1975 Renault 6TL

[Zelandeth]

Nice little update, sounds really positive!

Remember having similar issues with a bus engine I was helping to re commission once in that we could not get one piston out of the liner (can't remember for certain but think it was a Gardner 6LX engine...either that or a Leyland O.680). Once we eventually got it on the bench, took about 10 minutes. Given how little else we had to change in that one that piston had a lot of foul things said about it as it required a lot more strip down than we had planned originally.

That unlike your engine needed a fork lift to move!

Looking forward to seeing it coming together. Looks a nice easy unit to work on.

[vulgalour]

Oooo, an actual update! First up, good news on the head, it's not warped at all so that can go on the block happily. I've been told various other components are tired but usable, since the car is likely to only do light duties for a long time they shouldn't cause me any issues so we're going to reuse what's there and replace them if need be in the future. Couple of things holding me back from putting the engine together, the first being the honing tool being out on loan so the liners aren't ready to go in yet. The liners appear to be in good shape, they just need the carbon and muck cleaning off so things are happy on reassembly. The second issue is my back is still giving me grief and the third is that I really wanted to make the mechanical bits and pieces look nice as I work through and sort them out.

For a refresher, this is how the engine did look.




The rocker cover got a fresh coat of black paint. It was pretty tatty all over but still nice and solid. The filler cap is in great shape so that just needed a clean.


I wanted to paint the block green and then decided against it because we had some red paint and I like red and hey, it's free so why not. After taking a wire wheel to the loose stuff I applied three coats as per the instruction on the tin and got a reasonable finish. I'll go back over important mating surfaces with some thinners to make sure everything is clean before reassembly.


Plonked the rocker cover onto the head when it was dry enough to handle to keep things tidy. I'll get the new seal fitted before bolting this all back together properly.


Not the most exciting update, I know. At least I'm progressing a bit now. The Der Franzose gasket set arrived so I can crack on with assembling the engine just as soon as I've got the liners cleaned up.

[demag]

Slow and steady wins the day.

[Stickyfinger]

Thats nice.....I like a nice clean and fresh block

[CitroJim]

First read of the post, long read but very enjoyable....gj

Ditto Thoroughly enjoying this!

The 6 is now a very rare car indeed and it's good to see one being restored...

[vulgalour]

The honing device was found today, I've not seen it yet but from the description it sounds like an antique. Should be fun! Having gone through all the various bits and pieces, the only thing holding me up on the rebuild now is getting the liners cleaned. Once that's done it's just a case of putting everything back together and making sure everything sits where it should. I'm not sure when I'll get this work done but hopefully it will be sooner rather than later. I'm itching to hear this little car running again.

A thank you to those of you that have commented on here, the support is appreciated. The poor little Renault is at the bottom of the pile and always comes last which is terribly unfair of me. We'll get there. I've just got to find out exactly what battery I need to purchase and get my ignition components order in next...

[demag]

Big question. Will it make the CCC rally?

Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk

[vulgalour]

11th February 2016

Today, I volunteered Mike to rebuild my engine.  This is because I've been next to useless all day thanks to my stupid spine which hates me.  Still, better than sitting at home watching daytime tellybox.  To kick things off, the various mating surfaces on the block were cleaned of any overpaint on the edges and parts were got together so we could start reinstalling them and making the engine look like an engine again.  This all went very smoothly thanks to Mike's ultra-methodical approach to everything and the fact I'd put everything away in specific order so we didn't have to guess at where things went.

 
There was a bit of an issue when we found one of the crankshaft end seals in the kit was the wrong size.  Everything else in the kit looks the same as what came off the car.  I did wonder if the old one had shrunk and the new one just needed compressing but the new one doesn't appear to physically fit where it's supposed to go.  I'll be getting in touch with Der Franzose about that one.

 
Not to worry, we don't need that bit as we're not ready to put the flywheel on yet.  The liners were cleaned up and found to be free of steps and scores, the pistons inspected and found to have a good set of rings on all and to likewise be free of damage.  Paper liners (literally paper rings that go at the bottom of the liners) of the relevant thickness for the wet liners were fitted and the task of installing the pistons began.  This went very smoothly for two which were installed in the block very quickly.  Unfortunately, on the other two the ring compressor slipped which let to snapping the end off one of the compression rings and deforming the end of one of the oil scraper rings.  That was quite annoying.  Luckily, you can get single sets of rings from Der Franzose for about £15 plus postage.  I've been unable to find an alternative supplier for these at the time of writing.  Even so, we got far enough that the oil pick up could be fitted and the pile of parts to reinstate has shrunk considerably.

 
To avoid and catastrophies, the engine was put right way up and covered until we have the piston rings needed to finish the installation.  There's still other engine jobs that can be done without the piston rings being available so we can still progress with things in the meantime.

