Bumblebee 2 featuring LY R26

Updates.

Fitted a pair of carbon rear arch protectors from Mega Carbon. They kindly done a set as a one off for me as they aren't producing parts at the moment. Quality is mega and a very good fit.

Bonded on.

Also give it a wash with the rest as the birds had pebbledashed it and the front wheels were pitted with brake dust from regular use.

Ly pops when clean.

Interior had a once over too.

Wheel swap and should be good to go for Anglesey (Touch wood).

Thanks for reading!!

Updates

Done 470mile road trip to Norwich in the r26 on Sunday to view another car.

Brimmed with momentum 99

Crap services on A1

Sneak preview of the new addition. Another meg 250 cup.

Was too good to turn down so the mrs bought it. Hers and his yellow megs.

R26 is really good on fuel for a meg when on a run. 37mpg with spirited driving on the way back.

Efi map ftw.


Completed the journey with no dramas. The drive is a bit congested with meganes and ive been out on site today, with the r26 at the front the mrs used the r26 for a run into the office.

She rings me up mid day, used it to pop out at dinner time and went to go in reverse and its lost reverse. When trying forward gears found out only 3/4th gear so had to limp it home whilst traffic was light as i was 2 hours away from home at this point in Sheffield.

I thought either shifter had fell to bits or the side to side cable had snapped. Popped by Rs Independant Spares on way home and picked up a complete good used shifter and cables just incase it needed changing as its on track at CSF next week!

Quick look when back home and the clip had fell off the selector arm on the box and it had all fell to bits on the side to side movement part!

Dug out an old box of e clips that i bought 15 years ago and used once. Kind of thing you buy for no reason and none fit anything, knew they would shine one day though.

Life saver.


Airfilter off, replaced missing washer that takes up the slack and refitted the plastic bush which had luckily dropped onto the top of the gearbox. Found a perfect sized e clip which fits tight in the groove on the end of the shaft so needed to be squeezed on with eagle beak pliers. Went on with a clunk and its solid, a good pull and the clip does not move at all so id say its fixed for good.

15 min fix before tea.

All working good again as confirmed with a quick blast down the local dual carriageway.

Will fit the Ar1's on this weekend and wash it in prep for Anglesey.

Thanks for reading!!

Looking forward to seeing what you do with this one Brigsy.
I envy your collection!

I’d like to get a 280 or 300 for my lady. But she will have none of it because it isn’t a Mercedes or BMW

RSRowe said:

Looking forward to seeing what you do with this one Brigsy.
I envy your collection!

I’d like to get a 280 or 300 for my lady. But she will have none of it because it isn’t a Mercedes or BMW

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Cheers mate. Cars all over!!

Mrs is currently cleaning the 250 interior, its absolutely unmarked with yellow dot recaros, rs monitor, dual climate etc. Previous owner said he had never used the boot and it looks like it too as the rear trim doesnt have a mark on it.

Its loads quicker than the old one, has decat, 3" ktec exhaust, forge intercooler and rstuning map with printout for 325hp/360ft/lb.

280/300 make a nice modern daily. Id be tempted to try and get her to go m2 if she likes bm. Perfect daily!

Brigsy said:

Sunday update.

Had spare half hour so cleaned up the seatbelts..they were super grotty and retracting pretty slow.

Mixed up a bucket of vanish oxy action and got the drill brush out. Quick soak in the bucket and buzz over with the brush.

Before - drivers belt was even worse was blackView attachment 1686486

After - much betterView attachment 1686487

Unfortunately they still retract quite slow but was worth a shot.

Thanks for reading!!

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Try spraying some silicone spray onto a micro fibre cloth and give them a good wipe with it.

StereoMike said:

Try spraying some silicone spray onto a micro fibre cloth and give them a good wipe with it.

Click to expand...

They sorted themselves out after drying suprisingly. Work good now and retract properly.

Updates.

Technomagnesio alloys with fresh Ar1's are on.

Quick run out to check all good.
Driveway congestion.

Massive improvement in turn in. Also massive downgrade in comfort and noise as per usual for semi slicks.

Quick wash, fuel up and csf here we come.

Thanks for reading!!

Updates

Quick clean up this morning and checked fluids before CSF. Fill up and good to go. Looking forward to trying out the Ar1, see what its like on fresh semi slicks.

