“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

 

Looking more like a track car these days. Headlamp blanks look ace. Are you running valve marker stickers on your wheels?

Also don’t get too close to the headlight blanks they pass the 20m test but not much else 😂

 

Adding some colour to the old girl, I liked the stickers I added to the black wheels so though I’d add some other highlights.

The he “TOW” stickers will be neon yellow and I’ve painted some mirror covers I had lying about.

This time next week I’ll be at Donnington getting my head kicked in by loads of much faster cars.

Also had the pleasure of meeting @NorthloopCup when I dropped my spare box off with him for an LSD, refurb and shorter 5th gear.

I’ve also got a AC delete kit and PAS delete kit, when the box come back I’ll swap the gearbox, fit the new clutch from @FrogJam Motorsport, remove the AC and PAS.

So a few things going on but just enjoying doing bits and bobs and enjoying the car.

 

Nice!

 

Always nice to be able to help people see something they’ve never seen before… just wish it wasn’t @NorthloopCup when he opened up my “low milage” gearbox “that only crunches 2nd to 3rd”

“The box isn’t in the best of health, but it’s salvageable.
It’s quite evident that the box has seen some hard action, and it’s also been a bit of a first for me in terms of what I’ve found!

Here’s the list of additional items that the box needs:

Selector fork for 1st/2nd gear - lost its nylon finger pads
Selector fork for 3rd/4th gear - it’s snapped one of the fingers off! A first for me to see this!!
Selector hub for 3rd/4th
4th gear
Selector hub for 5th
Mainshaft bearing has failed
Large diff bearing is failing”

So happy says, 🙃😂. Just glad I picked it up cheap now!

 

The main thing is, it’s fixable mate 👍🏻

 

The main thing is, it’s fixable mate 👍🏻

This is very true! I’d have been a bit sad if it was just scrap!

 

This is very true! I’d have been a bit sad if it was just scrap!

Yeah it takes a lot before they’re condemned to the scrap bin tbh mate. Damaged casings are the quickest way to send them to the graveyard.

 

Gearbox is back! Massive thanks to @NorthloopCup for sorting it out, hopefully fitted to the car with a new clutch before Cadwell on the 16h April.

Also big shoutout to @FrogJam Motorsport I’ve been messaging and getting advice on some odds and sods and they’re always really helpful and also they send stuff really fast when you buy from them! 👌

 

So after picking up the new gearbox and booking Cadwell for the 16th April I got some time at my mates barn and went about fitting the new gearbox and clutch.

All went well taking it apart, the only issue was banging my head so badly on the underside of the car I could taste the pain!

When I took the old gearbox off it was rather wet inside the bell housing, I thought this might be the case as I wa getting some slip when the car got hot but also wasn’t sure if that was the clutch after driving it home on 4th gear one day and burning the ar*e out of it roundabouts and junctions!

But safe to say I think the leaking seal in the bell hosing was the issue, the clutch was also covered, I’m surprised it’s wasn’t slipping loads more tbh.

So new clutch installed courtesy of @FrogJam Motorsport and refurbed box with LSD installed thanks to @NorthloopCup.

And that’s where I left it after 4hrs, back tomorrow to finish off putting it back together and then a few other jobs to do.

 

9 hours on the barn today 🙃 still wasn’t enough time to do all the stuff I wanted to, probably spent too much time yapping to my mate tbh 😂

So the car is back together and moves under its own steam, the below is what o did today,

- rebuilt the car from where I left it, had some issues with a steering rack bolt for some reason, just couldn’t get it to thread, but after I tapped out for lunch I managed to sort it after, by sort it I mean my mate did it as I was in a huff. 😂

- flushed the gearbox with some oil, maybe didn’t need to to but it had been sat and there was some dirt on the face on the diff so I figured it can’t do any harm, so filled the box, ran it through the gears, spiked myself lightly as the traction kicked in when I revved it then remembered the rear wheels weren’t spinning so it’d be having a meltdown about what’s going on, dropped the oil out again and refilled with approved spec oil.

- Changed the front pads as they were, let’s say as used as you would expect from a Yorkshireman 😬

- Bled the brakes

- changed the oil and oil filter

Just need to redo the tracking and I think it’ll be ready to go for Cadwell! Still loads of stuff to do be done but it’s all progress.

Don’t take a single picture of any interest so here’s a pic of the sunset

 

And just like that it’s ready for Cadwell next week, tracking done test driven up and down my mates 3mile drive 👀 all seems good. Just need to bed the pads in on the sighting laps.

