How hard, how different and has it been done before putting a 197 / RS200 engine in a 182

As the title, I'm wondering about if this has been done, seen plenty of Megane RS engines put in quite a bit, but not one from an 197/200.

Most people just put the 197/200 cams in plus other bits to get similar benefits afaik.

Just finished that on my track car.
Doable? Yes.
Expensive? Yes.

I did all mechanical adaption/fitting works by myself so if you cannot do them.. there are many hours to pay.

Anyway.
In my car i already had a gen90 so the electronic management isn't a problem (tdc sensor is about 90° from where it was on 172/182 engine so proper management is needed.

Then you need to consider:
Custom water hoses
Customized hybrid gearbox support
Custom lower engine supports ( made one at back of gearbox and one at front)
Bespoke hybrid cv shafts
Cutting and welding chassis leg
Custom alternator bracket
Full Hydraulic clutch conversion

For me it has been impossible to find a 197 gear stick so i used a. Megane one (6speed but not rs) making custom cables.

Used rs172 external cv and 197 inner having shafts being done here in italy by Bacci.

You habe to run extra firm supports or gearbox will hit steering rack (i have epas from non sport).

On mine i have itb because i had a friend build a 830 with all forged internals and so on.. on a "stock car" if you want to run oem manifold expect bonnet clearance issues.

Many many many little other things to face and solve.

kurai said:

Just finished that on my track car.
Doable? Yes.
Expensive? Yes.

I did all mechanical adaption/fitting works by myself so if you cannot do them.. there are many hours to pay.

Anyway.
In my car i already had a gen90 so the electronic management isn't a problem (tdc sensor is about 90° from where it was on 172/182 engine so proper management is needed.

Then you need to consider:
Custom water hoses
Customized hybrid gearbox support
Custom lower engine supports ( made one at back of gearbox and one at front)
Bespoke hybrid cv shafts
Cutting and welding chassis leg
Custom alternator bracket
Full Hydraulic clutch conversion

For me it has been impossible to find a 197 gear stick so i used a. Megane one (6speed but not rs) making custom cables.

Used rs172 external cv and 197 inner having shafts being done here in italy by Bacci.

You habe to run extra firm supports or gearbox will hit steering rack (i have epas from non sport).

On mine i have itb because i had a friend build a 830 with all forged internals and so on.. on a "stock car" if you want to run oem manifold expect bonnet clearance issues.

Many many many little other things to face and solve.

Click to expand...

Sounds quite complex. Any reason you went down this route?

kurai said:

Just finished that on my track car.
Doable? Yes.
Expensive? Yes.

I did all mechanical adaption/fitting works by myself so if you cannot do them.. there are many hours to pay.

Anyway.
In my car i already had a gen90 so the electronic management isn't a problem (tdc sensor is about 90° from where it was on 172/182 engine so proper management is needed.

Then you need to consider:
Custom water hoses
Customized hybrid gearbox support
Custom lower engine supports ( made one at back of gearbox and one at front)
Bespoke hybrid cv shafts
Cutting and welding chassis leg
Custom alternator bracket
Full Hydraulic clutch conversion

For me it has been impossible to find a 197 gear stick so i used a. Megane one (6speed but not rs) making custom cables.

Used rs172 external cv and 197 inner having shafts being done here in italy by Bacci.

You habe to run extra firm supports or gearbox will hit steering rack (i have epas from non sport).

On mine i have itb because i had a friend build a 830 with all forged internals and so on.. on a "stock car" if you want to run oem manifold expect bonnet clearance issues.

Many many many little other things to face and solve.

Click to expand...

Wow, thank you for the write up, I have the means to fabricate stuff (Brother owns own fabrication company) and a fair amount of mechanical experience (read that as my cars are always breaking on trackdays) but not the money or a considerate partner. So will have to fix my 182 engine I suppose.

Matt Cup said:

Sounds quite complex. Any reason you went down this route?

Click to expand...

Actually it has been..
Also the block near the flywheel where its joined to gearbox is huge compared to the 1*2 block so it takes a lot of space.

Anyway, yeah I had a tuned (itb+cams+ecu+2,5"exhaust+4paddle clutch) 736 engine, very happy with it, used to run it with a jc5 box with shorter final ratio (12/69) and a torsen lsd. This car has been built mainly for trackdays, and i had to rebuild the box 2 times , after that i had an oil leak, and after investigating the whole box had a long crack so.. i was fed up with that box.
Wanted to keep the car NA, and with Renault engine.. so ended up deciding to go that route since the TL4 003 from 197 once received some little mods and improvement is way better than the jc5, and the casing is way more stiff and stronger.
It has a sweet gear spacing and with 1*2 15" wheels it shortens down the gearing and becomes just a tad longer than my previous box but now with 6 gears instead of 5..
Took opportunity to fit also an LSD with clutches so it should give even more bite and since my old engine was in the need of a refresh.. I had a 830block properly machined and being built with forged internals and hi compression pistons, 150mm rods, superlight flywheel..

182Trev said:

Wow, thank you for the write up, I have the means to fabricate stuff (Brother owns own fabrication company) and a fair amount of mechanical experience (read that as my cars are always breaking on trackdays) but not the money or a considerate partner. So will have to fix my 182 engine I suppose.

Click to expand...

You're welcome mate, been happy of being of any help.
Having those skills and tools would be a very good starting point. Unfortunately it also requires quite a lot of money to invest.
It also depends on what you want to achieve, in my case i also wanted to have a stronger engine which made the swap more expensive, but if you find an engine/gearbox in good shape obviously you can cut costs down a lot.
Beside the gen90 bigger cost are the shafts, they costed me 900€ + cv joints.

Sorry if i made some mistakes, english is not my first language

kurai said:

on a "stock car" if you want to run oem manifold expect bonnet clearance issues.

Click to expand...

Had a guy in Melbourne stick everything 197/200 in a artic blue 182 except for the block and gearbox (modified head to accept 182 timing idler pulley).

Intake manifold did fit under the bonnet....just.
I'd assume the 197/200 block+TL4 may have different mounting characteristics (causing it slightly to be higher). Which could cause bonnet fouling.

PerthRS said:

Had a guy in Melbourne stick everything 197/200 in a artic blue 182 except for the block and gearbox (modified head to accept 182 timing idler pulley).

Intake manifold did fit under the bonnet....just.
I'd assume the 197/200 block+TL4 may have different mounting characteristics (causing it slightly to be higher). Which could cause bonnet fouling.

Click to expand...

Clean job!

I think (i may be wrong) its just the intake manifold shape the culprit, you use 1*2 head engine mount so it sits about at same height, but if you look at manifolds the 1*2 at the "head edge" is slimmer because you got runners and the plenum is more toward the other side, 197 has thicker runners and seems the plenum is closer so its easier to touch bonnet ribs.

@kurai don't worry, your English is better than a lot of native English people!!

I’d just spend the money making the best from the engine, rather than putting in a mk3 RS engine. Seems a lot of effort and hassle.

As an overall unit I feel there are a lot of benefits on the 182 engine - much better mpg, none of the flexi nonsense.

182Trev said:

As the title, I'm wondering about if this has been done, seen plenty of Megane RS engines put in quite a bit, but not one from an 197/200.

Click to expand...

<---- click on my avatar link.

After the work I had done - I was knocking on the door of 200bhp.

If you click on my link in my avatar, you can see 230bhp with a 197 head and inlet fitted to a 172 block. It may have also had some quite lairy items inside the engine as well 😂