1987 Renault GTA :: Gone to a new home

[PhilA]

It just did the first Renault thing.

 

It's dark. ALL YOUR LIGHTS GO OFF NOW THANKS, YOU DIDN'T NEED LIGHTS ANYWAY.

 

NOW YOU CAN HAVE THEM BACK.

 

NO!

 

NO LIGHTS!

 

(Repeat)

 

 

 

Fuse or a relay or something acting up somewhere.

 

Fun

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Just found the problem.

 

Main feed for the lights comes into the cabin fuse box, goes through a bimetallic over-current cutout.

 

Switched the lights on, within ten seconds the wiring's getting hot.

Couldn't pull the connector off it, but if the joint's getting hot, that heat will travel down into the breaker and cause it to trip out.

 

Makes sense, it was acting like a really large indicator blinker.

 

I'll tear into it tomorrow, clean connections etc. That should solve that one

 

Phil

[spike60]

It's always good to see older cars miss the grim reaper and rise again. Anything old and unused for some years will probably give you some pain when starts moving again, plus it's a Renault of course!

[PhilA]

Yup.

 

I put the diagnostics computer on it the other day and went for a drive.

 

Everything was reading properly within sane values, the thing was properly flip-flopping RICH LEAN RICH LEAN RICH LEAN which is great, and running properly.

It pulls like a train also.. engine's usable from about 1500 rpm (30 in fifth) all the way up the rev range. I've had it to 5000 rpm for a few brief bursts and that's probably about maximum it's happy with. People reckoned it's a lower speed engine, and I agree. Oodles of torque around 2000 rpm.

 

I need to fix the lights and gently tweak the fuel pressure to bring the long term trim towards 128. It's currently around 165, which in itself is fine but not in the middle of the range.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Welp, today was marginally eventful.

 

I took the car out for an early morning spin down to the store to get some groceries. It was a little cooler out than usual (6-8C) this morning so afterward I decided to go put some air in the tyres.

 

Checked the rears, one was ok, the one that always leaks was at 32 so pumped it back up to 35 where it should be.

 

Checked the fronts. Twisted the valve cap back on the front left and HSSSSSSssssssssss.

 

The valve stem rubber has perished and split. Wanged a bit more air in it and headed home. Ten minutes later:

 

 

Buggrit. I'll have to go get the jack and pull the wheel off, get some new stems and redo the wheels- that's probably why the one at the back is leaking. Luckily we have a tire machine at work.

 

So, because the car was stranded I decided to go ahead and check see if the electronic circuit I'd built was any good.

 

 

Stuck the circuit down, powered it up after checking which pin was ground.

 

 

Switch on the ignition.. and hurrah! Yellow lights light up (this is a good thing).

 

 

Pulled the oscilloscope out and balanced it neatly on the engine. Do we have anything sensible?

 

 

Shield the screen from the sun and.. yes! We do, and it even looks mostly sane.

I need to put a capacitor or two in the circuit to cut down on HF noise but that seems to be pretty good for a bit of guesswork.

 

--Phil

[PhilA]

Put the spare on with the original jack and wheel brace (still with the car, needed a bit of oil and a bash on the pavement to get the rust free) which surprisingly held air.

 

Drove to work, popped the outside bead off the front left and rear left tyres. Bought $3.71 of new valves (with chrome plated stem covers and caps, bling bling. Got 4 in the pack, thought that was quite good value for off the shelf) and fitted two new valves before time ran out.

 

Front tyre now holds air, shall see if that was the problem with the rear also over the next couple days if it decides to go flat again.

 

 

Was forced to accelerate hard in first gear by some jackwagon in a pickup truck. It goes really really well..

 

 

--Phil

[Madman Of The People]

Great stuff, must be one of the very few left in the US.

 

 

 

It's been a few years since I've seen a Renault of any description here in the US and at least twenty years since I've spotted one the rare Alliance GTAs like Phil's.  I hear there are still a few old Renaults running round the vicinity of AMC's former home of Kenosha, Wisconsin.  Probably the only place in America where you're likely to spot a Renault these days.

[Skizzer]

Lady at the DMV was disinterested. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNW-7v8oNfI

 

 

Great to see this sweetie up and about.  And speaking as someone who owns a multimeter but has no clue what to do with it, I am hereby paying huge respect to anyone who uses an oscilloscope to fix their shite.

 

[vulgalour]

This is an update I've been looking forward to for ages and still managed to miss the momentous day.  Congratulations on getting this thing road legal, it's got to look really odd seeing it in American traffic.

[PhilA]

This is an update I've been looking forward to for ages and still managed to miss the momentous day.  Congratulations on getting this thing road legal, it's got to look really odd seeing it in American traffic.

 

I forgive you

 

It's no more odd than seeing a Chrysler K-car. One of the guys at work has a silver one, I'll try park up next to it and snap a picture

 

--Phil

[PhilA]

Here you go.

 

 

 

It's a Dodge.. something-or-other. One of the BL-grade badge-engineering exercises Chrysler did.

