LY Megane F7R Coach

Hey guys, time to show my project :smile:

So, this is my Megane berline ph2 from year 2000. Original engine is 1.4e and after 318 000 kilometers it decided to blow it's head gasket for the 3rd time.. I didn't want to invest in 1.4e engine anymore and then i came up with an idea to put and hybrid inside.. 1.6e K7M block with 1.4e E7J head along with k7m intake manifold fitted with F7R ( 2.0 16v ) throttle body and Elia 4-1 exhaust manifold. I've ported and polished the head, we've ported intake manifold to fit the f7r throttle body and we almost installed everything but found out that the 1.6e block was bad, really bad..

So, as I was dissapointed with everything that happened i've decided to put in 2.0 16v F7R engine. It was easy for me to find it because my brother had 1 complete car to use as a donor and 2 other stripped out.

The fun began.. We thought it was going to be easy, just change the engine at that is it.. but no.. We needed to change everything, from interior wiring loom, wipers, climate control, everything you can imagine.. I was doing the swap with my 2 friends, it took us about 1 month total..

So, without further talking i will post the pictures and try to describe everything..

First the 1.4/1.6e hybdrid phase..

After opening 1.4e engine






Porting intake manifold and fitting F7R throttle body.










Porting 1.4e E7J head



















Yes, R21 Turbo gauges in the back




And elia 4-1 exhaust manifold

Now the 2.0 16v F7R swap part..

Old engine out and ph1 wiring in.. adding new conectors and figuring out where everything goes..





















Engine exhaust manifold restoration













Egr ventil closed




New parts!



Engine cleanup and belts replaced







To lock in crankshaft





Almost..



In with the engine

Ph1 ventilation install and cleanup











Rear discs and 5th cylinder install and restoration






















New brake lines..






Throttle body cleaned and polished to high shine..

New thermostat





Front suspension upgrade. 2.0 16v shocks stiffened and Eibach Elia 16v special springs






Wheel aligment


Front camber -2.50 because of 2.0 16v hubs

Alsow we lowered the torsion but i didn't take any pictures..

First startup

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Soundcheck



Test run

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And how she looks today














Thats it!! Hope you undestand what i wrote and hope you like it :smile:

Congratulations on completing the build!

It looks like the build was a lot of hard work - full respect for that, I can't even be bothered to wash the car when it's under 20degrees outside 😂 lol

I hope you enjoy driving it, it will be an excellent 'sleeper'!

It was a real pain in the butt.. Lots of moments where we didn't know what was going on and i just wanted to smash it.. But luckly we figured almost everything out and she's on the road now.. I'm getting her prepared for MOT

New wheels! OZ F1 16". Will be restored, painted to original colour.










Engine fresh up!
New crank & camshaft seals, new clutch ( i believe this was factory on the engine.. ), new radiator, intake manifold taken down and cleaned, it's full of gunk and i will be fitting oil catch can, gearbox sent on reparation as 3. gear is toast ( cheese JC5..)


































And got my hands on Devil exhaust manifold..



Master brake cylinder new seals..


More to come!

Your work is awesome

So.. Conversion to A/C, lightened flywheel, interior loom all wired up, everything finally working ( !! ),
Intake manifold cleaned, starter repaired, rear brakes cylinder lever restored..
































... stay tuned

Haven't post in a long time. Time for an update!

As the engine is out, this is the chance to tidy up engine bay. Front subframe was covered in thick grease from many years and 318 000+ kilometers.. First step was to wash it with high pressure washer, and then sent to sandblasting. When it returns it will be painted in matt black.

As i have steering steering rack from 16v i decited to upgrade it. The difference is big compared to my 1.4 8v rack. Carriers it self are double in size. Got new parts for that + new lower ball joint and got my hands on complete strongflex for front suspension.
Everything on the suspension is new.

Gearbox got new syncros..

Thats pretty much it, it should be put togeather in a week/two. Can't wait














Had to get inner joint with width of 293 because mine is original that size, and because my width of the car is bigger compared to ph1 16v

Well done! Almost there now

Subframe sand blasted and painted with epoxy primer and polyurethane paint.

Came out really nice looking.

Steering rack from ph1 2.0 16v, subframe and lower control arm as well as anti roll bar ( 25mm) from mine ph2.

New lower ball joint, steering rack ends and inners, strongflex polyurethane control arm bushings and roll bar ends, and middles.

It's a shame to put it on the car..

I like it!

I hate putting shiny parts under the car too but think how well it will handle

New 3rd engine mount. Now all are new. In the future maybe i will mount polyurethane dog bone.



