Kiffle's 182 Progress Blog

[Kiffle]

So I thought it was about time I put together some sort of thread detailing everything to do with my car. I've owned it for a while now but will gradually write up progress from purchase and then continue once the thread's caught up.

In February 2019 I picked up my 120,000 mile 'Full Fat' Racing Blue 182. A standard example (apart from the Cup Offset Turinis and a loud, unbranded cat back eBay exhaust system), and a nice big history folder . My plans for the car at the time were just to do some small mods along the way and give it a 'refresh' on some of the consumable parts.

A couple of pics from the drive home. It was a perfect day to go and collect it!

Unfortunately though, within a few days of picking it up it was broken. "TyPiCaL fReNcH cAr MaTe" comments came in from friends but I suppose it was silly of me to think French car ownership would be easy! Brake pedal went to the floor with initial inputs and then needed pumping to get proper activation so thought a bleed might help but after an inspection, one of the bleed nipples was super tight and I didn't want to risk snapping it so off to the local garage for a replacement NSR caliper.

From browsing photos of 182s I liked the look of the 'Trophy' decals on the sideskirts, so decided to get some of the 'RS-182' stickers for mine, as well as some 'Cup 182' stickers which I stuck to the doors. I also bought the smaller front plate and a fresh rear plate which looked much better.

Some other goodies turned up too; A Ramair foam panel filter, Powerflex Yellow Road Series engine mount insert, Purple Road Series dogbone mount insert and 2 rear exhaust hangers, as well as a Fabia VRS Splitter as the car was missing its original one.

Wonky exhaust tips fixed!

The Powerflex inserts made a noticeable difference mainly due to the increased vibration into the cabin. Was glad I chose the road series and not the race series.

Then decided to get the camera out and take some better pics.

Should've put the sun visor up though 🤷‍♂️

 

[Kiffle]

At the beginning of May 2019 I spotted some Evo Recaro Trendlines local to me, that were on OMP bases ready to drop straight into a Clio. So I snapped them up and was an instant improvement over standard! Sat lower in the car and much more supportive. Only 2 downsides to them was that they didn't fold forward, so they had to be manually adjusted down and back up and the airbag light came on (not too much of an issue as one of my friends coded it out for me on CLIP).

Track rods and ends were up next. Tightened the steering up so money well spent

The car came with Alcantara dash trims fitted and so I decided to get some standard plastic ones and spray them Racing Blue. Whilst I was waiting for the paint to dry I ran a microphone to the top of the A pillar from the back of the radio. A couple of nice easy mods!

Managed to get an air filter made up at work - induction sound was insane compared to the standard air box.

18mm PMS Spacers added to the front and front headlights polished. Both made a nice difference to the looks.

Installed some Chrome LED Bulbs whilst I was at it. Did make the mistake of leaving the bonnet up and so headlight polish went everywhere! 🤦‍♂️

 

[Kiffle]

Sunstrip stuck on and it was ready a couple more photos with the camera 📷. Highlighted the need for rear spacers however.

Calipers also given a fresh lick of silver paint - nothing too lairy!

And it was also at this point that I realised the passenger OMP base was a little wonky.

 

[Kiffle]

I then planned to attend Forge Action Day 2019 at Castle Combe and do a couple of track sessions so basic prep began.

Combe has a noise limit of 100db and upon testing the eBay system, which was 107db at 4500rpm, realised I needed to find a more sensible system. The novelty of a super loud car was wearing off as well so this was a welcome change. James at JMRS had a resonated Milltek Exhaust available at the time so I went to collect that.

Was a right pain to fit and couldn't get it to sit 100% but sounded better.

10,000 miles in 6 months took it to 130,000.

Cheap set of 15inch wheels procured. Needed a colour change and had seen that white went well with RB, so that's what was decided on.

Specs were 15x7 et37. Unsure on what brand they were.

Front brake pads and discs replaced with Ferodo DS2500 pads and Brembo HC discs whilst the paint was drying.

Not the best picture but the first one of them on the car with 205/50 r15 Federal 595 RSR tyres fitted.

