A310 V6 Question - Front Headlight glass covers

Hi all, I have a A310 V6, 1st series model, thin rubber bumpers which has been smashed in the front, I bought the car like this from a dealer in switzerland (found by Chris, Aussie GTA owner) and shipped it to australia. I am now converting it to RHD and am slowly getting all the parts that I need.

One thing that has amazed me is the price of the toughened glass headlight covers, like at Simon Auto. Does anyone in the UK know where I can get a set of Left and Right Glass covers, or has someone made more modern polycarbonate modern alternative? without spending HUGE amounts of money for simple glass?.

What do fellow A310 owners do out there????? I had heard that also some Vauxhall has a similar front? some 70's rally car? I maybe wrong on that one.....

And one other Question, I know that A310 owners are not in the main focus of this forum, but could you look at having maybe a A310 section or archive on this site, as this is the only forum on the web anywhere I have seen a good group of english speaking A310 owners.....


And I love alby's post on his A310 4 I would love to hear about the V6 he owned.....

So in the end, keep up the good work with this forum, I love the range of stuff A310, GTA, 610 etc, and am always amazed with what people all around the world get up to.....

Volker
Owner of a smashed A310 V6 and a R15TS in Australia

[stephendell]

I have moulds for GTA headlamp covers in polycarbonate, so it wouldn't be out of the question to have them made for the A310. Problem is that although the glasses would be much cheaper the tooling cost for the moulds would be around £200 so you'd need a few people to club together.

Am happy to expand the forum areas to include a section for A310 owners if there is a demand for it.

What do you all think?

Any regular A310 users apart from Andy?

An ALPEEN is an ALPEEN so let's not exclude any input.I was originally switched on to the marque by the 110.It's styling is awesome and if I had the funds it would be in the stable,but it would still be the GTA
above all as it's got the everyday driveability and similar individuality.The 310 is a much closer relative and as such should have a similar knowledge base so we can all learn a bit more .

Clee I know what your saying, I think that when it comes to the sporting products coming out of that odd french factory in Dieppe all are welcome, like spider owners talking to GTA and 310 owners etc, but I feel as there are so few of us english speaking owners that this is a great place for all renault sporting owners..... to meet and exchange ideas as the internet makes this world allot smaller and accessible.

As for seperate forum areas per model, maybe not needed when all are welcome, but maybe archiving the older more specific and interesting posts in model archive areas, so say me being a A310 owner could either choose to look for current posts in the dicussion area, or jump to the A310 archive where other older posts have been stored.

As I am sure quite a few questions get answered over and over again.... but this may need some organisation and maybe be to much of a headache for admins in the forum which I can understand.

I just find this place quite interesting, as alot of the french alpine forum may seem huge and busy being their home land, but the language divide is a huge one.... and I find often hard to decipher whats being said or who whats to sell what, etc

[Alpineandy]

Anyone that knows me, knows that I'm not really technical and not much of a mechanic. However as the A310 is the GTA's grandfather (not quite similar enough to be the father) I have asked 'generic' questions already.
Provided any questions are clearly marked "A310", I think most people are OK with us having A310 threads. But then A310s started with the 1600cc motor (Yes I want one as well) which is more if a cousin to the GTAs etc. So I think we should keep it to A310-V6s for anything technical, unless steve says different.


Concerning the headlight glass, It's a flat surface which takes a lot of air pressure at speed. I discussed this with an A110 friend a couple of years ago and he'd seen some French ones with thin plastic covers but they were all busted by the air pressure on their debut journey to the event.

It's should be quite easy to do as they are basically flat panels with a stepped edge, but the thickness and glue are crucial.

I've heard that the 'droop snoot' vauxhalls used this glass panel but they don't. They're rounded on the outside bottom corner, slightly eye-like.

The stores had them at zolder (2004) and gave a good discount. But they were still v.v. expensive

oh, just for interest, wht year is it? I've got 43341 (77) and 48874 (81).

If the glasses are flat then they would be very easy to fabricate from 4/6mm thick polycarb sheet .I get things like that done for Point of sale displays.The only reason you need a mould for the GTA ones is they are curved in two directions.I've just put some 6mm replacements in my GTA and they work fine.

Thanks Alpineandy for your advice, I thought they were flat as well, some people here in australia said, no they had a slight curve, I was of two minds either way, but I have a friend who may have a connection to get the thicker automotive grade polycarb sheet. So I may just have to make up a set and custom fit them and see how it goes keeping a eye on the front nose and the pressure.

My thinking was to see if there was anyone with some solutions in europe at a decent price, and if not go down the custom route using some modern materials to solve the problem.

And It was good to hear about the 'droop snoot' vauxhalls as I had always wondered about them, like the story of the A310 bonnet hinges being sourced from a kitchen supply company?.

My alpine A310 is a swiss delivery, was metallic blue, not revlon pink/red sprayed by previous owner only in a way 1980's german and swiss owners would love

It's a V6 with a Four Speed Manual. Sorry I have forgotten the year of the car??? I will have a look at the car for that.... my memory must be going...
Type std 2700va
Oval plate says no. 25534

So do you UK alpine owners make good contacts at the Zolder days etc, like being just next door to france is there alot of exchange of information happening with the alpine clubs on the continent or do people in their respective countries tend to keep to their own regions...... As we here at the other end of the world often think that you guy's in europe must have it so good being next door to europe and all those amazing days that renault have been recently holding ......

[Alpineandy]

Hi Covert,
I'm trying to remember if there is a slight curve.... But If you use polycarb and a heatgun that should allow enough flex.. I'll have to have a look... I'm sure it's flat...I'll look and confirm later.

I thought the hinges story was genuine...

25534 is early!

There isn't a great amount of info swapping here either. It tends to be person to person (I've got some A310 mates in Munich) etc... or via Paul at ARR (who's owned and/or worked on 3/4 of the A310s here). If you speak French you can use 1 forum or German the other forum. That's the forums except here and CARgb, but their membership doesn't seem to like this new-fangled electric stuff
You have the Aussiefrogs forum with some very knowledgable people (some of them come on here!).

Cheers

[stephendell]

So do you UK alpine owners make good contacts at the Zolder days etc

I've made some good contacts with the large Euopean clubs. Also met the main man from Renault Hertitage. Both of these helped me to resolve the tradmark problems I had.

Also need to follow up contacts made with the Factory parts dept.