Phase 1 Renault 9 Turbo

[alistairolsen]

It's not, they are usually all the same way around. Thats why it seems odd to me.


No, I was measuring with a micrometer


Absolutely 100% it's the original part

Small end is fine, checked that.

Checked that too, it's normal. It's defo the big end as it turns fine when the big end is finger tight and only goes stiff when I torque it.

It was a running engine when I stripped it, and I set it to TDC to disassemble and I f it was this stiff i'm sure I would have noticed it.

Thanks for the input though. It HAS to be something to do with the rod/cap. I guess i'll have to pull it out again and take it to a machine shop to check the big end for roundness in case it was bent, damaged or something when the pistons were fitted.

I guess then as @Rob G suggests, what stops you turning the whole rod?

Otherwise I'd be inclined to agree, if the crank is known to be good then the next thing would be measuring the inside of the rod for roundness.

Nothings ever easy and it sounds like you've got a good handle on it

 

[DaveL485]

It's not that the little end has been installed 180deg out is it? Been a long time since I've built an engine, but could you try rotating the piston 180deg in the cylinder so that the big end cap is aligned the same as all the other 4?

The big end cap & rod have locators for tabs on the bearing shells. These tabs must be on the same side/faced together.

If I keep all the tabs on the same side of the engine then this one cap faces the other way up to the rest. If I put it so the cap orients the same as the rest, the side with the tabs will be on the other side of the crank as you look at it compared to the rest. I compared the odd one with a normal one and they are mirror imaged in setup - it seems my one odd rod/cap has had the tabs ground in differently.

It shouldnt matter though, the bearing shouldnt be tight and it was fine when I took it apart. I even went over my disassembly pics and unfortunately I dont have anything detailed enough to show the big end caps before I took it apart.

 

[DaveL485]

I guess then as @Rob G suggests, what stops you turning the whole rod?

Otherwise I'd be inclined to agree, if the crank is known to be good then the next thing would be measuring the inside of the rod for roundness.

Nothings ever easy and it sounds like you've got a good handle on it

I've taken ID measurements with a mic, it's round as far as I can tell to the nearest 0.1mm, I think I need someone with more accurate kit to have a look at it...

 

[DaveL485]

I took it apart again, cleaned everything AGAIN and examined the shells closely - what I had neglected to do before it seems was look closely at the back of the shell and I found a splodge of something on the back of one of the shells. Maybe a squshed bit of oily cardboard or something? I dunno but it needed a bit of effort to get it off, it wouldnt just wipe off which I guess is why it didnt come off when I wiped the shell off and dipped it in oil to assemble.
Once I cleaned that up I reassembled it and it now moves pretty freely, enough so to make me talk myself into leaving it as-is. So...back on with the oil pump, dipstick tube and sump.

Then I chucked the cam in and the timing gear, new chain & tensioner thanks to Mike @ GT Turbo spares.

Timing cover on and torqued up, then fitted the 36-1 trigger wheel for the EFI conversion that Brigsy sorted me out with although now I am wondering if it'd be easier to just get the same flywheel he used on the extra while this is apart and poach his trigger wheel settings LOL

Sump also now refitted, left it for the goop to go off a bit.

 

[DaveL485]

Gearbox is back from it's strip and rebuild. All new bearings and seals, tarted up, looking sweet! My end casing was rusted through, luckily I had a spare R19TD box with a good one so that got pinched

 

[DaveL485]

Welded the belt pulley to the keyed crank drive

Set it to TDC, aligned the 36-1 at 90° after TDC and welded that on too. Not very good welds, don't think I had the power high enough. Might redo it at some point!

Cleaned up the flywheel, and dug out the clutch I bought for it - I purchased this before my daughter was born as it was just starting to slip under load when my (now-ex) Mrs stopped driving it when she was pregnant. Daughter is 16 this year

Then I cleaned up the back housing of the water pump, it looked fiddly so I got my sand blaster out - turned out OK! It looked like this before

And after ten minutes of sand blasting

Bolted that together with the new pump and new bolts after chasing the threads out with an M6 tap.

 

[DaveL485]

Head resurfaced and valves lapped in

Bunged it on along with the bucket tappets, pushrods and rocker shaft, took me a few mins of puzzlement to figure out why the rocker shaft wouldnt go on but there is a cutout on the shaft that sits on the side of the studs/bolts. Didn't realise that (well, I must have known as I did loads of these back in the day, i'd just forgotten!) but anyway once the shaft was correctly rotated it slipped on easy and now the engine turns and the valves actuate like they should.

Left it there as time was cracking on and it was time for a chilled beverage and some F1

 

[DaveL485]

Fitted a temp sensor in the head end plate, stuck the clutch and flywheel on...

Removed a broken exhaust stud i'd forgot about

Found the old exhaust manifold wont fit with the new EFI inlet, so have sourced an R5 GTT one to use with it. They're different to the early R9 ones.

Bunged the gearbox on instead

Then assembled my yummy new headlights and backplates. I don't need them yet but I just wanted to Took me literally years to source all the components for the front end!