 

[Kiffle]

Car went well at Forge 2019, although it was my first time on track so hadn't got anything to compare it against. But nothing broke so I took that as a win. It also gave me the bug for this track driving stuff!

I could see why people go to coilovers - Standard suspension had a bit of roll to it!

Next task was to spray the front grilles black - another easy job that made a noticeable difference. Well, to me at least.

Finale Action Day 2019 at combe was next, again with Ramair on their stand where it got the attention it deserved (as seen in the photo below 🤦‍♂️).

Again, the car went well in the couple of sessions I did. Nothing broke but I did manage to have a small spin at quarry in the wet, didn't leave the tarmac so wasn't too bad.

Fitted PMS 18mm spacers to the rear before Combe and so there was a little bit of rubbing but nothing major. Certainly looked better in these photos than those from Forge.

 

[Kiffle]

Shortly after Finale, the AC compressor started making a horrendous noise so that was the next task.

In January 2020, James at JMRS offered to give his help to change it as I'd got a compressor from him. Even with his knowledge it was not a nice job to do.

I'd ordered an Aux Belt kit from KTEC which came with the tensioner etc so I had everything else apart from the compressor was new and genuine. However, upon taking the alternator and bracket off, we found that the mount had sheared and the casing of the alternator was all cracked. Luckily James had an working alternator and spare mount going so I ended up with those too.

Kind of scary to see a part like that break and not scary, but damn annoying when the brand new, genuine tensioner sheared...

So, a trusty jubilee clamp had to be used to compress the tensioner in order to fit the belt.

Again, not a fun job at all.

 

[Kiffle]

Some more photos I got with a friend the weekend after changing the aux belt. Took a drive out to the Elan Valley and drove some incredible roads!

Even the laybys were picturesque

Nearly drove over the edge parking here

Gutted not to be able to try what looked like a rally stage

And a cracker from my friend. Surprising considering it was wet and still on standard suspension components.

 

[Kiffle]

More photos from around the same time taken in my local area.

 

[Kiffle]

Decided to make a 'Fatty' induction kit also get a battery cover with a cut-out for an aftermarket filter.

Really should've made an effort to clean the bay before taking these pictures.

Checked the rear brakes after another few thousand miles and saw that they were probably due a change!

So, parts were ordered; genuine Renault Discs, OE disc spacers, and OEM Brembo Pads. (I ordered steering rack bushes at the same time).

Next from this parts haul was some cup style headlight washer blanks that I painted with the remainder of the paint I had made up for the dash trims. Again came out pretty well and a good match.

 

[Kiffle]

Well it'd been about a year since the last brake issue so I guess it was time for another one to pop up.

OSR caliper this time. One very leaky caliper indeed so time for a change but thought whilst that was being changed and the system would need bleeding, I might as well get some braided lines.

I bought the Front set of lines from HEL and then got a small roll of AN-3 line and set of fittings to get rid of the crimped rubber hose on the rear and make that braided too.

Once the caliper was swapped, braided lines fitted and the system flushed through with new MOTUL RBF600 Fluid it was time for another drive in the sunshine!

Happy days! ☀️

 

[Kiffle]

Biggest mod so far - A set of BC Racing DS Series with 8kg.mm spring rates front and rear.

Easy job to fit! No issues at all. Forgot to install the camber bolts straight away but put them in before I took it for alignment.

Didn't really set them that low. Car was still the daily at this point so just lowered it a little bit, still I was pleased with how it sat.

Much stiffer than before!

 

[Kiffle]

The cambelt and dephaser were getting close to the due to be changed date so, rather than sending it to a garage to have the work done, I looked at getting the parts myself and having a crack at doing it (under the supervision of friends and family that actually had an idea of what to do though).

Then I saw that a friend was breaking a 172 Cup on 90k and after messaging and discussing a price I decided to buy the engine and ancillaries off of him, so that the work could be done on a stand out of the car, and then this engine be swapped with the old one.

I'd been looking for a cup alternator setup for while but not managed to get one, so this was a bonus.

