James' 182

[Jamess182]

As promised back in 2018, I'm back in the game.

Picked up this nicely modified 182 a couple of weeks ago, properly happy with it so far.



Quick spec as follows

Induction Kit
K Tec Exhaust
Pure Motorsport Strut Brace
Whiteline Anti-roll bar
BMS Shifter
Corbeau Clubsports
Turn 1 Wheel
Turinis with PS3s

The bodywork is by no means mint, fair few little dings & scrapes here and there, and the Turinis are in dire need of a full refurb. But I'm not really fussed, it drives and sounds fantastic which is all I'm after at the moment.

One of the first things I did was give the engine bay a good clean up.

Thankfully the car is pretty bloody solid. No signs of rust, or even surface rust/bubbling on the sills, inner rear arches or by the fuel cap. So I will certiainly be giving them a coat of Dynax or ACF50, any recommendations for the best product?

 

[Jamess182]

Took it for a quick spin through the peak district today. Absolutely stoked with it, I dare say it out-handles my old 172 Cup but this is spec'd considerably better so it's not that all suprising.

 

[Patrick Daines]

I miss her!! Engine bay looking great. What did you clean the inlet up with? Looks good as new.

Sent from my PCT-L29 using Tapatalk

 

[Kev@KAM]

Low miles on it? That engine bay looks very good condition!

 

[Jamess182]

I miss her!! Engine bay looking great. What did you clean the inlet up with? Looks good as new.

Sent from my PCT-L29 using Tapatalk

Not surprised there! It's at home here with the country roads in the peak district.
Thanks, Whipped it off and repainted it mate, just using cheapo VHT paint. Happy with how it came out.

 

[Jamess182]

Low miles on it? That engine bay looks very good condition!

Not exactly, 130k. But drives well and has decent history.

 

[RustyMojo]

Best colour too 😉keep us updated with the changes/project. Titanium’s are the most underrated 182’s but obvs I’m biased

 

[Jamess182]

Best colour too 😉keep us updated with the changes/project. Titanium’s are the most underrated 182’s but obvs I’m biased

I was never keen on silver 172/182s but I'm a changed man now. I think it suits them so well!

 

[Kev@KAM]

Not exactly, 130k. But drives well and has decent history.

Im on the same mileage and that puts my engine at to shame. Great buy

 

[Jamess182]

Small update incoming..

Picked up a Brand New Meguires Headlight Restoration Kit off trusty Fb Marketplace for no more than £5!
Pretty happy with the result for now! Not sure how long it'll last.

Before

After

Classic French Stickers for the grill.

This view though 😍

...and the sunset behind isn't too bad either

 

[Jamess182]

Had some yellow calliper paint left over from the Cup. A pain of a job purely because it's kinda shite stuff which takes 2 months to dry and chips just by breathing on it. So had to redo them a couple of times. But happy with the result in the end.

Whilst the Turinis were off I had a crack at cleaning them up as much as possible. They were in poor shape to say the least, basically they were fucked, but some elbow grease and £3.99 metal polish later, it'll do the job until I get them stripped and powder coated, one day.

Picked up this absolute bargain brand new Sony BT stereo for £25.

 

[Jamess182]

Some further work to tidy up the engine bay...
Finally got around to painting the cam covers, went with black to contrast against the inlet manifold. I swear every fcking time I take off the inlet manifold & leads I manage to end up with a misfire when I put it back together again lmao. Was just a case of un-trapping them in this case.

Also picked up some heat-reflective gold tape.

Does it look kinda chavvy? Maybe.
Will it do f**k all to the performance? Probably.
Was it a waste of an hour of my life? Yes.

Anyhow, the whole engine bay clean-up has cost me a grand-total of £13, so I'm stoked with the transformation considering the state of it on my first post!

 

[dann2707]

Wayyyy!! Hahaah merry Christmas

 

[Louis]

Wayyyy!! Hahaah merry Christmas View attachment 1512368

Just a floating car, head and legs in that photo

 

[Jamess182]

Just a floating car, head and legs in that photo

 

[Jamess182]

Wayyyy!! Hahaah merry Christmas

Only just seen this haha.

