The new version of the five-bearing engine initially fitted on the Renault 12 retained the removable cylinder liners that Renault had long favoured. It rejected the "oversquare" cylinder dimensions that had become fashionable with some European auto-makers during the 1960s. Many components, such as the oil pump and the distributor were unchanged, while others, including the cylinder head, the valve gear and the engine block itself were only minimally updated. The only completely reworked elements were the cylinder liners, the connecting rods, the pistons themselves and the crankshaft. In the 1962 version of the engine the cylinders had been unevenly spaced in two groups of two, but in this new application they were equidistant in order to allow for the cylinder diameter, here increased to 73 mm, to be combined with space for sufficient coolant to circulate around the cylinders.