1987 Renault GTA :: Gone to a new home

[PhilA]

Filled up and saw an improvement of 12 mpg after having the front wheels aligned.

 

In other news this has been filling my time up, non-car related.

 

 

Old linear power supply for a computer older than I am. Fun stuff. Still need to do oil change on the Renault.

 

--Phil

[steve_earwig]

Good lord, how far out was the tracking? Was it pushing the tyres tires sideways down the road?

[PhilA]

The rods and balljoints were replaced and put together by eye.

 

The old rod bearing had fallen apart and there was about 1/2" of play in the right wheel.

 

Needless to say it was quite far off where it should have been. 1000 miles on the old tires and they were shouldered very badly on the outer edges.

 

 

The car kinda wandered about a bit also, but that wasn't helped by the "supermarket trolley" steering, as-was...

 

--Phil

[PhilA]

Was a nice evening last night, so I decided to pull the dash apart- the fan switch, on full tilt, would get hot and smell of burning plastic after a few minutes.

 

 

Ended up taking more of it apart than I actually needed to, but it did give me a chance to fix the lights in the glovebox and ashtray. Made an improvement but it's not 100%, so I think I'll invest in a fuse/relay box for under the bonnet and wire all the high current stuff like lights and wipers and such to that instead.

 

After putting the dash back together, I cleaned up the contacts on the heater blower resistor pack which were rusty, put some contact cleaner on a few of the ECU plugs and took a look at the aircon thermostat. The aircon has been working well but had been a bit intermittently cool(ish).

Took the plastic cover off the evaporator coil.

 

 

There's the little thermostat device.

 

 

Discovered, with it removed, that there's a plastic end-piece that slides out with a little effort. And, oho, the adjustment, helpfully marked with an arrow and "COLD".

 

 

Gave it a tweak, which seemed to be what it needed because it was all stuck. Cleaned up the contacts and added a bit of contact cleaner for good measure.

 

 

Set the heater controls..

 

 

Compressor kicked in happily.

 

 

Whilst it was running, I topped off the power steering reservoir, as the level was getting low. Typically my neighbor rides past on her mowing machine at the very instant.

 

Nevertheless, the aircon now cycles evenly, gets nice and cold and so far hasn't frozen up so I might dial it in a little further. I think I need to get a thermometer to check see what temperature the air is coming out.

 

Bought a new fanbelt also because this one's gone all shiny and squeals in the humid air.

 

Progress

 

--Phil

[PhilA]

New belt arrived in today. Not before time, so I set about changing it after work.

 

 

Let the hot air out as much as possible, and began surveying the surroundings.

 

 

Yup, it's a belt. After grabbing the correct combination of tools (10mm wrench and 11mm socket) I set about taking things apart.

 

 

Undo the locknut and then start turning this one the entire length of the thread until you die of old age.

 

 

Huzzah. Loose belt.

 

 

Fight at it from down here and eventually manage to untangle it from the engine, as the amount of room to work in is typically French.

 

 

Shinier than a used car salesman's suit and with more crack than The Bronx, this belt has seen 1800 miles. Fail.

 

 

Forget the order it's meant to go in, so pull out the Renault BOL and check see.

 

 

New belt is made from the same brown velour that BL made their seats from. Refitting was indeed the reverse of removal (i.e. a complete bastidge of a job) but now the volts hold steady, the belt doesn't squeal when the aircon kicks on and the power steering is smooth at low RPM.

 

 

My phone decided that should be upside down, so I'm giving a thumbs-down. I give that to the procedure, however. Still, not bad for five dollars.

 

--Phil

[PhilA]

Bought a bottle of Simoniz Detail Doctor Rain Runner, which comes in a huge box with a tiny little bottle inside for $6 to try and stop the water from pooling and smearing on the rear and side glass of the GTA because the rear screen doesn't clear itself worth a damn, even at 70mph.

 

It has a picture of Danny Koker from Count's Kustoms on the front. Hurrah. Perhaps it'll work. Seems to be silicone in a rapidly evaporating ester base.

 

I'd take a picture but there ain't nothing to look at, 'cept the glass.

 

--Phil

[PhilA]

Was slightly foggy this morning, rear window at work looked pretty good tbh

 

 

Then it was really tested as we got hit by a huge storm:

 

 

First picture taken at 8:00am, that one at 10:20am

 

Needless to say, all the windows beaded water. Heavy wind, rain etc, inside of car stayed dry also. Was so bad a train got blown completely off the bridge in New Orleans and landed on the ground below.

http://www.nola.com/weather/index.ssf/2015/04/train_blown_off_track_elmwood.html

 

Crazy stuff

 

--Phil

[PhilA]

Just been driving about really, nothing much to report. I do know the bodyshell of the car is still in good shape because I went to park up outside the house today.

Front wheel down in the drain, cocking a leg:

 

The door opened and closed as if it was sat on a flat piece of ground.