Now I got to get that lump down off the bench somehow lol

 

[DaveL485]

Exhaust manifold sorted and bolted up thanks to sparkie and Clarkey for helping out with that!

I managed to get the lump off the bench, bolted a few more things back on and chucked it on the subframe. Needs a new gearbox mount so thats ordered along with steering rack gaiters, then some fuel hose and a new fuel pump & filter too.

Needs a gearbox mount, forgot about this, found one online and ordered it, will give the bracket a clean up too, must have put it aside due to the broken mount and it didnt go to the blasters.

Next step is to get the inside of the tank coated then I can bolt that on and run some fuel lines, once thats on I should be able to put the rear axle back on too.

 

[DaveL485]

Greased up the rack, chucked new boots and balljoints on. Ready to reattach to the subframe.

 

[DaveL485]

Turned my attention to the fuel tank - these are old skool metal tanks not polymer so although I protected the outside I thought it'd be wise to do the inside too. Got some Fertan 2 part stuff.

Before

Made up a stirrer for my cordless, as I couldnt be arsed with the extended stirring out of some scrap steel

Basically you mix it up, lob it in and shake it around until it's fully coated, then drain the excess. I set up a heat gun to circulate hot air which dried it pretty fast. Quite pleased with the coat around the inside

 

[DaveL485]

New gearbox mount arrived so took the leg off and cleaned it up. It was missed from blasting for some reason.

Took the others off too and lobbed some paint around

Checked the new wishbones & bolts fit, wishbones complete with bushes and balljoints for under forty quid off Autodoc for both - ridiculous.

Looked at starting the fuel system & tank install, cleaned up the filler neck and found this on the breather

Iv'e replaced it with straight copper pipe which is just the right size, trimmed the pipe ends, I think I can stretch the inch or so of pipe I have lost out of the routing.

Started making a rubber mounted bracket for the new fuel pump, the old one was ziptied to the chassis so the bracketry has disintegrated in years past. The M6 captives still seem OK though. These rubber bushed things used to hold the ECU in the 21, so I repurposed them.

This will be lined with rubber sheet too

Cleaned up and painted the brake master while I had the paint stuff out, this can be refitted after a couple of coats of black. I did find a new one but he wanted too much money for it, so i'll stick with the original

 

[DaveL485]

Quiet lately! Been tinkering elsewhere and busy with other stuff (Sold the 250, bought a 220, Changed the engine on a 0.9 TCe Mk4, Fixed a Mk3 Clio 1.6 Initiale, finished a 21 Turbo engine rebuild, sold another MK4 Clio 1.2 and and and...)

Still, I threw some seam sealer around



Messed about with the painted brake servo and new master



And welded up some of the engine bay

 

[DomP182]

I've Ben waiting for an update! Cracking job as ever

 

[DaveL485]

I've Ben waiting for an update! Cracking job as ever

I know I want to get it back together, but i've just taken on too much other stuff. My own fault. Hope to see some decent progress soon, especially over the xmas break. I wanted it running this year but I might not quite make it.

 

[DaveL485]

Fuel tank connected and fitted, some fuel pipes in, just need to make a bracket of some sort for the fuel filter

 

[DaveL485]

This weekend I finished off some stuff on a mates 21, polybushed the wishbones on my XC90 and found myself with time to spare...so I welded up the front crossmember where it had perforated and started cleaning it up a bit.

Decided with the awkward shaping I might try blasting it with my sandblast gun so i got a 22kg tub of 60 grit - but I want to get it out of the garage doors to do that so I started looking at putting some suspension on it. Took the old legs apart, I already have new shocks and lowering springs so I ordered new topmounts and then cleaned up the bits I am going to re-use.

 

[DaveL485]

As I couldnt rebuild the legs now, I looked around for something else to fiddle with and found the siezed handbrake pivot that I left to soak in a tub of WD40 months ago. The WD had turned to jelly but had freed it up enough to get it apart and clean it up - so I did.

Greased and refitted.

 

[DaveL485]

New parts goodness

Bearing is below the spring on the 9/11

This will be a laugh to compress down!

 

[DaveL485]

Now we're cookin' on gas

Back on stands

Cleaned up the rear beam bolts a bit

Dragged this out, you may remember from earlier in the thread!

Couple of hours later...

This is why the bolts were manky, exposed to the elements

Spent some time trying to get the torsion bars about right, I took about 40mm off the OE spec - slam it in the weeds!

And....back on its wheels!

I will need to take the front subframe off again, but I wanted it on its wheels so I can roll it outside to do some sand blasting on the engine bay - hope that will allow me to prep and paint it now most of the welding is done. I also want to coat the subframe and wishbones in gravitex.

 

[timmy c]

wow really starting to take shape now! Well done and keep up the good work!

 

[DaveL485]

Tried remounting the back doors as Steve did with the 11, but it was a pain in the arse. I drilled the hinges out, but getting them to line up is a fecking nightmare game. I think the pillar doesnt sit in exactly the same place after the sill change.