BMS shifter decided to disconnect itself from the car, which was just what I needed after finishing a 5:30am-start shift

Thanks for coming to help again! Easy fix in the end.

 

[Jamess182]

Needed some milk so took an essential trip out in the 182, I'm lucky to have such a long driveway.

 

[Jamess182]

The little Clio took some beating over the last couple of days, handled it like an absolute CHAMP. It's like a little mountain goat in the snow, unstoppable!

 

[dann2707]

IYER

 

[Jamess182]

View attachment 1521134


IYER

Let the record show that I do not know this member, he/she's obviously just an absolute weirdo

 

[dann2707]

I'll remember that when you're stranded in next car park leaving me panicky voice clips asking me for help

 

[Jamess182]

Found some epic driving roads in the peak district over the weekend. Absolute belter of a day, roll on summer.

And for the first time in about 3 months, the poor Clio got a proper clean today! Properly happy with the results.

 

[Jamess182]

Treated the Clio to a proper service last weekend, thought I'd splash out on the good stuff. Millers Nandodrive CFS and Genuine Type D coolant.

Noticed a longgg time ago the rear spring rubber mounts were missing and was causing an awful creaking noise when going over speedbumps, so finally got around to fitting a brand new pair. Gave the rear ARB a quite coat of yellow whilst it was off to match the brakes. Classic half-a-job, as is everything when it comes to working on a daily in the rain when you've only got a finite amount of time before you need the car on the road again.

Now I've eliminated the creaking noise from the back, it really is remarkable how quiet and smooth this car is to drive, considering it's a lowered, stripped-out 15 year old French tin with a KTEC exhaust. But when you give it the beans, it absolutely rips. Love it!

 

[Jamess182]

Decent update incoming!

Splashed out and finally got my Turinis refurbished. The powdercoaters worked some serious magic to refinish them as they were so far gone in some places, but now they look absolutely brilliant, hard to believe they're the same wheels. I also realised I was a little down on power so I repainted the brakes red to gain an extra 5 bhp. They've come out really well and suit the darker wheels so i'm really happy with the outcome! Also fitted a set of brand new PS3s to finish them off, looks bang on.

Absolute shoutout to @Coops Mk1 who massively helped me out by lending me a set of wheels whilst I got my Turini's refurbished!! Absolute lad.

Also fitted a sunstrip a few weeks back with @dann2707. What a difference it actually makes, can't believe it's taken me so long to get one.

Roll on Summer!!

 

[Coops Mk1]

Looks mint matey and no worries, anytime

 

[Jamess182]

Fitted a new PMS Stud & Nut conversion kit over the weekend, had to get the finest male model in to showcase my work. Photography skills on point 🤟

Also been taking advantage of this spell of nice weather and actual reliability with the car to get some miles down and enjoy it. Drives so well. #nofilter

 

[Jamess182]

Took the Clio to Donnington last week for an evening session. Absolutely pissed it down pretty the much the second the track opened. Initially a little disheartening, being my first track day I wanted conditions to be perfect, however looking back it was definitely for the best. So much less wear on the car which at the end of the day is my daily commuter and not an out&out track car. Also I can't afford a new set of PS3s every 2 months either

That being said, the little Clio was absolutely f**king faultless. Had such a great time in the wet and completely held its own. The only thing I'd change is to uprate the discs and pads from standard but everything else was bang on. Few photos attached, I was mugged off by the photographer who I imagine is bored of seeing endless Clios, only got 2 or 3 decent photos throughout the entire session when I must have done 20-30 laps.

Also can just about fit the bike in without removing both wheels which is a plus!

Quick Spec whilst I'm thinking about it.

RamAir Induction Kit
KTEC Decat with silencer
Michelin PS3 tyres
Brembo discs & pads with red Calipers for extra gains
Whiteline ARB
BMS Shifter
Cooksport Springs on Standard dampers.
PMS Stud Conversion Kit
Corbeau Clubsports
Turn1 Steering Wheel
Sony DSX Bluetooth Stereo & Rockford Fostgate Speakers

 

[Jamess182]

Been a while since i last updated this one.

