Hopping up a car with NO aftermarket? (Renault content)

Put the top down and cruise around wearing this:

http://longisland.craigslist.org/clt/4984624146.html

Ad says:

I have this brand new never worm limited run Rothmans Williams Renault jacket made by Sparco for sale. It is an officially licensed jacket that was made in very limited numbers for people outside of the team. This jacket shows off the livery of Williams 2nd run of multiple World Champions, with drivers Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, Damon Hill, David Coulthard, and Jacques Villenueve. It would make an awesome addition to a garage/collection, or just a really cool jacket to wear to DE'S or cars and coffee. I have a matching hat that is included as well.

In reply to Woody:

I have had similar thoughts - it's getting a Williams/Renault sticker at a minimum. That jacket is BAD ASS, but $450...genuine F1 collectibles are nearly too valuable to wear. Plus, I'm a M/L sized kind of guy.

Also, we're going to need several additional pictures of this car ASAP...

I'll have more after it gets trailed to the garage tomorrow, but here's another.

I love those, a counselor and his brother had matching black/red GTAs at the camp I used to go to in Des Moines. They were still pretty new then and the guys always piled around my dad's Shelby lancer when he dropped me off.

The wheels look wrong. I believe GTAs had 15 inch wheels. I don't think they looked like that. Maybe there is a second set in the garage. Be sure to ask.

The GTA seemed to be well reviewed back in the day. It is too bad it is a convertible, but for the price you can't go wrong. There is an outstanding recall on Alliances for heaters. Please post a video of you going in to your local FCA dealer and requesting it be done.

In reply to ZOO:

Those are the original 15 inch Ronals on the car, nothing wrong with them.

Dear lord, if that recall hasn't been done...

SlickDizzy wrote: In reply to ZOO: Those are the original 15 inch Ronals on the car, nothing wrong with them. Dear lord, if that recall hasn't been done...

IIRC that recall was one of the ones where the manufacturer resisted doing it so the government intervened - and when that happens, it becomes a "mandatory - all vehicles that exist anywhere" recall. So you have an Encore rotting in a field, they have to tow it to the dealership, replace the heater core, then tow it back to the dead spot of grass and four tire pits that they dragged it out of.

Anyway, I seel to recall seeing some French rally footage from the 80s and there were a LOT of cars that looked like Alliances. Turbocharged, and from the sounds of it they were draw-through turbo setups too. Worth investigating?

If the car is nice it might be a better flipper.

Don't let all the swelling in your neither regions affect your cognitive functions.

A convertible is going to need a full cage to both protect the driver and tighten up a flimsy flier chassis.

Best check the rules before busting out the sawzall, is a convertible coupe legal?

Chassis swap. Something German as the donor.

Turbo boost till it surrenders.

Other than that, I give up.

Junkyard_Dog wrote:

SlickDizzy wrote: apparently the block is the same as the Euro cars that got a 16v head with MPFI, so maybe that setup could be sourced and made to run with MS.

This. How swappable are French cars to each other? Peugeot M16? It'd be like finding a unicorn and mating it to adragon to make a dragicorn.

Peugeots and Citroens from the late 80s/early 90s share a lot of the main components, Renaults not so much. But it's not like you can't find a powerful Renault engine or three if you're willing to import one from Europe.

Knurled wrote: Anyway, I seel to recall seeing some French rally footage from the 80s and there were a LOT of cars that looked like Alliances. Turbocharged, and from the sounds of it they were draw-through turbo setups too. Worth investigating?

Yep, they did make a 9/11 turbo. How many of those are left, even in French junkyards, is another matter, though.

It's been a few years, but I've spent many hours with these cars and can definitely give you some advice.

Before anything else, you need to replace timing belt and idler pulley bearing. These engines are a heavy interference design and a snapped timing belt will cause bent valves (best case scenario, worst case is a total write off of the motor). The idler bearing is notorious and seizes up causing the belt failure. Looks like both are available on Rock Auto.

Window regulators are NLA and also prone to failure, I've got no advice on that just a heads up.

As for "hopping up", I would say it depends on what you want to do with the car and your fabrication skill level. Suspension in the GTA is about as stiff as you would ever want for a street car. I don't have any experience with the convertible, it would probably do well with some additional chassis bracing.

The rear axle has some camber built into it and stiffer torsion bars and bigger sway bar. The front had stiffer springs and bigger sway bar. Magazine tests of the era showed the GTA skid pad numbers on par with Corvette. With some good rubber and everything in decent condition, I think you should be fine as-is.

