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Good luck for Friday…

Yeah, nothing like working on old clios in less than ideal conditions. Weirdly I actually prefer working on the Clio to my alpina, the engine bay is less crowded with s**t. But it is rustier. We all need a Sreten (M539 restorations) setup really, don’t we. Good luck with the ballache you no...

Wish I could offer some advice. I’m in a similar position to you, rust, snapping bolts and occasional bits that are beyond me. You did make something click for me though- the mystery brackets I painted and prepped last year are arb brackets. Checked my PMS invoices and sure enough, I bought...

Interesting how many of us have gone back for seconds (or more). They’re just such good cars.

Any chance that a UCH refurb could help with some of the issues?

Love it. Great colour. Nice to see one you can just get in and drive and not have to tinker with.

s**t that’s not nice, can’t imagine working on a Clio in this weather and feeling unwell on top of it! Good luck with the work. Hope it’s dry this weekend (for all of us driveway technicians!) Way back you wrote, “All in all it’s costing me a fortune and makes no rational sense whatsoever.” -...

Sure enough, under the paint inside the arch, there’s a captive nut and the end of the broken bolt that was never going to move working on it from inside the engine bay. I want to be mad at the french for such a s**t design, but also it’s a simple and lightweight solution, so I’ll forgive them...

Keep talking out of your arse then, seems you’re both right! Seems I have a trip to the wheelarch after all. It’s being a real ballache at the moment, and it doesn’t help that it’s raining every day and it’s only under a gazebo roof.

Ah, gotcha, sorry. Yep have used wurth rost off, heat and a couple of different extractor tools. ETA- actually, I’m really not sure there is a captive nut. The other fixing bolts have threads directly in the metal of the chassis…

Because it’s the end of a bolt- the head sheared off. So there’s nothing to grind in the wheelarch.

Arghhh. Arghhh. Arghhh. This car. I’m losing the will. I could do with some help… 1. The f**king vibratechnics gearbox mount. A curse upon their house for making such a poorly fitting part at such a premium price. At least have the decency to say “this fits like s**t. Dremel it and smack it...

I hear you on the rust. I have all that work ahead of me. One thing about yours, it’s going to look absolutely unreal when it’s finished. It’s a brilliant colour. Nice skills to be able to do the work yourself, impressive.

Who did you use for the bodywork? And you’d recommend them?

Thanks, that’s the plan. One step forward and two steps back with this car!

While I wait for bits to sort the gearbox mount, my a/c guy had a gap so came to charge the system up. He did that, and the compressor works, the a/c pipes are cold but there’s only hot air inside… it’s a known issue with a cable tie fix apparently, but all the links to the solution on CS are...

Car is running again, all good on that front and battery back on my ctek. But, how the hell do I get this snapped bolt out? I’ve tried locking pliers, heat, wurth rust-off to seep into the threads and now dremelled a groove into it and tried to undo it. Nothing. I don’t have the equipment or...

The car didn’t start very easily for the coolant bleed, and now won’t start at all. It turns over fine. As I cleaned down some of the filthiest filth from the block when I had the rad out I’m guessing it’s mostly to be the crank position sensor a bit moist? Will be able to get my hands down...

Good to see this bit complete- looking great, nice and motorsport-y! I have the same Jon Fos seat mounts and I have to have my Sparcos on the highest side mount option, there’s no way to get the bolts in underneath the rear of the seat otherwise. And I don’t want them lower at the front. How...

Thanks Paddy, brilliant!

Thanks, Nick. Also, that looks very shiny :)

Amazing- thank you. I need a few parts but this would be a great help.

Do you think there was any damage to the selector rod? See anything at all? It just sounds weird… I guess you might know more on Monday. Hope you can see an obvious fix (and not a gearbox internals issue).

Thanks for posting this. Unfortunately still not that far off of the price of my Alpina badges, and I just can’t bring myself to do it for Renault ones! I know I will eventually. Do each of the three rear badges need the little clips?

Cheers- that’s a big help!

Also, anyone have one of these spare, passenger side, mondial blue?

The original clips are really difficult to release. I used pliers designed for electrical connectors, and just released the tension in the clips and gradually wiggled them off. A bit of silicon spray under the original hose helped. The main issue is, if you’re replacing with silicon hoses...

Arse! Literally I do something carefully and I mess it up. I’ll rectify this asap. Thanks for calling it out.

I also replaced the bonnet release, and used new stainless fittings where appropriate. Just trying to neaten it up and extend its life properly! Looks at the state of that rad. The condenser had dragged through it and was hanging completely out of place. No wonder it lost the gas…

Ok, so a bit more detail: Replaced all coolant hoses with MTC silicon hoses and stainless hi grip clamps. The two narrow bore hoses that link to the heater are poorly specified vs factory hoses as they T pieces that connect them are too long. Took off enough from each to make them fit properly...