“Charlotte” The 182 FF

At last some pics and the start of my (probably slow) project thread.

Picked up with limited history but from a friend who’s spent £1400 on lots of new bits like brakes, calipers, clutch, exhaust etc etc only to get a mk3 and sell this one.

I got it at a fair price but it needs some love as you’ll see. My intention is to not modify it but maintain it as stock as possible with some minor mods that I think really benefit the overall car.

I’ve done this before and termed it Stock+.

To first part will be to get and fit the missing bits, like the 182 steering wheel and gear knob, then sort out some odds and sods that are broken as well and deep clean it, as it’s pretty grubby.

Having been over it with my paint depth gauge it’s all original it would seems which is good, there’s some age related marks on the Bodywork that I’ll fix and the interior is, in places disgusting, but more on that to follow.

Here’s some pics to start with,

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

No paint on the throttle body?

 

No paint on the throttle body?

That’s been painted 🤣 clearly did a great job of it. Lol.

 

Meant to post this one, also been replacing the bolts with zinc plated ones just to tidy it up.

 

OK my eyes are bad but did that really come out of the same can as the inlet?

 

OK my eyes are bad but did that really come out of the same can as the inlet?
View attachment 1620135

Ah, no I wanted it to be silver. It looked more like the engine mount. Your eyes aren’t that bad!

 

Feeling pretty happy I got the spare wheel now…

Now if only I had a wrench… 🤦‍♂️

 

Two new tyres going on as the two rears were at the end of life anyway so its was a reasonable time to do it.

Also, being French its decided to have a special new feature where key fob doesn't work, but only when its on my drive. It works fine if I move it 15ft to my neighbours either side but on my drive nada.... worked fine until now. Not sure I can be that fussed to resolve it though.

 

Time to prime the parts cannon…

EML came on tonight. Nearly made it a year. Lol.

 

Hurrah, it’s fixed. All by itself. What a machine.

Time to prime the parts cannon…

View attachment 1622080
EML came on tonight. Nearly made it a year. Lol.

Good news. It’s fixed, all by itself. What a machine.

 

Hurrah, it’s fixed. All by itself. What a machine.

Good news. It’s fixed, all by itself. What a machine.

Can you come fix mine too?

😂

 

Can you come fix mine too?
View attachment 1622273😂

Ah, it’s got the electronic special problem…. I can’t help with that

 

So, I’ve noticed at some point there has been a small leak from the thermostat but I can’t work out if there is a gasket and the o-ring for thermostat or just the o-ring? I’m tempted to change the hoses as well as they’re looking pretty tired and the last thing I need is a hose split!

It’s not leaking now and is never wet so not a major issue right now but if I’m taking all the hoses off I may as well fix it as well.

 

So, I’ve noticed at some point there has been a small leak from the thermostat but I can’t work out if there is a gasket and the o-ring for thermostat or just the o-ring? I’m tempted to change the hoses as well as they’re looking pretty tired and the last thing I need is a hose split!

View attachment 1622678
It’s not leaking now and is never wet so not a major issue right now but if I’m taking all the hoses off I may as well fix it as well.

I think this has been the case on all my 182s as the mating surfaces on that housing are showing their age. I just replaced the thermostats, then added a bit of silicone and they've been gold. They especially seem to leak around the pipe going to the radiator, so again a bit of silicone around that too.

 

The engine management light has come back on, this time with added flashes, although it goes off once moving. Looking at the code reader its a Cylinder 3 mis-fire which makes sense as its felt a but lumpy on idle. So I ordered one new injector and will check a few other things when that arrives to rule out things like a spark plug or lead damage.

I have also dropped my 3 front wheel hubs off at the garage to have the bearing pressed out before they go for blasting and powder coating. I'll drop the rear axle and front subframe off at the same time.

