Buying Parts

I am looking to replace some general parts like the thermostat and I was wondering what to do if the local motor factors says something along the lines of "we don't list that car mate".

I know these V6 engines were fitted to quite a few different cars but are there any Do's and Dont's when buying service type parts at factors.

Alternatively are there any specialist parts suppliers for the Renault Alpine? After a quick search they seem to be a bit thin on the ground.

Engine wise you are always better off asking them to search 25 Turbo
Thermostat I think the general consensus is go to Renault and get the OE one not an aftermarket one .
I have a contact that can get most Renault bits if they exist and then there's always Mr Dell for more specialised Alpine specific parts and uprated bits and bobs ,hoses ,leads etc .
And tuning wise/special specialised bits there's RATS
You need to join the club though to benefit from all this
Just getting that one in before Simon ( rottweiler ) Taylor .

I got a thermostat from Simon Auto in Germany (simon-auto.de) at a very reasonable price. Proper Renault OE part and while I was there, I got a new seal for the thermostat housing, which they also had.

Just signed up for some special track rod ends from RATS, too!

Great, thanks for the advice.

I have sent my club paperwork in the day after I picked up the car last week so hopefully I will be a member soon.

When I phoned Renault they asked for an additional engine suffix number, I think there was a choice of two. (possibly 730 or 734). How important is this number? I only ask because don't have the car here and apparently it is only on the block.

It can be quite important to get the right codes as all kinds of updates were made. If you can't find the code, you can work out what it should be based on things like your chassis number.

In the parts catalogue (which, is available in the technical section of this site) describes how to use the chassis numbers and so on to get all these codes. They are spread over the first 15 pages or so.

730 and 734 are engine codes
No ident on the car ,only a small rectangular plate riveted to the block itself ...half the time this is missing .
Will only matter for engine rebuild ...734 denotes lower comp pistons ,deeper oil pump and poss liner base location .May also have different setup for oil pressure sender etc but all the same outputs .
Can't see it matters for anything else but they ( Renault ) may use this as an excuse not to bother helping you out

Very often you jump through all those hoops only to be given teh same part number whatever way you went through the system. The clutch is a good example.

Volvo 760 84-90 is a good cross reference too.

Engine wise you are always better off asking them to search 25 Turbo
Thermostat I think the general consensus is go to Renault and get the OE one not an aftermarket one .
I have a contact that can get most Renault bits if they exist and then there's always Mr Dell for more specialised Alpine specific parts and uprated bits and bobs ,hoses ,leads etc .
And tuning wise/special specialised bits there's RATS
You need to join the club though to benefit from all this
Just getting that one in before Simon ( rottweiler ) Taylor .

I reverted back to a Renault thermostat on my Atmo as it is totally different from aftermarket versions for other derivatives. The Renault thermostat has a larger and deeper seal which stops the water circulating through the pump and through the whole cooling system, thus taking forever and a day for the engine to reach normal running temperature.

The car now warms up within a few minutes, otherwise the car will be running on cold start forever washing the bores and prematurely wearing the engine, not to mention excesive fuel wasted at todays prices

Si21

Hi and welcome to the Club.

Here is a Parts Thread that i started some time ago.
Useful for general servicing items.

http://www.renaultalpineownersclub.com/ ... highlight=