Hopgop1's RB 182

[hopgop1]

Car has been away at the bodyshop this week getting paintwork done, really happy with how she's looking and I will hopefully get a chance to wash the car tomorrow and get some decent photos, weather permitting.

Does anyone know how easy it is to remove a powerflex top engine mount insert? Assume the engine needs jacking up to get it out? Want to try running without it and see how much of a difference to NVH it makes vs how the car feels.

 

[SharpyClio]

Car has been away at the bodyshop this week getting paintwork done, really happy with how she's looking and I will hopefully get a chance to wash the car tomorrow and get some decent photos, weather permitting.

Does anyone know how easy it is to remove a powerflex top engine mount insert? Assume the engine needs jacking up to get it out? Want to try running without it and see how much of a difference to NVH it makes vs how the car feels.

the insert sits under the mount that's attached to the engine. You’ll need to lift the engine I would guess.

 

[Ocsltd]

Nice 182! Where abouts in Lincolnshire are you? I’m also Lincolnshire based...

 

[hopgop1]

Nice 182! Where abouts in Lincolnshire are you? I’m also Lincolnshire based...

I’m right at the south, little village near Grantham. Where abouts are you? I don’t see many 1*2’s about

 

[Ocsltd]

I’m right at the south, little village near Grantham. Where abouts are you? I don’t see many 1*2’s about

I’m in a village just down the road from Bourne! No you don’t see many about! I’ve usually got a few Renaultsport’s kicking about.....
Currently got a 172 Cup, RB 182, Inferno 182 and a Clio 200. 😀

 

[hopgop1]

I’m in a village just down the road from Bourne! No you don’t see many about! I’ve usually got a few Renaultsport’s kicking about.....
Currently got a 172 Cup, RB 182, Inferno 182 and a Clio 200. 😀

Nice, hopefully I'll spot you out an about in one of them. I go down toward Corby Glen and Bourne quite often.
B1176 is a great local road for a blast.

 

[SharpyClio]

My parents love down that way (Bassingham) my BG will be going down regularly to see them… I’ll keep my eyes peeled for other 1*2s now!

 

[hopgop1]

Car has been washed, given a quick coating of Gyeon wet coat and dried, but I got a bit carried away cleaning an already pretty clean car though and ran out of light for decent photos. Will see if I can sneak in a quick few photos tomorrow assuming the weather holds up.

 

[hopgop1]

Managed to grab some pics today. Quick rundown of the work:
The front bumper was removed along with all the little pieces on it and properly repainted, it had plenty of stone chips, some dodgy aerosol work on one side and numerous marks in places, probably from a poor previous paint job. The front upper grille had along been painted with some weird rough paint and the fog surrounds had also been painted at some point and was peeling off. Photos did a great job of hiding it, but it annoyed my every time I washed the car.
There was also a nasty scrape on the passenger side rear arch that had just been covered in touch up paint that didn't match very well, so this was also sorted by the bodyshop.
I also had loads of little supermarket dings removed from the car, by a PDR guy arranged by the bodyshop.
While the front bumper was off, I had the bodyshop refit with a brand new upper front grille with OEM stickers, as well as some mint condition fog surrounds from @DavidDave. The lower front grille was also not fitted properly and wasn't sitting right at the top, the bodyshop also sorted this when they refitted everything.

The paint isn't perfectly showroom fresh, but I know to achieve that I'd need to have the car fully resprayed, which just doesn't make financial sense and I'm overall super happy with how it's turned out. The paintwork I had done wasn't cheap, but certainly money well spent in my opinion. Will definitely try and get a proper machine polish in at some point too.
Here's a closeup of the old grille and one of the fog surrounds for reference:

 

[RustyMojo]

Looks mint, thanks for the mention buddy

 

[hopgop1]

Looks mint, thanks for the mention buddy

No worries, very happy with the new surrounds, appreciate it. All the plastic needs some good back to black treatment thinking about it.
Old ones are probably salvageable, little rainy day project.

 

[hopgop1]

Also does anyone have any good condition 2.0 16v door bullets kicking about? Mine have some marks on them that probably need repainting to get out, but I'd be worried about getting a silver close enough to the original.

 

[ajracer]

Looks fantastic mate. You have got me thinking about Turinis on a RB again! Lol

 

[hopgop1]

Looks fantastic mate. You have got me thinking about Turinis on a RB again! Lol

Haha thank you. I'm tempted to go full CS and get some silvervisions too!

