Kanglio 182 Build Thread

[OpulentPete]

So, I probably should have posted this DURING the build but hay-ho, I'm doing it now instead ! As it stands the Kanglio is ready for it's MOT .

This project started in September 2019 when my previous van, a Transit connect, failed its MOT in dramatic style, mostly rust based.
I knew I'd not need a van for a few months over Christmas etc till Spring 2020, so though that i'd look into building a Kangoo / Clio 182 conversion.

So here goes.
Step 1, find a good donor Kangoo:
This took a while, as I wanted 3 things specifically: Air Conditioning, Electric Windows and NOT white.
After a few weeks of poking about on the internet I found this '06 non-runner 85dci in the spec I wanted, it was also very straight and completely rust-free.

Step 2, find a donor Clio 182. Again after some more poking about, forums etc I picked this up:

 

[OpulentPete]

As you probably know by now, the Kangoo is based on Clio front end parts, making this ALMOST a bolt-on conversion.

I first decided to start peeling the kangoo's face off, and draining it's boldly fluids, of which there was quite a lot.
Bonnet off and full glory of the diesel monster is revealed:

Bumper, grille, lights, Front panel off and drain the juices:
(Note this version has EPAS - Electronic power steering, you can see the pump under the left/ passenger headlight, more on this later...)

 

[OpulentPete]

And then came the rains...

 

[OpulentPete]

My daily Clio watching on is horror and amazement as I proceed...

 

[OpulentPete]

Meanwhile... I start to pull out the dash. Not as easy as it sounds, but certainly not as hard as re-fitting...

 

[OpulentPete]

Also start by pulling the dash out of the clio...

Out of one and into the other? Not QUITE that simple...

 

[OpulentPete]

This is the dash loom from the Clio, note in the previous post there is a square hole to the left of the dash, near the wing mirror, this is in-fact a large connector that connects the main internal loom to the engine bay loom, very handy! The Kangoo has no such connector BUT passes through in the same position, so on the kangoo i cut an equal size hole to pass the connector through - spot on actually!

Parts to retain:
You can't swap the steering column itself, but you can swap the upper parts - steering column stalks, key barrel (this can be swapped into the kangoo's) as well as the steering position sensor, immobiliser ring and all wiring.

I didn't retain the airbag system. this has sensors on each sill, and a small ecu style box near the gear stick.
There is another small box under the gear stick cowling, which is part of the ESP system, you will want to keep this.

There is also a separate little loom that runs up the left A-Pillar which connects to the cabin light pod (containing the cabin light and internal air temp sensor for the climate control), and the wiper/auto headlight box.
This wasn't retained, I have no need for auto lights/wipers or climate control, as this system cant be easily transplanted, the boxes are quite different due to differing dash designs. Wipers and lights work fine without. OH and you'll want to keep the CLIO wiper motor, saves trying to rewire the kangoo one.

You'll also want to remove the front-to-rear loom, which has a big brown connector in the left footwell sill area - this contains your rear lights, rear wiper and heated screen (wont be retained) and most importantly your fuel pump power.
On that subject, if you bought a Diesel Kangoo, you'll need to remove the petrol pump from the clio, and to be fair if you bought a petrol kangoo, you'll still probably need it as it may not have the correct flow/pressure for the 2L lump.

 

[OpulentPete]

Other parts to retain when stripping the clio, before we get to the engine bay, you'll need to keep the gear stick and plastic mount thing (the cream coloured bit)
The kangoo is a cable-shift, the Clio is rod-shift.

Conveniently, just swapping these bits across everything lines up

 

[OpulentPete]

OK lets rip the engine out of the Kangoo.

Basically you really dont need to keep anything, so go mad. just peel back the layers.
EXCEPT if you have Air conditioning and want to keep it, dont damage the condenser, tubes etc (but remove them)

 

[OpulentPete]

With the engine out, you can the drop the subframe, steering rack and suspension / brake, zorst, and EPAS pump etc...
None of which is retained - I fitted these back on the clio later to make it into a rolling shell.

 

[Craig172Kangoo]

This is the dash loom from the Clio, note in the previous post there is a square hole to the left of the dash, near the wing mirror, this is in-fact a large connector that connects the main internal loom to the engine bay loom, very handy! The Kangoo has no such connector BUT passes through in the same position, so on the kangoo i cut an equal size hole to pass the connector through - spot on actually!

View attachment 1484230

Parts to retain:
You can't swap the steering column itself, but you can swap the upper parts - steering column stalks, key barrel (this can be swapped into the kangoo's) as well as the steering position sensor, immobiliser ring and all wiring.

