Rebuild and restore! I had a 69 R16 in the early 70s just out of high school. I also had a Caravell, R10 and R12 wagon. But the 16 was my favorite! There’s not many left! Cheers from Washington state
My parents had 2 R16s in succession in the late 1960s/early 1970s and then I had one in about 1982/84 so it's fascinating to see yours still on the road.
So pleased you're going to be doing the brakes. One of my front brakes binds a bit for the first few miles.... So you can be my teacher!.. Thx for these great videos.
I look forward to it! I'm just waiting for the parts to turn up, then I can get to it whilst the car is off the road for the distributor to be rebuilt. Then we can keep the content consistent and progress going. 😀
I'm particularly excited as you mention yours is a GL.. Mines a 69 GL..unv 405H... There are various pics of you Google. Like you, every time I drive it, it makes me, and the roadside audience smile!!
I put the Sparkright 2000 kit on my beetle in 1987, because the lobes were worn. That kit has a plastic ring that fits over the lobes to provide the signal to the sensor. So it fits in minutes and solves the damaged lobes problem.
Hallo and greetings from Germany. I am happy that I found yor channel and that I can follow your work on this marvelous R 16. I myself have an R 16 TS from 1973 and I want to bring it to the road again. It is our old family car. Thanks for your interesting videos. Andreas
Had a 1976 16TS as my first car and it is the only car from my youth that I would have again. If I remember right, the TL was the basic, the TS was the posh one and the TX was supposedly the sporty one😅
The specialist who worked on my 1976 16TS decades ago warned me to check for wear in the distributor. Apparently they were renowned for the rotor destroying the contacts. Sure enough on one trip the cap was full of fine particles. It didn't stop though.
Yes that does seem to be a common weak spot for them, hence why it's something I'm going to outsource to a specialist in them. It'll make or break the car. No pun intended. 😂
Love how you use the shift leaver, I always shifted like that when driving an R16. I guess these cars were so common back in the day nobody ever considered them to be special, you just bought another R16 or perhaps the much less attractive R 20.
Thoroughly enjoyable video. It's great to see how much you adore that car. I'm really looking forward to more video's. Things like servicing, maintenance, how the controls operate etc would all be good. Also how about a night drive so we can see the lights & how effective they are etc?😀
The mechanicals on these are pretty strong. The bodywork is the weak spot so I'd have a very close look at the dodgy areas and rinse any road salt off frequently. Rear suspension mountings are a weak point - just under the bottom of the rear of the doors. Front wings and the floor too. Concern yourself with structure more than paintwork. Good luck!
@ajpdaniels it's all very good underneath and had all the rear suspension repaired and reinforced by Mick Stokes, just surface corrosion and a little bit mroe than that on the NSF sill, and a small patch on the front cross member. Other than that she's excellent underneath. Which is the only reason I'm putting the effort in, the hard work was done well years ago. 👌
@ajpdaniels I was really pleased to know the car had been done by Mick, because I know it will have been done correctly. Once it's driving right, the underneath is the next on the checklist. But I'd like to use it a bit before I start digging into it and undoubtedly write it off for a month sorting rust. 😂
Wonderful car. I daily drove a Spitfire for 9 yrs, these are my thoughts on daily driving a car of that age……. 1. Corrosion is the biggy so use one of the modern protection systems and keep on top of it, I sprayed old engine oil under the Spit which was a cheap, fairly effective but very messy job😂 2. Forget electronic ignition, get the dizzy rebuilt and chuck a pair of points and a condensor in the boot, it’s simple, reliable but most importantly easy to understand tech. I fitted electronic ignition to the spit, the only time that car left me stranded was when it failed and I couldn’t fix it! I put the points back on and every 3000miles gapped and timed it. Why introduce dreaded electronics into an old car, isn’t the beauty of an old car its simplicity? 3. Hunt out NOS parts for things that tend to fail on that model and repair parts rather than replace, so much modern aftermarket parts now are junk. 4. Keep on top of the heat and ventilation system. 5. Change the oil and filter religiously inc gearbox oil. 6. Keep the car as standard as possible. 7. Rain x on the windscreen and good wiper blades. 8. Flush the rad once a year, possibly fit an electric fan operated by a switch in the car. Again its simple and there if you need it. Finally keep on top of general servicing. Driving an old car of this age can be a little twitchy at times but it’s completely doable, I still have the Herald and would drive it anywhere because yes it might throw a wobbly but it’s so simple and easy to work on nothing scares me👍🏼👍🏼
@@theobster you're absolutely bang on the money! I daily drove and did 25,000 miles in a totally standard Ford 100e (which I still own) and everything you've said is exactly what I did. 👌 With the exception of the electronic ignition, as the Deucellier distributors can apparently work wonders with an electronic ignition kit. I'm going to give it a whirl, for what it cost I'll try it and keep original parts as spares. Further down the line I'm going to fit a tuneable 123 ignition kit, I'm a tuner by trade and I'm really interested to play with the advance curves and see just how much a modern set of eyes can achieve with ignition tuning alone. 😎
@@NorthEastTuning that sounds interesting, I look forward to seeing the results and learning something from you👍🏼 maybe you’ll sure my phobia of aftermarket ignition systems ?