 

[hopgop1]

I did decide to go full CS and stuck some silvervisions in, wasn't sure at first but i think it makes the front look a bit cleaner. Still paranoid it'll fail the MOT on them, even though they flash orange basically exactly the same as the old bulbs. Forgot to grab some pics but I'm sure they'll be visible on photos later on.
I decided to be a man and fit my @PhillipM dogbone and new febi top engine mount rather than let my mechanic do it, while the weather was nice enough this afternoon.
Old mount with powerflex insert:

Was surprised to find that the old mount was original, strange to put a polybush in an original engine mount IMO when it doesn't replace any of the rubber. Definitely had seen better days, still solid and the rubber looked decent, but very rusty.

Found it easy enough, just took my time to be methodical with it and cleaned up the areas I'd struggle to get to normally while I had everything out. Had a quick look at the cam belt and it still looks brand new as you'd expect which is nice.

Here's the job done, figured I can transfer the powerflex insert into this mount if I want to, but wanted to try without first.

Struggled with the dogbone, not because it was technically hard; but because my jack is crap and barely gets the car high enough for a couple of clicks up on my jack stands, had to contort myself into all kinds of positions to get the old dogbone out.
Didn't get any before or after pics of this, fairly self explainatory, but here's the poly mount vs the new PhillipM design. I didn't install it with the washers as I understand they're not OEM and came with the powerflex dogbone.

Definitely got a taste for some spannering again, got a few little things sat in the garage I want to do over the next few weekends if the weather holds up.

As for how the car feels after my changes, not a lot quieter at idle, which is what I expected to be the biggest difference, so I took her for a quick spin and the gear change feels identical (tight and positive) to the old setup, but there's definitely less vibration in the cabin when higher up in the rev range which is nice and it feels a lot less harsh over bumps. It was only a very quick drive though, so I'll have a more solid opinion after I've done a few more miles.
It's hard to attribute the changes to an individual part because I did both at once, but really impressed initially. I do wonder if the raving about powerflex dogbones is because they're replacing shagged OEM parts, definitely feels like this one is the best of both worlds.

The two rubber gearbox mounts have been ordered for completeness, but I don't feel like tackling those, so I'll have my mechanic change those over next time the car's there.

 

[hopgop1]

Been bad at keeping this updated as ususal. Stuck some new HT leads in as reccommended at my last service, genuine are NLA and i didn't fancy the bright red of the magnecor stuff, so I got some NGK leads, figured if they can make good spark plugs they can make good leads. Also stuck a Valeo coil pack in because it was cheap enough and some good peace of mind.

Also stuck some Clio mats in that I ordered a while ago, but didn't want to put them in for winter and immediately ruin with dirty shoes so waited until now.

Much nicer than the generic ones that were in previously.

In more depressing news for me, I've relied on the Clio a lot over the last few weeks with my Mum in hospital and then a hospice to get across to the Welsh border and visit her as much as I could and the great news is that the Clio was faultless, a bit uncomfortable on the motorway, but that's my only minor complaint. Not sure a Clio 182 would be many people's choice for long essential journeys, but I'm very happy with how she's been. Admittedly though, I would've driven the Clio on 3 wheels if it was my only way to visit her.
Her battle with the big C is now over and the car has taken a beating on the exterior, so hopefully going to get the Clio cleaned up later today while I'm off work on compassionate leave, if it decides to stop raining anyway. Annoyingly it looks far cleaner on camera than in real life.

 

[Mr Underhill]

Been bad at keeping this updated as ususal. Stuck some new HT leads in as reccommended at my last service, genuine are NLA and i didn't fancy the bright red of the magnecor stuff, so I got some NGK leads, figured if they can make good spark plugs they can make good leads. Also stuck a Valeo coil pack in because it was cheap enough and some good peace of mind.
View attachment 1589157
Also stuck some Clio mats in that I ordered a while ago, but didn't want to put them in for winter and immediately ruin with dirty shoes so waited until now.
View attachment 1589158
View attachment 1589159
Much nicer than the generic ones that were in previously.

In more depressing news for me, I've relied on the Clio a lot over the last few weeks with my Mum in hospital and then a hospice to get across to the Welsh border and visit her as much as I could and the great news is that the Clio was faultless, a bit uncomfortable on the motorway, but that's my only minor complaint. Not sure a Clio 182 would be many people's choice for long essential journeys, but I'm very happy with how she's been. Admittedly though, I would've driven the Clio on 3 wheels if it was my only way to visit her.
Her battle with the big C is now over and the car has taken a beating on the exterior, so hopefully going to get the Clio cleaned up later today while I'm off work on compassionate leave, if it decides to stop raining anyway. Annoyingly it looks far cleaner on camera than in real life.
View attachment 1589164

Sorry for your loss

 

[SharpyClio]

My condolences.