 

When I did my pads I noticed that the dust seal on the offside caliper appeared to have suffered heat damage and was now holier than Swiss cheese so I had been looking for somewhere to get them refurbed when I came across a set with Dss11.1 pads and HEL lines for good money so though I’d just buy these as a second set and swap them out.

Slowly building up all the spares I need to build a second car….

 

Another few odds and sods sorta post, been adding lightness, taken the passenger seat out, top dash, rest of the internal plastics, survivors, interior light, clock etc.

Also added a sun strip.

Still need to get the roof lining out, anyone want a really tidy roof lining?

Then I’ll need to get the rest of the sound deadening out, lower dash and manufacture a section for the heater controls.

 

Lower dash removal is a c**t. Good luck.

 

Lower dash removal is a c**t. Good luck.

Mint! Might just cut it out 😂

 

Great day at Cadwell yesterday, the LSD is magic, I was wondering if it wa going to be worth the money but it really was, you only really get understeer when off the power plant your foot and it pulls it back gives so much more grip and confidence.

The little Clio never missed a beat and had a good few battles with other people there. Still making a few mistakes here and there but pushing my limits is all part of the fun, the car has more in it I am sure.

 

👀

 

👀

View attachment 1739182

🤷‍♂️😂

 

Mint day at Croft got some good videos car was great most of the day.

Had an electrical fault and turns out the red lead had snapped off the alternator, easy fix really and back out.

Then after most of the day was done the gearbox decided to drop its oil, not sure exactly where it’s come from but @NorthloopCup was good enough to call me and we think it’s the 5th gear cover / end cap but I’ll investigate further shortly. Gearbox was still working after it happened as was the clutch, no noise just no oil all of a sudden, one of those things.

Having looked a lot a photo I snapped quickly at the track I think the issue could be the covers come loose, gap seems to form and get wider as it goes up.

Going to try and get it looked at this week.

 

Check your driver's side shaft seal Rich

My driveshaft slip joiner started chewing into that at Cadwell. Next minute I know there's 2 litres of MTL all over the paddock and my dad was done

I carry a spare seal with me to every trackday now. And I've welded that sleeve onto the shaft so it can't move

 

Check your driver's side shaft seal Rich

My driveshaft slip joiner started chewing into that at Cadwell. Next minute I know there's 2 litres of MTL all over the paddock and my dad was done

I carry a spare seal with me to every trackday now. And I've welded that sleeve onto the shaft so it can't move

Cheers, I’ll double check but that sides completely dry. The passenger side, not so much, but the seal into the diff is dry and I can’t see any obvious gaping holes… yet….

 

Cheers, I’ll double check but that sides completely dry. The passenger side, not so much, but the seal into the diff is dry and I can’t see any obvious gaping holes… yet….

Doesn't take long for hot oil to make it's way out mate. Mine was like running a tap on full whack and it was a sub 1mm split

 

Doesn't take long for hot oil to make it's way out mate. Mine was like running a tap on full whack and it was a sub 1mm split

Yeah, if I’m right the gap has just opened up enough that going round a right hander it’s just gushed out, it stopped pouring out when I slowed and went straight, there wasn’t 3 litres of fluid on my car and the track So I’m guessing there’s still a decent amount in the box. I’ll find out tomorrow night.

 

Check your driver's side shaft seal Rich

My driveshaft slip joiner started chewing into that at Cadwell. Next minute I know there's 2 litres of MTL all over the paddock and my dad was done

I carry a spare seal with me to every trackday now. And I've welded that sleeve onto the shaft so it can't move

Sorry to here that mate.

How's your dad doing now?

 

Few nice pics from Croft

 

Right, investigation complete and I can confirm that there are no gaping holes in the casing that shouldn’t be there but it was missing one bolt from the end cap and another was about 3 threads from also going AWOL.

From my carefully conducted experiment we can deduce two things,

1. You need all three bolts and they need to be tight to keep oil prisoner inside the gearbox.
2. I’m a colossal bell end as I clearly didn’t tighten them up properly.

So new bolt added and other bolt tightened to spec, thread lock added for good measure and I’ve marked the bolts with paint so I can check them easily to see if they’re spinning out again.

Going to order some new oil and then drain and refill. I suspect I’ve lost less that a litre.

 

Decent outcome that mate.

 

And for the record, I didn’t leave the bolts loose 😂😂

 

And for the record, I didn’t leave the bolts loose 😂😂

Yes, I would add that I’ve had the end cover off and as much as I’d like to blame someone else, the only person I can blame is me.

 

Decent outcome that mate.

Yeah pretty happy. I can get some sleep tonight now. 😂