2004 Cup Packed Petrol Blue 182!

[Dec_NE]

So I’ve decided I had better do a build thread for my new Clio… This is my 15th Renault Sport. I’ve owned a PH1 172, many PH2 172 and 182 and a Meg 225 in the past. It’s a terrible affliction to have, and I don’t know why I keep buying them – but here’s my most recent one!

2004 Petrol Blue Clio 182 with both Cup Packs
Good Service History, Average Miles for age.
Apex Springs
Mix-Match exhaust system
EVOL Engineering Dogbone Mount
Powerflex ARB bushes
Ebay Short shift

Plans are to keep this one and restore it to factory fresh and keep it immaculate. I’ve been there and done the track car Clio’s stripped out with cage etc which wasn’t up my street at all. The exhaust will be coming off as a matter of urgency as it’s absolutely shocking.

Few photos of the car from the last couple of weeks. Progress will be a bit slow for the first month or so due to having to pay out for a new clutch, flywheel and box for my2 year old Passat and having a Black 172 in the garage which I’m breaking

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[imprezaworks]

Sits well on the apex springs mate. They get some stick but I thought they were ok

 

[182_steve]

Looks a nice base for a project that :up:

With the colour being so rare, looks a good choice to hold on too long term and make minty mint!

 

[Dec_NE]

Due to having so many of these cars in the past and having one in for breaking I've got loads of bits lying around.

I refurbished a set of front calipers using bigg red pistons and seals, new sliders and new bleed nipples. These will be fitted to the car once the Black 172 is gone!

Before and after!

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[Dec_NE]

Sits well on the apex springs mate. They get some stick but I thought they were ok

It does sit well on them, looking to get the whole thing immaculate underneath so may buy some new apex springs as these ones have paint peeling off them, failing that some Eibach Sportlines.

Looks a nice base for a project that :up:
With the colour being so rare, looks a good choice to hold on too long term and make minty mint!

I've owned most colours of these Clios and her indoors went mad when I bought this one. I've managed to get her on board with the 'modern appreciating classic' gag telling her it'll be worth a fortune in years to come!

 

[imprezaworks]

Are you liking the way they handle etc? Obv the eibach will make it look like a monster truck

 

[Dec_NE]

Are you liking the way they handle etc? Obv the eibach will make it look like a monster truck

the tracking was out by miles when I bought the car and it was soaking wet and has s**te tyres on it so I wasn't full of confidence. Don't want coilovers but want the same sort of drop - unsure what drop you get off Cooksports.

 

[imprezaworks]

cooksports do drop well, not the most comfortable of springs but good enough.

 

[Louis]

I'll have a set of cooksports springs available next weekend. Be after £90

 

[Dec_NE]

I'll have a set of cooksports springs available next weekend. Be after £90

Whats the condition of them like - any paint etc peeling off them? I'm hoping to keep the car looking spotless underneath and peeling paint will probably wind me up haha.

 

[Louis]

They're pretty good to be fair but they do have some rust spots im afraid. A lick of hammerite would easily solve that though.

 

[Christopher.]

Nice car mate

Grams Springs get my vote. Mine sits lovely on them

 

[imprezaworks]

You got a pic with them fitted

 

[Dec_NE]

so slow progress due to doing 6 day, 100 hour weeks that don't look like they're ending any time soon.

The pearl black 172 I've got in the garage is just taking up space now and it's in a million bits. ideally I want to get the petrol blue into the garage so I can. begin to progress with it properly so hopefully I can strip most bits off the pearl black one tomorrow and look to get rid of the shell next week.

her indoors went out with work and I wanted to make some sort of progress with the car so ended up pulling the clocks and all switches etc out and doing a SMD conversion on them with my cat for company. I've done literally hundreds of these conversions so for the sake of 2 hours it's a worthwhile change.

Removed the speedo to find someone had covered the EML with tape and then paint so the clock foils were shagged. no matter, I've got loads of speedos in the garage so used a set of foils off that.

hopefully progress will speed up a little over the next couple of weeks!

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[182_steve]

The way some people bodge these cars ffs 🙈 annoying but nicely done sorting it!

 

[Jamess182]

100hr weeks... Christ. What do you do??
Love to do a SMD conversion myself, makes a huge difference!

 

[Dec_NE]

100hr weeks... Christ. What do you do??
Love to do a SMD conversion myself, makes a huge difference!

