Having
wanted a Renault 5 GT Turbo since I was at school,
when I was 18 after getting rid of my 1.1 Fiesta
I bought a Turbo Replica, due to the cheaper
insurance.
On June 26th 1998 I was out with my best mate
Terry in the early hours of the the morning
driving along Forest Road, Walthamstow, North
East London. I was driving about 30 mph on a
single lane road when just as I was approaching
a traffic island a Chevrolet Camero came over
my side of the road doing a stupid speed and
hit us. I swerved into the bus lane next to
me to try and avoid impact but due to the speed
they were doing (70 mph the police said) had
no chance and ended up being hit on the drivers
side of the car and being spun round into a
bridge. I think the swerve into the bus lane
probably saved both our lives.
The
wreckage of my Renault 5 |
The
Chevrolet Camero that hit us |
|
|
The Camero
got left at the scene of the accident and the
occupants got out, into another car and drove
off leaving me not being able to get out of
the car with a fractured pelvis, punctured lung
and internal bleeding and my best mate Terry
with severe whiplash and shock.
When I got to hospital after being eventually
cut out of the car the police were already there
waiting to give me a producer.
I
hope the person responsible for this terrible
collision that fotunately
we managed to survive lives with it on their
conscience every day for the rest of their life
!!
BRITISH JUSTICE
IS S**T
I found out later that the owner of the vehicle
had reported the vehicle stolen after the accident,
the original ignition keys were found in the
ignition and the police say that this is amongst
other things not enough evidence to prosecute
the owner of the vehicle with anything and he
didn't even get a producer like I did in my
hospital bed. There is no doubt in my mind who
I feel was responsible for this accident, but
I or the police can't prove anything apparentely.
Anyway with the crap solicitor I was given by
my insurance company he set about trying to
get compensation for my injuries from the Motor
Insurers Bureau (MIB). Many medical checks later
I received some compensation.
I eventually got a GT
Turbo in February 2000. A white H reg.
Picture taken
the day I bought it.

I think
the first couple of weeks of owning the car
was the longest period of trouble free motoring.
From then onwards it seemed like one thing
after another went wrong with it. I remember
the first time the car went to overheat and
I took it to a local garage and a guy there
asked me if I had ever owned one of these
cars before and I said "No". "Then
by the time you sell this car you will have
learnt so much about cars you won't believe".
How right he was.
Troubles
2 weeks after
buying the car it went to overheat and I found
out that there was a crack in the cylinder
head so it had to spend 2 weeks in the garage
trying to get a reconditioned head only to
in the end have my old one reconditioned.
I later found out that they let an apprentice
put the cylinder head back on and that they
left the car running for 20 minutes, let the
car cool down for 2 hours and then retorqued
the cylinder head. This is ultimately wrong
as you are suppossed to run the car for 100
miles then retorque them as I found out after.
This caused problems later as you will find
out. Another Rule Never let a back street
garage work on these cars as they are specialist
vehicles and should only be worked on by people
who have extensive knowledge of them. The
next thing to go wrong was the drivers side
suppension leg started making a horrible noise
when I went over a bump so I went and got
a second hand one from First
Call Renault in Basildon in Essex.
The next thing to go wrong was the Turbo.
I was going along the motorway on a Saturday
morning going to get a second hand grill so
that I could play around with it and make
my own unique grill, but as I was going along
I went to put my foot down and there was no
Turbo. It had seized up. So I found somewhere
that was open on a saturday and had a second
hand unit for £150 with a weeks guarantee.
So I poodled along as fast as I could go with
no Turbo (50 mph) with Fiesta 1.1's overtaking
me. Picked it up and fitted it.
It took all Saturday afternoon to fit. Anyway
me and my mate we eventually got it on and
everything was fine, it was working ok up
until 2 days later when I pulled into a garage
and there was Smoke pouring out of the exhaust
where the oil seals had gone in the turbo,
although it still worked. So I went up to
Five Alive in Lewisham
South East London and bought a Reconditioned
unit for £250 + Exchange of your old
unit so I gave them my original turbo. Anyway
after the performance of fitting the second
hand turbo I couldn't be bothered to fit another
one so I just paided some-one £40 to
do it and then I took the second hand turbo
back and got my money back. After this fiasco
the next thing was the clutch as the car was
getting increasingly hard to select 1st gear
and reverse. So I paid £250 to have
an uprated clutch put in which only took a
day to do because it was done without removing
the engine just the gearbox.
Refering back to the first problem where the
apprentice didn't torque the cylinder head
properly, I began to have the same problem
as before where the car was going to overheat
and this was when I took the car to BB Tuning.
After my visit there I was totally disheartened
with the car and the stress of things constantly
going wrong was getting me down. The car was
turning into a complete nightmare. Anyway
they basically said that I needed another
engine so I thought once this was done things
will be ok. So I got a second hand engine
from a crashed GTT with only 38000 miles on
it from First Call Renault
in Basildon for £250 which I had to
go and pick up in the back of my car with
the seats down. So I booked a day off work
to go and get it and on the way down the A127
my engines no.3 cylinder just gave up.
So after chugging the rest of the journey
to Basildon to pick up the engine and chugging
back to the garage which by the time I got
there the engine must have been completey
done in because the amount of smoke that was
coming out of the car was terrible. Anyway
had it fitted and everything was ok apart
from a problem that I had for a long time
where the car would be on full boost but the
car would hold back. To try and cure this
I tried everything replacing the Carb trying
3 different s/h ones, Fuel Pump, Fuel Filter,
Reconditioning kit for the carb, bought a
reconditioned carb. Nothing could cure it
and then the Clutch decided to go again. I
thought it couldn't have as I had not long
had it done so I replaced the clutch cable
and pedal hoping this would cure it but it
never and I had to have another clutch (£250
again). After this I thought right I am not
paying for anything more on this car I'm gonna
sell it. But just before I do i'll see if
I can get the problem of holding back on boost
and the amount of fuel the car was drinking
problem sorted so just before Christmas 2000
I took the car to The engine
tuner in Basildon to have this problem
sorted and the tappets done. He picked us
up from Basildon Town centre and the tappets
were nice and quiet but the car was still
holding back. He put this down to the cars
perc fan not being in place (Idiot nothing
to do with the perc fan), so I got a bill
for £190 for doing the tappets.
Anyway I finally got rid of the car on February
the 5th 2001 exactly 1 year and £2500
+ spent on it after I bought the car. When
I sold the car £10 fuel was getting
me about 35 miles which I found out after
selling the car what the problem probably
had been all along and the only part of the
fuel system that I hadn't replaced which was
the fuel pressure regulator. I was sad to
sell my baby even after it had give me so
much grief. But there's only so much you can
take.
There will always
be a place in my heart for the Renault 5 GT
Turbo as no other car comes close in terms of
looks and character and accleration and who
knows maybe one day I may just buy another one
as a project car and not as an everyday runabout
as they take alot of looking after and it's
hard to find a good one as I found out. But
i'm not bitter because of all the money I spent
on the car, just wiser. That's why I wanted
to share my knowledge with the rest of the world
so that other people out there don't make the
same mistakes I did.
The picture
below shows how the car looked when I sold the
car and since then I have seen it about and
the apperance has been changed completely with
different alloys and a smoothed tailgate and
bucket seats in it.