 

 

--Phil

[PhilA]

Stopped by Napa last night and got a replacement couple odds and ends, and crimped it all in. The original connector for the light harness was bad:



Pulled the circuit breaker out, and the wiring connector. The connector had got so hot it had melted, and that was causing the circuit breaker to trip open. The connections inside the thing weren't great either so that got chunked also because it was making itself hot.

Replacement- not wonderful but it works perfectly!



Drove for half an hour last night, the lights are brighter so that's a start.
I think I shall do the headlights with relays, but it's now not a priority as it's all stock for now.



All lit up, working well. The camera sucks, the lights aren't pink.

--Phil

[xtriple]

Bloody awesome project/save. So impressed with your electronic skills, I panic when a bulb blows! Many centuries ago I had to pass an exam in automotive electrics and you have never seen so many tutors coaching one insipid/stupid student!

 

I can just about do 'magic string' (after a fashion/panic/good long think about it) but electronics.... no!

[phil_lihp]

Brilliant electrical knowledge, thanks for sharing.  Great to see it back on the road where it belongs, too.  Must be a good feeling.

[PhilA]

Just a case of learning what wire goes where, really. Which isn't often easy when it's all loomed up and all fuseboxes like this is.

 

However, that grey relay to the side of it seems to be suffering the same problems- it runs a few things like the cabin fan and interior lights etc.. and possibly a few other things and it's getting hot also.

 

Hot electrics are bad. It's going to be the relay (it looks old and crappy and isn't the exact proper one for the location although it's a working match) or more likely the connector itself.

I'm going to spray the contacts with cleaning solution but it might not help. I'll check and see.

 

I think I need to replace the indicator blinker box too. It goes on.......off..on...................off..on.................off..on...

 

Not the normal steady blink people are used to.

 

 

--Phil

[castros_bro]

Are the indicators those strange (to euro eyes) " brake lights going off and on" type?

[PhilA]

Are the indicators those strange (to euro eyes) " brake lights going off and on" type?

 

Not on this one, it has red tail and brake lights (with high level brake light in the rear window), white reverse lights (obv.) and orange indicators on the back.

 

Front the sidelights are orange (got a twin 5/21 bulb with orange coating on inside the indicator lamp) and the indicators also orange as they blink the same bulb.

 

The side marker lights come on with the sidelights. I'm tempted to wire the front ones slightly differently because you can't see the front indicators when you're side-on the the car, and turn them into marker/repeaters.

 

--Phil

[PhilA]

My fog lights now work*.

 

 

Called up Polar Air in town to see if they can work on R12 Freon systems, they said yes but there's a $105 fee for inspection because Freon.

 

Not too bad considering. I shall be able to continue killing nuns and kittens by driving a car with CFC's in.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

197 miles on the clock now.

 

Took it for a high speed* cruise down to Golden Meadow and back, at 65-70. Stable, got a lot of get up and go but it's going to take a while to get used to doing 3000+ rpm at highway speeds.

 

Heater is ferocious, which is good. Thermostat opens and closes happily, making the temperature needle meander between two lines on the gauge. Keeps the temperature pretty stable though which is good.

 

Nothing major to report though there is a CLUNK BANG from underneath over big bumps which may or may not be the exhaust pipe.

 

Going to put it up on the ramp and give it a cursory inspection soon. CV boot is losing grease slowly which sucks.

 

--Phil

[cort1977]

On my E36 the indicators were a bit slow and erratic, with a bit of use they stopped doing it.   A very rare problem that fixed itself.

[PhilA]

Choons.

 

The radio that came with the car is long gone, the radio that someone put in is a horrible Walmart-special that had one working channel..

 

I had recently gone home to see the parents, and climbed up into the loft to look for a few odds and ends. I found my Kenwood radio set so I decided to bring it back and bung it into the Renault.

 

Initial results, powering it up off a power supply in the kitchen were good, despite the only thing it being able to pick up was ESPN Sports Radio:

 

 

Went find the old radio today to pull the radio-side connectors off the harness. The radio install had been done by a professional*

 

 

No insulating tape, just wires twisted together. Pulled all the pins out, soldered the correct DIN colors in place and then went clip it into the car.

 

 

I don't have the surround trim or the clips that stop it falling back into the dash, but it does work.

 

 

Only rear speakers right now, but I've just ordered a replacement set of speakers for the front. Nice to have a radio.

 

--Phil

[PhilA]

Solved a few rattles. Put rubber bumpers on the licence plate, fuel filler flap and ashtray.

 

Quieter now

 

Shame the exhaust has split all the way down the seam at the back and is leaking badly. I'm either going to get a piece of mandrel-bent tube for it or patch it up with exhaust wob.

 

--Phil

[PhilA]

After putting the GTA back on the road, I've been working through some of the gremlins the car has.

One is the speedometer drive had started to squeal above about 30mph. The other was the windshield wipers were very... erratic and slow.