 

[hopgop1]

Car is now clean, definitely need some tyre shine and back to black for the rubber and plastics though. I'm sure I've got some gtechniq C4 somewhere. Also looking at the photos above it looks like the paint on the front bumper is a terrible match, I can assure you it isn't, must've been the reflections from a cloudy sky that day.

 

[Mr Underhill]

Also looking at the photos above it looks like the paint on the front bumper is a terrible match, I can assure you it isn't, must've been the reflections from a cloudy sky that day.
View attachment 1589316

Tbh I never noticed that but now you mention it….😂

 

[hopgop1]

Me being fussy I'd decided I didn't like that the Clio would sometimes take a couple of extra cranks to start when warm, not a big deal at all, but I figured throwing a crank sensor at the 'problem' would be an easy enough thing to do, if only for peace of mind.
I guessed that it would probably have the original loom, rather than the updated blue one as there's not any paperwork to show it being changed. RPD want something stupid like £80 for both the sensor and loom, there were much cheaper Chineseium versions about on Autodoc, but in the end I went for a Febi kit from Amazon, as it wasn't stupidly priced and comes with the nice low temp solder heat shrink like the genuine Renault kit. Febi 34970 is the part number for reference.

Battery and airbox out. As I suspected, it was on the old style black connector with an 04 dated TDC sensor, so glad I went to change this. You don't get much excess wire on the old connector loom, so I cut the old connector off nice and close to leave as much wire. It was still a royal pain and very fiddly to get the new connector on though, it's in such an awkward place with pipes in the way.

New connector on, looks like a logo is ground off, so wouldn't be surprised if this was badged as a Renault or Nissan part originally. Also had to use a lighter as I don't have a heatgun which looking back probably wasn't my best idea. Naked flames and engine bays usually don't mix well.

Hoovered out some of the crap under the battery and reassembled, you'll notice the battery is the wrong size, although it does fit, it's a bit too close to the ECU brackets for me and it's a pain to get in and out. I've been meaning to change it since Mick mentioned it to me, but it felt wrong to change a pefectly fine battery, but this gave me an excuse, so I ordered a new Bosch 063 battery.

Also stuck the @plees engine mount washer in while I was under the bonnet, forgot to do it when I changed the mount. Figured it was worth doing even though the mount isn't polybushed anymore.

Then less than 24 hours after I ordered the battery on eBay, the new battery arrived, plugs removed and fitted. Sits much better in the engine bay, but it has reminded me how ugly my ECU brackets are, definitely something to clean up in future as well as find a new fuse box lower cover with the clip in-tact, does anyone know the part number for it?
Will also buy an @CFAB ECU repair bracket, I have one from another brand in the garage, but when I went to fit it, it was clearly not up to the task and I like the look of their product a lot better.

I was even able to connect up the battery vent tube, I assume this is something that it came from the factory with? Seems strange to add one later on, but I don't think I've seen anyone else with one. Either way, it's not just hanging out loose in the bay anymore.

Also it may just be my imagination, as I can't imagine it would make a difference to anything other than starting, but to my ear the car is a bit smoother now. Hot starting hasn't had much testing yet, but from my 1 test so far it seems better.

 

[hopgop1]

Been bad at updating this again as usual.
Not long after that last update I changed the OEM upper exhaust brackets for some custom ones from BTT motorsport for some more adjustability with the exhaust as I'm not 100% happy with how the tips are sitting, but to be honest I think I'm wasting my time going for absolute perfection. They've got the added bonus of not rusting away like the OEM ones, plus they come with nice shiny new hardware to mount it all up which is always nice. I did have an issue with one of the 2 brackets, 1 of the captive nuts was just spinning, but to BTT's credit they had a replacement sent out to me very quickly. Great customer service which matters as much as a good product IMO.

Quick pic of one installed, my Grams 3D printed bushes seem to have warped a bit, presumably from the exhaust pulling one way + heat. I think to get them as close to perfect as I can, I'll have to flip the bush on one side to get them an even height and straighten the bushes out in the hangers now I've got some adjustability. They're fine for now and it's only me or the sweatiest Clio nerd that would notice, so I'll save that for a quick weekend afternoon project.

I also stuck on the @CFAB ECU bracket repair thingy, you can see how manky the ECU area is, one of the main things I want to tackle in the engine bay. Also not entirely sure if it should stick up that much, can anyone confirm how theirs looks? The ECU brackets have definitely been messed with on my car at some point so wouldn't be at all surprised if something was out of allignment around there.