Gave it a quick clean and sprayed the block black, and the cam cover and mounts silver.

Top inlet and bottom inlet went black, then I sanded the paint off of the Renaultsport logo and applied the lacquer after. Pretty pleased with the results!

I knew I wasn't going to be opening the engine so ordered the gaskets and seals for what I could change, along with a new thermostat, billet pulley set, new alternator, complete genuine cambelt kit from KTEC, water pump, dephaser pulley, genuine spark plugs, genuine clutch, keyed crank pulley and new engine and gearbox mounts.

Another big haul.

 

[Kiffle]

I'd also taken the non xenon black insert headlights from my mates 172 cup. Another small improvement and technically correct now that the headlight washers had been removed.

Time for some more photos. Some taken a couple miles from home and some on a trip to Bath.

Had a fresh set of Pilot Sport 3s fitted around this time too as it seemed to be the benchmark tyre for everyday use.

This last picture is one of my favourites of the car to date. Credit to my friend (@skwshots on Instagram) for taking the last 3.

 

[Kiffle]

So after the fun 'taster' sessions I had at combe towards the end of 2019, I booked onto a full trackday at Combe on the 28/08/2020.

I bought fresh front DS2500 pads and Godspeed C Hook disks for the front in preparation. Although there was plenty of life left in the old set I still decided to change them so I have the others as a spare set.

One of the federals on the other set of wheels had a puncture unfortunately so the pilot sports were used. It was my first full trackday though and I was pleased with how the car went.

My first trackday was great fun! Did about 100miles on track and had plenty of track time through the day. It was wet in the morning from the previous nights' rain, which I was a little nervous about, but just took it easy until it dried up.

Remember having quite a good 'battle' with this mk5 R32, it sounded amazing past the pit lane.

Brake dust blasted off and the car washed for some sparkles!

 

[Kiffle]

Forge Action Day 2020 was the weekend after the trackday and I managed to get some track time there too. About 90 miles done on this outing but it did feel strange with the higher numbers of cars on track.

Didn't last long in front of my mates S4

It was dry all day and pretty warm and the PS3s definitely weren't as happy as they were the previous week.

Also didn't last long in front of this RB197. It looked like a proper bit of kit.

But again, no issues and the car ran faultlessly throughout the day. Big smiles all round!

 

[Kiffle]

As a reward for not blowing up or breaking on track, the car got treated to a set of White et38 2118s. I'd seen plenty of photos of RB182s on these and was super happy to get them on the car. I had the federals taken off my other set of 15 inch wheels and put on the 2118s (and the punctured one plugged).

First time running the 205/50 r15 tyres with the coilovers on and it rubbed on the back with the 18mm spacers, so something that needed sorting.

Very pleased with how it looked though!

Also took a trip to Caffeine and Machine. Such a great place and always a good selection of cars on display

I bought a pair of Eibach 5mm spacers which I put on the front and then removed the rear spacers all together.

Wasn't a massive fan of the look but hey, no rubbing so function over form I guess.

Last job for this weekend was to time the engine up, fit the keyed crank pulley, dephaser and seal, new sump gasket and outer crank pulley

The damped crank pulley was in a pretty sorry state so I replaced it with a solid billet one - something which I later realised maybe wasn't such a good idea so it has been replaced with a new damped one again.

I'd also managed to find a complete set of genuine timing tools on eBay for only £25 down in Southampton - Bargain! The engine was timed up pretty easily as I got one of my friends who had timed his wife's 172 up to help (basically do the whole thing) so that I didn't mess it up!

All the residue was cleaned up and the new sump gasket was put on. Nice and simple.

 

[MLB]

Some great progress there, looks like a great car. I love a clean RB.

Keep the updates coming!

 

[Kiffle]

So then the time came for the engine swap.

Date: 17/10/2020
Engine and Shell mileage at the time: 147,717.
New Engine mileage: 90,152

James from JMRS kindly came to help as well as my friend that did the timing. Good to have people that knew what they were doing about!

