Some Virage questions

Gus

Gus

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OK, well after playing with my new Virage for a while I have some questions for all you nice Renault nuts:

i) Does this car have a fuse box? If so, where is it?

ii) How much rust is average for these? Did most/all of them rust to some degree?

iii) Can anyone tell me off-hand what Weber is on it?

iv) On the temp gauge, is the line down the middle meant to be "normal"?

v) Would there be any relatively rust-free wagon shells (12s/Virages) in the Canberra region, or am I dreaming?

vi) Where does the speedo sender come off the gearbox?

Thanks guys. Apologies for the newbie RTFM questions, I just don't have a manual yet. :)
 
Gus:
OK, well after playing with my new Virage for a while I have some questions for all you nice Renault nuts:

i) Does this car have a fuse box? If so, where is it?

ii) How much rust is average for these? Did most/all of them rust to some degree?

iii) Can anyone tell me off-hand what Weber is on it?

iv) On the temp gauge, is the line down the middle meant to be "normal"?

v) Would there be any relatively rust-free wagon shells (12s/Virages) in the Canberra region, or am I dreaming?

vi) Where does the speedo sender come off the gearbox?

Thanks guys. Apologies for the newbie RTFM questions, I just don't have a manual yet. :)
Click to expand...
The fusebox is locate on the drivers side below the dashboard (under a black plastic cover)

The rust is very dependant on year...some seem to disintergrate whilst others seem very good :confused:

Its a twin downdraught 32mm webber

The line down the middle is meant to be normal, but they usually run around 2/3rds in traffic, and about 1/3 on the freeway...nothing to stress about, all renaults do it :confused:

The speedo is cable operated, the cable is conected to the back left-hand side of the gearbox.
 
Hi Gus,

i) Does this car have a fuse box? If so, where is it?
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Fuse box is mounted vertically at the far right of the parcel shelf. (Where it's bloody awkward to get at)
ii) How much rust is average for these? Did most/all of them rust to some degree?
Click to expand...
Anything from nothing to total basket cases. Depends on how they were looked after.

iii) Can anyone tell me off-hand what Weber is on it?
Click to expand...
Should be a 32DIR47 for a Virage. The early 12's (no emission control) had a 32DIR21.

iv) On the temp gauge, is the line down the middle meant to be "normal"?
Click to expand...
Anywhere in the white area is usually okay.

vi) Where does the speedo sender come off the gearbox?
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Back nearside of geargox. There is a small bolt locking the cable in place at the gearbox end.
Note the speedo cable for the Virage is not the same a the cable on the earlier 12's with VDO instruments.

Ren
cheers!
 
If you have just bought a Virage, sounds like you should consider joining the ROCC. We have an extensive library of workshop manuals and tools that members are welcome to borrow. There are relatively rust-free R12 wagons available in CBR, we often get give-aways but they are too numerous and sadly often end up at the crushers. Go to our website <a href="http://www.renaultcanberra.asn.au" target="_blank">www.renaultcanberra.asn.au</a> for info on joining. You can contact me privately and I can give you ads for recent cars for sale/give away. We have several members who specialise in R12s, including myself.
A note on the temp guage- mine always sits at about 1/4 for normal operation and only gets to the middle (1/2) on a very hot day. At the moment it is struggling to get on the guage when it is -5C and covered in ice!
 
Thanks for the replies, guys!

I will consider joining the Renault club (right now I'm trying to decide if I can justify buying new spark plugs - I'm a student!)

My Virage was a cheapie and I'm so far happy with it mechanically but it is kinda rusty.

I only need it till the end of the year, so I'm happy to just patch some of the rust and drive it, but I'm also getting kind of fond of it so if anyone has a cheap wagon body, I could be convinced to buy it and take the time to swap all the mechanicals/interior into it... just to make it into a worthwhile car.

I have two more questions, though. Two switches in my interior are jammed and don't switch. The one on the steering column, next to the key, and the one in the middle above the heater panel (between the rear demister and the heater fan.) What are they meant to do?
 
If they dont have anything printed on them they are possibly blanks...I think the one on the column is meant to be for fog or driving lights on o/seas models and the one in the middle of the other two is usually not there on sedans, so I'd be thinking rear wiper assembly perhaps (if it doesn't have one that is....)

regards...
 
Gus,

You'd be welcome as a guest at the next meeting of ROCC- Wed 13 August at 8pm at Hellenic Club. We have some members with a lot of knowledge about R12s and heaps of spares. Also having a Renault trivia quiz that night, which should be fun.

The switch between the rear demister and fan switches is/was for the driving lights if you had "kangaroo" lights in the 1.4 version with rectangular headlights. Mine now has after-market fog lights wired through this switch. As for teh one on the steering column, not sure. And I'm not going outside now to check my car as it is too cold (below 0C)brrr! Will check it tomorrow.
 
No worries Renweave, thanks for the info... I'll drop by the meeting for sure.

Final question before I leave y'all alone... Is there any easy way to get the "boot" section floor out? It's got a bolt (rusty, in mine) with a tag on it saying "press", and it seems like it'd just lift out with the right trick. What is that trick?

(I need to get to the fuel tank cos I think it's got a small leak in the top!)
 
Gus:
No worries Renweave, thanks for the info... I'll drop by the meeting for sure.

Final question before I leave y'all alone... Is there any easy way to get the "boot" section floor out? It's got a bolt (rusty, in mine) with a tag on it saying "press", and it seems like it'd just lift out with the right trick. What is that trick?

(I need to get to the fuel tank cos I think it's got a small leak in the top!)
Click to expand...
Loosen the bolt and it should come out. There is a bit of a space there between the floor and the tank where you could hide very flat valuables or spares like a fan belt.

cheers!
 
OK, will do. I didn't want to wrestle the bolt in case I really was meant to "press" it. Besides, I had more important things to do today (like drain the brown, sedimenty, water that had been passing as coolant.)

I found more rust today, too. :(. Oh well, it'll last me till the end of the year (which is what I bought it for.)
 
Should be a 32DIR47 for a Virage. The early 12's (no emission control) had a 32DIR21.
Click to expand...
Sorry, gave you a bum steer, should be 32DIR49, not 47.

The steering cowl with two switch positions were fitted to the early 12s. For the Australian market, one was fitted with the dash light rheostat and the other was blanked.
All the Virages I've seen have a cowl with one switch position, fitted with the wiper switch. (The rheostat is built into the instrument cluster on the Virages)
Possibly someone has fitted an earlier cowl to a later model, easily done.

Ren
cheers!
 
My experience with Renault temperature guages is that they will sit anywhere in the white range and be normal. After a while you get an idea on where it should be and that is your "normal" reference. They will go a long way up the white section before overheating occurs, but any variation from your observed "normal" should be acted on. I am a bit nonplussed about the post concerning the motor taking a while to get to temperature. Thermostats take care of that problem and if my engine was taking a long tome to get to temp I would mask down the radiator. This should only be necessary in extreme weather areas.
 
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