Fix X-ray / CT Systems in hospitals. we're flat out with installs and obviously need to keep on top of all our routine work too!

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[-Rob]

The way some people bodge these cars ffs 🙈 annoying but nicely done sorting it!

Second this, finding some interesting approaches on my car!

Good work on the conversion, not too bright either.

 

[Dec_NE]

Bit of an update after a long weekend!!

The cars done less than 50 miles since buying it – I’m notorious for buying cars and not driving them and having them sitting in the garage.

When I was driving the car home from Scotland after purchasing it – I noticed a rattling coming from the gearbox – when clutch was depressed it went away so assumed it was the clutch release bearing. When I had it on the ramps at my mates garage I also noticed the sump gasket was leaking……


Everytime I’ve dropped the subframe on a clio it’s turned out to be a pain in the arse – decided to not bother and to just pull the engine out and give it a good clean up!


Before pulling engine out:

Engine half way out

Engine out

Engine on stand, gearbox split plus the best office chair in the world :wink:

Engine on stand, degreased , cleaned and started to get painted

Sump off, cleaned up and new gasket fitted

New clutch fitted

I’ve built hundreds of wiring looms over the years – decided to tidy up the 182 wiring loom. Just removed all the split conduit and taped it up nicely so it looks a bit neater.

Degreased, cleaned and painted the old gearbox that was in the car and just before I was about to fit it, decided to pull the end cap to have a visual inspection of it – found significant wear on the end cap, the little pin on the end was snapped and metal filings everywhere. Frustrating as hell spending ages cleaning and painting it for it to be broken – I did have another JC5-130 box under the desk in the garage so cleaned that one up and painted it (hopefully this one is OK!)

Once the ‘new’ gearbox was cleaned up and painted, fitted it to the engine and this is how it looked once everything was nice and shiny

For once an empty garage! somehow there was crap everywhere from cleaning and painting the engine and box.

Not an empty garage for long – backed the car into the garage. Was pretty chuffed that I managed to get the car from one end of my drive, to perfectly centrered in the garage just by rolling it backwards with the front end jacked up…

It’s back in!

Started refitting the engine again – luckily I’m quite organised with nuts and bolts due to it being ingrained in me from my day job – all my nuts and bolts ‘bagged and tagged’

Engine back in!!

The car originally had a EVOL engineering dogbone – I find a lot of vibration from these so decided to use a spare floflex dogbone I had on the shelf – if it turns out crap I’ll stick the EVOL back in again.

Finally, got 2 new driveshafts to fit to the car – fitted the drivers side and then rebuild the drivers side suspension etc and then I’d had enough. 2 days flat out on the car and I had an early start in the morning. Coated everything with ACF-50 which I find absolutely brilliant – hopefully no corrosion on the new shafts.

I work away all week, so my to-do list for next week!!

 

[Djw John]

Is this the one that was for sale in Callendar near Stirling?

 

[Dec_NE]

Is this the one that was for sale in Callendar near Stirling?

I can't remember where I bought it from, was either Motherwell or Stirling. I've bought 5 Clios from Scotland over the last year or two to break for parts...

I got it for a good price though - but looking back at the car needing a new exhaust, new box and a good tidy up it wasn't really a massive bargain!

 

[Djw John]

There was a PB up for sale in Callander a couple of months ago.

Shame about it needing so much done to it straight away. And least it's time and not money given your spares.

 

[Dec_NE]

There was a PB up for sale in Callander a couple of months ago.

Shame about it needing so much done to it straight away. And least it's time and not money given your spares.

I think part of it with me is that i'm so picky - i've had Clios in the past that were immaculate and when I picked this one up knew it needed a lot of work to get it to a point i'm happy. I'm gradually getting rid of all my Clio parts so it'll start costing soon enough..

 

[182_steve]

That's a great bit of work for only a couple of days!? Looks very smart :up:

That's also gutting about the box after the time spent on it BUT also a total result you found that while it was out of the car and not after you'd put it all back together again!

 

[Dec_NE]

That's a great bit of work for only a couple of days!? Looks very smart :up:

That's also gutting about the box after the time spent on it BUT also a total result you found that while it was out of the car and not after you'd put it all back together again!

I've worked on these cars a lot over the years so can get the car to a point the engines ready to come out in around an hour and a half. I'm still aching a little bit as it's the first time in a long time i've spent the full weekend on the car and my shoulder always plays up lying on the floor!