Weather held this morning (despite being 75F compared to yesterday at the same time 34F) so I made a start on pulling the dash apart.



Starting with the dash in one piece, first off we remove the steering wheel.



Take out all the screws



Then remember the entire cowl has to come off



Starting to accumulate a pile of bits..



Then the dash surround comes out



Pulling the gauges out shows that the holder has become seperated from the cable. The cable should not be visible..



Apply a little oil to both the speedometer and the cable.. and set it back down as best as I can. I think maybe it needs some sort of support sleeve but there's not much space to do that in.



With that done as best I can and a few other bits gluing, attention turned to the windshield wiper mechanism. Recent rain demonstrated that the wipers suck. One moved independently of the other and they were very very slow.



Took a look under the scuttle at the wiper mechanism. There's a motor with a reduction gearbox that turns the spindle, and the wipers are attached to the spindle and move in a reciprocating motion from it. However, some plank has put the plastic on backwards, it's broken and the left side rod isn't held on by anything and has been chewing up the plastic spindle.



At this point it is regarded that I have been working enough to get dirty.



Took a look at the bushings. This one was solidly attached to the ball socket. That's half of the problem, it's all rusted up and nasty.



The lower ball was what it was attached to and is supposed to rotate freely on. It was also installed upside down.





Cleaned up and greased the sockets and spindles.



Cleaned the plastic bushing out as best I could.



Straightened the linkage out to how it's meant to be, cleaned the sockets and greased them up



Clicked the sockets back onto the spindles with channel-lock pliers



Much better. The two bushings hold each other together and rotate around properly now.



Left the dash out for now as hopefully I have a pair of speakers arriving tomorrow, and access is 1000% times easier on this side at least, with all that removed.

More to follow
 

[Rocket88]

Renault's famous "sucking wipers".......bit of a dead end, design wise.............top work, by the way.............

[PhilA]

Renault's famous "sucking wipers".......bit of a dead end, design wise.............top work, by the way.............

Yeah.. no worse than most other designs though. It's tempting to try fit some sort of other bearing surface but I think I'll just go with routine maintenance.

 

I need to also figure out just how to get the wiper motor out- all the grease in the spindles (where there was any) was dried out and crusty. I'm sure the gearbox is about the same.

 

It's just.. trapped between the blower motor and the aircon box. It's going to be a tight squeeze. I think the original design, sans aircon, would have been fairly easy to get access.

 

 

--Phil

[PhilA]

I bought some shite speakers for $9 on Amazon. They turned up today and I went outside to see how they fit on the car.

 

They didn't.

 

They had this little turret thing sticking up out of the middle of the speaker, with a little domed piece in the middle. Box said it was a "1.75" aluminum foil piezo tweeter" which turned out to be a complete farce. It stuck out too much and hit the grille before I could even think about screwing them in.

 

So, because the tweeter wasn't, the little turret thing got pulled off, unscrewed and the domed bit unglued, and stuck over the hole because it was a nice fit.

 

 

My redo on the left, what they looked like on the right. Both now look like the left one. Sound great for the price. Going to fit them tomorrow if it doesn't rain, it's a bit cold and dark outside to be screwing about with this right now.

 

--Phil

[PhilA]

Got all the dash back in, the speedo is quiet now, though it still wobbles a little below 20. The cruise control works better now, also. (It's driven off the speedo cable).

 

Got the speakers in.

 

 

Very yellow. Sound okay though.

 

Broke the hinge on the glovebox door though. Fix two, break one. At least the odds are still in my favor right now.

 

--Phil

[PhilA]

Now up to 306.4 miles on the trip. Engine's freeing up nicely. No more oily smell after a period idling so the rings seem to be bedding in.

 

Took it for a bit of a jaunt tonight (~30 miles) and it's doing ok though one wheel is a bit out of balance and the clunk hasn't resolved itself. Sounds like it might be a damper or damper bush. Further investigation required as I couldn't make it do it by bouncing up and down on the back of the car.

 

Quick calculation shows over the run-in period so far it's averaging US 23 mpg which is uh, 27.6 UK mpg. Not bad. I'm expecting mid thirties once it's all loosened up a bit. It never felt tight-tight, but it's definitely a bit more responsive now. Feels and sounds good, smooth running so that's a direction to continue in, hopefully.

 

SWMBO complaining it's used $45 of fuel in 2 weeks..

 

--Phil

[PhilA]

Did some proper calculation after having found all the fuel receipts for the car (all 3 of them!), and so far I'm averaging 34.1 US MPG, which in real money is about 41 MPG, with a lot of short trips and to-and-fro from work.

 

Ain't too shabby really, especially from a 2 litre.

 

Wipers now seem to work properly, bought some proper blue screen wash for it too because the hosepipe water in the bottle ran out.

 

--Phil

[vulgalour]

Finally refound the thread and got caught up.  Great to read your progress and that you're finally getting to enjoy using the car, especially after all that byte wizardry you had to perform early on.