New set of Yellow HT Leads fitted to replace the crusty old ones.

New clutch put on and gearbox given a quick clean.

New water pump and billet pulley fitted.

Sat on the mountings.

All finished up! It was a long day but a successful one. Had to cut through one of the rod ends so that was a bit annoying but managed to source a replacement, and the new coolant bottle split so the old one had to be put back on.

Also forgot to paint the Fuel Rail guard, something which I am still yet to do!

Only slight hiccup was that one of the PAS lines had to be bent around the new cup setup and I managed to kink the pipe in doing so. The steering didn't feel the same as before but at least the engine ran well, felt quick too!

 

[Kiffle]

More pictures were taken.... wasn't so afraid to have the bonnet up now!

Still a fan of the yellow accents in the bay.

Another one of my favourite pictures. They sure do look good on Turinis!

But....... It was that time again. Cue another Brake issue. NSR caliper handbrake mechanism had broken this time, so it was time for yet another replacement. Oh well, used to replacing calipers by now.

And then, one of the rear exhaust hangers sheared a week before the MOT. Such fun!

Not seen this happen before but it was replaced with a standard ECP hanger with the rubber X mount quickly to get it through the MOT. It passed with No advisories so the hard work paid off!

 

[Kiffle]

Should've added this in the previous response but oh well.

Picked up a new daily to replace the Clio the day after the engine was swapped.

A 2016 Fiesta ST180 ST-3 with 24,000 miles.

I knew that I would be doing some more track biased upgrades to the Clio in 2021 so really didn't want to be daily driving it anymore.

The fiesta is great to be fair and even though they have a bad rep, it's a nicer place to be inside (compared to the Clio), and the torque makes it much more useable on the road whilst still returning 45mpg.

But, don't worry - this is probably the last I'll say about the fiesta.

 

[Kiffle]

Then the snow hit in January 2021.

Wasn't prepared to take it out though so it stayed on the drive but I did order some 15mm spacers for the front and put the 5mm eibachs on the back.

One of the fog lights was cracked and seeing as the car has never had any arch liners, I bought some Mistral Motorsport 3D printed fog light grilles to go in their place. Please with how it looked.

Fatty induction kit removed replaced by a black JMRS intake and Carbon Fibre Ramair Filter.

Preferred the look compared to the fatty kit.

Last from this little haul were a couple of headrest cushions for the trendlines.

And I had some spare black vinyl that, with the help of a friend, made another sunstrip as the previous one was removed for the MOT. OSF Headlight was misting up though - something else to sort.

 

[Kiffle]

Next up was to get rid of the Hydraulic power steering.

PMS rack blanking kit ordered and received.

Well blanking the rack and removing the pipework wasn't fun but, again, I had a couple of mates who knew what they were doing with me so it got sorted. 5pk847 belt used as aux belt now. At least changing the aux belt is easy, takes about a minute with the cup setup.

Also replaced the misty headlight at the same.

No more PAS reservoir in the bay and the car felt noticeably sharper on the throttle. Just the Water pump and alternator being driven off the engine now.

The federals on the 2118s were getting pretty low on tread so changed them for some 195/50 r15 Yokohama AD08RS's.

Got Kwikfit to do one of their alignment checks and it was out, so one of my friends offered to sort it for me. Got him to put some more camber on the front, about -2.5 deg and went for a drive out.

Around this time I bought some PMS 18mm spacers for the front again, as the camber tucked the front of the wheel into the arch and had planned to put the 15s on the rear, but the diameter was 150mm like the front and wouldn't clear the caliper. So the 5mm Eibachs stayed on the back.

 

[Kiffle]

Before summer and track season started I wanted to get a proper bucket seat and harness in the car. I didn't like the idea of running harnesses to the floor of the car and I couldn't get insured with any form of cage so a took the car to a local motorsport fabricator (@_garage_24) who welded a harness bar in between the rear arches.

This bolt was stubborn and snapped when I got the gun on it unfortunately. But, a mate welded the a nut on it and then we wound it out like that.

Then we took the trip to see James Garage_24.

