Albi Blue 197 R27 #459

[Harrow71]

Hey guys, first proper post on here, just want to say thanks for the help so far. :smile:

I bought this R27 back in late January I believe..... turns out from a raging liar on EBay.

Without getting into too much detail I've had to replace one of the ball joints, an inner rack arm & I'm about to book it in for a new gearbox as the 2nd gear synchro is giving up. I was aware of the chocolate gearbox's on 197's, so when I bought it I took it out for a bit of a drive, and it was fine even @ 4 & 5k revs. Turns out, the problem occurs only when the engine is fully warmed up. Must be the metals expanding due to the heat? I don't know. Anyway... looks like I got burned.

I'll be honest, it looked like the previous owners didn't really give a s**t about the car, and I was taking a risk when I bought it... so I guess its my own fault but as I work from home and only really use it to go to the gym and daft road trips it was going to be a project anyway.... didn't plan on it being this expensive though. Probably was a bit naive about people selling stuff on EBay too.

Anyway...so the project begins.

The work I've had done so far;

Inner rack arm.
Ball Joint.
Alloys/Hubs/Calipers Refurbed.
Set of anodised Wheel nuts/bolts.

Stuff in the pipeline;

Gearbox.
Paint job tidied up. (Pics.... its not the best).

Door handles painted black.
R27 badge removing.
Recaro's reupholstered.

Steering Wheel reupholstered.

Dashboard trim dipped/painted.

Its had an ITG induction kit put on it (no idea if this improves performance) decat (whatever that means...I'm a bit of a beginner when it comes to cars), and it sounds like its had a pop & bang map too. It sounds great to be honest, but its probably not too healthy for the engine I imagine?!

Even with the new ball joint and rack arm, there is still a knocking in the steering, feels a bit fisher price compared to my 13' Astra. I've heard the springs are also prone to failing, but I can't see anything there, a little rust maybe... kinda stumped on this one.

With regards to the Recaros & Steering wheel refurbishment. Just wondering if anyone knows a place in the North West that does this? I know I'm probably looking at around £200 for the steering wheel, does anyone have a clue how much the seats would cost? It would just be both bases I think.

The mechanical stuff has been done at Midlands Renault and I cant fault them. Great service. Will be booking the gearbox in next pay day.

The paint work I have a guy near me that I might book in with. A mates booked in with him at the moment so I'm waiting to see what his handy work is like before I book mine in. Seems right on the money though.

Anyhow, I'm off out on the bike, lovely weather up here in Manchester today for a change!

Thanks for any help!

 

[imprezaworks]

Looks er, used.

 

[Typhoon]

Welcome to the club Gary.

Regarding wheel, use Snappy. Do a search on here. I'd guess price is about £120ish.

With regards to seat, are they actual Recaros or are they the standard 197 seats? The picture looks like standard 197 seats in which case it's probably cheaper and a lot easier just to buy a replacement seat from someone breaking a 197 / put up a wanted ad in the market place yourself.

In regards to the heating control panel fascia, doddle to do yourself. Just pulls off with a bit of force, sand it down, primer and spray it black. I did that and it looks 10x better. Also the strips.

 

[Harrow71]

Looks er, used.

Yup, & abused. Hopefully I can do her justice again!

Regarding wheel, use Snappy. Do a search on here. I'd guess price is about £120ish.

With regards to seat, are they actual Recaros or are they the standard 197 seats? The picture looks like standard 197 seats in which case it's probably cheaper and a lot easier just to buy a replacement seat from someone breaking a 197 / put up a wanted ad in the market place yourself.

In regards to the heating control panel fascia, doddle to do yourself. Just pulls off with a bit of force, sand it down, primer and spray it black. I did that and it looks 10x better. Also the strips.

Thanks for the info on the wheel, £120 is defo better than £200 which I've seen. Hopefully its local?
The seats are the standard Recaros you get in the R27. Don't know if you meant some proper Recaros, but I believe these were standard in the F1.
Yeah the heating control panel & trim I was going to attempt myself. Are there any guides to removing them, or do they just take a little bit of prising off with something?

Thanks for the reply!

 

[imprezaworks]

Love the colour mate. Really hope you turn it round

 

[Typhoon]

Yup, & abused. Hopefully I can do her justice again! :smiley:



Thanks for the info on the wheel, £120 is defo better than £200 which I've seen. Hopefully its local?
The seats are the standard Recaros you get in the R27. Don't know if you meant some proper Recaros, but I believe these were standard in the F1.
Yeah the heating control panel & trim I was going to attempt myself. Are there any guides to removing them, or do they just take a little bit of prising off with something?