The car also came with some brand new in the box front wishbones, so I will look to swap them out for the originals and take the wishbones for coating as well, I don't intend to do much with any of this right now but getting it ready for next year when the weather turns a bit nicer and then I will swap it all out, the issue was my shed is damp this time of year and I didn't want the parts rotting away anymore than they already have so I can store them all nicely coated and ready to go, I'll just need to get the new bushings at some point.

Finally I also managed to get a cold air intake from @04-182 its the same as @MrBlonde has and will allow a great deal more cold air to intake. I am also looking to block up some of the holes that go from the engine bay into the intake area to reduce the amount of hot air crossing over which should help a tiny bit with hot weather running.

 

Soooo…. New injector in, checked the spark plugs just to make sure I had the right cylinder and pretty sure I did… no. 3

So went about changing it. I knew before i started what was about to happen, the fuel rail was pretty hard to get off due to oxidisation onto the injectors. But once off east enough to change.

all out back together and it started on the button but I’ve not got a cyclinder 4 misfire 🤣. Think I’ll just order 3 more injectors and be done with it.

 

Now got a cyclinder 4 misfire. Really need to proofread my posts!

 

Id change the rest. If you have access to clip, reset fuelling adaptives so it adjusts to suit. Its not 100% necessary but its like the icing on the cake.

 

double post

 

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Id change the rest. If you have access to clip, reset fuelling adaptives so it adjusts to suit. Its not 100% necessary but its like the icing on the cake.

Just bought 3 more. Sadly I don’t have Clip, might see if anyone local does. I do have a cheap icarsoft but guessing that won’t do it.

i knew as soon as i looked at them that I should have just got 4.

 

Its not necessary to do it, but its nice. Id imagine most mid range scanners might be able to reset fuelling adaptives.

I reset the throttle adaptives on mine whilst in and it ran class, the throttle was so responsive.

 

Its not necessary to do it, but its nice. Id imagine most mid range scanners might be able to reset fuelling adaptives.

I reset the throttle adaptives on mine whilst in and it ran class, the throttle was so responsive.

good to know, I’ll see what options it has and if not I’ll take it to my mates garage and get it done.

 

good to know, I’ll see what options it has and if not I’ll take it to my mates garage and get it done.

I have the iCarsoft CR V2 and theres an ETC option available. I think it’s under the Service menu from memory

 

I have the iCarsoft CR V2 and theres an ETC option available. I think it’s under the Service menu from memory

Not sure mine is that fancy. Suspect I’ll have to take it in to get it done. Might upgrade in time.

 

Cars almost un drive able at this point. Miss fires are worse now and getting about 20mpg so think I’ll park it up until spares arrive to get it sorted. May also end up putting new plugs in again as these are pretty coked up on 3&4 and I’m not sure that’ll resolve itself.

 

As I’m still waiting for Evri to deliver the new injectors that were handed to them on the 24th I went out and did some data logging on the o2 sensors. Im pretty sure the pre cat sensor is dead / dying as the following is what I’m seeing. It starts okay, slowly ebbs to 0v then when driving is all over the place high highs and low lows as well as some “okay” readings. I also wonder if this is connected to the misfires as I swapped out the cylinder 3 injector to cylinder 4 and now I have a cylinder 1 misfire lol.

On the drive static

driving

driving doing pulls

back on the drive

I have the new pre cat sensor so I’ll put that on at some point but really need the injectors as I’d like to do it all at the same time ideally.

but any thoughts on the above appreciated

 

I won’t bore with loads of photos but it’s all fixed. New o2 sensor made quite a big difference but it was still misfiring.

i ended up with 6 new injectors as EVRi delivered the AUTODOC ones today I announced and the ones I bought from ECP also arrived so now I have spares I guess.

replaced all the injectors and she’s super smooth again, idles nicely and the codes haven’t come back. Pretty pleased all told.

I also suspect the o2 sensor was the overall cause as my mpg was never more than 30mph really but it’s now getting high 30s when pottering about. One to keep an eye on.

Next up will be hoses and thermostat as the hoses look pretty tired and the thermostat is leaking ever so slightly.

also the rear axle and subframe and ancillaries are soon off to be powder coated.