Spreader plates welded to the arches and then the bar to them.

Really pleased with James' work, stellar job!

Didn't fuss too much over masking up really, all the trims were going to go back in around the bar anyway.

More racing blue paint made up!

Was very pleased with the results!

And ordered a black long boot carpet from eBay to go in as well.

Not too shabby!

 

[Kiffle]

Now for the steering wheel seat and harness...

I initially had a problem with a second hand boss, believe it was for a 172 cup as the cut out was too small for the connectors.

Ordered a brand new boss from Volantech.

Volantech wheel on, liked the blue centre stripe at the top and the logo. Knew I'd be getting a panel made up so decided to just get the lot from Volantech.

Sparco Grid Q seat, 6 point 3 Inch FIA Sabelt Saloon Harness, Generic FIA side mounts and Jon Foz XLow Subframe were bought for the driver.

Fitting the seat was a bit of a pain. The base and seat combo offset the position over to the door more than I wanted but being sat lower was much nicer.

Harness was simple though. Just drilled through the floor for the 2 crotch straps, used an eyelet supplied with the harness for the outer lap strap, and a Schroth B23A bracket sandwiched underneath the Jon Foz subframe and of course, just wrapped the shoulder straps around the harness bar.

Very happy with the way it looked with all the trim back in.

(I did cross the harnesses over a couple days later).

 

[Kiffle]

More pics.....

Pretty close to being a colour match!

Still got put to use for hauling the bike around though. The seasucker mounts work a treat.

But, next thing to do was the EPAS conversion. No PAS was fine on the move at speed but low speed manoeuvring was just a faff and so I got the bits for the conversion.

Yet again, James at JMRS sourced a non sport column and control box for me and I ordered the Portuguese controller off of eBay.

Didn't really take many pictures as fitting the column was a bit of pain to say the least; wheel and boss off, top dash out, clocks out and then a lot of faffing to get the bottom of the column in place and then to get the motor in behind the rev counter. Pretty much just gave it to a mechanic friend to sort for me 🤷‍♂️ and the wiring was sorted by another mate.

Then went to pick up a pair of OMP TRS Seats and 5 point EARS Harnesses. Both FIA Spec but both out of date, was only going to be for the passenger - a friend had the other seat and harness.

Passenger Trendline removed.

Put up for sale and were sold pretty much instantly! Served me well and pretty much a perfect seat for use with seatbelts.

Fitting the passenger seat in the car was easy as I just lined everything up and bolted it where it wanted to go - Simples!

Shame it wasn't matching but it was cheap, did the job, and I wanted to put the money towards some other mods.....

 

[PP200t]

Awesome reading that, you’ve put some mammoth effort into the car and it shows. It looks lovely!

 

[Kiffle]

So, other mods....

Some new friends of mine had been bullying me over the open diff situation, so decided to end that! So not too long after that a Quaife F6M ATB Differential turned up at the door. Only inconvenience was that I needed an OEM crown wheel from the open diff, to send to Quaife and be machined onto the new LSD and, I didn't want to be without the car so the hunt for a JC5-130 box began.

Found one but was a little shocked when it got delivered. Looked like it had been dragged along the bottom of a river.

But, as it was getting rebuilt I got the jet wash on it and most of the grime flew off.

Then I dropped the box off to Steve at S. E. Gearbox services in Bradford on Avon to have the original diff removed.

Picked up the standard diff a couple of days later and so sent both the Open diff and LSD back to Quaife for the crown wheel machining process.

In the meantime I ordered some more goodies; new end housing and seal, diff seals and a short ratio 5th gear from a Megane with a 0.891 ratio (standard being 0.795 I believe), to be fitted when the Quaife diff came back.

