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• Since Renault Industries took over Dodge-Chrysler group, the 50Series
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medium chassis has established a secure niche for itself in the market place. Now it has received a boost by having the recently launched Perkins Phaser diesel engine, and fitting disc brakes to the front axle.
All semi-forward-control medium chassis have problems of one sort or another when it comes to getting to the engine for maintenance, and the 50-Series is no exception. One of the problems is the height of the Phaser engine, and another is the necessity for hanging all sorts of piping and trunking around the engine compartment. In order to find out how a Renault main dealer's fitters cope with restricted access and scheduled service times, we went to Canterbury Motor, a company with a history as long as the industry itself and which has stayed faithful to the same franchise during all its changes from the early Rootes days.
Renault has made things a little easier than it seems at first glance, for example by making the main heater ducting a simple pull-off fit, and making the radiator and, indeed, the whole front grille, easily detachable after a few bolts are removed. Space round the engine, however, is still very restricted, particularly for removing the rocker cover 'to attend to the valve clearances and removing the injectors.
Rather than struggle with access, we learned that the company's fitters remove not just the heater ducting, as recommended in the manual, but also the coolant pipe to the heater matrix and the soundproofing round the compartment bulkhead. There is also an inner cowl on the inside of the bulkhead fixed by bolts with captive nuts, and once all this is removed access becomes possible, if still a little awkward.
• by Peter Wallage