Lightened flywheel mounted + clutch




Also got my hands on mapco seal kit https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00BBWBNQG/?tag=cliospnet01-21
and new gear linkage plastic thingy





Aaand engine in!

Gearbox oil in

First start


Rims and calipers came from sandblasting, time to paint it. I dont know what color to paint calipers, any suggestions?

Black or silver calipers

Anything else just looks a bit cack

Lots to write here about..
Engine loom tested and cleaned. Covered in tesa tape and plastic casing, now it looks oem.
As the car was finished and it was time to test it, a trackday on carting track came up and it seemed like an ideal oportunity to stres test the car. Track is small and 2nd gear is all you can get, on the straight 80 kmh is top speed, but it's technical and friendly for your pocket so it's lot's of fun.
In 3 days i drove almost 500 kilometers. Things that need replacing are, thermostat, outer balljoint on passenger side, new front brakes. Now are 262, i'm going to put 280mm. Tires i drove on were NS2R, dot 1316, pretty old, and i felt that on the track, but on the road they are perfect. Also for the track day the car was without interior and with 4 point belt, omp steering wheel. Amazing feeling.








Seat from cabrio.

Looks great in that last photo!

Someone send this guy some centre-caps!

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Goodj said:

Someone send this guy some centre-caps!

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Click to expand...

Haha, these are rims from a friend, just for testing purpouse. Mine F1 are getting painted
Btw where to get center caps for f1?

Hmmmm. You might need a set of ebay centre caps there, check your sizes.

It will look fine on those OZ's.

So.. time for an update.
Got some new parts and cleaned a little bit
To start with powerflex camber bolts, because now i have too much negative camber (-2.50), to lower it down to cca -1.



Cleaned drivers wheel arch, and protected the plastic.














Finally wheels came from painting, so good looking






Aaand few new parts. New thermostat, front & rear discs, ebc yellow, oil & filter, bearings for rear discs, repari kit for front brake calipers, ate typ200 brake fluid.





Also passenger cv joint was worn, took out the driveshaft, dissasembled it, and one big mistery. The cv joint doesen't exist. Literally. Outer teths 23, inner 22.
Anyways i figured out the driveshaft isn't 16v, so i am in process of getting one. Hope the abs starts working then.





And fitted the thing for the corrector of rear brakes

Good work!

Some time from my last post..

Managed to brake 2 cir clips.. Will try to find an solution with my friend who has lathe..

Cleaned the passenger wheel arch, didn't make any photos later because it got dark and i forgot, Front end is now complete and got my hands on speedline maracana with caps and 2 keys..

Also brake calipers ready to be painted in red.



1st


2nd

Calipers painted & restored, and making an prototype reinforcement for circlip.. Aaaand bought ph quick




Polished and protected with cearmic coating


Refurbished

Megane has been put on it's own feet, need to install circlip reinforcement and test it.. Since i got the clio, all the brakes went on it and megane got left overs from clio .. Still better then it had previously.
Calipers are a bit rusty but i will paint them. Have no clue what to do with this car since i cant get it to pass MOT without investing a quite a lot of money in it but that makes no sence since i got the 172.. Maybe turn it into full track car..

wow, 5 years since last post here..

Unfortunatelly my dream of 5 door F7R ended with the purchase of Clio PH1 Sport ( in pictures above ), because at that time it just didnt have sense to continue with the Megane, as Clio was more better car in every aspect, and Megane needed more money and I just didnt have the funds...
So, megane sat all the time, untill 2 years ago i got my hands on factory Megane 2.0 16v coach with brokend engine, in yellow colour, but this was painted in Liquid Yellow ( or so I was told ), and only logical option was to move everything better from my car to that one and to finally have an operating megane F7R, a dream from high school.



Since this is a really long write up, and this project is active for more than 2 years, I will try to keep in as short as possible. Bare in mind, I only bought the yellow car because they are very rare in Croatia with 2.0 16v engine, and in yellow color. In the past there were many of them, cheap, but many of them got crashed, totaled, destroyed, and parted out for their engine. I knew it hat rotten sills but didnt want to look detailed into it, because I was stupid and just wanted it, didnt want an reason for not to buy it. 1 good thing is that it has never been crashed, and has almost all the original parts on it, very rare to come by, as for a car old as me ( 28 years ), thats really rare that nobody decided to tune it or mess with it.

Let's begin with parting out the 5 door




And let's remove the engine from yellow one, the previous owner managed to overheat the coolant, didnt see that and then overheated the oil, and engine seized. This was done in ownership of younger fella that has no knowledge about cars, but got his hands on this. I never experienced that horrific smell of overheated engine oil, till that point, and boy does it stinks, really horrific.



