Bumblebee 2 featuring LY R26

JamesBryan said:

Gates stuff (apart from belts) seems to have gone to s**t now.

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Shame really as they used to be pretty decent. First f4r water pump ive had thats leaked, all rest are oem and never had an issue.

Quick update

R26 not really moved apart from a couple of local runs out due to leaking water pump/cambelt job due imminently.

I have all the parts ready to go, just waiting for my snap on torque wrench to come back from repair. Hopefully be back mid Jan so can crack on and get that sorted.

Give it a clean up and coat of BH touch on last week.

Still rocking spa sticker


Also booked first trackday for 2025, Croft 18th April. Cant wait.

Thanks for reading!!

Updates.

Finally cracked on with cambelt and water pump replacement yesterday.

Stripped. I checked cam timing before removing belt and it was still bang on had not moved a mm.


Genuine Ren water pump. Never ever use aftermarket or do the job twice could see that the gates pump fitted previously had been leaking badly from the bearing.


New cambelt kit & oem waterpump fitted. Mot 1801 locking the pulleys whilst torquing to spec.

Crank pinned and horseshoe sliding.

Done. No more waterpump noise.


Also fitted new aux kit, changed oil and filter whilst at it for fresh 5/40 valvoline synpower and topped up with febi type d coolant. Overall the job went smoothly, around 5-6 hours in total as was not rushing.

Took it for a blast out. No issues if anything the coolant temps are better/more stable with oem water pump. Felt pretty quick after 64hp of diesel clio all month.

Pov test run with Ray ban meta smart glasses.


Checked coolant levels this morning when cool and all good. Id slightly overfilled it to accomodate thermostat opening and it was now bang on the max. Give it a proper wash off next as was looking a bit unloved due to sitting and wheels were covered in rust from last nights high speed brake cleaning😆

BH autofoam, gtechniq gwash and a coat of BH touch on to finish.

Clean, still comes up nice for an 18year old meg.


With the weather being pretty decent for a change took it for a run out. Done 50 miles or so, no issues.

Parked up at South Gare.


Came back to the car and a Rs line friend had parked near us.


Felt good to use it again, looking forward to Croft at easter.

Thanks for reading!!

Small update

When i removed the upper torque mount to do cambelt i noted it was absolutely shot and the large bush was pretty much falling out. I had a slightly less knackered one to fit but needed a new one. Found a new old stock hutchinson one on ebay for £20, arrived Friday morning.

Neww


Between about 3 hours of teams meetings i had a spare few mins so stuck it on. Super easy to change.

15 mins work.


Also give the bay a quick wipe over whilst there and checked fluids, all good.

Clean enough.


Been using it a fair bit this week. Nice to drive something reasonably quick on a daily.

Thanks for reading!!

Need to sort that Dipstick out 👀

Ian_R said:

Need to sort that Dipstick out 👀

Click to expand...

I keep meaning to buy the metal one to replace it, one day😆

Give the interior a clean today as it was a bit of a shithole and not been done since before Spa.



Cleans up decent enough for 139 thousand miles.

Thanks for reading!!

Updates.

Not a massive lot to update to be fair! Been using it a bit including a run to lincoln 280 ish miles. Great on fuel for 2.0t when driving steady high 30s mpg are easily achievable. Been monitoring coolant level and has not budged since waterpump change so all good.

GIve it a quick clean off.

Have noticed a bit of rear wheelbearing noise from passenger rear, with Croft coming up next month best get it sorted. With this been a r26 it has the larger 30mm rear bearings and generally you stick a set of discs on with pre fitted bearings. Current prices are £250-280 for a pair for discs which made me feel a bit sick as the rear discs are like new and have not done many miles at all, so seemed a shame to change for the sake of a bearing swap.

After a bit of sniffing round discovered @FrogJam Motorsport sell the oem snr rear bearings separate at £45 a piece. Ordered on Monday and arrived today with a free Freddo, Great service.



WIll get it pressed in at the weekend and fitted. Not looking forward to removing the etorx bolts on the caliper carrier, fingers crossed they are ok and not mullered by previous owner.

Thanks for reading!!

Weekend update.

Bit of nice weather for a change so its been on daily driver duties. Nice using something fast after diesel all week.

Little & large. South gare with the rc car.


Rear wheelbearing not done yet, its only slightly noisy so not in the danger zone. I might need to remove abs ring when pressing the old one out, so have ordered one in advance incase it breaks which should arrive next week. Once that is here ill get it sorted.

Done a few small jobs today. I bought a r26r washer bottle a while back, cross references with a scenic so cost about a tenner. Its almost half the size/capacity of the original as no headlamp washers, ive binned them and the rear one so dont need large capacity. Gives potential to run brake ducts in the future if i need them as bit of room underneath.

Oem washer bottle top pic, R26r on lower. Typically forgot that washer bottle was full and only took half of it to fill new bottle.


Loom above the grill was looking tatty and the oem pvc tape was falling off. Re wrapped it with loom tape.

Wiring a bit tidier.


I then removed headlamps to give the xenon domes a clean to see if the light output would be improved. I done this on my clio xenons and it made good improvements so thought it was worth a look. Its a simple job on meg2 once headlamp is off, simply unplug bulb, remove 3x torx screws and the full dome comes out the bulb access panel.

Stripped.


Cleaned. Film of muck on them much like window glass when its dirty, quick rub of the cloth and much clearer. Like removing cataracts


Looked much brighter on the drive so took it for a run out to test and the headlamp output is improved on b roads.

Improvements. Meta view smart glasses pic.


Small improvements all round. Makes night driving a bit better.

Thanks for reading!!

Small update.

Battery positive cover looked crap so bought a new cover.

New oem ren.


Fitted.

Small wins eh.

Thanks for reading!!

Updates.

Wheel bearing day. Everything stripped off ok and disc off in ten mins. Loads of grease in hub area which did not look like bearing grease but it had chucked some out of both sides regardless, bearing sounded terrible when spinning.

On inspection

Removed abs ring as needed to be off to press the bearing out. Had it in the press and was giving it full send but did not move. Before resorting to heat i took it out and used an old socket and mash hammer to shock it which moved it slightly. Seeing movement refitted to press and it still went with a bang but came out with minimum fuss.

The bearing removed was marked sun - no idea on that one. Cleaned and snr bearing pressed in. Bearing needs to go in one way as seals different too so made sure correct.

Old bearing casing is the perfect mandrel.


Knotty wheel on abs ring recess and new abs ring and circlip fitted.

Refitted torquing bearing to 175nm. I think last bearing was overtorqued, seemed to be pretty tight when i gunned it off. On refit checked brake pads and the verdict was fcuked.

Pad material crumbling assuming heat related from spa.


Calipers had the once over. Noted old pads were tight in the anti rattle shims due to brake dust build up so thoroughly cleaned up. Sliders lubed. Caliper pistons lubed up with red rubber grease and worked in and out. The pistons were not seized and moved easy but just seem to stick in position as always needing light pressure to move. Crap design to be fair!

New pads from the trackday box.


Done.


Used it for some running about this afternoon done 40 miles or so, no wheel bearing noise. Rear discs cleaned up straight away with everything nice and free.

Much better.


Nice easy job. Thanks for reading!!