Thanks for the reply!

You post your wheel off to Snappy mate. So either get a spare or just go without your car for a few days.

The centre console housing just pulls off. As do the strips. I use a flat head just to pry it off a little bit. Don't just tug straight off though as you'll have to disconnect the start/stop button. Can't go wrong though mate.

 

[andyj007]

purchased trailer to day on ebay. from a really nice honest guy... agreed though theres some absolute lying tits on there..
weve all been burned at some point.. dont feel bad. car looks awesome

 

[Harrow71]

Got some wet & dry, paint and primer through today to paint some of the interior trim & maybe the door handles.

You guys think its possible to mask the handles off and paint them while on the car? I know taking them off is probably the ideal method here, but the process of taking them off is daunting for a newbie like me. Are there any guides, and is it an easy process? Or should I just mask the area off and paint them while still on the car?

 

[Harrow71]

Today wasn't bad weather wise, so I decided I would have a crack at doing the door handles & some of the interior trim.

Masked everything off with some dust sheets, and wiped the handles down with some alcohol. 3 coats of primer were then added.

I think I ended up doing 4 coats of matt black after the primer, but Im not too sure how it will stand up to finger nails, rings and stuff. Its probably going to leave scratches really easy. Wonder if I should have applied a clear coat to the top? But for a first time I don't think it ended up so bad, and its defo an improvement on the faded silver ones.

I then ended up doing the interior trim. As you can see in the posts above, the center console wasn't in the best of shape. Looks like someone had attempted to either nick the radio, or do a f**king awful job at removing the standard one. So I used some wet and dry to smooth the edges off as well as take out any deep scratches I could see.

Same process again for the trim, 2 coats of primer and then around 4 coats of mat black. Kinda fucked up a little on this one. The paint pooled around the start/stop button area as it drained down. (only applying thin coats so no idea how it happened...must have got trigger happy).... so that messed up a bit....then a random hair managed to get stuck in the paint so I had to rescue that. So, the finish isn't 100% perfect, but you cant notice it from the driver or passenger position. Again for my first try, I think its ok and its something I might re-visit in the summer.

Lastly I decided to whip my wheel bolts off and change them for something a little less.....rusty while the various coats dried. Looks a lot better tbh.

Massive improvement overall I think, and a learning experience. Next on my list is the gearbox, but the knocking from the steering is really starting to annoy me...so might prioritise that instead.

 

[Harrow71]

Tinkering around today I decided to pull out the induction kit just to check the condition of the filter. Once again on this car it looks like it was fitted by Stevie Wonder. I don't know how an airbox could have so many dents in it... but its totally trashed. Held together by one bolt (its missing the other two), actual holes in the bottom of the airbox where it looks like someone has drilled through and the filter looks like garbage. There were full leaves IN the airbox against the filter! Also the pipe has worn through rubbing on an engine mount so much that its split and has been repaired with electrical tape. Looking on the inside of the filter it looks spotless, and the inlet looks clean so hopefully I've avoided any catastrophic damage here.

I'm in the market for a new kit, and as I like the sound of it I was just going to buy another itg maxogen induction kit. I have nothing to compare it to in terms of performace so have you chaps got any advice? Briefly scrolling through some really old threads it seems like a lot of kits don't offer much in terms of performance and the standard panel filter is the best.

I think the next full day I have I'm going to remove the seats and powder coat the passenger side panel as well as clean up some nasty s**t and gunk in the rails. They've managed to go slightly rusty....which is great.

I noticed the seat belt alarm and the airbag are connected underneath via this.

Does this require me disconnecting the battery before hand?

Thanks for any help!

 

[Typhoon]

Disconnect battery before disconnecting air bags. Leave about 20 minutes between disconnecting battery and disconnecting airbags.

 

[Harrow71]

Disconnect battery before disconnecting air bags. Leave about 20 minutes between disconnecting battery and disconnecting airbags.

Thanks man, will attempt this if the weather holds up. Its sunny one minute and snowing the next! Does the link shown above just pull apart? I had a mess about with it before and couldn't move it!

 

[Typhoon]

Thanks man, will attempt this if the weather holds up. Its sunny one minute and snowing the next! Does the link shown above just pull apart? I had a mess about with it before and couldn't move it!

Pull the tab I believe mate

 

[Harrow71]

Jesus.... I yanked it like mad but didnt want to break it. I'll give it a proper look tomorrow. Thanks mate!

