The Safrane.Info Forum!

The mrs laguna done its belt (I told her but she *needed* the car so the job never got done, done now though eh!) so the Safane became the family car.

So the Safrane tyres up front are borderline legal (not even 5k miles) so I thought I'll stick the Silverline Laguna alloys on the Safrane just to see.

All was going well until the last one, it didn't fit. The bolt holes were too small. This alloy is an odd one and must have been replaced before we got the car, its a lot dirtier than the rest.

Anyway the laguna uses the old standard Renault M12 wheel bolts, the Safrane M14, so 3 of our 4 wheels had big enough holes the last one didn't.

So thats issue 1, some will fit some won't (this is like ph1 19 16V speedlines, theres 4 different castings).

Issue 2 they rub, this however may be just a tracking issue as its the front offside on full right lock.

Issue 3 which isn't an issue on the Safrane but the Laguna. Our 1.8 laguna has 308mm front discs, the Safrane 15 inch wheels will not fit over them. 16 inch wheels will and obviously the 17 inch silverstones. This also explains why the Laguna has better brakes and they look a lot meaner, just shear size. The Safranes 280mm discs look puny in comparison.

Its back on its steelies now though as the laguna is back in service.

This morning I changed the cambelt and the oil and filter on the Safrane, something else I meant to get around too. i finally did and glad I did so.

I have pictures and as soon as I find the camera lead I will put them up.

I,ve always thought that the 15 inch wheels look very small on a phase 2,but on my phase 1 V6 they look fine,just about right,strange,i thought that its very poor of Renault to use the same alloys on all Phase 2 cars 2.0 or 2.5.
Now from my knowledge i always thought that the pov spec Laguna 2 had steelies and 280mm discs,the middle range cars with alloys had 300mm and the V6 had 308mm,this has been proved at work when i looked up a set of discs for my mates V6 initiale Laguna 2.
How did the cambelt change go?,and a service aswell,nice work,i did mine today,post elsewhere on forum.

form what I have seen is 1.6 lag 2's have either 280 or the 300 mm discs. The 1.8's, 2.0's, 1.9's are 300 or 308's. The 2.2's and v6's are always 308 but I am sure I have seen 2 thicknesses for the 308 discs, but I may be thinking of something else.

The good side with the silverstone 17 inch wheels on



And the other side where I couldn't fit the fourth wheel and my youngest Sophie getting into the car for another shot at driving daddies car, she can steer it pretty accurately now, not bad for 2 years old.



Cambelt was easy enough, the hardest part was in all honesty removing and refitting the single 10mm bolt that holds the main belt cover on, it was fingertips only then a case of putting the spanner on and letting it go so it swung down then dropped off and repeat. Took less than 2 hours to get the tools out, jack it up, get it apart, back together and an oil and filter change.

Here a pic of it running with the new belt before being finished up



The eagle eyed among you will notice the jump lead. Turns out the only earth I have on the engine/box is that small one that bolts to that mount. I assume the other main one has rotten away and snapped. Never bothered looking, I'll just add another beefy earth direct from the battery.

A bit more detail is on retro in the report here http://www.retro-renault.com/forums/ren ... tent_start

Nice update,good work,i think the Silverstones would look good if the car was lowered a bit,not silly just a fraction,never seen lowering springs though,but whats your plans for the alloys?

they are back on the Laguna now. I stuck them on as the laguna was off the road for a week whilst I sorted it out.

I need tyres for the steelies, the front 2 are nearly bald after 6 months.

I wanted to see what it would be like with them on. I reckon an inch or so drop would make it look right with the silverstone alloys.

Yeah an inch or so drop would look good,but its more money as time and i,ve nver seen the springs aswell,maybe in France or Germany.

Same on the 2.5 Safrane too. Only the one earth leed - looks like a woven lead and again goes onto the mount like yours. Nothing on the autobox, nothing else on the engine, just that one lead.

Now you know why I'm in such a pickle!!!

Well thats wrong/weird.

Considering every other renault ever has one at the offside top (like our one) they also have one on the nearside front (generally the nearside chassis rail to the gearbox itself or its mounting bracket and often broken through corrosion). From the lowest 5 to the Lag 2 and so on.

I need to look at mine further.

And I need to fit another pronto

There are other earthing points in the wiring loom itself (there are two that come out of the loom and attach to the block behind the starter motor) however none of these other earth points connect directly to the chassis like the strap on the engine / mount.

It may be 'wrong' as you put it but it's a safrane. There is nothing 'normal' about these cars as I have discovered time and time again

Every other renault ever made has the 2 straps I'm fairly certain they didn't decide to just make a huge issue on their supposed flagship.

Theres quite a few earths on the looms in all cars. The earths to the block at the back are a common failure on other models such as meganes.

I'll need to go out and look at mine, I'm intrigued now.