That being said, if you wanted to go "all out" For suspension, My last Encore that I raced in ITC used: -Bilstein struts for Mk2 VW Golf, with modified knuckle attachment flange holes and spring carrier removed. -ground control upper camber plates -coil over sleeves with 600# 2.5in racing springs -no front sway bar -stock rear GTA axle, torsion bars and sway bar -Bilstein shocks for Mk1 VW Rabbit with spring perch removed and custom fabbed upper bushing mounts

The GTA has a pretty close-ratio trans and shorter final drive that helps take advantage of the power available. The 2.0 motor is pretty pathetic by modern standards but held it's own in 1987.

The 1.7 and 2.0 engines are almost identical, but the 2.0 is both bored and stroked to get the displacement. Heads and valves are the same, but the GTA had a hotter cam. Intake manifold and FI unit are also GTA specific, with a larger throttle body and higher flow injector. A euro-spec intake manifold with a simple Weber carb is probably an easy way to make a little more power.

There are no off the shelf" headers available. The Spec Racers had one, but it doesn't fit in the car. Getting rid of the cat and freeing up the rest of the exhaust definitely helps, though. Getting rid of the power steering also frees up some more power.

Hope that helps, that's a pretty awesome car you've got there.

-Jim

When I was crewing for a friend....20 years ago...their was another racer campaigning the coupe version of that car.

I don't remember the guys name, but the car had Archer Brothers badges on it, the the fab job was first rate. You might want to track down someone at Archer Bros....

Nice car. Good luck!

Rog

Ya I am kind of in the don't mod it group. It is such a barn find. You NEVER see those anymore. I would clean it up go through it and make it "like new". Then drive it. Do the car show / ice cream summer tour in your area and just enjoy it for what it is. The other factor is that if you hop it up you run the risk of braking things and as you are learning finding replacement parts for that is not going to be that simple.

That just looks to nice and is to original to start modding. Maybe tires and wheels and if you can find them some performance brake pads but I would not go any further than that.

dean1484 wrote: Ya I am kind of in the don't mod it group. It is such a barn find. You NEVER see those anymore. I would clean it up go through it and make it "like new". Then drive it. Do the car show / ice cream summer tour in your area and just enjoy it for what it is. The other factor is that if you hop it up you run the risk of braking things and as you are learning finding replacement parts for that is not going to be that simple. That just looks to nice and is to original to start modding. Maybe tires and wheels and if you can find them some performance brake pads but I would not go any further than that.

Actually I agree with this idea - get it up and running, looking presentable, and drive as is. Even completely stock, you'll probably never see another one on the road. My driver ed school had a base Alliance convert back in 86, and I can't remember the last time I've seen one.

My old boss had a GTA coupe. I thought it was pretty peppy stock.

Nice find though. Hope you can find what you're looking for.

dean1484 wrote: Ya I am kind of in the don't mod it group. It is such a barn find. You NEVER see those anymore. I would clean it up go through it and make it "like new". Then drive it. Do the car show / ice cream summer tour in your area and just enjoy it for what it is. The other factor is that if you hop it up you run the risk of braking things and as you are learning finding replacement parts for that is not going to be that simple. That just looks to nice and is to original to start modding. Maybe tires and wheels and if you can find them some performance brake pads but I would not go any further than that.

Hey I just read where a '78 Granada sold for $27,500!! I'm not sure I'd ever modify an orphan ever again.

For some reason, people seem to be willing to pay almost anything for cars that were so bad new they could barely give them away. Then turn around and pooh-pooh a great car because there were so many of them sold? Go figure!

The $27.5k Grenada was probably the one that looked like a Benz.

Hopping up a car with NO aftermarket, you say? Welcome to my world!

I just left a thread on another forum where a bunch of people were going off on a dude who makes low volume custom parts for not doing anything/everything with anyone and everyone to facilitate dyno testing that paying customers weren't actually asking for.

Honestly, having no aftermarket is a certain kind of blessing because it means the only people who actually get anything done and stay in the community are people who ACTUALLY KNOW HOW TO DO THINGS and aren't a complete waste of time to talk to.

There is another evil part of my brain that wants to take the driveline out of a 80s dodge Daytona turbo and stuff it in an alliance. It would have to be a hard top. Add some big flairs both frount and rear and boost the snot out of it.

It was a good day. Just got home from dropping the car off at my workshop. I'm totally beat from the adventure but intend to go back tomorrow and start poking at it. Long story short, it was as nice as I hoped it would be, and it has the cleanest interior I have EVER seen in one of these. Sadly the previous owners crunched the passenger taillight rolling it out of storage but it looks like it can be straightened without too much work. http://smg.photobucket.com/user/SlickDizzy/library/

i still want a fuego. we had one when i was a pre-teen and held out hope it would make it to me, but it was sent to the crusher with 26k miles, as it was usually broken and sitting, so it rusted out underneath.

Comment est ton Français? S'il est pas trop mal, tu devrais trouver toute l'information que tu veux ici.

There is even a guy putting a 3.0 V6 in a Renault 11.

In reply to fanfoy:
I just wasted an hour and a half thanks to you.