What a collection. Hero driveway. Where did you get those arch protectors from? Do they do them for other cars? I've cut them myself before with rhino skin plastic but it always looks a bit pants

Danith said:

What a collection. Hero driveway. Where did you get those arch protectors from? Do they do them for other cars? I've cut them myself before with rhino skin plastic but it always looks a bit pants

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Cheers mate. Got the carbon arch protectors from Megacarbon. Im not sure if he does them for clio 4, fire them a message on facebook worth asking.

Updates.

CSF done and dusted.

R26 performed excellent and made decent pace, handling felt awesome and was very easy to drive after pedalling the Extra van in the am session.

Weather was great so absolutely made the right tyre choice running the Ar1's.

Ready for action.
Man and machine.

Hot lapping.




N/s front tyre took a beating. I would have needed to rotate if doing a full day.

Scrubbed in.


Returned home with no fuss and give it the post trackday look over.

574 miles done in total over the weekend.

It does need a couple of bits doing, noted a bit of play on the N/S front wheel bearing. Ive been monitoring this for a while and it did sound like it was getting a bit noisy on heavy load, not surpising as its the original by looks of it at 137k. The hub nut had also backed off a little on this side when checked with torque wrench so suggests that might have played a part in it. This was fine pre journey so its happened at some point recently.

Its no biggie though as i have a spare hub in stock. Also the n/s outer cv has been clicking for a while, so i will replace that whilst in the area.

With that done, refitted the compomotives for road use and washed tons of rubber pickup off the lower bodywork.

Clean again.


So a few jobs to sort. Ill box them off in the next couple of weeks and change the oil for fresh.

In other news ive booked a trackday at Spa in a couple of months so looking forward to taking it.

Thanks for reading!!

Updates.

R26 has not moved since CSF really, its been shuffled on the drive thats it. used it yesterday as the blue clio had no diesel in, and i couldnt be arsed filling it up

Shopping duties.

Needed to order a new debit card so changed pic to a track one from CSF.

Card matches the car.


N/S wheelbearing got a bit of a rumble and audible now road tyres back on. Its not naughty yet - ill do it in a couple of weeks as it wont be going far.

Thanks for reading!!

Updates.

Had a spare half hour on sat so changed the oil for fresh valvoline synthpower 5/40 and purflux filter.

Assume position.

Used my new sealey funnel on it to fill up the oil. Absolute game changer on meg with the angled filler.

Well worth buying.


Need to change passenger side hub as slight bit of play in the wheel bearing after Anglesey. Just waiting for a new outer cv joint and new cv boot to arrive, will hopefully get it boxed off in next couple of weeks.

Thanks for reading!!

Updates.

Cleaned the R26 last weekend and a quick coat of gtechniq c2v3.



Quick check of fluids. Never uses anything but takes 2 mins.



Whilst bonnet was up checked the torque on the pms top mounts as not checked them since fitting and im going over the suspension ready for Spa.

N/s top mount was fine but o/s had backed off a bit on the shock, i guess down to riding the kerbs a bit on track. This was obvious at a quick glance as could see the torque seal paint mark had moved. Its good stuff for a quick check by eye.

Dab of threadlock and refitted/torqued with new paint mark.

Ive started gathering bits for the suspension work on the n/s. Outer cv joint on n/s has been clicking for ages and loads of lash on both inner and outer c/v joints so well past its best. Decided to build a good shaft from spares in the garage to simply plug and play when changing hub so ordered a new outer cv.

I initially ordered a shaftec cv joint as used them on the megs in the past and they fit the hub ok, but got refunded as no stock. Cross referenced part numbers and ordered a borg and beck outer cv as it matched the part numbers. Arrived and looked identical to the shaftec cv and cheaper, quality looks fine so will roll with it.

The cv boot supplied with the cv kit is a crap short rubber boot and pretty much sits on the hub when fitted so was binned. Ive always reused oem outer thermoplastic cv boots on the meganes as they rarely fail however the spare shaft i was using didnt have one on. Oem cv boot is £70 and bit pricey for my liking so looked for more sensibly priced alternatives. I initially ordered an SNR boot but was rubber which didnt fit/was rubbing on the hub.

I took a chance on a autofren seinsa outer cv boot. I believe ive seen that brand on oem ren cv boots so took a punt and part number cross referenced oem. Turned up and looked ok, oem thermoplastic design. Its tight getting it on outer cv though, which is good i guess as it wont pop off.

New outer cv and boot fitted.


The cv joint to perfo hub clearance is tight on the meg and a normal cv boot clip wont do as it can catch. I always use the stainless band type clips which can be clamped very tight with the tool and end tapped flat.