 

Did you just spray alcohol on and rub away the stickiness of the interior plastics?

 

Did you just spray alcohol on and rub away the stickiness of the interior plastics?

Yes. It takes some work but it’s worthwhile.

 

It’s been a while since I did much with the Clio but I’ve been collecting some parts, today I had some time and given I had a small coolant leak I replace the hoses and while the bumper was off I’d fit the cold air duct that @04-182 kindly supplied to me.

Reading others reports the main issue was going to be the plastic clips that go into the heater matrix, but all told it went okay save for some of the clips being the wrong size.

fair bit of crust from the small leak

all jacked up, getting pretty quick at taking the bumper off, might fit some quick releases

Also replaced the thermostat, didn’t need to really but while it was apart it seemed sensible.

what I did here was cut the metal clips off and left the plastic connected, then just pushed the new hoses on, seemed easier than disconnecting the actual clips

then once it was all done on to this

i also bought a cheap plug to over the hole near the headlight to just reduce the heat soak a bit.

All done

I also picked up a k-brace for cheaps as I fancied losing the back seats but wanted something to hold the spare wheel in place. Works a treat. Just need the carpet to arrive

the rear axle I got is at the powder coater, I’ll be taking the subframe etc over next week then I’ll be getting on with swapping them over.

 

It’s been a while since I did much with the Clio but I’ve been collecting some parts, today I had some time and given I had a small coolant leak I replace the hoses and while the bumper was off I’d fit the cold air duct that @04-182 kindly supplied to me.

Reading others reports the main issue was going to be the plastic clips that go into the heater matrix, but all told it went okay save for some of the clips being the wrong size.

View attachment 1629607

fair bit of crust from the small leak

View attachment 1629608

all jacked up, getting pretty quick at taking the bumper off, might fit some quick releases

View attachment 1629609

Also replaced the thermostat, didn’t need to really but while it was apart it seemed sensible.

View attachment 1629610

what I did here was cut the metal clips off and left the plastic connected, then just pushed the new hoses on, seemed easier than disconnecting the actual clips

View attachment 1629611

then once it was all done on to this

View attachment 1629612

i also bought a cheap plug to over the hole near the headlight to just reduce the heat soak a bit.

View attachment 1629613

All done

View attachment 1629616

I also picked up a k-brace for cheaps as I fancied losing the back seats but wanted something to hold the spare wheel in place. Works a treat. Just need the carpet to arrive

View attachment 1629615

the rear axle I got is at the powder coater, I’ll be taking the subframe etc over next week then I’ll be getting on with swapping them over.

What size is the blanking plug you used?

 

This is the one, 83mm from memory

Silicone Rubber Hole Plug Black Cover Hole Plugs Pipe Tube Inserts 52.5~108.6mm | eBay

Function: Dustproof, waterproof and odor-proof seal. Can be used as a seal for sewer pipes. Product color:Black.

www.ebay.co.uk

It’s pretty much a perfect fit

 

Good updates.

Is that spare wheel tied down at all?

 

Good updates.

Is that spare wheel tied down at all?

it is now, the k brace holds it pretty well so in the event of an accident it shouldn’t move, to the point that I have to remove the brace to actually get the wheel out.

 

Carpet arrived for the rear seats. I do like the look with no rear seats.

 

Needs a set of bucket seats now 👀

 

Needs a set of bucket seats now 👀

Half cage, buckets and harnesses are in the plan now.

 

Picked up the rear axle this morning…

happy with how it looks bushes to buy then on to fitting.

 

Picked up the rear axle this morning…

happy with how it looks bushes to buy then on to fitting.

View attachment 1631522

Although I realise now that the stub axles have been done wrong. not a big issue though,

 

Loving the progress mate.

How have the stub axles been done wrong?

 

Loving the progress mate.

How have the stub axles been done wrong?

Thanks.

So ideally you want the mating surfaces to be metal on metal the way they did it the stub axle will be painted side to metal.