 

Need to get a new thermostat for the air conditioning at some point also.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

A few ups and downs with the car recently. Replaced the front anti-roll-bar bushings because they had disintegrated, that quietened things down. Bought a new coolant header tank because the old one split open, the resulting pressurized system blew one of the core plugs (rust). Just got through dismantling the manifolds and such to change those out- after having bought the wrong size core plugs on special order. I appear to have cornered the market in the USA for 45mm core plugs.

 

Nevertheless, we are back up and running again with minimal leaks (still trying to track down the Exxon Valdez style power steering leak).

 

Cooler weather today and yesterday (21c) so fuel economy much improved. Determined that the pipework for the EGR valve is all blocked up so might make inroads into checking that system.

 

 

--Phil

[Asimo]

Nice to get an update on this proper Renault. Did the Volvo 440 ( with the same engine ) ever get to USA?

[PhilA]

I guess there needs to be some pictures.

 

We have a new gearshift linkage and rod because the old rubber bushing in the lever fell apart and upon driving to work the entire thing fell down through the floor.

 

 

A bit much slack in the lever. Made finding gears... difficult.

 

 

Ordered this from China. Fairly well made, damned sight better than the original rubber piece that had fallen apart and, according to Renault, was unavailable.

 

 

Old bit pulls out, new bit slots in and held in place with circlip. A bit of massaging of bushings and adjustment of linkages and we have all the gears back.

 

 

Got a bunch of slack out of the gearbox end also, which helped a lot.

 

 

At the same time I replaced the alternator, which had gotten so bad on the regulator (burned diodes) that anything light throttle below about 2000 RPM made the car undriveable.

 

 

Discovered a Jubilee clip that I hadn't tightened up when I rebuilt the engine. Oops.

 

 

 

Gears and volts all where they should be.

[PhilA]

Nice to get an update on this proper Renault. Did the Volvo 440 ( with the same engine ) ever get to USA?

Not that I'm aware of. I think it made it to Canada, which is the case with a lot of European vehicles.

 

--Phil

[PhilA]

Next up was the front anti roll bar bushings.

 

 

That is all that remained of the left hand one.

 

 

Right hand one was pretty sad also.

 

 

Cleaned it all back up.

 

 

All back in and considerably better than it was.

 

 

Gave it all a wipe down. Looks pretty good under there for a car built in '86.

 

 

Bit of regular maintenance pending. Oil had done 3000 miles, time for a change.

 

 

Cheap oil showing up as brown varnish. Threw in a bit of oil with detergents to help reduce that to a minimum.

 

 

 

New Napa branded Wix filter also. Good for another 3k. Recommended oil change interval is 8k so cheap oil and short journeys after a rebuild justify regular changes.

 

 

Exhaust was rusty and leaking so built a random replacement which is far too loud.

 

 

--Phil

[PhilA]

Most recent issue. Got the car stripped down, manifolds off because to get at it from underneath would have meant steering rack off, exhaust off, starter motor off.. that fell into "screw that" territory so opted for access via the top instead.

 

 

All unbolted and removed (4+ hours trying to remember the order in which it was meant to come off)

 

 

Old plugs looking a bit worse for wear. When hit with a hammer, the result wasn't so good.

 

 

Fought with the damn things, pain in the behind that was, with the access available to swing a hammer..

 

 

Core plugs I bought turned out to be the wrong size. Found out the holes were 1.5" big.

 

 

Managed to get all 3 out in the end. The holes themselves were in very good shape. Fished all the lose crap out of the gallery with Magnet On A Stick, which wins an award for useful tool award.

 

 

Bit of RTV, a suitably sized impact socket and hammer-time and we are in business.

 

 

The old ones were pretty ropey.

 

 

Filled it back up and bled the radiator, checked it out for overheats and leaks.. think we are good

 

 

 

 

All together and running where it should.

 

--Phil

[Guest loggato]

how cool it is to see someone else in the USA fixing one up! i've been trying to get mine back into road-worthy condition after being extensively modified for track use. mine has Megasquirt II EFI so i never had to mess with the ECU like you did, however i have been re-doing a lot of the wiring due to connectors that have failed over the years. i also had a motor mount fail during an autocross event which put the car out-of-business for a couple of months. its inspiring to see some of your fixes for the small things that break on this car! i will have to make a build thread of my own. here are some pictures of mine:

 

oh, and i literally have a second cars-worth of parts (window regulators, switches, panels) if you need anything, just ask!

[PhilA]

Is that Greg's old car? Looks familiar.

 

I'm currently trying to determine the source of Unpleasant Noises. I've got a chirruping squeak and the hawrooooaarrgggh of a failed bearing kicking about- unsure of source. A high RPM it smooths out and goes away. Sounds like the aux belt- tempting to pull the belt off and see briefly with the engine cold if that's the issue.

 

Fun times. Battery's on charge right now and the trunk smells of damp carpet, it's been laid up and we had some horrendous storms.

 

 

--Phil

[Parky]

Still running though Phil, that alone deserves some sort of award! Any plans to paint the rest of it?