Stainless band clip fitted.


Pic of shaft in the hub, note tight clearance.

I also prepared the good used hub for fitting on n/s with good wheel bearing. Quick wire brush, paint, and new swivel bearing kit including insert to remove any play.

Refurbed and ready to fit.


Will get it fitted at some point when we get a good bit of weather as currently raining so cant be arsed today.

Thanks for reading!!

We seem to love doing the jobs other people hate. Awesome stuff 😍

Mr Underhill said:

We seem to love doing the jobs other people hate. Awesome stuff 😍

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Cheers mate. I almost bought a new driveshaft but couldnt get snr at the right price and the cheaper aftermarket megabe shafts are not the best with crap boots or cv joints that wont fit.

All turned out ok in the end though and shaft refurbed for around £60. Just need a good day to fit it all now.

Updates.

Spa prep started yesterday..

Started with replacing n/s driveshaft and hub. All went pretty smoothly and was done in a couple of hours. Gearbox filled with fresh elf nfj that i had in stock.

Usual tools all over.


N/s is now good again and no play in anything, and new oem renault hub nut should prevent driveshaft coming loose on track.

The insert on the o/s swivel hub needs replacing as a little bit of play as i reused the old one when rebuilding ages ago, its not bad but can be tighter. Anyway i have 2x swivel bearing kits here and the inserts are both machined incorrectly so need fettling on a lathe, so that halted progress. Will sort that out and revisit soon.

Whilst up in the air i whipped the bumper off to fit some oem renault R26r fog blanks i bought a while ago. Daft £20 off ebay new as the part number is shared with povo spec scenic and megane so if you sniff round they are available without the tax. Also removed and plugged the washer jets for the xenons with a generic blanking plug, as no pipes on them anyway.

R26r ish.





Took it for a test run and no more clicking/rumbling on right turns and feels more responsive on the steering.

Have noted both this and the blue 225 pull to the n/s a bit with the geo set correctly, so you need to hold the steering wheel straight. I thought it was a quirk of the perfo hub setup so have never really given it any thought. Its not that bad but gets tiring on long motorway drives.

Was thinking about it logically and ive never reset the steering angle sensors on either of them so stuck clip on to see where its at. With steering wheel straight it was saying it was 1deg to the o/s so followed the procedure and reset it to zero with steering wheel straight.

Angle sensor reprogram via can clip.


Not driven it yet, be interesting to see if that cures it as id imagine the power assisted column will add torque to straighten wheel up back to 0deg.

Thanks for reading!!

Updates.

Spa prep continues.

When i done the drivers side swivel bearing last year i took a gamble and reused the original insert with a new bearing as thats all i had at the time. Many years ago you could get away with just changing the bearing and reusing the insert and all would be OK, but as time and mileage goes on the inserts are now very worn causing play in the hub with a new bearing fitted. This had a little bit of play due to wear on the insert, it wasnt really excessive but wanted doing.

I bought a couple of swivel bearing kits with new inserts to replace the full lot, they were both the ebay kits that are the only ones currenty for sale as far as i know. This should have been an easy plug and play part but when checking the insert with an old one the locating dowel hole was too small. Luckily i know a retired machinist so he turned them in a lathe in 5 mins to make them work.

Weather was exceptionally good today so cracked on as easy job.

Assume position.

Stripped in half hour.

New swivel bearing in.

Done and dusted in 1hr30. All seems good now no play.

With this done moved onto the back brakes as i wanted to give them a service before winter. They didnt seem to be binding but noted the drivers rear disc was taking ages to de rust and it did not roll as good as it should. Assumed it all needed a clean up and grease and was not wrong.

Assume position.

Drivers side outer pad was stuck in the carrier so popped that out, quick file up and ceratec'd and refitted. Passenger side was ok but cleaned pads up and refitted. Sliders greased, worked the pistons in and out a few times on both calipers and added a little bit of red rubber grease to keep them happy.

All seems ok again and rolls very easy. Handbrake also works good again, the megs are never great but this had went a bit crap recently.

Last job on the list was to look at the drivers side recaro. Its been making an intermittent clicking noise from the pretensioner area. Whipped seat out to inspect and could not see a great deal of things wrong with it. Nipped all the bolts up and got quarter of a turn on the pre tensioner bolt so hopefully thats the end of that.

Had to pop out and get some bits and bobs so took it for a test run and ended up doing 30miles or so and all ok. Have to brake more now no rear pads sticking slightly.

