Head gasket time for our Renault 5TL. It actually went a few months ago but I’ve not had time to fix it. Pulled the head today and found no corrosion in the bores thankfully, despite standing with water in No1 cylinder. No warping of the head either which is a bonus. It looks like the gasket just died of old age. Exhaust valves are a bit tired though so I may have to fit new ones unless I can machine them. The R5 is a little awkward to work on due to the weird engine configuration but the stone age simplicity of the engine itself makes up for it. It’s a lot like working on a Datsun A series….

I spoilt myself today and bought a shiny new parts washer. No more scrubbing oily parts in a bucket of  thinners for me! Mind you the ‘degreaser’ that came with it doesn’t actually seem to be capable of dissolving oil in the slightest. I might as well have filled it with water. I think I’ll order some proper industrial stuff from Chemodex. I hate all this namby pamby, non-toxic, eco friendly crap! Parts washer itself seems decent enough although the legs it stands on a pretty flimsy.

It’s satisfying when you strip something old and worn apart, refurbish it and paint to look like new. But it’s really disappointing when you have to re-fit or re-assemble stuff with manky old nuts and bolts. You could buy brand new fasteners of course, but invariably you can’t get them exactly in the style you want. For example many Japanese cars have M8 bolts with 12mm heads. Most off the shelf M8 bolts have 13mm heads. Manually cleaning them up is very time consuming and doesn’t replace the original finish. Painting them is really an option, so what to do? Recently, I tried out a method for restoring fasteners and the good news is that it not only looks great but is quick and easy to do as well. The method I used is metal blackening. This imparts the black finish that many new fasteners come in. It can be done at home and doesn’t require any special equipment. Industrial metal blackening kits are pretty expensive (£800+) but Frost do a small DIY metal blackening kit for just £35 and if you prepare the items correctly, this will give an equally professional finish.

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Spied this oddball recently on Houston Craigslist in the good ol’ US of A. From this angle you’d be hard pressed to tell what it is. The advert sadly fails to provide any information pertaining to how and more importantly why this scary monster was created, but one thing’s for certain…  it’ll make small children frightened and grown men weep. Can you tell what it is yet? Read the rest of this entry »

One car which I acquired earlier this year which so far I haven’t covered, is this rare Renault 30TX. I haven’t mentioned it as until now I’ve not done a lot to it yet but things are now finally moving ahead. The Renault 30 was Renault’s top luxury car when it was introduced in 1975 and around 145,000 were sold until it was replaced by the Renault 25 in 1984. Compared with the sales figures for other Renault models that’s small fry and subsequently few remain today, especially here in the UK. I was already aware of what a lovely motor the Renault 30 was because my dad has a beautiful black TS model in around 1981. I didn’t hesitate to take this beauty home when I had the chance, as the opportunity may not happen again and even better, this one is the higher spec TX model, complete with original Metric TRX alloy wheels.

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Yahoo! Japan Auctions isn’t just a great source of cool wheels. If you want some proper Japanese style accessories you’ll find those there too, like these wacky gear-knobs. Admittedly, these worked out to be pretty expensive by the time they arrived at my door but for uniqueness the Japanese stuff can’t be beat. Not sure what I’ll do with the Maneki Neko (Beckoning Cat or lucky cat as it’s commonly known) one on the left but I thought it was pretty coll. It turned out to be considerably larger than I though when it arrived! The Funny face one in the middle is for my 510. It kind of sums that cars character up nicely. The pretty flower one on the right is destined for my Violet SSS as it seemed kind of appropriate. Amazingly, these type of custom gear-knobs are not quite as common on the auctions as you might expect and it does take some hunting for find them. Worth it though!