Better late than never! 182 clean up

[Cerrone]

Hello I’m Dan, Iv been meaning to start a project thread from the day I collected my car....7 years ago! Iv just always taken care of my car and kept up to date with servicing but never really did anything else to it apart from fitting eibach springs years ago a new Sabelt wheel also years ago! It’s not a massive project nothing that interesting but after moving in with the girlfriend 4years ago and not having room to park it it stayed at my parents and only got used rarely! Until I was so gutted seeing it in the state it was in this time last year I decided to get it back to its former glory! This is how it looked after not moving for 16months

no mot, no tax and needed new tyres all around. I gave her a good clean, new battery new tyres and got her started (which surprised me!)

and off she went for a mot and she passed with no advisories.... winner!

It was due a belt change in 2016 not down to mileage but it was 5 years since the last change, but as I wasn’t using it I didn’t get it done. Once it had passed the mot I got it booked in with mick at diamond motors. What a top bloke he is and really can’t fault his work! Just how tidy his workshop is put a smile on my face! He also pointed out a coulple of little things that needed doing like a new cat to manifold kit and a new engine top mount as mine were both shot. Once I had the car home I ordered up the parts need and fitted them once they arrived! I then started cleaning her up ready for my first ever csf.

 

[imprezaworks]

Subbed because fast (colour)

 

[Cerrone]

So I went to blyton park for csf I didn’t know anyone apart from a couple of people I’d met some years before at local meets and I had the best time ever! Everyone was friendly and it was a really good laugh and it brought back a lot of love I was missing for my Clio! The only picture I have of the weekend!

I was missing my fog light surrounds as when I first brought the car I fitted gloss black grills, carbon badges and gloss black fog light surrounds but over the years they had taken some stone chips and I wanted it oem again, i found all my old grills just couldn’t find the surrounds! So left them off!

Shortly after blyton I came across some clio trophy turini alloys so I got them at a good price they did come with rubbish tyres so I got my tyres fitted and stuck them on just in time for trax

after trax I didn’t really use the clio much!

Christmas came and went my sister got me some new matts for the Clio which I love

and me and the girlfriend moved in with my parents until September (can’t come fast enough!) but it meant I was living back where the Clio was! I was lazy until about March when I started cleaning it all up ready to go down to @Filters house for the weekend and over to spring action day at castle Combe! Was a cracking weekend with a good bunch of people! Not many photos of the day but some of the Clio getting pampered before hand.

 

[imprezaworks]

Looks great on both sets of wheels

 

[Cerrone]

After spring action day I started getting together service parts and some stuff I felt needed doing. I got a complete bargain on new plugs, new leads, oil, new gear box mount, upper and lower inlet gaskets and 5l of type d coolant which were all brand new genuine items!

Which brings me up to about last week when I started stripping it down ready to service and paint some of the bay up! Then the fun begins, first nice and easy job that went wrong was taking the fuel rail guard off and the right hand nut decided to round off.... brilliant so I tried getting it out with a kit I had but that was no good so I cut it out and ordered a new one (second hand new to me!) off a lad on here.

 

[OssPoop]

You've had it all that time and not reported on it before[emoji15]. Did look good at csf, even without the fog covers.

 

[Cerrone]

Looks great on both sets of wheels

Cheers bud! Both sets need a refurbishment but I am going to get the turini’s done at the moment. Unsure what to do tho weather to get them painted or powder coated. What will give the best finish?

 

[imprezaworks]

Not sure mate. At a guess powder coating. Google will know for sure lol

 

[Cerrone]

You've had it all that time and not reported on it before[emoji15]. Did look good at csf, even without the fog covers.

I don’t have a laptop or computer so now it’s easier to upload on a phone I can finally start one! Cheers mate, are you there this year?

 

[OssPoop]

You've had it all that time and not reported on it before[emoji15]. Did look good at csf, even without the fog covers.

I don’t have a laptop or computer so now it’s easier to upload on a phone I can finally start one! Cheers mate, are you there this year?

Yeah I'll be there again this year. I'll bring a spare set of fog light covers, just in case [emoji23].

 

[Cerrone]

Yeah I'll be there again this year. I'll bring a spare set of fog light covers, just in case [emoji23].

I still want a standard set as I actually never got any ? once I was home I sprayers my old ones and put them back on!

 

[182_steve]

Looks great! I'd say powder coating is better than painting but that's just me

 

[Cerrone]

Looks great! I'd say powder coating is better than painting but that's just me

Why is that? Iv never had any wheels painted or powder coated so just seeing what people think! The only thing I’m not so keen on with powder coating is not being able to do my centre caps and not being able to match them!