On return give it a bit of a clean up as it was looking unloved. Headlamps looked a bit crap, i machine polished them last year and ceramic coated them but were starting to look crap again.

1500 wet and dry.

Polished with da.

Washed to remove all polish residue.

Dried it and give the headlamps a once over with a ceratec trim restore wipe. See how that goes!

Shiney.


Ill get geo done on it and might flush brake fluid through but apart from them 2 jobs its looking good to go.

Thanks for reading!!

Anyone could take great comfort in buying a car from yourself

Awesome work as always

Stefan. said:

Anyone could take great comfort in buying a car from yourself

Awesome work as always

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Cheers mate, appreciated. Hopefully all the recent repairs will make for a nice trouble free trip next month.

Been thinking and might flog this on in the new year. Im feeling a mk3 meg rs for next years track fun. Will see!

Small update.

Previous owner had removed the rear wiper and blanked the hole in the plastic surround with a grommit.

Before - Functional.

Whilst browsing ebay for other shite that i dont need i came across a nice cnc cut black acrylic wiper delete. Took a punt on it for a tenner delivered including silicone to fit.

Arrived a few days later and its a nice bit of kit. Its made in 2x layers with the inner piece being larger by 5mm or so, so it slides behind the glass and the front bit fits flush. Its a nice tight fit and a quick bead of silicone before fitting was all that was needed.

Fitted in 15 mins.


Looks much better than the old blank, smooth like r26r rear plastic window.

In other news the nipping up of the pre tensioner bolt on the drivers seat cured all clicking noises so thats a result.

Thanks for reading!!

Brigsy said:

Small update.

Previous owner had removed the rear wiper and blanked the hole in the plastic surround with a grommit.

Before - Functional.View attachment 1714876

Whilst browsing ebay for other shite that i dont need i came across a nice cnc cut black acrylic wiper delete. Took a punt on it for a tenner delivered including silicone to fit.

Arrived a few days later and its a nice bit of kit. Its made in 2x layers with the inner piece being larger by 5mm or so, so it slides behind the glass and the front bit fits flush. Its a nice tight fit and a quick bead of silicone before fitting was all that was needed.

Fitted in 15 mins.
View attachment 1714874View attachment 1714877View attachment 1714875

Looks much better than the old blank, smooth like r26r rear plastic window.

In other news the nipping up of the pre tensioner bolt on the drivers seat cured all clicking noises so thats a result.

Thanks for reading!!

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I’ve got one the same on the Clio. Must be the same seller. They are miles better than the bodgy grommit

For a minute there I thought you would be putting the wiper back in. It's much better than the old grommet though.

Yarp said:

I’ve got one the same on the Clio. Must be the same seller. They are miles better than the bodgy grommit

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100% better, impressed with the quality for the price.

Mr Underhill said:

For a minute there I thought you would be putting the wiper back in. It's much better than the old grommet though.

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I was tempted to reinstate but racecar Probably would have been the sensible option for winter use.

Updates.

Daily use this week and its been great fun. Too easy to drive fast and everybody wants to race a yellow car for whatever reason. Drinks fuel when not driven sensibly. Love it!

Daily.


Took it down to my mates garage to get the geo set today. Was not far out but reset the wheel straight and to make sure its right for spa.

Hunter anlignment by Woody.


Give it a once over with the sponge.


225 was also getting a clean so rare pic of them together.

Meg train.

306hp, 350hp and 273hp f4r power💪

Thanks for reading!!

excelent collection of RenaultSport cars , ok and a VAN... !!!!

Updates.

Changed the rear o/s brake pipe today. It was rusty where it clips to the beam and on the end where a previous butcher had fitted a new caliper. This was playing on my mind a little as your never sure how solid the pipe is when rust is showing and wanted it gone.

I believe the pipe is nla from ren but i sniped a new oem one off ebay recently and fitted it this morning. Very easy job, i was expecting a fight with the fittings but quick soak in plusgas and a quailty flare spanner cracked the pipe straight off.



Jacked up, fitted and bled and back on its wheels in 30 mins. Upon inspection, the old pipe was still pretty solid when flexed off the car so was not really urgent. £30 for new pipe and 30mins work for absolute peace of mind though.

I also checked both sides of front suspension and everything is spot on. Its absolultely good to go for Spa.

Thanks for reading!!

Small update

Weather is looking great for Spa so ive rammed the track wheels in. Just enough room to comfortably get them in with the cage and rear bar.

Loaded up.


