E319 JOO

by **Will** » Wed Jan 12, 2011 10:35 pm

So after 12 months of ownership E319 JOO is well and truly on the road so i thought i'd tell a bit of the story here!

I first came across the car in 2004, it was purchased by a friend of mine from a reputable car dealer in the south east (no names!) My friend discovered within 2 days of owning her that she had major problems!

The engine and gearbox was stripped out of the car and boxed up, subframe removed, suspension removed etc etc and the car was garage bound on axel stands!

My friend over the years slowly began to rebuild the cars suspension, refurb the subframe etc, he spent a small fortune with Renault on bushings etc.

By the end of 2004/beginning of 2005 he started to get very busy at work and the project took a back seat.

Between 2005 and the end of 2009 the suspension work was completed and the engine and gearbox were semi assembled - but i'll come to this later!!!!

During this time i would occasionally ring my friend to see how he was getting on and after the first couple of years i started to tease him when he said he had not finished the car saying i'd buy it to finish it!

So December 2009 the telephone conversation went this way but to my surprise when i joked i'd buy the car - he said he'd sell it!

So some pictures were sent to me as i had not seen the car since 2004, pictures below:

There was some negotiation and a price of £1500 was agreed on the telephone! which included delivery from Kent to North Wales on Christmas Day 2009 (he was visiting his girlfriends family near by so bought the car up on a trailer).

by **MFaulks** » Wed Jan 12, 2011 11:33 pm

Hi Will, nice to see the start of the story.. 2004 to 2009, that makes me feel so much better :wink:

by **PaulyA610** » Thu Jan 13, 2011 11:36 pm

Nice project you have got there and a bargin price, will be nice to see your progress.

by **Will** » Mon Jan 24, 2011 9:58 pm

So I started to piece together the box of bits that had come with car and it quickly became apparent that I was missing a few bits, namely the turbo feed and drain pipes!

In my research to locate these bits and bobs I came across this site and various posts advertising bits - a few calls and I had spoken to Clee, a few week later we met up at Big MVS's place and I had the parts I needed.

So the work commenced on the engine which had been part assembled in the car unfortunately there was little progress - as I was unable to get oil up to the turbo or any oil pressure even spinning it up with a drill!!

Something was wrong internally, after lots of conversations, the car was delivered to RATS to be solved!

Out she came!

As with all things as soon as you start probing you find problems!

The bolts to secure the sub frame to the car had been ground off!

Lee quickly came up with a solution!

It was going to be fiddley as the 'captive nut' sat between two bracing ribs on the inner surface and there is very little room between metal and fibreglass .

Lee made up a plate with a nut welded ,slotted the area between the ribs to accept the nut and then welded the plate to the existing metalwork.

The cut!

The Weld!

The finished article!

This means that the frame will sit about 3mm lower at that end but it only alters the attitude by 0.25 degrees at the main turret mount
so wont be an issue.

Lee found another slight problem whilst under there .One of the rigid fuel lines was fecked.

But one off Lee's breaker would sort this!

To be continued......

by **simontaylor** » Mon Jan 24, 2011 10:55 pm

That fuel line looks costly.... you could have emptied a tank of fuel pretty fast too.

by **PaulyA610** » Mon Jan 24, 2011 11:52 pm

Saw this at the meet on sunday and i must say I loved the stance of the car, it sits perfectly and she sounds lovely!! From what lee was saying it goes like very well too. It will be a bit of a wepon when finnished bud, nice project this one.

by **Will** » Tue Apr 26, 2011 10:46 pm

So its been a while since i posted, did my first hillclimb in the car a few weekends ago so i thought i'd carry on the story!

Lee pulled the lump out, and the decision was taken to strip her down as something had to be wrong internally!

Here she is after Lee had cleaned her up!

It turned out that several O rings had been missing from the previous build, something that simple, just shows you need someone who knows what they are doing.

Below is some damage to one of the shells, considering this engine had not done any work at all, only plumbed in and run up - not good!

So they had to go, it turned out that they were not the correct size in any case - the crank had been reground!!

Lee sourced me a replacement crank (these are like hens teeth) and got the new shells.

So the engine was starting to come together so it was time to discuss performance upgrades!!!!!! I primarily wanted the car for hill climbing so Lee and I had lots to discuss!

I'll go into detail on my next post!

by **si21** » Wed Apr 27, 2011 2:54 pm

Will wrote:So its been a while since i posted, did my first hillclimb in the car a few weekends ago so i thought i'd carry on the story!

Lee pulled the lump out, and the decision was taken to strip her down as something had to be wrong internally!

Here she is after Lee had cleaned her up!

It turned out that several O rings had been missing from the previous build, something that simple, just shows you need someone who knows what they are doing.

Below is some damage to one of the shells, considering this engine had not done any work at all, only plumbed in and run up - not good!

So they had to go, it turned out that they were not the correct size in any case - the crank had been reground!!

Lee sourced me a replacement crank (these are like hens teeth) and got the new shells.

So the engine was starting to come together so it was time to discuss performance upgrades!!!!!! I primarily wanted the car for hill climbing so Lee and I had lots to discuss!

I'll go into detail on my next post!

Good man, that's what I bought my Atmo for, I did my first sprint in her a couple of weekends ago, not without issue mind. I wish I had gone your route but instead I tried to get it running and do it as cheaply as possible due to another expensive project it has cost me more in the long run 3+ yrs in the long run :lol:

.

It will be intresting to see how the car progresses; let us know of any awesome hill climb venues in North Wales you may come across as I have this fascination with a climb, its the challenge. :wink:

si21