 

[Harrow71]

Here's one that's annoyed me for a long while, knocking & squeaking while moving the wheel from 12-9 o'clock. I had the ns ball joint and inner rack arm replaced while down at Midlands Renault about 2 or 3 months ago in the hope it would solve this issue. They needed doing anyway, but haven't really made a difference to this noise. Could this be a multitude of things? The steering still feels mickey mouse compared to other cars I've driven, and clunks especially while reversing or off camber. While it knocks, the steering wheel briefly feels loose, then stiffens up again. Stumped.

Apologies for quality of video, but any help would be amazing!

 

[joytodrive25]

Firstly welcome to the club, the amount of advice on here is nuts, way better than any other forum I've ever seen, also doesn't look like the web site was designed about 10 years ago like some others. Its all about rescuing a slightly dubious buy. Yours doesn't sound too grim minus the gearbox.

Send your wheel to either Snappy or Jack@Royal Steering Wheels. I sent mine to jack as I couldn't get hold of Snappy and got impatient. He got hold of a second hand wheel so I paid 170 but then when I received my new one I sent him my original and got £50 refunded. A real handmade job and hands down the best thing I have spent money on for my Clio.

Some others would have to comment but my steering came down to the high quality top mounts..... used by Renault on the Mk2, don't know how the Mk3's are? I got some Kingsnorth solid bearing type ones and they improved it no end. They don't do ones for the nK3 but sure plenty people do.

For garages have you checked for specialists in the area? normally Renault charge an exorbitant amount p/hour and charge more for parts.

The handles and trim look miles better now, well done. Doing a bit of spraying makes a huge difference on some parts of the car.

 

[loggyboy]

Video is private - you need to set it to public.

 

[Harrow71]

Oh really, it should be available to those with the link. Hang on.

 

[loggyboy]

You need to edit it in you tube - look in the video manager, edit the clip, then there should be an option for public/unlisted/private. Choose public.

 

[Harrow71]

You need to edit it in you tube - look in the video manager, edit the clip, then there should be an option for public/unlisted/private. Choose public.

I've changed it to unlisted, lets see if that works. Its on my main channel so I dont want people to see it come up in their feeds. (Its totally unrelated to my older content).

 

[loggyboy]

I've changed it to unlisted, lets see if that works. Its on my main channel so I dont want people to see it come up in their feeds. (Its totally unrelated to my older content). :smiley:

yep that works

 

[Harrow71]

Firstly welcome to the club, the amount of advice on here is nuts, way better than any other forum I've ever seen, also doesn't look like the web site was designed about 10 years ago like some others. Its all about rescuing a slightly dubious buy. Yours doesn't sound too grim minus the gearbox.

Send your wheel to either Snappy or Jack@Royal Steering Wheels. I sent mine to jack as I couldn't get hold of Snappy and got impatient. He got hold of a second hand wheel so I paid 170 but then when I received my new one I sent him my original and got £50 refunded. A real handmade job and hands down the best thing I have spent money on for my Clio.

Some others would have to comment but my steering came down to the high quality top mounts..... used by Renault on the Mk2, don't know how the Mk3's are? I got some Kingsnorth solid bearing type ones and they improved it no end. They don't do ones for the nK3 but sure plenty people do.

For garages have you checked for specialists in the area? normally Renault charge an exorbitant amount p/hour and charge more for parts.

The handles and trim look miles better now, well done. Doing a bit of spraying makes a huge difference on some parts of the car.

Thanks yeah I've seen Jack isn't taking orders right now, or thats what his site says. But I'll try and book it in as soon as hes back working.

Yeah I originally went to Renault for a quote for a few things doing, they wanted £1000, Midlands Renault did it for almost a quarter of the price....mad.

Yeah man the interior looks miles better sprayed, especially seen as it was in such bad condition. Cleaned the seatbelts today too, they were brown..... bit of a soak with some vanish and fairy liquid and they've come up looking new.

Thanks for the input.

 

[Harrow71]

So I took the F1 spoiler off today to see what the car looks like without it. Sadly I think I prefer it without....but I have two gaping holes in my boot...

Does anyone on here own one of these? Just out of interest is the bend on the spoiler super harsh to the point it rubs on the rear brake light? It appears whoever fitted mine has had to file the light down to get it to fit.....just. Its actually rubbed some of the paintwork off the underside of the spolier where it meets.

Seems like everything fitted to this car was done by a complete idiot....

 

[Harrow71]

So while the weathers nice and the bank account is empty I thought Id do a little bit of tidying up.