View attachment 1484237

I didn't retain the airbag system. this has sensors on each sill, and a small ecu style box near the gear stick.
There is another small box under the gear stick cowling, which is part of the ESP system, you will want to keep this.

There is also a separate little loom that runs up the left A-Pillar which connects to the cabin light pod (containing the cabin light and internal air temp sensor for the climate control), and the wiper/auto headlight box.
This wasn't retained, I have no need for auto lights/wipers or climate control, as this system cant be easily transplanted, the boxes are quite different due to differing dash designs. Wipers and lights work fine without. OH and you'll want to keep the CLIO wiper motor, saves trying to rewire the kangoo one.

You'll also want to remove the front-to-rear loom, which has a big brown connector in the left footwell sill area - this contains your rear lights, rear wiper and heated screen (wont be retained) and most importantly your fuel pump power.
On that subject, if you bought a Diesel Kangoo, you'll need to remove the petrol pump from the clio, and to be fair if you bought a petrol kangoo, you'll still probably need it as it may not have the correct flow/pressure for the 2L lump.

Wish you’d told me about the wiper motor sooner!! Build looks great buddy, where abouts are you from?

 

[OpulentPete]

Forgot to say (and I cant edit anything older than 15 mins...You'll need to remove the drive shafts from the engine (s) before you can pull the engines out, it's easiest to remove the complete strut / swivel hub / brake / shaft assembly as one.
the bottom ball joints often put up a bit of a fight...

OK next lets pull the engine and other useful bits out of the Clio.
remove the suspension / brakes / drive shafts, you'll need these all for the Kangoo.

The engine loom, and front-end loom (lights / ABS / wash/wipe / fuse box / ECU / ABS/ESP sensors etc) can all be removed as one, there is no need to disconnect the engine from the loom, just disconnect everything else and pull it all out as one.

You will need to drain the Power Steering, water and brakes, yes its messy.

You will need the ABS pump and brake lines, but conveniently the under-floor lines from the kangoo can be re-used so no need to remove these from the clio.
You'll also need the clio's PAS header tank.

You can then drop the front subframe & steering rack from the clio, you can fit this directly onto the Kangoo as yo'll be using the Clio's steering rack.

 

[OpulentPete]

This is a VERY good time to do any service work on the Clio engine, EG a belt & dephaser change.

I also did a full service including gearbox oil - which you will need to drain anyway to remove the drive shafts (forgot to mention!)

 

[OpulentPete]

Something else that you are going to need to transplant is the pedal box.
This is because the kangoo had a hydraulic clutch but the clio is cable.

Now you can raise the clio's subframe up to the kangoo and bolt on.

And fit the Clio's ABS pump and tubing.

This thing is gloriously floppy.

 

[OpulentPete]

Once you're happy everything is in place and tightened up, you can drop in the engine.

DON'T FORGET - Put the exhaust manifold in place ish before putting the engine in, it's almost impossible to get in/out with the engine in situ.
You'll probably want to us the clio radiator & fan.
Now you can see it coming together, you can get all of the tubing and wiring in.
Conveniently the whole shebang slots in very well, almost everything from the clio has a mounting bracket ready to use.

And of course you'll then put all of the front suspension / shafts / brakes back on and connect up the ABS sensors and brake pipes. all of which came off the clio.

You'll need to make up some upper radiator brackets if using the clio rad.

 

[Rojer]

@Brigsy

 

[tomsteer]

Great work and great write up!

 

[OpulentPete]

Next (but not today) I'll talk about interior, brakes, wiring and getting it to actually work....!

 

[OpulentPete]

Wish you’d told me about the wiper motor sooner!! Build looks great buddy, where abouts are you from?

I'm from near to Donington Park / Derby

 

[OpulentPete]

OK so lets move inside. At this point lets assume you have the Kangoo's interior / dash completely stripped out (But don't remove the heater box)
and the Clio dash loom + BCU / fuse box etc connected through the bulkhead to the engine loom.

What you need to do is get this in behind the Kangoo dash, This ISNT easy, and I didnt take any photos, but eventually I managed to get all of the appropriate connectors to about where they needed to be and the dash loosely back on.

2 of these are important: the doors.
You will note that both the kangoo and clio have identical connectors that allow the doors to be removed, this is good news! You need to extract the door looms from both doors, this will allow you to connect the electric windows (if your goo has then) and the door lock solenoids, without any wiring or cutting at all, the connectors are the same. The speaker wires also run into the doors, however the kangoo has speakers in the dash so do whatever you like.