Looks OK when closed but only as it's hooked up on the striker plate and doesnt close smoothly. Got pissed off in the end and sacked it off. And these are not the original doors, they were rotten and I took these off a povvo spec 9 I bought for a nifty with a blown HG in about 2004. Don't like trying to bend the hinges so the door fits, it feels horrible.

 

[williams-ant]

Brilliant project! Top work

 

[Krivak88]

Good job!

 

[16V F7R]

This is the kind of thing that happens to me when I tackle a job. I create another one and wonder why I attempted it in the first place! Too much thread reading and then thinking, yeh I’ll have a go at that! Nothing no where near on a grand scale like your projects! You’ll sort these doors no sweat I’m sure 👍

 

[DaveL485]

You’ll sort these doors no sweat I’m sure

There's always the big hammer

 

[DaveL485]

Of course, I got a bit done over the xmas break but not a huge amount, as I needed to do the BIG service on her Clio, inc a Clutch, so I pulled the whole lot out. Behold the 75 screaming horsepowers of the 1.2 8v Clio!

I did drag the 9 out to rearrange the garage to do this

Once the Clio was sorted I decided to roll the 9 out and get busy with my sand blast gun and 20kg of blast media

Tried to catch as much as I could for re-use

Not bad, lost about 30% I reckon

Sieved it back in to the bucket, amazing the crap thats in there, got this amount out for each sieve full!

 

[DaveL485]

Had an hour left at the end of that, so I drilled and hung the passenger front door with a new 90° drill bit, fits much better

 

[DaveL485]

Then I put it back on stands, dropped the subframe off again and stripped it, cleaned and prepped it for gravitex coating.

Got the car ready for some primer too

And applied some stuff!

Epoxy primer in the engine bay, more to stop it rusting than anything but it turned out pretty well, might dump some colour in there and see how it turns out!

 

[DaveL485]

Friday night I realised i'd not covered up the welds with seam sealer so I bunged a bit of that on so it was dry for the weekend, but then I realised it needed primer on it also, so while I was mixing some up I decided to coat the inside of the boot and rear slam panel too

 

[DaveL485]

I want to paint the very least amount possible myself, as I am terrible at it and far too impatient to ever get a proper finish. The back is for protection in case I need to leave it outside under a cover for a bit (more on that in coming weeks ) and the engine bay so I can refit the engine. Given the shambles it was before even my piss poor paint will be a considerable improvement hahaha.

620 Renault Silver

Away we go

While that was drying off I built the subframe back up

More paint

If any painters came and looked at it they would punch in square in the nose - but - it'll do!

Clear coat

Got a bit too close and ended up with some runs on the drivers side turret but I left it be as this will be covered by the brase reservoir and bracket anyway lol

Could be better, could be worse

 

[alistairolsen]

Looking good! Just how bad is the overspray on the rest of the garage? This sort of thing always gives me the fear! 😬

 

[DaveL485]

Looking good! Just how bad is the overspray on the rest of the garage? This sort of thing always gives me the fear! 😬

I've basically lacquered everything

But - its done now and ill clean up around the garage as I go, no biggy. With all the stuff I do in here it's not like it's ever not dusty or dirty or whatever.

The main thing is that I got it done, I can hoof the subframe, suspension, brake master and engine in so it rolls, gives me more space in the garage and critically means I can pop it outside under a cover if I need to make way for something else I may, or may not, have bought

 

[alistairolsen]

Oh no! That's my fear, okay if things are nice and tidy but I'd need to sort my life out for that to be the case

What ferrous lacework have you invested in now?

 

[DaveL485]

What ferrous lacework have you invested in now?

I seem to have accidentally purchased two more R21 Turbo's

 

[alistairolsen]

Excellent, commendable behaviour!

 

[DaveL485]

I addressed the runs that had appeared on the suspension turret tops.

That was easy

I also refitted the servo and master, i've had a lot of hassle with this as the Ph1 9 Turbo has a different master to pretty much any other 9 or 11 model. I've made do with the closest match but its bugging me. You can see here the cylinder rotation is off. The res fittings are supposed to be vertical. This is the cylinder for the right p/n but its not right. I also had to use the rubber plugs off the old cylinder for the remote res pipes as the ones in it were for a direct plug-in reservoir.

I also bought a new reservoir, that didnt fit either!

It's not like I didnt put the effort in to research either, I literally got hold of original R9 Microfiches and a reader to look at parts diagrams!

So....do I try and make the new master work, hold out and try and find the right master somehow, or, try and refurb the original master?

 

[massiveCoRbyn]

Looking good! Just how bad is the overspray on the rest of the garage? This sort of thing always gives me the fear! 😬

When I painted some bits for my old Escort rally car, basically everything in the garage ended up with a yellow tint

 

[Bankrupt_drunk]

Absolutely fantastic thread. Just read it from start to finish. Good luck in getting it back on the road.

 

[DaveL485]

Absolutely fantastic thread. Just read it from start to finish. Good luck in getting it back on the road.

Thanks got a few more pages to write yet I reckon haha