@theobster exactly that! It's nice to always these videos and feature aspects which will help and inform others in the future, if I install and have issues it leaves a nice clear path for others to follow or not follow. Plus I'm really interested in the progamable ignition setup. It's all fun and games. Thanks for your engagement and support, I really appreciate it.
I have a 16TX that I have been daily driving for 11 years now. I installed a 123 programmable ignition and highly recommend it. There was nothing wrong with my original distributor but it was very tricky to get it to pass smog test every 2 years. The 123 has made that very easy and the side benefits were improved low end torque and better fuel mileage. I set mine for much more advance earlier without exceeding the maximum limit dictated by Renault. Great to see someone else discovering how great these cars are!
Some good stuff here.... But no need to fit an electric fan.... It was one if the first cars to have a kenlo controlled fan...as the radiator is so remote from the engine.
I'd add a set of Koni shocks, a pair of Cibié driving lights and the Jaeger dash layout from a TS/TX. Re-bush the front wishbones, too. Of course, a sleeved 1565 engine with the twin-barrel Weber and 95hp would complete the 16 transformation. Oh, I might change the wiper blades over to clear flush with the A pillar - they were never set for RHS markets. And, get a 15TL/TS steering wheel; mounting is compatible - smaller and thicker does the trick [really?]
Rest assured I'll be following whatever you'll be doing with the R16! Just wondering though, have you considered hunting down a 5-speed gearbox for it? That's the one thing I'd possibly would want to anoint my own R16 with down the line, just to dial down the motorway revs somewhat. The TX (which was never sold here in Sweden, don't know about the UK) came with that gearbox, as did the Lotus Europa as far as I know, so they are attainable.
Yes, I'd love to. However with it being so original, I'm steering clear of the temptation. The 4 speed is enough for the travelling I do and it comfortably sits at 55-60, and this engine is surprisingly torque so there's not too many times I've found a gap in the gearing. When I do I generally go slower than faster. 😂
Well I'm looking forward to owning a 16 vicariously through you. I remember when they were still everyday cars in the 80s, but never paid them much attention. I really like them now, but don't have the space with all my 2cvs, Morris and VWs... SO, my question is, why go electronics when it's already running niice even with a worn distributor? Why not just do up OEM equipment? I have and have had electronic and standard systems. Yes, they do make life easier, but I've equally been left stranded on the side of a freeway when it just died one day. Old used points system refitted on the road and I got home. If you find some decent quality points you should be fine... Do you have experience in painting and repair? The whole project looks like it'll be fun..
I'm really pleased you're enjoying the project, the highs and lows are all part of it and it's great to share it. Honestly, third party advice is the reason for electric. There's a guy called Salv who is known as being the go to guy for everyone for these engines. Absolute guru. He has a proper setup for distributor testing and has collected tons of parts and used distributors for spares. It's his advice that the electronic kits he fits, with a correctly tuned spring to manage advance curve is a fantastic upgrade on these. Undoubtedly he has more to profit from rebuilds with the scarcity of parts, but still he suggests these as he says they just work. So I'll take his advice on it and if it gives me jip, change it back.
Rebuild and restore! I had a 69 R16 in the early 70s just out of high school. I also had a Caravell, R10 and R12 wagon. But the 16 was my favorite! There’s not many left! Cheers from Washington state
We are reaching far and wide! Really pleased to hear your memories with the French cars, are these popular in the states?
Having had a couple of 16s in the family when new, one of which needed a lot of welding for its first MOT, I would recommend lots of rust proofing!!
My parents had 2 R16s in succession in the late 1960s/early 1970s and then I had one in about 1982/84 so it's fascinating to see yours still on the road.
Really pleased to hear that. They very much seem like a 'my parents/grandparents had one of those!' kind of cars.
I can see why, they're great!
