A little advice would be nice!!

Mine was done with the engine in situ. But yes, they put it all back together with the timing out by one tooth! So they had to take the timing cover etc off again to time it back up correctly.

Had no problems with my in situ job.If you're going to keep the car then you need to find a reliable garage and build a relationship.Ask any car enthusiast and they'll give you the names to look out for ,good and bad.
The guy I use for any major work is a Jag specialist but a cars a car, and as you've already said ,the Renault dealer hasn't a clue.
The main thing with a specialist is that they know the quickest way to do a job and have a head start with problem solving,but that doesn't guarantee they'll get it right or be cheaper

Hi Jamie

I am so pleased to know that there is another GTA owner out there who likes to drive and own it without the ability to take it to bits. I dont feel quite so lonely now.

I have a red 90 model Turbo GTA. Like you lots of niggly problems and me unable to address them without mechanics help.

This forum is brilliant and I look forward to meeting some of the real afficionados of the Alpine on Saturday at Rockingham. Looks like I am cleaning my car tonight.

Hope you can sort the overheating out without it breaking the bank.

Juzz....how was the engine with the cam a tooth out? (curious thats all!)

Hi Jamie

I am so pleased to know that there is another GTA owner out there who likes to drive and own it without the ability to take it to bits. I dont feel quite so lonely now.

I think you'll find thats the vast majority actually, minor things are ok but I prefer to leave anything to complicated to an expert - in my experience this is cheaper in the long run!

Juzz....how was the engine with the cam a tooth out? (curious thats all!)

After refitting the cylinder heads he must have moved the left hand cam sprocket by one tooth, in relation to where it should have been, when he refitted the timing chain. If you read my old post I was confused by the poor performance when I got my car back, thinking it might be the turbo set wrong or something. It turned out the valve timing was out on the left hand bank! It was fixed by literally turning the cam sprocket by the equavalent of one tooth. I could tell when I looked at it and compared it to the timing diagram in the workshop manual. I don't think it could be out by much anyway. Anymore and I think the valves wouldn't move without hitting the pistons!

It was actually a Turbo Technics dealer who carried out some ignition and fuel tests, couldn't find anything wrong and reckoned it must be the cam timing out.

Incidentily, the Turbo Technics dealer had the electrical leads to the injectors off and when they put them back on, they forgot to put the little metal clips that hold the plugs onto the injectors back! I only discovered it when my car started missing a few days later and I found one of the leads had come unplugged off the injector. Is it possible to buy replacement clips anywhere? I've got them secured with tie clips at the moment!

You can try any Bosch automotive dealer, or a scrapyard....litterally all European cars use them...