[vulgalour]

TODAY

Wow, it was just over a year ago that I pulled the engine out of this car for a 'quick rebuild'.  Been a stinker of a year!  Today, I got caught up and made some progress with some help and guidance from my brother who has done considerably more engine rebuilds than me of all sorts of different types.
 
I finally got the expensive piston ring set from Der Franzose which came with instructions as to which went where if I wasn't sure.  Some of the old rings did put up quite a fight, others didn't, and while the pistons show their age they're far from knackered so were decoked and kitted out with new rings.
 

 

 
This time, no piston rings were snapped on reassembly.  Mike invested in a glaze busting tool for the unit and we tried it out on the Renault's scruffy liners.  Worked a treat and they all cleaned up very nicely. Pistons went back in nice and snug and with a few tricks from my brother on how better to use the ring compressor and such we had all four back in the engine in no time.  Here's some pictures of just three in situ.  I was relying on my camera phone so components look dull when in real life they're actually shiny.

 

 
We made sure the correct paper liner gaskets were fitted, that the pistons all pointed the same way (there's marks on the crowns) and that the liners were correctly paired.  There does seem to already be signs of good compression, as there was some necessity to rotate the engine while getting everything in and my brother's gloves were being successfully vacuumed into the bores, that bodes well.
 
With that done it was really a case of reassembly.  I didn't get everything done, I'm still a bit unwell and I wasn't in a rush, I'd rather the job be done well than quickly.  Got the cam buckets and pushrods refitted, head gasket fitted, head bolts torqued in correct sequence (they'll be retorqued accordingly once the engine has been running) and even got the rocker cover gasket fitted.
 

 
On a bit of a roll the crankshaft went in, the exhaust manifold and carburettor were also fitted.  I was going to sort the timing and get the chain on but the tensioner has burst into its component parts and doesn't seem to want to stay together.  Nothing appears to be broken or missing, it just doesn't seem to want to stay in one piece.

 
It's looking like a smart little engine now.  Looking forward to firing it up when we've finished rebuilding all the various bits and pieces, I'd like to hope it's not going to take another year before it's back in the car but you really never know with the way my life goes.
 

[vulgalour]

Today started off well, got the timing chain on and set the timing surprisingly easily.


Things were off to a good start today. Cleaned up and repainted the timing chain cover.


Cleaned out the sump too, the bottom of which still had the horrible grey putty under the oil sludge. Took a while to clean it all up.


I need a new sump plug, the old one looks like someone has used a dinosaur to try and release it. The outside of the sump was a bit pitted from rust and had signs of a bit of a scrape where it looks like the car's hit a rock or something. Nothing too serious and hidden with a fresh coat of black paint.


Feeling pretty good about all this. Time to get the engine turned over a few times and get the tappets set. Then something went wrong.





After getting the engine together, setting the static timing and checking it was rotating freely (and I did use assembly lube on everything so it was all nicely oily), somehow a con rod bearing shell slipped when it was rotated, I don't actually have the faintest idea how, and now I have this problem. The scoring visible in the photograph isn't very visible at all in the real world and there were no scoring marks on the crankshaft before this happened. I've not yet inspected the crankshaft but I'm expecting it too is damaged and will need regrinding unless I'm very, very lucky. Then I'll have the unenviable task of locating oversized con rod bearings, a prospect I am not relishing.

It's the second one from the right in this picture that had spun.


I'd like to know how I managed this and what went wrong. I've read other engine rebuild threads where bearings just do this sometimes, both new and old re-used ones. Where I'm lucky is that this has happened on hand cranking and not when I was driving the car as seems to be the norm for this sort of thing from what I've read over the course of the last year or so. It's my first full engine rebuild so mistakes are inevitable and hopefully this one won't be too costly to resolve.

On the positive side I don't have to dismantle the entire engine to replace the bearings and inspect the crankshaft and before the bearing span the engine did turn over really smoothly and operated all the pushrods as it ought so there was a moment of sunshine today.

[xantia_v6]

I am no expert on spun bearing shells, but the crankshaft journal is a lot harder than the bearing shell, so is unlikely to be damaged.

[vulgalour]

I do hope so! I was so disheartened when this happened. I'm going to the unit tomorrow so I'll know for definite, hopefully find out why the Princess has decided to start backfiring through the carb too. Old cars, why do we bother?

[xantia_v6]

On the princess, check for a cracked distributor cap (or just substitute another if available).

[vulgalour]

The Princess has just recieved new points, condensor, distributor cap, coil, spark plugs and had leads recently. I've set the timing both static and ignition so many times just lately that I think I've got to the point where I've set it wrong and I can't see that it's wrong any more. Also, the Princess has this habit of behaving like something is very wrong and then one day is totally fine without you doing anything. It's one of *those* cars.

[xantia_v6]

Try putting the old distributor cap back, if you still have it, it is likely that there is tracking between the HT terminals of the current cap. It could be that the new cap is made of porous plastic, or has a moulding defect (or a crack).