So pleased you're going to be doing the brakes. One of my front brakes binds a bit for the first few miles.... So you can be my teacher!.. Thx for these great videos.
I look forward to it! I'm just waiting for the parts to turn up, then I can get to it whilst the car is off the road for the distributor to be rebuilt. Then we can keep the content consistent and progress going. 😀
I'm particularly excited as you mention yours is a GL.. Mines a 69 GL..unv 405H... There are various pics of you Google. Like you, every time I drive it, it makes me, and the roadside audience smile!!
I put the Sparkright 2000 kit on my beetle in 1987, because the lobes were worn. That kit has a plastic ring that fits over the lobes to provide the signal to the sensor. So it fits in minutes and solves the damaged lobes problem.
Similar principle I believe, the benefit of sending it to Salv is getting the advance springs tuned too which should really help.
Hallo and greetings from Germany. I am happy that I found yor channel and that I can follow your work on this marvelous R 16.
I myself have an R 16 TS from 1973 and I want to bring it to the road again. It is our old family car.
Thanks for your interesting videos.
Andreas
Thank you very much!
Had a 1976 16TS as my first car and it is the only car from my youth that I would have again.
If I remember right, the TL was the basic, the TS was the posh one and the TX was supposedly the sporty one😅
All correct!
Mines an earlier model (teardrop rear lights and a few other subtle changes) and is a GL...Grand Luxe...oooo err. 😂
The specialist who worked on my 1976 16TS decades ago warned me to check for wear in the distributor. Apparently they were renowned for the rotor destroying the contacts. Sure enough on one trip the cap was full of fine particles. It didn't stop though.
Yes that does seem to be a common weak spot for them, hence why it's something I'm going to outsource to a specialist in them. It'll make or break the car. No pun intended. 😂
Please take us through all the things you to it, even the simpler stuff, it is fascinating. Love the short videos on the basics!
Please keep going with your project. I wish I had a double garage and I would get myself one and relive lots of camping trips in France. RB
Will do, it'll get boring for some but I think its will be a fantastic diary for the cars future.
Love how you use the shift leaver, I always shifted like that when driving an R16. I guess these cars were so common back in the day nobody ever considered them to be special, you just bought another R16 or perhaps the much less attractive R 20.
Very true!
Thoroughly enjoyable video. It's great to see how much you adore that car. I'm really looking forward to more video's. Things like servicing, maintenance, how the controls operate etc would all be good. Also how about a night drive so we can see the lights & how effective they are etc?😀
Congrats on 1k subs!
@samfallow18 thank you! I can't believe so many people are interested. 😂
The mechanicals on these are pretty strong. The bodywork is the weak spot so I'd have a very close look at the dodgy areas and rinse any road salt off frequently. Rear suspension mountings are a weak point - just under the bottom of the rear of the doors. Front wings and the floor too. Concern yourself with structure more than paintwork. Good luck!
@ajpdaniels it's all very good underneath and had all the rear suspension repaired and reinforced by Mick Stokes, just surface corrosion and a little bit mroe than that on the NSF sill, and a small patch on the front cross member. Other than that she's excellent underneath. Which is the only reason I'm putting the effort in, the hard work was done well years ago. 👌
@NorthEastTuning brilliant, good to hear
@ajpdaniels I was really pleased to know the car had been done by Mick, because I know it will have been done correctly.
Once it's driving right, the underneath is the next on the checklist. But I'd like to use it a bit before I start digging into it and undoubtedly write it off for a month sorting rust. 😂
We NEED a night drive, with all the illumination in the dashboard working!!😀
Done. ✅️
Wonderful car. I daily drove a Spitfire for 9 yrs, these are my thoughts on daily driving a car of that age…….
1. Corrosion is the biggy so use one of the modern protection systems and keep on top of it, I sprayed old engine oil under the Spit which was a cheap, fairly effective but very messy job😂
2. Forget electronic ignition, get the dizzy rebuilt and chuck a pair of points and a condensor in the boot, it’s simple, reliable but most importantly easy to understand tech. I fitted electronic ignition to the spit, the only time that car left me stranded was when it failed and I couldn’t fix it! I put the points back on and every 3000miles gapped and timed it. Why introduce dreaded electronics into an old car, isn’t the beauty of an old car its simplicity?
3. Hunt out NOS parts for things that tend to fail on that model and repair parts rather than replace, so much modern aftermarket parts now are junk.