Also in the meantime the coolant was flushed and a new coolant bottle fitted. Easy to do but the day after the car threw a fit for some reason. Wouldn't start, immobiliser wouldn't even let the car crank so that was puzzling. Put a couple of posts up on FB and here and cleaned the contacts in the fuse box in the bay as suggested but to no avail. Decided to get the RAC out to scan the codes and apparently it was the decoder ring and some throttle pedal error code. So, a trip to JMRS to get these parts (it's super handy having a specialist close by if you haven't gathered already!), then I disconnected the battery overnight and thought I'd change the bits in the morning. Came back to it and reconnected the battery to see if it would work and it fired straight up, no issues whatsoever and no parts changed - who knows what the issue was but I was glad it was gone.

Then, to top it off there was a knock at the rear.

Rear left BC Damper lockring had chosen to undo itself and the body was shaking around in the mount. Nice. At least it was a quick job to sort with a C spanner.

Anyway onto more positive things...

The box came back from Steve and looked amazing! He even gave it a fresh lick of paint for me - top service. All the internals were cleaned and upon inspection, were deemed to be ok to put back in so the bill wasn't as high as I thought it would've been.

I had noticed that the outer OS driveshaft CV boot had a slight split in it so ordered a pair of J&R Shafts on eBay as there was a deal on. Heard mixed things about them but hoped for the best.

Much like the EPAS, I basically handed the box to my more mechanically experienced friends and said "fit please". I've gained some new friends in the past few months and they're all super obliging which is nice for me as I get to help where I can and learn from them whilst work is being done.

Subframe off jobby and so took the opportunity to fit new OEM balljoints (from Engine Dynamics) and Powerflex Road series inner and outer roll bar bushes and black series steering rack bushes.

OS Driveshaft replaced with a J&R unit but, as the original NS shaft was fine, that was re fitted as I had read that the J&R shaft boot clips the block and I didn't really want to start throwing a dremel or grinder around.

The 10mm Rear Spring spacers were also removed and the front lowered slightly ready for an Alignment at Harvey's Auto-Tech in Westbury.

Josh also weighed it for me and was nice to see a 40kg loss from standard. Car drove so much better after the alignment and the diff was incredible.

I thought the whole LSD for a FWD car was a cliche but it really has transformed it - should've done it much sooner!

 

[Kiffle]

Awesome reading that, you’ve put some mammoth effort into the car and it shows. It looks lovely!

Thanks Still a few things to update on but it's getting there!

 

[Kiffle]

Right, trackday time.

Back at Combe at the end of June as bit of shakedown after all the changes had been done.

GUESSWORK sunstrip decal fitted - a name thought up by some mates so we all put them on our cars. All professionally fitted though of course!

Car ran well once again ran well for the 120miles I did and the diff was class. The shorter 5th made a difference up to Avon Rise too. The seat and harness was probably the most notable difference though, not sliding was a welcome change. The whole car just felt spot on and so it was quickly discovered that the weak link was me - I wasn't driving hard or fast as I should've been, even with my mates shouting from the passenger seat!

Upon giving it a clean I noticed the OSF wheel was pretty grimy...

Outer CV Boot on the week old J&R Shaft had split. Great.

So, back off to my mates garage for a new boot. Pretty miffed but oh well, it could've been something more expensive or detrimental that broke.

Small mod this time in the form of an Audio stalk blank from Renault.

Small things like this help to make a difference too.

 

[Kiffle]

Another trackday!?

This time at Cadwell Park on the 15th July with Track Obsession. What a fantastic day this was - pure class.

We all drove up on the Wednesday, Track day Thursday then home on Friday.

Just need to add that even with the shorter 5th gear, sitting at 65 on the way up from Wiltshire returned 46mpg, not bad at all!

110 miles done this time on what felt like a rollercoaster track compared to Combe. Car was flawless again and I loved every second I was on track.

Some cracking photos below...

Wish the day were much longer but all good things come to an end

Only thing that I very quickly found out was that the AD08RS's really weren't up to the job and it was squeal central. Where the car used to spin the inside wheel due to not having a diff, it now was spinning both front wheels and the tyres would scream, especially around the top section at Cadwell before the Gooseneck.

The tyres didn't spoil fun too much though as I wasn't chasing lap times but something to change for the next trip there definitely.

 

[Kiffle]

Just a little bit of pickup from Cadwell.