Here's hoping the replacement box i've fitted is OK as its one I had lying around off a breaker....

There is a run out scheduled in mid march with a few Clio's in the north east so i'm aiming to have the car sorted by then
Got a few bits off being powder coated, brakes to fit, got a new exhaust to go on and need to get the engine running again.

also on the lookout for some wheels too, but unsure what to go for!

 

[Dec_NE]

Bit of an update - should hopefully be making good progress with the car this weekend

I've managed to get both driveshafts in, suspension in and powder coated bits fitted. It's finally back on all 4 wheels again!

 

[Dec_NE]

Update from tonight - spent a couple of hours on the car

As the car was on all 4 wheels, the next step to get it up and running was to fill up all fluids.

Started off with engine oil - used some oil I had lying around just to get the car up and running. Got some genuine oil from Renault to put in once i'm happy with how the cars running.

Then gearbox oil.... Fuchs Titan Sintofluid used here - I've used this oil in a lot of other unreliable gearboxes (Vauxhall M32) and found it to be good.

Emptied the first litre into the box and once the last drop went in, thought to myself 'i've never had an issue with driveshaft seals on one of these boxes' and looked under the car to find the full litre of oil i'd just put in pissing out of the driveshaft oil seal due to dickhead fitting the mounting bracket the wrong way round. My fault completely - I should have checked the new shaft and compared it to the old one before filling the box up. Had to nip out and get another litre of box oil to make up for the stuff all over the floor.

Once box oil was done (no leaks) Decided to do Power Steering Fluid - Fuchs fluid used once again - nice and straight forward!

Filled up coolant with water and a low dilution of antifreeze - this will be changed in the next few days to Genuine Renault Type D coolant when the expansion tank is fitted. I've got a heated garage so even with the cold weather for testing purposes I could have probably just used water.

Had a nightmare all week getting hold of the sensors / plugs that were in my inlet plenum when it was sent off for powder coating - eventually managed to get them this morning so the car was pretty much ready to start up once all fluids had been filled up.

Went to start the car - bugger all, strange dashboard lights coming on, clicking noise and immo stuck on - all common issues associated with a dead battery. Binned the battery and fitted another one I had lying around in the garage and turned the car over with coil pack unplugged. Turns over fine. Plugged coil pack in - a bit of a jerky start and a load of misfires (I suspect due to injector rail being off the car and it just needing a bit of fuel ran through it) but the engine fired up quite nicely.

Couple of issues however - Idle at 3000 revs - started looking at sources of air leaks. torqued the inlet plenum bolts down to 12nm and idle is now 1500-2000 revs. Removed the inlet plenum and cleaned the gasket on the bottom of it that mates with the cylinder head. Went to turn over and the battery I was using had died so called it a night there and then.

Pretty happy with progress - hoping to get the car running well tomorrow and get everything up to temperature before dropping the oil and coolant to refill with genuine Renault kit.

Picture of my smug face when I eventually got the car started!

 

[182_steve]

That is a good effort for one day's work on your own, this is coming together nicely

 

[Jamess182]

Nice work. Nothing worse than the smell of gearbox oil all over your garage floor, been there myself and has put me off ever changing the stuff again!
Was it not worth doing the belts whilst the engine was out?

 

[Crybert]

You seem very handy with the Clio. Well done on the work. Will be a very good one by the time you’re finished

 

[Gus]

Looking good. Feels good to have a full service with new box oil.
Next time its better to fill the gearbox from the filler - look for the plastic butterfly nut on the front side of the box just under the clutch cable. Looks like youve filled it from the breather.

 

[172Oz]

Ive done exactly the same with the driveshaft gearbox bracket. 2 litres of fresh oil all over the place and it stinks too!

 

[Dec_NE]

That is a good effort for one day's work on your own, this is coming together nicely

Not bad progress - I started around 17:00 and finished around 21:30 so just a few hours spent on the car.

Nice work. Nothing worse than the smell of gearbox oil all over your garage floor, been there myself and has put me off ever changing the stuff again!
Was it not worth doing the belts whilst the engine was out?

I hate box oil... It's took me an hour and a half this afternoon to get rid of it all off the garage floor. The belts were done 5 months before I bought the car by a reputable garage in Scotland. I called them to cross reference the receipt number to double check they had been done.

