Re: [AMC-list] Thinking of buying an '87 Renault Alliance convertible

[Frank Swygert <farna@xxxxxxx>]

Price the valves first! They have to come from overseas as far as I remember -- there are plenty places in the UK selling Renault spare parts, maybe a couple in Canada. If it broke a timing belt you can bet on replacing at least half the valves. I looked at a GTA once that had a broken timing belt. Took a battery and ran a compression check. 0 in all four cylinders. It was a 16 valve head, I think the 1.7L engine was just an 8 valve head. Since I had to order valves from the UK I would want to get all I needed at once, so it was all 16 or wait a while after tearing it down. Price was too much -- don't recall what, but 2-3 times what I expected per valve. Might not be that great a difference now, of the 1.7L valves might be cheaper (more common). 

The only other thing to check is the CPS. It's easy to get to though, right on top of the bell housing. It's basically the same as the Jeep Renix 4.0L CPS in the way it works. That's the only problem I had with my Alliance way back when -- other than a lack of power for long distance driving. I had a 1.4L with auto trans. It was fine around town and short trips, but a bit tiring due to lack of power on long trips. Hard to hold 65 mph with two adults and a six year old kid with weekend luggage on anything but a flat road. The 1.7L would have been MUCH better!! I'm pretty sure all converts got the 1.7L. 

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Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2010 14:27:07 -0700 (PDT)
From: Justin Shelton <justinshelton@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>

I'm just about 95% sure that I'm going to buy a Renault Alliance convertible this weekend.  The car is really nice, has 114,000 miles but does not run - I suspect a broken timing belt, but it doesn't sound like the valve stems are messed up.   I'll make the final decision this weekend.  Unfortunately, the car has been sitting for 3 years and now I have to drain the tank and stuff if I get it.

ANYWAY, I was wasting time at work and found this video of Renaults being built at the Kenosha factory.  There's some nice footage of how the tops are cut off of Alliances and then the bodies reinforced to make the convertibles.  It looks like the same guy who posted this video has more Alliance footage - I'll watch it tonight at home.

--
Frank Swygert
Publisher, "American Motors Cars" 
Magazine (AMC)
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