Had wanted to make some headlight blanks for a while and so bought a cheap pair of headlights to cut up.

Not too bad a job but I still need paint them both and drill some holes for the intake in the passenger side blank.

Had a prime spot outside of work shortly after Cadwell for a sort of 'walk around' video for the social media pages. Proper pictures and video haven't been posted yet - I hope it's not too cringey.

Couple of photos from one of the roads on Salisbury plain, nice and close which is a bonus. The last one is a new entry to my favourites.

 

[Kiffle]

It's that time again....

GUESSWORK goes to Snetterton (300 Layout). 18th August with Track Obsession. 120 miles done on this outing.

Just about getting a wheel of the ground.

Again though, the tyres let the car down really and having only 180hp down the massive straights wasn't great either. Nevertheless, big smiles were present throughout the day, especially as a passenger in some of the much faster GUESSWORK cars.

Another great track ticked off of the list.

 

[Kiffle]

Got Home from Snetterton and attended Clios and Coffee South at Hendy Performance.

Lost the indicator cover somewhere along the way but £3 and a trip to ECP on the way home sorted that out.

Great event with lots on display. Good range of Standard cars to garage queens, to track cars and show cars.

Next - time for another upgrade.

Back when I bought the Grid as my drivers seat, I made the mistake of just clicking order without trying a seat. Silly I know and although it was better than the trendline, it was a little wide for me and the driving position was becoming annoying.

Another friend of mine has started to build a track based MK1 Focus ST170, so he had the OMP seat and EARS harness from me.

One of my mates has a standard size circuit in his EG and having tried that, realised it was much more supportive and comfortable actually. So, I ordered a Sparco Circuit QRT (standard size not the Circuit II). I was initially nervous about having and using a wrap around seat on the road, but it's really not that bad now I'm used to it. A very good upgrade indeed and due to it being narrower than the Grid, the seating position is closer to the centre of the car as well.

In between getting rid of the OMP seat I did run a 6 point Sabelt harness for the passenger as well but quickly realised it was a right faff adjusting the crotch straps for different people getting in. So, a 4 point FIA Sabelt harness was a welcome addition.

The Grid was then moved to the passenger side. Have had a couple of people mention the lack of padding on the grid (which is very thin to be fair) and so maybe a thicker foam base is needed. Something else to look into.

I'd put the Volantech panel on a while ago but anyways here it is. Only problem is that because I sit so close to the wheel it's quite difficult to get in and out of the car now so I think I need to get a proper snap off boss (and maybe then lower the steering column). I have a Phase 1 indicator stalk that has the horn press on the end and so I think that will replace the panel when I get a different boss. Guess I'll have to learn to live without cruise control but I'm sure I'll manage.

Regardless, I'm really pleased with this set up and the interior in general now. One thing that I think could make a real improvement however is a black headliner - I'll go add that to the list.

 

[Kiffle]

Knew I needed to upgrade tyres and at so decided to get rid of the Turinis, use the 2118s as normal road wheels and wets, and look for another set of 15 inch wheels to put something like an AR-1 on.

Then I hit the Jackpot.

One of my friends was looking to sell his set of genuine Desmond Regamaster Evos. They're 15x6.5 ET+45 and ridiculously light and I've only seen one other clio run a set, so a bit less common than the 2118s! Test fitted one of the rears, liked the look and sent them off for a complete refurb....

Quick trip to Caffeine and Machine on the August Bank Holiday. Love this place and only about 90mins from me.

Parked up for a couple of weeks and then went down to Simply French at Beaulieu. Always liked the Beaulieu shows as its a nice place and static shows are so much calmer than the likes of the stuff at Combe.

Got some attention from some of the other Renaultsport owners based in Wiltshire.

Good day out and nice to see some rarer stuff there as well including some proper restoration jobs.

Then listed my 2 other sets of wheels for sale...

Turinis went with the PS3s and sold within 24 hours, whereas the other set took a bit longer. But, when they were sold I ordered some Nankang AR-1s.

