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I have had this car for a few months now ... progress is slow enough that I can start a build thread here and no one will have missed much.  So I was looking to buy an early Renault 5 when this Renault 8 came up for sale ... lighter than my 5GTT, RWD and someone had already shoved a 5GTT motor in it ... what was not to love! Car was bought and transported up to me ... I was eyes wide open that the car had not been run for a few years but had been stored indoors and was at least mostly solid. What was going to be a quick fix and drive quickly escalated and plans were hatched to renew the gearbox which was leaking and in general spend a few quid ... well a few quid has turned into what will likely be thousands and as I type this the car is sitting on axle stands with the gearbox and engine being fettled by Steve Swan up in Scotland and I wait for Image to manufacture the wheels. Plans are as follows ... - Uprated and more robust 5 speed gearbox - 5GTT motor with Renault 8 cooling system ... move fuel tank to the front to try and balance the weight. - EFI conversion ... well why wouldn't you. - Image RA wheels ... gold centres. - AVO shocks all round - A few motorsport interior upgrades - Generally fettling every aspect of the car in some regard. So sit back and take a look at the car as it sat a few days after it arrived after a quick clean ... the financial pain and spannering with limited access to space, tools and knowledge has already begun but is far from over.            |
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Nice little sleeper I would leave it as it is and up the power.
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shin2chin
Part of things
Making curse word cars slightly better
Posts: 820 
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Lots of space in there for a nice Subaru engine.
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1977 PORSCHE 2.0na 924
1974 VW Beetle 1600
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Very cool. Looking forward to the updates.
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Nice little sleeper I would leave it as it is and up the power. Mostly will stay as it is on the exterior but wanted a set of Image rims for 20 years and this was a good car for them .. plus it will drop the car a little further and as these run with little back spacing it'll increase the track a touch too. |
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Looks fun. Upgrading the brakes at all? Taking some advice from the guy building the gearbox as he has raced 8's for many years ... sure he has a few tricks up his sleeve |
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steveg
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,586
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That looks like it's going to be fun. My grandfather had a Renault 10 from new and I got to have a drive a couple of times. It went very well considering it was only an 1100cc and would do so on 2 star petrol. The brakes were discs all round and didn't
feel great although the addition of a servo would probably have helped. Interested to see how this progresses.
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teaboy
Posted a lot
Make tea, not war.
Posts: 2,126
Member is Online
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I love that.
As I like to say, 'rear engine, it's the future!'
I presume the Image wheels are the ones that look like the Gotti Bi-metallic?
If so, they will look fabulous.
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scmick
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,507
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Watching this with interest. Always been into rear engined cars... SIMCA 1000 Rallyes for years. Back in the '70s used to grasstrack an R8S. It was my brother's workmate's road car that he rolled. Went well for years on the grass.
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Make a nice Gordini replica ... just thinking out loud !!
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I love that. As I like to say, 'rear engine, it's the future!' I presume the Image wheels are the ones that look like the Gotti Bi-metallic? If so, they will look fabulous. I went with the Image RA ... so following a Renault theme but have asked for the cast centres to be gold .. next decision is tyres, all my other cars have NS2R fitted, was looking at Avon options too. www.imagewheels.co.uk/ra-alloy-wheel/ |
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Adey
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,439
Club RR Member Number: 171
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Renault 8 GTTAdey
@adey1984
Club Retro Rides Member 171
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Oh Hi  |
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Wilk
Part of things
Posts: 528
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Damn this brings back some memories. Dads workmate used to collect me and a friend and take us to fishing matches in one of these in 70’s roof rack loaded up with rods and baskets. He drove it like he stole it too. It was a dark green colour. Happy times
Good luck with the rebuild 👍
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If it can be fixed with a hammer, then it must be an electrical fault
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MiataMark
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,971
Club RR Member Number: 29
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Renault 8 GTTMiataMark
@garra
Club Retro Rides Member 29
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Looks like my first car that I got from my Mum. Looked a bit worse for wear after my first few months of driving... rear engine swing axles probably contributed to that. Ended up with a paving slab in the front (for balance).
Brakes are pretty good from standard, 4 wheel discs.
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1990 Mazda MX-52012 BMW 118i (170bhp) - white appliance 2011 Land Rover Freelander 2 TD4 2003 Land Rover Discovery II TD52007 Alfa Romeo 159 Sportwagon JTDm
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Looks like my first car that I got from my Mum. Looked a bit worse for wear after my first few months of driving... rear engine swing axles probably contributed to that. Ended up with a paving slab in the front (for balance). Brakes are pretty good from standard, 4 wheel discs. Moving the fuel tank to the front for that exact reason  Yeah discs all round are a real plus on a car of this age. |
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borcombe
Part of things
Newport, Northern Beaches
Posts: 55
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Bringing back memories for me, great ones too. I'm 63 now and my first 8 was a 1966 model in dark blue. It kind of gave me the hunger for more. Subsequent 10's and even a 1965 Gordini 8 that had been mutilated engine wise put me off until one day i saw a Red 8 for sale in Exchange and Mart. I travelled up from Southampton to Chippenham and paid 200 quid for 1966 Red 8 with 13 inch Cosmics 5 and a halfs, radiator front mounted and a Hermes inlet manifold with a 40 DCOE Weber, Peco exhaust. Gord rear shocks with serious neg camber. Sounded great, handled even better and one of my main memories is when i was in a traffic queue at Bassett traffic lights was a lady tapping my window telling me that my rear wheels had fallen off. The pic of the 8 i have posted is an Aussie guy's and his list of mods from memory is very comprehensive. Gord running gear, Lotus front wishbones with a subframe kit made by one of the members of rear engine club. So much other stuff i cannot remember but all done to a superb standard. Have a few pics and great luck with what you are going for and if i ever won Lotto id have bought the pictured 8 3 years a go for the Au$48000 i think he had for sale at.    |
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Great post borcombe! I really wish we had that Aussie weather that is for sure. The more I see these motorsport R8 builds the more inspired I am to follow that direction ... they were phenomenal cars in their classes ... that rear wheel camber is just so cool! While I await the return of the engine and gearbox I found online a new old stock momo boss for the car and stuck on an OMP wheel I had spare in the garage ... I am liking this direction already... of course now there is a whole new layer of expense ... seats, roll cage, harnesses, new dash gauges etc ... no one ever said cars was a cheap hobby though  |
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Last Edit: Aug 6, 2020 12:56:55 GMT by paule78
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What a fantastic car. I'm not sure which I prefer - an imp or an 8. There's enough space in there for porsche flat six too (bit heavy mind)...... Think the image wheels will really set it off too. Can't wait to see the progress. |
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