[PhilA]

Twist the key and it starts. Press the buttons, they all mostly do what they are meant to, with exception of the fog lights, maximum speed on the fan, the map light and occasionally the door switches. Plans to paint, yes. Money to do so, no. I therefore did the proper Autoshite thing and took the jetwash hose to the bonnet and pressure-washed the paint, which came off like a layer of moss. It's now down to primer and what's left of the old silver around the edges. Proper Cal-look.

 

 

It has significantly improved the appearance of the front of the car, being as the rest of it is mostly grey anyway.

 

Also checked the rear lights, which have crazed badly.. was looking on Le eBay de France and found some 'arrette feu clignoigants' which appears to mean rear lights for a R9, which won't sell because they have orange indicators and the cool kids want the smoked gray phase II ones. I might take a punt at them. At lest then the lights would line up with the swage line.

My problem is my French is appalling and I'd be able maybe to ask for them to be sent to les Etats Unis but this is a rather big place and they'd probably end up in Libya or something, knowing my luck.

 

 

Fixed one of the problems also.. the squeaky noise at low RPM- the aux belt was slipping on the crank pulley. It would appear that all the massive torques my engine has are not contained or smoothed out enough by the flywheel and as such, with each power stroke, the belt would chirrup. On a multi-vee like this, the net result is a screech. Fix? Tighten the shit out of the belt. It only chirps a little bit when the aircon is on now so that's good. It's down to everything having been covered in power steering oil. I did spray some degreaser on it but I think maybe a wash down with some fairy liquid or something equivalent will help. It's just the dregs of the oil in the pulley grooves. Jetwashed the inner wing down- the power steering reservoir appears to be less incontinent after having tightened the shit out of the jubilee clip (see a recurring trend?). The level hasn't dropped much, so I think the only leak now is the weep at the union on the rack which I can't be arsed to fix because it's providing Austin-style anti-corrosion protection.

 

 

--Phil

[DeeJay]

Now that's a Renault thread.

Fantastic.

[PhilA]

Now that's a Renault thread.

Fantastic.

Despite someone else quoting in another thread that it was a shame Renault made the Alliance. This forum isn't what it used to be, etc.

[Guest loggato]

Is that Greg's old car? Looks familiar.

 

I'm currently trying to determine the source of Unpleasant Noises. I've got a chirruping squeak and the hawrooooaarrgggh of a failed bearing kicking about- unsure of source. A high RPM it smooths out and goes away. Sounds like the aux belt- tempting to pull the belt off and see briefly with the engine cold if that's the issue.

 

Fun times. Battery's on charge right now and the trunk smells of damp carpet, it's been laid up and we had some horrendous storms.

 

 

--Phil

how the heck does everyone in America know about Greg? I've happened upon about 5 people around the country that know him (or of him). but yes, this was his car.

[PhilA]

how the heck does everyone in America know about Greg? I've happened upon about 5 people around the country that know him (or of him). but yes, this was his car.

You bought an icon, that's why.

 

I've been there, done that before.

 

 

And yeah, what you have in terms of window regulators?

 

Phil

[beko1987]

[PhilA]

I don't get it.

[DeeJay]

It's "Old Gregg".

[Pillock]

how the heck does everyone in America know about Greg? I've happened upon about 5 people around the country that know him (or of him). but yes, this was his car.

It's not like America is a big place.

I'm now going to ask every American I meet how Greg is.

[PhilA]

Ohh. Old Greggs is some stale pasties and the like, surely?

 

Pillock.. I get that a lot, people ask me where I'm from, Bristol.. they have friends in Northumberland, so I know them? The Jones family.

 

 

Sure. I walked there daily for a newspaper

 

--Phil

[Pillock]

You say that, but once in Vermont on holiday we did the whole "hey, English people, where are you from" thing.... Where you get closer and closer. County, oh yeah we're from Nottinghamshire too. Which town? Near Mansfield? Us too! etc etc until it turned out they lived about four miles away on the same road as a friend.

 

Which, to the Americans in the room, only cemented the idea that the UK is the size of an American mall.

 

Perhaps it is?

[hauserplenty]

"Me: "Hey, English type persons...where you from?"

 

Lady: "Nottingham."

 

Pause.

 

..."Robin Hood??"

 

Me: "Uhh...is that in the Midlands?"

 

Lady: "Nearly..."

 

"...My, you've got some bl00dy great shopping malls here haven't you...?"

 

There just might be fewer of these Renaults left stateside as there are Sterlings...I've only seen one in the metal and it was a FuegoWagon which I considered buying. Top thread!

[PhilA]

Picked up the driveshaft I removed from the car and replaced with with a much better* rebuilt one. Is a bit rusty from having been sat outside.

 

 

Dumped it into a jug of derusting solution.

 

 

Gonna wait see how it comes out. Hopefully I can repack the cup and bearings with grease and replace the boot. Easier to do this off the car than fight with it to remove the thing and then have to fix it up.

 

--Phil