Took the seats out and had a really good tidy. Looks mint now, I also re-painted the centre console. I wanted to try and paint the gear stick surround, but when I saw the leather was stapled into it I decided against it. I'm right in thinking I would have to take the gear nob off, and re-glue it back on to take the leather off? And then re-staple the leather back onto the surround? One for another day maybe.

In my infinite wisdom I also saw an Albi Blue bonnet come up on EBay pretty cheap. Since mine has a pretty big mark in it, and the paint has been scratched off next to the wipers I thought I'd buy a 2nd hand one instead of getting a re-spray. Turns out its twisted, sooooo I'm sending it back and it looks like I'll be getting that re-spray after all.

Heres one washed and waxed. Looks nice in the sun but I'm still not happy with the condition of some of the paintwork. This is being looked into at the moment.

I'm slowly turning this around. Its previous owner didn't really care much for it so its had a fair bit of tlc from me. Its booked in for a reconditioned gearbox on the 20th which I cant wait to get in! The grinding into 2nd gear is getting pretty bad now. (People must think I'm totally s**t at changing gears). I'm also hoping Mark at Midlands Renault can solve the strange knocking noise on the steering too while its down there. I had the plastic surround off and it sounds like its coming from where the steering column first goes into the dashboard. Its not coming from further down if that makes sense?

Still on my list are the seats being re-upholstered because the bases are a bit of a state (I'm still not sure where I can get this done) ... and the steering wheel to be done as soon as Royal Steering is taking orders. It could also do with a fresh set of tyres... I think all 4 current tyres are different from one and other which is a bit s**t but its something that needs to be done I guess. Anyway, more progess.

For anyone interested its #459

Thanks for reading.

 

[Harrow71]

Might need further help with something I've just remembered too. So messing around with the induction kit and noticed its in bad nick. Who ever has fitted it has had to dent & squash it to manipulate it to fit behind the battery. It actually sticks up so high its cut into the bonnet above & into the rubber seal next to it. (Pics below).

The cold air feed is missing too, I don't think sucking hot air from the engine bay is helping things right now either. Is this set-up common? Where would I run the cold air intake to? Its pretty cramped in there! If I were to buy new, are there any induction kits you would recommend? I believe the one I have is pretty decent, its just seen better days I guess. There's only 1 screw is left holding the bloody filter in too! Past owners were complete idiots....

Lastly the seal on the rear windows on both sides has gone. Is this an easy job to repair? Or is it a window off jobbie? I'm a bit of a beginner in the car dept though I'm willing to give it a bash myself. Any ideas where I could source the part from too?

As usual many thanks for the help!

 

[Harrow71]

Hey chaps, looks like my manifold flexi has completely deteriorated. Had a really quick look around and it looks like its a bit of a costly/time consuming thing to repair. Is it worth getting a new manifold of EBay and being done with it, or is it something to repair?

Also I can hear a slight blowing on the exhaust, I'm guessing its this right? This car is turning into a money pit...

 

[Harrow71]

Had a free afternoon today, so decided If I could solve the clunking noise coming from the rear end. The diffuser was rattling, one side seemed loose and when I tried loosening it I sheered off. Good start... covered in rust and crap I ground the old bolt out stuck a new one in and tightened everything back up. Sounds better now!

While the diffuser was off I notcied my back box isn't standard like I thought it was. I never really thought much of it, but does anyone know the brand of this back box? I looks like one from K-Tec but I'm not too sure. No logo's or anything saying who its made by on there, but Its not standard I dont think. Any info would be great as I think it needs a re-map. Coughed and spluttered on my way home tonight which was pretty worrying. Foot down in 2nd gear and it sounded like it misfired a few times, took a few seconds for the power to kick in, like it was clearing its throat. Maybe new spark plugs are on the menu, hopefully nothing more serious.

Afterwards fitted some hiko wind deflectors & gave it a good wash/wax. Looks unreal in the sun.

 

[182_steve]

Looks fantastic in the photos when cleaned up matey, great work :up: sounds like it had a real hard life before you got it tho, but your getting there and bringing it back, that's the main thing!

 

[Harrow71]

Had my springs replaced today with a set from H&R. Turns out BOTH my front springs were snapped! Some other parts were damaged too which had to be replaced (forget the name) charged me £290. To be fair its taken him 7 hours (charged me for 5), and he had to order the replacement parts in today so all in all its cool. No idea how I've driven the car for a month or so without knowing they were snapped?! I thought the front end would be on its arse or something but all *looked* well. f**k.