You seem very handy with the Clio. Well done on the work. Will be a very good one by the time you’re finished

I've had a few of them so it helps - I don't do too bad bearing in mind i'm not a mechanic

Ive done exactly the same with the driveshaft gearbox bracket. 2 litres of fresh oil all over the place and it stinks too!

As soon as the last drop of the first litre went in I looked on the floor and just shouted b****cks! I completely took for granted that the shaft seal would be OK

Looking good. Feels good to have a full service with new box oil.
Next time its better to fill the gearbox from the filler - look for the plastic butterfly nut on the front side of the box just under the clutch cable. Looks like youve filled it from the breather.

I had the butterfly nut open so I knew when the box was full enough - Looking back it would have been easier to fill it from there as it took me 30 minutes to put the 3l of box oil in from start to finish due to a combination of the oil being cold and the bloody tiny tube I was trying to put the oil down through.

 

[Dec_NE]

Update

 

[Dec_NE]

Progress update from today. Spent 2 hours on the car this afternoon before getting told off by the Mrs. It's OK though as she's going to Marbella next Thursday for a few days and my little boy is staying at the grandparents all weekend so I've got a full weekend to work in the garage.

Started putting the front end back together as I had an engine that starts - It still has a air leak somewhere but wanted to get the car actually looking like a car so I can park it out on the drive to tidy the garage out (her indoors doesn't like cars parked on the drive without bumpers etc on - she reckons it makes us look like tramps.....)

Fitted front cross member.

Then fitted radiator brackets. One of them had snapped, and everytime I have ever removed a rad from a Clio they snap, so decided to quickly repair / modify the brackets with some nuts and bolts I had in my toolbox to make them a bit more 'removable'

Drilled out the original studs on the brackets

Was looking in my drill box in the back of my car and found some drill bits i've had for years but never had the guts to use on million pound pieces of equipment at work due to the fact I thought they'd snap straight away. They're basically a drill, tap, and countersink bit all in one.

Drilled and tapped some penny washers to go with the new bolts, then fitted them and some nylocs to the brackets. They look quite good I think and stop any movement in the radiator.

Refitted both headlights - they both could do with a refurb / polish but one is definitely worse than the other

Then time to fit the front bumper again - the front grille on it was damaged next to the towing eyepicked up a new one from some local lads. Also fitted some LED foglight bulbs which look quite nice and match the headlights.

Then fitted a smaller front plate (which is far too small for the recess so i'm going to order a new one ASAP) and a towing eye I had lying around. Unsure what brand it is but it looks similar to a PMS one but the bolts for the shackle are slightly different.

It finally looks like a car now.

 

[Dec_NE]

Something ingrained in me from my day job is project planning.... I always find myself sitting in front of my bloody whiteboard as i'm packing up seeing where I am and writing things that need done. The difference between my day job and this car though is that my day job list isn't never ending!

Hoping to have all the stuff on the list done in the next 2 weeks!

First thing on the list is to refit the gearbox breather pipe which i've 'lost' when filling the gearbox up - when i've uploaded these photo's i've only gone and bloody found it. 10 points to anyone who can find it as well..... it's in a bit of a bummer of a place though!

 

[182_steve]

I like the box tally, now on number two 😂 always good to have a list tho, so you can see how much has been done too!

I stand by my previous comment - coming along nicely!

 

[Dec_NE]

I like the box tally, now on number two 😂 always good to have a list tho, so you can see how much has been done too!

I stand by my previous comment - coming along nicely!

I only do the whiteboard thing as i'm proper forgetful. I work away all week and i'll get home and spend an hour messing around trying to pick up where I left off.

 

[Dec_NE]

Might have just bought a new set of wheels also.....

Working down south for the next couple of days but picking them up on the way back up the road....

 

[Dec_NE]

Just picked up some new wheels. any guesses?

had the car running this afternoon. was idling up at 3k so reseated all the gaskets on the inlet side and it got a bit better. reseated the pipe to the brake servo and it now idled at around 1000rpm. a little bit high maybe but the car hasn't moved since the engine went back in so going to see how I get on

a mate of mine came round this afternoon to help set the gear linkage up, we struggled like hell with the cheap quick shift the car has fitted so I've just picked up another genuine linkage and gearstick.

plan for the weekend is new exhaust, linkage and wheels to go on - then a test drive.