 

[182_steve]

Why is that? Iv never had any wheels painted or powder coated so just seeing what people think! The only thing I’m not so keen on with powder coating is not being able to do my centre caps and not being able to match them!

For me personally, seems a more durable/longer lasting better finish? I'm no expert at all and hopefully someone can correct me if wrong, but both my sets of wheels are powder coated and very very pleased with the finish I have. Had a painted set on my old Civic Type-R and seemed to chip easily? That could of course be down to a rubbish finish, was done by previous owner so can't say for sure.

 

[OssPoop]

Powder coat would be better than a rattle can job, but so would a pro painted finish. I think factory finish is paint so it must be good wearing. Paint works on centre caps too, and f. me the powder on my wheels is so thick I can't read any of the cast writing!

 

[Cerrone]

So over the last week I’ve been tidying up my engine bay and wanting to make a start on the service, i haven’t got as far as I would of liked to but that’s down to the fact I was on call out Saturday for work and ended up having a really busy day which was really annoying but oh well and on Sunday I went to thruxton to watch the btcc and Clio cup which for the price of the ticket was an amazing day out and the weather topped it off! I’d recommend it to anyone with an interest in motor sport! The new megane sport was there as a safety car and i really like it the colour was beautiful

As we have a West Midlands meet this Saturday it meant I was pushed for time. I stripped the car down to remove the inlet, lower inlet, cambelt cover and engine mount and started cleaning them all up ready for paint, as I’ve been rushed I haven’t managed to do the upper inlet and I only received my fuel rail guard yesterday so they will be done next week. Ideally i would like to spend more time doing my cambelt cover as it needs to be rubbed down to make it look better but it is loads better than before so it can wait until after this weekend, the lower inlet came out really well and I’m quite surprised as It’s my first time painting and I think it’s gone ok! Thank you to @Dr Jekyll for answering my questions and giving me some tips!

 

[Cerrone]

Here is the cambelt cover

as you can see it needs more time spent on it but it looks better than it did!
While I was waiting in between coats I replaced my old interior switch handles as mine had seen better days, being the sport soft touch they were ruined! I brought new non sport ones from Renault which look great and make the inside looks loads better imo.
Old:

And the new fitted

they looks loads better! I even gave the you torx screws a quick go over with some satin black spray paint just to tidy them up.

after that I gave the interior a quick hover out and gave the seats a little going over with the de-bobbler, it’s surprising how much comes off!

I also have a new set of dash strips to fit as mine has a big scratch in it.

What do the originals look like? Mine have always been silver but the new one I have (@Filters gave them me, top bloke cheers mate.) which I prefer have a pattern on them. Just curious as to what is original!
So tomorrow after work I’m hoping to get it all back together replacing plugs, leads, gaskets, oil filter and hopefully drop the sump off to fit a new sump gasket and fill her up with fresh oil! I’m not sure I will get chance to do it all but that’s the plan! Then next week finish off the painting and tidying up, fit the new upper gearbox mount, flush the coolant and fit my new expansion bottle! I’m really enjoying playing around with the Clio at the moment and I’m learning lots on the way I’m certainly not the fastest but enjoying it non the less!

 

[OssPoop]

The patterned dash strips are from a 172 I believe. 182 ones are just flat silver. That silver paint on the engine bits looks very smart mate. I'm struggling to decide what I want to do with mine!

 

[Cerrone]

The patterned dash strips are from a 172 I believe. 182 ones are just flat silver. That silver paint on the engine bits looks very smart mate. I'm struggling to decide what I want to do with mine!

I was really undecided as I wanted it looking as original as possible and reading a couple of threads on here it seems vapour blasting is the way to make it look factory (don’t take my word on that!) but this year I’m trying to hold off spending too much so this will do and to be honest it’s came out a lot better than I had thought!

 

[Jekyll]

Great stuff mate.

I think the best way to learn is to get stuck in. It's more fun that way too. (Although not always!)

 

[Cerrone]

Great stuff mate.

I think the best way to learn is to get stuck in. It's more fun that way too. (Although not always!)

Yes 100% agree with that! But saying that I’m yet to put it back together so we shall see how many nuts and bolts I’m left with at the end ?

 

[davo172]

Shed ! ??

Good to see it's back to how I remember it ! ?? keep up the good work.
Looks great on the std wheels imo.

 

[leeds2592]

Looks great, will be following this as I like OEM bits. Everytime I see the numberplate, it looks like 'smurf' in my head haha.

 

[Cerrone]

Shed ! ??

Good to see it's back to how I remember it ! ?? keep up the good work.
Looks great on the std wheels imo.