Just lids and bag to chuck in and good to go. Roll on Friday.

Thanks for reading!!

Have fun

Bonnie Megane that,

Updates. Euro trip done!

On the run up to Spa, i had packed the car with gear in prep and had planned an easy week at work. As expected work was supersonic until the end and it was a case of chuck the remaining stuff in the car and go!

Essentials


Cleaned and fuelled up.


Steady drive down to Newcastle for the overnight ferry to Amsterdam, meeting up with friends en route.

Border control.


Ferry.

Can tell its the Amsterdam ferry.

s**t nights sleep as expected and waiting to land Thurs am.

Boat race.


Get off the boat and a steady drive to Spa. Motorway food was pretty good in Belgium.



Arrived at Spa mid afternoon as only 180miles from the ferry. Weather was ace so checked into our hotel which was 5 mins away from the track, then went round to the circuit for a reckon up as had not been in the area for 11 years. The circuit is open to walk round and a test day was on so watched that for a bit.

Views.



Welcome to Spa.


TBC..

My Mate was there in his MK4 trophy - Bald as f**k and massive beard 😅 He's there and at the ring all the time. Photos on his insta looked like it was a good time had, and the weather held up all right.

Ian_R said:

My Mate was there in his MK4 trophy - Bald as f**k and massive beard 😅 He's there and at the ring all the time. Photos on his insta looked like it was a good time had, and the weather held up all right.

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This one? Looked mega. Fell right lucky with the weather, cold but dry.

Day 2 - Spa

Woke up to a fresh day and fog! Continental breakfast and away we go

Fresh


5 min drive to the circuit and sign on and get set up in the garage unloading all of the gear before sighting laps

Renault F1 team



M2 imposter.



As the weather was cold and 1deg or so ambient temps opted to stay on road tyres for sighting laps. Went out following the pace car and the circuit looked immense, fast everywhere. Some points it looks like if you get it wrong your in the gravel, but apart from that lots of runoff so can let the car run wide.

Needed to fill up before going out, so went to the Spa fuel station on site. The station has 95, 98, 102 octane petrol and dirty d if its your thing. Give it a treat and filled up with 102 octane.

Rari, yaris and meg


The price though put card in and it stopped at €120 max and tank was not even full. Felt a bit sick at that. One of the lads filled a meg up from empty €170.

Back to the pits and straight out, ease into it on road tyres. Spa is fast everywhere and you can really get on the throttle. Front end not as pointy as usual on the pilotsport 5 compared to ar1 but felt pretty planted.

I did nearly have an oh s**t moment on Double Gauche corner however early on in the day. Quick dab of the brakes on the downhill entry and back on the throttle in 4th gear, and too fast in so had to lift a little. Back end was very lively so banged throttle back down which sorted it out and let it run very wide. Eau rouge is mega, turn in full throttle 5th gear run the apex and commit, loads of runoff at raidillon again run the apex and down the kemmel straight 120/130mph with later braking for les combes.

The ps5 tyres were coping quite well in the morning and not falling apart but decided to change to ar1 at lunch time. Few laps to scrub them back in after Anglesey and the car was a different animal. Turn in and get on the throttle, loads of grip. Was flying along and having a bit of fun pushing faster machinery along on the corners.

Noted a lot of supercar/exotic stuff which were very slow on the corners (not knocking them as its cheaper than crashing) however when blue flagged they indicated to let me past and did not roll off the throttle. A 270hp meg aint going to get past a ferrari unless they roll off, and ego must hurt when a yellow megane is pushing them every corner. Ended up in the old who dares to brake the latest a few times. The standards of driving werent great to be fair resulting in a few track closures/red flags and everybody was driving quite agressive overtaking everywhere due to this, me included and was really standing on the brakes. The ds1.11 pads did not fail at any point and worked great as usual but could tell by pedal feel that the brake fluid was hot. You can see the cracks in the drilled discs due to heat. Also exhaust tailpipes have now gone a shade of gold due to sustained heat as i was doing approx 4-5 laps in one go which is best part of 21miles.



Megane was 100% reliable and did not have any issues, another reliable track day done.

All in all the track was excellent and the overall experience was fantastic. Will 100% be back in the future.

The tailpipes look good in gold 👌😆.

Brigsy said:

This one? Looked mega. Fell right lucky with the weather, cold but dry.View attachment 1719668

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Nah, Was there another one there de-stickered as such, KM21

I'm pretty sure you pair must have been there the same time ha ha