Here are some of the helpful things that I learned through my years racing Renaults. I may be contacted by email at cholb2698@aol.com
Alliance and Encore.
1. You can make the ignition timing adjustable and make the car run whatever total timeing you want by using the early 1.4 Alliance/Encore timing module with the vacuum canister on it. This unit can be used on the later cars and 1.7s if you splice in the appropriate wiring plugs. The signal leads from the pickup on the 1.7 engine must be/remain spliced into the main engine harness instead of being run direct to the ignition module as they also tell the computer when to fire the injection. For the power and ground leads you just splice 1.4 plugs into the harness as the plugs are different between the two modules. You can leave the original plugs in place so you can change back if you want. You do not have to worry about the altitude advance wires etc. just give it power and a ground and it will work.
If you want to adjust the timing advance manually do the following.
Take off the little rubber or plastic cover cap on the vacuum canister and remove the allen plug/spring stop you find under it. Do not remove the vacuum canister from the ignition module as that will ruin it. Cut a piece of plastic rod or wood (a childs Tinker Toy rod is perfect) that will fit inside the spring to 21mm in length and reassemble the allen plug. Find a vacuum one way check valve off the emissions circuit of some cars or the one way valve on the Renault windshield washer system, it is found in the hose near the windshield washer tank, and install it in the vacuum line from the throttle body to the ignition module. When you start the engine the vacuum will always be applied to the vacuum diaphram in the ignition module drawing it up against the spring until the spring collapses to the length of the 21mm spacer. Then by screwing the allen plug in or out while watching you timing marks with a timing light, you can adjust your maximum timing just like rotating the distributer on that old Chevy! I set mine, with the engine hot and reving about 4,000rpm, at 32 degrees. You need to use better gas, high test at least, but it gives you better throttle response. The computer controlled setup only gives you 27 degrees at wide open throttle.
2. Radiators are going bad now with age and I have found the cheapest replacement is from the VW Rabbits. You can get them used with the fan housing and adapt the mounts and wiring. the best thing is that a new one is less than $100! They run cooler also. On the 1.7 use the long lower hose with the T in it and the stock upper hose turns around and fits perfectly. On the 1.4 the stock long upper hose works fine and you have to make up a long lower hose by joining two lower hoses of the correct shape with a piece of pipe and clamps. The radiator you want is the one without a radiator cap if you can get it but it really does'nt matter. Just put the outlets on the drivers side.
3. Here is some information that could be of use to many of you. The transmissions for the Alliance and Encore are machined to fit both the 1.4 and the 1.7/2.0 engine. All you have to do is to move the sleeve dowels and the threaded stud that is over by the starter to make it fit. The dowels and stud for the 1.7 are shorter than the ones for the 1.4. The starter dowel must be moved also as the 1.7 flywheel is a small bit larger than the 1.4 flywheel. Axels, and clutch disk splines are all the same. The automatic uses a different boot retaining plate on the drivers side of the car but I believe the axel is the same.
4. Starters. All starters bolt in the oblong or slotted hole nearest the engine and the bottom hole near the rear of the car. The fat heavy Paris Rhone 1.7 starter is 8" from the mounting surface to the end of the main body. It has 11 teeth, and is doweled and bolted in the outer hole most toward the rear of the car, the bottom hole and the slotted or oblong hole on the top nearest the engine. The skinny light Bosch starter for the 1.7 measures 7 1/2" from the mounting surface to the end of the main body of the starter, has 9 teeth, and bolts in the same locations as the fat 1.7 starter. The 1.4 starter measures 6 1/4" from the mounting surface to the end of the main body and has 9 teeth. This starter is doweled and mounts using the inner hole, or the hole closer to the engine of the two on the top rear of the bellhousing. This starter will not work properly on the 1.7 engine/tranny combination.
5. The pistons are the same in the calipers of the Alliance, Encore, and GTA. The GTA caliper is wider to accept the vented rotor but the piston is the same and it uses the same brake pads as the standard Alliance and Encore. This front brake is made by Bendix and is the same as the 1982-1984 VW Rabbit. If the parts guy tells you he doesn't have Renault pads just buy VW GTI.
6. For the race car I made up a little box that places potentiometers and resisters in place of the water tempreture sensor and the MAT sensor so I could regulate the mixture a little better for varied weather conditions. I used some plugs I got at the junk yard and made up a harness using Radio Shack parts and zip cord and run it through the passenger door, up under the hood and plug it in place of the real sensors. It works fine if you deactivate the Oxygen sensor to the computer and replace it's signal with a O2 eliminator from a propane conversion company. Otherwise the computer will just adjust the mixture back to what it wants in active mode by varying the injector pulse width. It takes the computer about 5 minutes to do this with the water temp setting set on cold, which would richen the mixture. The computer does this because it thinks that after that amount of time if the temp sensor does not come up it must have failed and goes to a fail safe mode, the O2 fix corrects this problem. Clever those little Renix people.
7. You can switch from power steering to manual steering by switching the steering rack from any Alliance or Encore. The spline that the steering shaft hooks to is different so you will need the lower (from the u-joint down) part of the steerilng shaft from the doner car. Everything else bolts up.
8. I have wiring diagrams that I can email as attachments for the Alliance and Encores and GTA is anyone needs them. I have most years and a lot of other information available also. Just let me know what you need. Used Parts too. Just email me at cholb2698@aol.com
9. I build headers for the 1.7/2.0 engines, for racing, using the stock header flange and stubs. These headers have a 2 1/2" outlet and have the oxygen sensor bung in the collector. They are not equal length and have aprox. 29" primarys. They allow for the most clearance between the axel boot and header at the expense of steering rack clearance. The cost for these headers is $400 plus freight. I make them up one at a time when ordered. Where else can you get one?
10. Let me know what you need, I may be able to get it for you used. The yards around here are crushing most of them up now but I still have some sources.
11. I do have a couple of GTA 2.0 long blocks that are not blown up and have not broken their cam belts. Aprox. 95,000 miles, but they are all there if you really need one. The heads are good. I do not want to split these engines up. I will sell them with a new cam belt on them for $600 plus freight or with new rings and rod bearings, valve job, and cam belt for $1,500. You pick up or pay freight.
12. GTA or other 5 speeds with locked differential (welded for racing), exchange for $650, outright for $1,250. These are not for the street as they put a lot of strain on the axels. I have not lost an axel in road racing but I corner at great speed so one wheel can slip. I do not recommend this box for drag racing as the small end of the case is not strong enough.
13. GTA vented brake disks are impossible to find now. I have found that if you purchase a vented disk for a 91-92 Nissan Sentra you will find that it is almost the same. The outer diameter is just a little larger so you can have it cut slightly, and the wheel mounting surface is a little thicker so you can have it thinned to the same as your old disk at a machine shop. If you do this they will serve as a decent replacement. The bolt pattern and center hole are the same as Renault.
14. Longer front wheel studs from Ford. Ford part number XF1Z-1107-AB
contact me by email at cholb2698@aol.com
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