Cheers mate it’s getting there! I’m stuck between the two but I think I’m keeping the standard alloys for winter once I get the turini’s refurbished! Hopefully see you at a meet soon?

 

[Cerrone]

Looks great, will be following this as I like OEM bits. Everytime I see the numberplate, it looks like 'smurf' in my head haha.

Cheers! Yes I’m a fan of oem I love the style of the 182’s from factory just need some spacers to finish it off and possibly some washer blanks for the front!
It’s the “surf” plate!

 

[Captrollerpig]

Looking Good dude, ill be following this one

 

[Cerrone]

So tonight after work I wanted to put it all back together, service it and change the sump gasket! I got it all back together I just didn’t get time to change the oil and fit the new sump gasket so that will be done next week now!
I took some bolts to work with me today and on my breaks I got them in the boiler house where it’s really warm and got them painted up!

Even tho I did think once I’d done them up
they would look rubbish but to be honest they have held up pretty well! Once I was home I stripped all the news paper off and set about putting it back together. I noticed that my rocker cover looked slightly blue and I’ve decided I want to go back over this soon and get a better finish on it but it looks a lot better than before!

I know it’s stupid but I really wished I’d of brought two new studs for the fuel rail guard rather than one as it’s annoying me!
I painted the bolts holding the lower inlet on Black by mistake at work but i think it looks good not that I will see them!

I fitted a new upper engine mount last year and shortly after i brought a power flex insert but I’d never fitted it so that went on after a clean up. I want to clean under the mount soon, treat it and give it a bit of paint to tidy it up as it’s a bit rusty looking!

Once I’d fitted the cambelt cover i notice the difference in colour more. It’s nothing drastic but Is noticeable! I didn’t spend to much time prepping the rocker cover I just gave it a scrub but clearly not well enough! I won’t be so lazy next time!

Stopped then for some hot dogs ?(cheers mom)

 

[Cerrone]

After tea I cracked on with the plugs, leads and air filter.

It was getting on a bit now and I was ready to change the oil but didn’t bother as it was starting to go dark so I decided to call it a night and get it all back together ready for tomorrow. So I put the bumper and all the other bits back on and I’m happy with how it turned out. It’s by no means perfect but a work in progress!

It’s all ready to go for the Midlands meet tomorrow just a quick wash in the morning! Im looking forward to finishing off the service and engine bay over the next couple of weeks! I really want some more nice weather to spend some time on the body after this the arches are crying out for a clean!

 

[imprezaworks]

How do you find the engine insert?

 

[Cerrone]

How do you find the engine insert?

I haven’t driven on it yet. To fit it was very easy!

 

[OssPoop]

Looks good, well except for those odd fuel rial guard studs. How can you live with those? And now it's out there, on the world wide Web for everyone to see. ?
Don't forget to put the top inlet back on or you'll not make the meet!

 

[Jekyll]

Looks great dan.

The reason the silver looks slightly blue is because iceberg silver is that colour anyway. It has a blue tint in it.

I think it looks nice and the blue tint ties in well against the RB.

 

[182_steve]

That looks a great finish for a quick go, it's all the little touches that make the difference afterall....... coming together nicely!

 

[Cerrone]

So the may West Midlands meet was Saturday morning so I was up and out giving the car a quick wash as it was really dusty from all this dry weather and not moving!

Then off to star city in Birmingham for the meet which was only me and @Don who showed up...... fail!! But was good to have a catch up with don!

After the meet me and the mrs and some mates when camping to Ross-on-wye and I used the Clio. It was so wet Sunday morning I can’t believe the Clio didn’t get stuck on the field! Couple of photos of the car

I’ve got quite a busy week with work this week but hopefully have a free weekend next week so hopefully will get the oil changed over and the sump gasket and clean out the arch’s! Next up is the French car show and I’m looking forward to it!

 

[imprezaworks]

Looks fab.

Does the dent on the drivers rear quarter not upset you?

 

[Ex-User (72296)]

Really hard to get out there apparently due to the reinforcement for the fuel tank or similar.

 

[imprezaworks]

Decent pdr will get that

 

[Jekyll]

Yeah likewise. I decent pdr person will get that out with no issues.

 

[Cerrone]

Looks fab.

Does the dent on the drivers rear quarter not upset you?

Yea it’s very annoying! There are a few around the car, really little one on the boot lid and a bigger one under the passenger wing mirror! There is a chap down my parents road that works for dent devils but I’ve never seen his work so don’t know how good he is! It’s on the long list of thing to do!

 

[davo172]

07976757280 Tim
Call this guy for dent removal lives in sedgley good price and does a great job used him a few times over the years.