The car looks miles better a little lower, and there are no horrible clunking noises when going over small bumps so no longer sounds like im driving a piece of s**t.

Next on the list is to fit the new steering column to hopefully resolve the knocking on the steering, and get the refurbed gearbox fitted. Getting into 2nd when the engine is warm is becoming more and more of a challenge.

 

[182_steve]

I get that about not knowing the spring was snapped to be fair, from my own experience my Dad used to have an M3 and the suspension was obviously lowered and firmer on that from the factory, so when driving and going over bumps, we didn't notice and/or know a spring was broken on that too!

Sounds like its coming together nicely now matey :up:

 

[Euan94]

Ive got a spring broken at the moment and you wouldn't know at all driving round. No weird noises or anything. I'm also going to replace with h and r springs so glad to hear you like them

 

[imprezaworks]

I have those springs too and like them

 

[Harrow71]

So, had a bit of work done. Thought I'd show some pictures.

Went down to Midlands Renault to have the box swapped, there was a misunderstanding he thought I was supplying it, I thought he was ordering it in....sooo yeah. Nothing really much got done, but he diagnosed my steering issues and I've got a steering column from a breakers.

This was parked outside. Whoever it belongs to... I'm jealous.

http://[URL=http://s1188.photobucket.com/user/Break--/media/dsadasda_zps7ba2f8xq.jpg.html][ATTACH=full]1281702[/ATTACH]
[URL=http://s1188.photobucket.com/user/Break--/media/dsadasda_zps7ba2f8xq.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1188.photobucket.com/albums/z408/Break--/dsadasda_zps7ba2f8xq.jpg[/URL]

Took it into a garage near me to have the springs changed. Thought one was snapped, turned out it was both and by the looks of the wear it was a long time ago too. RIP.

Its now sitting a little lower, and sounds a lot nicer to drive.....

Bought an inlet manifold, had it blasted. Came up really nice. Trouble is the rest of the engine bay looks shite now... and I have an urge to blast everything in my sight.

Do you think I'll need new gaskets swapping mine out & is it a job a simpleton can do like me? Also, do you guys have an idea of what exhaust Is on the car? It looks like one from Ktec to me, but I can't be sure. Just interested to know. Thanks!

 

[imprezaworks]

Is that ly turbo? If not those vents are ghey

 

[Harrow71]

Is that ly turbo? If not those vents are ghey

Yeah its converted I think.

 

[Harrow71]

I bought some rear quarter glass seals last week and plan on fitting them soon. Is this a window off jobby? Or can these be fitted without removing the glass? Thanks!

 

[197.]

Is that ly turbo? If not those vents are ghey

Meg conversion with 320 bhp.

The window seals can be removed and fitted without touching the rear glass. Just make sure you clean the old glue and don't close the doors fully for a little while as it compresses the seal and makes the fucker come away from the car and fall off.

 

[Harrow71]

So I changed the rear quarter glass seals today. Cleaning the glue off was pretty time consuming.... jesus. But they're on now and make the car look a lot tidier for £16 or whatever I paid for them.

I also had a bash at fitting the new blasted inlet manifold. Need to find a way to stick the Renault Sport sticker back on, don't know if you guys know the best way? But it looks good. There was a worrying amount of dust in the inlet though, like.... I could feel the grit in my fingers. Kinda worried.....not sure if its normal but if that were my bike I would be shitting myself now.

Cousin helped me out. If anyone needs anything blasting in the North West area then give me a PM on here and I'll give you his number. He does a great job, very meticulous. This is a 1989 KX500 that hes rebuilding from scratch. All original parts, its going to look insane. Also blasted.

 

[Harrow71]

Did a couple small things today. Removed the CLIO badge from the back. I've seen a few done and prefer the cleaner look. (might get slated for it).

Also added the rear quarter glass seals and bought some offical Renault mats as mine were proper grim. Its getting cleaner, but the seats & steering wheel are really letting the interior down. Still need that reconditioned gearbox too so I'm probably going to get that sorted before the detailing stuff.

I also think to fix the small dent in the door I'm going to have to remove the side sticker to blend the paint together. Its such an awkward position. It sucks, but this might be the trigger to remove the stickers from the lower part of the car. I actually like the roof decal, but the front and rear bumper stickers look crap. Who knows, we'll see but I have a feeling this may be sacrilege among F1 owners. :L

 

[S-JM]

Proper lovely example that mate. I like the debadged look too, did mine a few weeks back with removing the RS badge as well entirely, think it looks much cleaner. Any chance you could link me to the rear glass seals you bought?