Still have the 182 and still love it!

Not much has changed apart from having the all-important belts done at Diamond Motors last month along with an engine & gearbox oil change with Millers CFS & XF.

Purchased a pair of Yellow Dot Recaro CS's which required a little TLC.

I sent the bases off to be restitched at Capital Seating and had a friend wet-vacuum them. Came out spotless!

The custom frames they came with were a good design but poor execution, so had a MKII set made up at work.

Test Fit

Rattle-canned

I then went full-r****d mode and accidentally bought a £25 can of 2K matt-lacquer rather than the gloss stuff I've used before.
Still, happy with the outcome.

Such a massive upgrade over my Corbeau Clubsports!

 

[Jamess182]

Few snaps from Donington last Monday evening.
Clio took another hammering but was faultless again!

Will let the photo's do the talking, they came out rather well with the sunset😎

 

[Mr Underhill]

Few snaps from Donington last Monday evening.
Clio took another hammering but was faultless again!

Will let the photo's do the talking, they came out rather well with the sunset😎


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My mates old 182 just behind you there SB04XKG.

 

[Jamess182]

My mates old 182 just behind you there SB04XKG.

Thought someone might know it, was quick indeed!

 

[Mr Underhill]

Thought someone might know it, was quick indeed!

Yeah it was a very capable track car. Where are you based?

 

[Jamess182]

Yeah it was a very capable track car. Where are you based?

Derbyshire mate, so Donnington is my local. Would like to do a few more trackdays this year but they're an expensive hobby!

 

[Mr Underhill]

Derbyshire mate, so Donnington is my local. Would like to do a few more trackdays this year but they're an expensive hobby!

Ideal circuit to have on your doorstep. Yeah, they’re not cheap now.

 

[Jamess182]

With my first trip to the Nurburgring approaching it was time to invest in some more track-focused 15" wheels,

The tread on my 16" PS3s are wearing low so it was a choice between investing £400+ into a new set of tyres, or find a set of lighter 15" wheels with good tyres and kill 2 birds with one stone.

So collected these OZ Ultraleggeras over the weekend!

Of course, there has to be something to spoil the moment...

MTEC don't want anything to do with it. With something like this I'd have thought they'd want to stand by the quality of their product and replace them, but I can't complain as they are pretty old and i'm not the original purchaser.

Luckily the OZs still just fit without them though.
Really pleased with them overall. Not sure if it's the slightly larger tyre-profile but I think the ride is noticeably smoother now. Looking forward to seeing how they perform on the b-roads soon.

 

[Jamess182]

In my pure rage after finding out the wheel spacer had failed I completely forgot to measure the thickness when hastily buying new ones.
So enter 20mm spacers, despite the old ones only being 16mm... Zero interest in comparing offsets and widths of the Ultraleggeras and my Turinis but pretty sure these sit out a little wider than the Turinis did. Not that the wider track will really make any difference, but it does have quite an aggressive stance now!

I did end up going back with MTEC as I'm broke. Plus they'd been on the car for god-knows how long so can't overly complain... plus they look rather good in anodised black. Really pleased with the Ultraleggeras too!

 

[Krarl]

I think that looks spot on!

 

[dann2707]

Remove stickers from sunstrip
Remove cringy not even cool in 2016 french flag colours from grill
Remove towing eye
Clear fog lights
Adjust saggy rear wiper

Perfect 😘

 

[Jamess182]

Remove stickers from sunstrip
Remove cringy not even cool in 2016 french flag colours from grill
Remove towing eye
Clear fog lights
Adjust saggy rear wiper

Perfect 😘

The towing eye is removed you delve 😂 and I need to de-wiper it completely… for extra weight loss, of course

 

[dann2707]

The towing eye is removed you delve 😂 and I need to de-wiper it completely… for extra weight loss, of course

Looks like it potato head