2x205/50r15 (which actually measure at a 214) for the front and 2x195/50r15 for the rear. Hoping these will be an improvement!

 

[Kiffle]

Then the Regas came back from being refurbed.

Got them done in white and ordered a sticker set off of eBay to apply to them.

Pretty sure these are the lightest 15 inch wheel out there. Less than 3.9kg - lovely stuff!

The all important stamps on the back!

Stickers and sealant then turned up...

Can't believe how good these look and I'm very excited to get them on the car. Hoping that the Blue stickers will look good with the RB and that I don't have to faff about with different spacers or anything too much but we shall see.

I did get a friend to machine the 15mm spacers down to 135mm in diameter just in preparation and he 'kindly' engraved something onto the face that can be seen through the wheels.

I'm sure you can see what car he owns.....

Anyway, this blog is now up to date and so I'll be just updating it as and when something else changes with the car. Feels good to have it all down in writing though!

Phew

 

[bowen86]

Love this. Been following you for a while on IG didn't realise the ammount of work that had gone in to this so glad you've done a build thread.

Few questions.
Where are you based and can I get some friends like yours.....

Also love Guesswork. 👌🏻

 

[Kiffle]

Love this. Been following you for a while on IG didn't realise the ammount of work that had gone in to this so glad you've done a build thread.

Few questions.
Where are you based and can I get some friends like yours.....

Also love Guesswork. 👌🏻

Cheers mate feels good to have it all in writing now and I've been following you too!

I realise I'm lucky to have some friends that are into cars - they're all a little bit older and more experienced than me so being able to learn off them is amazing. I'm based in Devizes, Wiltshire.

 

[Kiffle]

So dropped the Regas and Ar1s off yesterday afternoon for my friend to fit and turns out that normal tyre valves don't fit them! I didn't even know there were different types of tyre valves, but after checking the valves that were taken out of 2 of the wheels, saw that I needed some Bolt in valves.

(Sorry for the potato quality pic)

Only 2 of the regas had been run previously and so I needed a full set, but managed to get some at short notice from Merlin Motorsport at Combe. The new ones (silver) bolt in from the outside compared to the old ones that sandwich the rim and secure from the inside of the rim.

Anyway with that palaver over, the tyres were ready to go on...

And some close ups...

As mentioned earlier in the thread, I ran 205 federals on a 7 inch wheel and they were pretty chunky, so was wondering what a 205 would look like on a 6.5.

Pretty damn chunky as it turns out! The 195's look decent too of course. Interesting that the 205s say to be fitted to a 6.5J wheel and the 195s say to be fitted to a 6J.

Not bad for a 15inch wheel and an AR1 🤷‍♂️. Shame that the tyre weighs twice as much as the wheel though.

Next up is to get them fitted... More updates when I get them on the car

 

[bowen86]

Just seen the photos on IG with the wheels on.....

Awaits update.

 

[Kiffle]

With the 2118s, I ran 195 tyres an 18mm spacer (so effective ET20) on the front and just a 5mm slip on spacer (effective ET33) on the rear. I tried the Regas with the same setup but the fact that they're ET45 and only 6.5J meant that they just sat too far into the arch and I didn't like the look. The big 205 on the front was still close to the arch even with the 18mm spacer however.

I then decided to get some 25mm spacers for the front (bringing the effective offset of the front Regas to ET20 like the 2118s) and then place the 15mm spacers that were machined down for me on the rear (effective ET30). The front wings and bumper had to be trimmed back to allow for clearance and one of the brackets in the front arch was cut.

So after the faffing with spacers and some work with a grinder, the Regas were fitted and I went to take some pictures quickly before it got too dark.

Very happy with the look it has now! It's much more aggressive than before - the fat 205 really helps the look on the front. Rear 3/4 look is probably my favourite though.

When fitting we tried the fronts with the 5mm shim and the 25mm spacer and it did look epic, but I think there would be too much rubbing without making more clearance and I don't really want to run a 30mm spacer with super long bolts.

Think a stud kit is probably needed anyway and so I'd welcome any recommendations on brand and length etc to get for.