4. Keep on top of the heat and ventilation system.
5. Change the oil and filter religiously inc gearbox oil.
6. Keep the car as standard as possible.
7. Rain x on the windscreen and good wiper blades.
8. Flush the rad once a year, possibly fit an electric fan operated by a switch in the car. Again its simple and there if you need it.
Finally keep on top of general servicing.
Driving an old car of this age can be a little twitchy at times but it’s completely doable, I still have the Herald and would drive it anywhere because yes it might throw a wobbly but it’s so simple and easy to work on nothing scares me👍🏼👍🏼
@@theobster you're absolutely bang on the money!
I daily drove and did 25,000 miles in a totally standard Ford 100e (which I still own) and everything you've said is exactly what I did. 👌
With the exception of the electronic ignition, as the Deucellier distributors can apparently work wonders with an electronic ignition kit. I'm going to give it a whirl, for what it cost I'll try it and keep original parts as spares.
Further down the line I'm going to fit a tuneable 123 ignition kit, I'm a tuner by trade and I'm really interested to play with the advance curves and see just how much a modern set of eyes can achieve with ignition tuning alone. 😎
@@NorthEastTuning that sounds interesting, I look forward to seeing the results and learning something from you👍🏼 maybe you’ll sure my phobia of aftermarket ignition systems ?
@theobster exactly that! It's nice to always these videos and feature aspects which will help and inform others in the future, if I install and have issues it leaves a nice clear path for others to follow or not follow.
Plus I'm really interested in the progamable ignition setup. It's all fun and games.
Thanks for your engagement and support, I really appreciate it.
I have a 16TX that I have been daily driving for 11 years now. I installed a 123 programmable ignition and highly recommend it. There was nothing wrong with my original distributor but it was very tricky to get it to pass smog test every 2 years. The 123 has made that very easy and the side benefits were improved low end torque and better fuel mileage. I set mine for much more advance earlier without exceeding the maximum limit dictated by Renault. Great to see someone else discovering how great these cars are!
Some good stuff here.... But no need to fit an electric fan.... It was one if the first cars to have a kenlo controlled fan...as the radiator is so remote from the engine.
I'd add a set of Koni shocks, a pair of Cibié driving lights and the Jaeger dash layout from a TS/TX. Re-bush the front wishbones, too. Of course, a sleeved 1565 engine with the twin-barrel Weber and 95hp would complete the 16 transformation. Oh, I might change the wiper blades over to clear flush with the A pillar - they were never set for RHS markets. And, get a 15TL/TS steering wheel; mounting is compatible - smaller and thicker does the trick [really?]
Rest assured I'll be following whatever you'll be doing with the R16! Just wondering though, have you considered hunting down a 5-speed gearbox for it? That's the one thing I'd possibly would want to anoint my own R16 with down the line, just to dial down the motorway revs somewhat. The TX (which was never sold here in Sweden, don't know about the UK) came with that gearbox, as did the Lotus Europa as far as I know, so they are attainable.
If the car is to be used every day would you consider changing the box to a 5 speed from the TX model?
Yes, I'd love to.
However with it being so original, I'm steering clear of the temptation.
The 4 speed is enough for the travelling I do and it comfortably sits at 55-60, and this engine is surprisingly torque so there's not too many times I've found a gap in the gearing. When I do I generally go slower than faster. 😂
Well I'm looking forward to owning a 16 vicariously through you. I remember when they were still everyday cars in the 80s, but never paid them much attention. I really like them now, but don't have the space with all my 2cvs, Morris and VWs...
SO, my question is, why go electronics when it's already running niice even with a worn distributor? Why not just do up OEM equipment? I have and have had electronic and standard systems. Yes, they do make life easier, but I've equally been left stranded on the side of a freeway when it just died one day. Old used points system refitted on the road and I got home. If you find some decent quality points you should be fine...
Do you have experience in painting and repair? The whole project looks like it'll be fun..
I'm really pleased you're enjoying the project, the highs and lows are all part of it and it's great to share it.
Honestly, third party advice is the reason for electric. There's a guy called Salv who is known as being the go to guy for everyone for these engines. Absolute guru.
He has a proper setup for distributor testing and has collected tons of parts and used distributors for spares.
It's his advice that the electronic kits he fits, with a correctly tuned spring to manage advance curve is a fantastic upgrade on these.
Undoubtedly he has more to profit from rebuilds with the scarcity of parts, but still he suggests these as he says they just work. So I'll take his advice on it and if it gives me jip, change it back.
NOOOOOO. Sacrilege. Don't get electronic ignition!
Seems a very polarised topic. But I'm going to give it a go, worst that can happen I change it back. 👌