Of course the single most important bit in the dash to transplant is the instrument binnacle, it's the same shape as the kangoo one, so I ended up gluing it into the kangoo's removable binnacle pod thing. Just make sure your connectors come up in the right place.
Just below this you need to connect up the ignition barrel, stalks and steering sensor, you can also connect the air bag.

OH and something that turned out to be a problem - the loom has several ground points (black wires) these ALL must be connected to chassis ground or various things wont work. ask me how I know...

You may be wondering about the heater controls... The air/heater box in the dash and the blower position controls are connected to the dials via push/pull wires, so just leave them as is.
The fan however is in the engine bay below the windscreen, and cannot be transplanted from the Clio. This is something that I've not wired up yet, but will probably get round to soon, along with getting the AC to wort (which is actually just a matter of gassing it up and connecting a switched +12v to the clutch on the compressor.

 

[Craig172Kangoo]

You've got me on the hunt for a black dash now, that looks loads better than the grey/beige thing in mine.

 

[OpulentPete]

You've got me on the hunt for a black dash now, that looks loads better than the grey/beige thing in mine.

You may struggle... I sprayed it with Plastidip!

(Not sure they exist in the wild? )

 

[Craig172Kangoo]

That's a great idea, doing the door cards too? Had just started scrolling through eBay on the hunt for a black dash!!

 

[OpulentPete]

That's a great idea, doing the door cards too? Had just started scrolling through eBay on the hunt for a black dash!!

Yes probably, but ran out of plastidip!

 

[OpulentPete]

OK ! So lets talk about the brakes.

The front brakes are a straight swap from the Clio, so just fit and forget (until we need to bleed them, but more on that later)
Something you be aware of is the ABS/ESP sensors - The wiring to these is part of the engine loom that you pulled out of he clio, dont forget!
It fits directly into the kangoo positions.

Also the ABS pump wiring is part of the engine loom.

The tubing that is connected to the ABS pump comes straight off the clio and onto the Kangoo, front and back - Dont forget that as you have also swapped the pedal box, which contains the brake master cylinder and servo, this will all need connecting up, and will be totally empty
The pipes from the ABS pump to the rear lines are a direct fit to the existing under-floor pipes, so you can leave those in place.

Rear brakes.
So you want rear disks do you?

OK one thing to note, on the Kangoo, the stub axles on which the drums/bearings spin are pressed into the swing arms and wont come out, dont try. You can remove and bin the kangoo's ABS sensor, but retain the under-floor wiring for the clio bits. DONT damage the kngoo brake lines (you can bend them a little)
Remove the rear brakes from the Clio and the stub axles/caliper mounts (as one) These will have 3x M8 countersunk bolts and a smaller one for some reason.

Once removed you'll see that they are infact 2 pieces (hard to tell) hold the stub axle/caliper mount and whack the thing with a hammer, it should come apart.
You can put the stub back on the clio if you need it to be a rolling car. DONT loose the spacer, you'll need it. DONT damage the ABS sensor/wire.
You'll note that the Brake disks contain the bearings and ABS reluctor rings! handy, but expensive when you need to change them.

The hole centres of this caliper mount are a perfect match to the kangoo's swing arms end- Yay! However...
I decided to go "belts and braces " to fit these to the kangoo by drilling and tapping these to M10, bigger the better!

 

[OpulentPete]

Ride height.
The front will sit about right IF your donor clio was on standard struts and springs. Mine came with lowering springs and this caused a but of rubbing, so decided to go posh and fit some KTR coilovers to the kanglio. Also decided to refresh the rest of the front suspension while I was at it, and throw on a poly dogbone gearbox steady.

The rear however can be adjusted by pulling out the torsion bars, adjusting the swing-arm levels and re-inserting the bars, they will probably put up a fight.
I wont do that as part of this write-up as thereare already how-to's available.

I picked up a used set of OZ Supertorisimo 16" wheels and had the re-conditioned, The offset is Juuuust right without spacers

 

[Cookson]

This thing is going to be awesome

 

[Mickb]

Good write up Peter. You'll enjoy it once its on the road 100%

 

[OpulentPete]

Good write up Peter. You'll enjoy it once its on the road 100%

Thanks :-D - I'm not done yet! more to come...

 

[OpulentPete]

That moment when you can start it!

 

[OpulentPete]

For the next step don't forget to pick up some of this.

 

[OpulentPete]

Seats.

You will see above that I mounted the Clio seats in the kanglio.
Not hard but not a drop-in fit.

On the tunnel / handbrake side conveniently the height is Juuuust right, but the bolts (that are welded to the rails) don't quite line up, so I cut them off, re-drilled and put some bolts with big washers under the tunnel.

