours each way is a chore






*current "server error" so cant upload pics

Some of the high res photos from RRW are coming through. They make it look better than real life!

Since the show (though I hoped it would be here before hand) I've added a new mascot, Its supposed to be a play on "Mr Horsepower" let me introduce you to Monsieur Cheval Vapeur

With the Clio being mildly annoying I've not actually gotten any further with the turbo build for this, the 8 being used a sthe reliable daily. With the ehat we've had it has been like driving a green house but still plenty of smiles and miles.

One of the blokes from work lad asked if I'd give him a lift to prom in it. Odd choice but I agreed, he seemingly loved rocking up in the old rust bucket 😁 someone turned up in a full blown tractor so maybe odd ball is the new thing 🤷

Poor cars been sat since the 27th of last month, I may go make sure it still starts shortly. Anyway I was nudged to say there was a small pic of it in the Retro Rides write up in copacetic magazine, had to order a copy just for that.

can be found here, its a very well put together bit of reading actually, worth a look https://copaceticmagazine.co.uk/

I'm currently recovering from a large parastomal hernia repair, it hasn't gone as well as it should but I'm still on the mend, just slower than expected. On the run up to having the op I decided it would be a good time to get some repair work done to the 8. Now underneath it isn't the worst but equally it isn't the best. From what I can tell the sills are actually pretty good but the floor pan where it has had water sat has gone through in a few places. Luckily for me, Jim, who made the turbo manifold for this is a very good with a welder. He has collected the car and taken it away to cut out and fabricate repair panels. The main ones I needed are NLA. Not looking for a factory fresh finish, its never going to be a pristine car in my ownership but solid safe and useable is what I want. Having it done now has stopped me from tinkering, much to the relief of my wife, forcing me into not doing anything whilst I heal, but this has left me with more time to shop.

I ended up ordering indicator lenses for the front and side of the car, they are repros but look very fresh, I've also ordered some 180mm bowls from a mini/landrover, shiny rings and managed to find some flat lenses to suit. This should give the me "gordini" look headlights at a fraction of the cost of actual gordini units, and I'm not particularly fond of the convex lenses they have anyway. Looking forward to getting it back in a few weeks to get cracking again. Getting the structural work done will hit the wallet and may put the turbo conversion on the back burner for a little while....

Haven't updated this much as I've had a shite recovery with further complications but have had the odd picture update

Lots of metal removed, more that could be seen but expected, and some replacement panels made up

Jim's been giving me regular updates, I was passing today so popped in to drop some parts off and take a look at the progress. All being well I may get it back by the end of the week, Excited and very pleased with the work on the rusty 8, should give it a few more years of life for sure

So after nearly 8 weeks away its back on the driveway. I've not started refitting the interior yet but have cracked on with the headlights and indicators. I did originally put yellow tint on the new larger units but decided to remove them as I did a curse word job at the edges. Cars looking boggley now as its had small headlights, Defo like the new larger units though. The new headlights and indicators giving it a fresher look in contrast to the rest of the body work. Defo needs a good clean though, the outside is properly dirty.

I didn't realise how faded the paint work was, it has been way too long since I've cleaned it. Started with a rinse off at the local car wash then busted out the polisher. Comes up well considering the age, need to get something on there to try and keep it looking like that for longer, any suggestions or tips?

wash at the local garage as I couldn't be arsed to get the pressure washer and the rest of the kit out and setup



Started on the boot lid then worked my way around



then whipped off the roundels and carried on with the rest of it.



inside is full of dust still and all the glass needs a going over so i will try and get that done tomorrow

Threw some wax on today just to assist for a while, it'll do nothing much else left to do other than drive it for now. Then look to finally start the turbo engine build, all being well by the end of this month

I'm not sure what's come over me, I couldn't bring myself to start ripping the engine back out...

Tough call.

I’d hold fire. Use it until your next Op, then use the 6-8 weeks to really think about.

If you’re having doubts, always best to pause imo.

But I’m sure someone will be along in a minute, loudly declaring you should stop being pathetic and send it 😂😂

After some chatting to sparkie ref N/A tuning the 1397 I contacted piper cams and asked for a custom grind camshaft. A little back and forth and they have one on grind for me So off with the head and I whipped out the old cam ready for the new one. Cam is a 288 degree with a shave over 10.5mm of lift on both the inlet and exhaust. Along with that I've ordered uprated springs, a vernier pully and the rocker assembly from a gt turbo. The campus engine doesn't have end supports on the rockers, so have added this due to the increased load there will be with the stiffer springs and higher lift (plus revs)



I popped a message to another mate of mine as I needed to remove a chunk of material from the head to bump the compression ratio, Saturday afternoon was spent at his workshop chopping it off on the bridgeport I need to clean up the other mating faces next and reassemble it when parts arrive, I could go nuts still and add in headwork and bigger valves but the whole point of this is to add a little more spice without going fully nuts, or I would just end up in the same position I would with doing a turbo build.

And I have found my new favourite job on an 8..... fuel tank removal. Im sure the Haynes manual told me I need to drop the axle and engine only 2 inches. Yeah I needed alot more than that and I have no head on the block. With some assistance from the wife and kids the fuel tank has now been removed. I can confirm my araldite/Guinness can/duct tape fix on the tank has held firm and shows no sign of letting go. Should have just left the thing in there 😂😅😭

Bags of space now

Super quick service from the guys/girls at piper. Turned up this afternoon so spent some time this evening getting it bob on. Ive left the timing cover off for now. Next up will fitting the valve springs, followed by a test fit of the head, checking for piston to valve contact and making sure the springs dont go coil bound. All being well ive not messed it up, it only needed slight adjustment on the pulley 🤞🏻