At that time, while the engine was out, i kinda wantet to dissasemble whole front end to see the state of it, I noticed there was some rust in engine bay, and something rotten..
I removed the fenders and was left with a suprise..
I sat down on the floor thinking about my life decitions and didnt know if to continue of to scrap it all....
But of course, the naive and optimistic fella like me, decided it's best to bite the bullet and go with it, how hard cant it be, right? remember this quote as we go on, because I sure did.. LOL

1st, lets clean it all





Since I ( at that time ) didnt have any project for cca 1+ year, I was excited to finally work on something, and every day, after work, I would travel around 30 km to garage where Megane was, work on it till 21/22 in the evening and then drive home 100 km, and I was happy like a little kid at that time!

So, everything dissasembled, and let the grinding begin





Touch of rust converter

And since the plan was, I was going to paint the engine bay, after the body shop replaced a few rotten pieces, the plan was to get it all done in 1 month max!
I brushed all the "healthy" parts with epoxy primer, just so they are not exposed while the car waits for it's turn for body fix.






This was done in 2 weeks time, and then the car was taken to the body repair guy, the deal was he's gonna get it done within 2 weeks also.

As the time went by, 2 weeks passed but the car still wasn't touched, i was searching for parts, and managed to find new old stock, rear koni yellows, from Belgium. I coudnt believe it...
Parts for this car are very, very rare ( aftermaket ), so this was a huge suprise to me.



Neatly hidden adjustment knob


Got my hands on williams cams



And then, my luck was going strong.. Managed to find front new old stock koni yellows, in Croatia.. I just couldnt believe it...



And then, locally to me, found also new old stock front strut bar.. i was amazed lol


Got stronglfex insert for dogbone

Aaaannndd finally after more than 5 months, the guy did it's work, and I'm not gonna say anything bad about his work, but could he have had done it better? Yes
Could he have had done it faster? Yes...

But, it's all a "school" for me.
Unfortunatelly I didnt look the car detailed when picking it up, and he didnt do 1 spot, although I mention everything that needs to be done..

anyways, here are some shots that he sent to me while he was working on it

By now, everything else had surface rust and everything needed to be done again.

Since I dont have my own garage to do this, my friend said I can bring the car to his place as he has a big back yard, and he is a car painter.
Finally the deal was he's gonna paint the engine bay.

State it was in..







This all needed to be cleaned again, and I just didnt have the will for it.. The car was outside, not on a lift, it was cold outside ( 3rd month ) etc..
And the decision was made, to sand blast it all. I like that idea because thats the best way to clean out rust and it relatively fast..

So, this was my 1st time doing that.. and one sunny day I got started

I was very pleased with the result, but only bad thing was the nozzle for sand blasting, it was too big, too much sand was going out and I didnt reuse the sand, instead bought like 75 kg of sand......

Oh yeah, and I've asked the guy that did the body, to make stich welds across the engine bay, because it looks cool and to give it some strenght.

Now onto the painting..
I didnt paint many times before and was keen to learn some new things with this project, so the time was to sprray paint the epoxy primer onto the engine bay












And it was painted! I was really pleased with the result, got a bit carried away with the painting and painted the whole thing, lol.. Rust fear was in my head.
Now I had to let it sit like that for few days becauase it was cold outside.

Remember what I said the body repar guy forgot 1 piece? Yep, I saw it too late unfortunatelly










Managed to "dig" around and find few more rusty spots

Aaaannnndd finally painting time

seam sealed all the bits, then my buddy did his magic

As this car was bought with a statement that is was painted in liquid yellow, soon that proved to be a complete wrong fact. I'd say somebody tried to paint it in that color, but failed miserably..
As I wanted it to be real LY, we went on with the engine bay

white body filler, base coat, pearls, and clear coat..

Next day took it out, and booooooy, this colour is mega... I dont remember when was the last time I was happy like this

It was spot on, everything I hoped for..

Comparation before, after




All of this was From 9/2022 -> 4/2023.
Lots of time, longer than I though, much more work than expected, but this is only the begining.

I went full over the top, and decided the give the engine complete overhaul, and gearbox, and just go all in..
All aluminum engine parts sand blasted and powder coated



And time to attack the engine. Block was used from my 5 door. The head I bought that was CNC ported and polished, intake ports almost 4mm wider than OEM and exhaust ports almost 2mm wider.





Start with cleaning

Top of the block was resufraced, cylinders cleaned, and prepared for paint