On the sill sides, its not that simple, and there are variou ways to do this, the rail needs to be raised from the mounting area by 2.5" (hence the "bit of wood"here)

To achieve this you can use a simple bit of box section, but i went with a pair of steel race/ rally seat mounts and a piece of angle-iron.
again be sure to SPREAD THE LOAD with big washers under the kang. you don't want them pulling through in the case of an accident.

And there you have it!

 

[OpulentPete]

Fuel system.

The Kangoo I got was a "diesel" (some weird oily fluid)

The tank itself is fine for petrol, they are both made from the same ABS plastic.
SO after a failed attempt to find a tank from a petrolgoo, I decided to drop the tank and clean it out, not fun but not hard.

I inserted the pump/sender from the Clio, perfect fit, and contains the filter. Then had to make up some fuel lines, but I re-used the clio's front section and Kangoo's underfloor section.
The factory pipes are plastic and pre-bent, but can be straightened and re-bent as needed with the aid of a heat gun.
You can also re-use the end connectors if removed carefully.

The 182 has no fuel return, so handily just the one pipe needed.
One thing to note is the diesel tank doesn't vent, so I just drilled a very small hole in the filler cap assembly (which I swapped the guts of for the clio one too, so the clio key works). There are probably better ways, but it works.

 

[OpulentPete]

"HVAC"

(That's Heating, Ventilation & Air Conditioning to the un-initiated)

So, I specifically wanted to find a van with AC, to make the longer summer trips more tolerable, particularly on the motorway instead of having to have the windows open at high speed.
This is one of the reasons that I took quite a while to find a suitable donor, but I'm very happy I did.

I have to say from the start that I knew it would not be a simple swap-out job, as the Clio was fitted with climate control, the van just simple "dumb" AC.
and it was not going to be possible to swap all the gubbins over due to the shape of the dashboard and fan box.

My plan:
- Figure out how the switch/knob panel in the kangoo works, and try to get it to talk directly to the fan box and compressor.

lets start from the left.
- The blower position knob (ie windscreen / feet / face) is connected directly to the in-dash ventilation distribution box via push-pull cable, so this needs no help to work . great

- Temperature knob - same as the position this operates a mixer flap via cable.

- Fan speed.
Now it gets more complicated. This was wired into the kangoo loom, which is now in the bin.
SO - What I did first was take the fan out from the fan box, which sits in th scuttle under the right wiper pivot.
I then tested each cable going into the resistor module to figure out which fed he fan at what speed.
Ground luckily was the black one, on the same row as tha ground there were another 3 cables, each taking +12v in to operate the fan at a different speed.

Excellent!

I then wired up the fan speed knob (after much time figuring out what did what) in such a way that it took in +12V from a wire in the dash (fused) then gave it out to one of 2 wires depending on the position. This was then wired in turn through the dash to the blower fan resistor module.


Lastly thew AC compressor.
On the Clio this would originally have been controlled by the AC controller, which sat above the clutch pedal, and in turn that was controlled by the climate control panel in the centre console.
This is an easy one - we simply need to get +12v out to the AC compressor clutch.
There are 2 ways to do this, but both involve again figuring out which wire does what on the kangoo's control panel. I figured out which 2 wires were connected when the ac knob is turned to ON.
I then took +12v from the same wire as the fan feed, and fed a wire out to the compressor.
The other way is to use the factory compressor wire in the clio loom and feed into that. however I wasnt in the mood for figuring out which one it was in the under-dash mess.

BOOM - AC!

 

[OpulentPete]

MOT DAY!


Fail.


Nothing dramatic so will probably retest next week:
- Brake imbalance across rear axle
- Handbrake ineffecient
- (new) front right ball joint play
- headlight levelling system not working (which isnt a surprise as i havent fitted one...!)

 

[OpulentPete]

WOO!

MOT sorted.

Had to rebuild both rear calipers.

Can't drive it still as I'm waiting for the V5 to be issued (previous owner never bothered to send it off...)

 

[plees]

@OpulentPete can you not use the kangoo key but Clio internal gubbins instead of swapping barrels etc and fuel caps?

 

[OpulentPete]

@OpulentPete can you not use the kangoo key but Clio internal gubbins instead of swapping barrels etc and fuel caps?

I cant remember what it was, but I'm fairly sure there was a reason that I ended up doing it this way. could have been something to do with the immobiliser ring, or barrel wiring... it was 9 months ago so...

 

[Nafoff]

Such a good write up/how to, proper interesting read.

 

[OpulentPete]