I also went over the headlights again with a 3M kit, didn't grab a decent after picture, but you can see the haziness that crept in below. All gone now, I've tried some holts spray on headlight sealant, to see if it lasts longer than the kit I used around this time last year. It doesn't take long to do the headlights, but it's a bit of a pain to need to do them every summer.

That's the car caught up to about 2 weeks ago. I've got a big update to write up so I figured I get caught up on the little bits I did over the last few weeks before I dump a big wall of text on here over the weekend.

 

[Jekyll]

Great little read and updates mate. Nice to keep ticking away at these jobs.

Sorry to read about your mum.

 

[hopgop1]

Great little read and updates mate. Nice to keep ticking away at these jobs.

Sorry to read about your mum.

Cheers mate, some bigger jobs have also been done, just not by me because I'm useless haha. Will get the thread properly up to date this weekend.
Appreciate your condolences, been a tough year so far, but just trying my best to try and live life as I would have.

 

[CFAB]

Hi mate,

the ecu tab as you say should sit very flush, sometimes as you tighten it up, it will spin round and up so holding it down when nipping will help. I would. Personally loosen the other brackets and make it sit better yet way then nip them up together.

 

[hopgop1]

Hi mate,

the ecu tab as you say should sit very flush, sometimes as you tighten it up, it will spin round and up so holding it down when nipping will help. I would. Personally loosen the other brackets and make it sit better yet way then nip them up together.

Yeah I figured. What's left of the original tab is sort of sticking upwards, so that's as low as I could get the repair bracket. I'm sure it'll sit better with a bit of an adjustment. Either way it's better than it was before, far better than no support.

 

[hopgop1]

So, to get this up to speed, I've been planning a suspension refresh for a while, it's one of the few things that must've been done at some point, but I don't have any history to back it up. Plus I've never been 100% happy with the comfort levels of the car, which I've always blamed on the Cooksport springs, even though it does look good lowered.
This isn't a great update picture-wise, as I came back from a music festival and had to load the car up the next day to drive to work, then drop the car with my mechanic straight after, so I stupidly didn't grab a picture of the boot loaded with goodies. I'll list below for anyone interested and for completeness.

• 2x front cup dampers (8200681109)
• 2x rear cup dampers (8200681125)

Managed to get a good deal on the dampers, all 4 for about £200 posted, seems they've gone up recently and a full set now looks closer to £300 than £200.

• Full set of H&R lowering springs (29481-1)
• 2x SNR top mounts
• 2x Febi tie rod ends (19604, 19605)
• 2x FAI inner tie rods (SS6263)
• 2x Febi inner tie rod boots (21171)
• Genuine Renault front shock bump stops (7700434126)
• CFAB ABS sensor brackets for the front shocks

Also the final two engine mounts that I was too lazy to fit myself:

• SASIC gearbox mount (4001382)
• Febi engine/gearbox mount (09483)

Also the car was tracked up as you'd expect after changing a load of parts like that.
I was going to change the front wishbones too, but when I had the car jacked up recently I noticed they looked very new and still had the Renault stickers on both sides, so I figured I'd leave those alone.

The car does feel more comfortable now than it did before, but as I changed a lot more than just the springs I can't make a fair comparison. The car sits slightly higher now which I think I like more than the slammed look, but I do wonder if I should've gone for eibach pro-kit or sportlines. I suppose I can always change, but it's so hard to do any research on as it's all subjective. Plenty of posts I read people swore by Cooksports for comfort, which was the opposite of my experience. I do realise though that if I wanted a comfortable daily driver a Clio 182 isn't the right car for that, but I do really love the driving experience, especially now it's a bit more comfortable. It's given me a lot more confidence to push on in corners and on the motorway.
Hoping I might get a chance to be a passenger in someone elses road focused 182 at CSF, although on track probably won't help and I'm not sure if anyone will take me for a quick drive on road to get a feel for how a different setup feels?

 

[Krarl]

Pervert levels of an update that, including part numbers is sexually attractive 😂

 

[hopgop1]

Pervert levels of an update that, including part numbers is sexually attractive 😂

Anything that I bought OEM rather than genuine I did some research on to make sure it wasn't complete crap, most of it being reccommended by someone else on here at some point. If it's worked for me to save some money over the ridiculous prices Renault charge for some of their parts, it might help someone else.



But it's mostly for my own perverse, slightly autistic, pleasure I will conceed .

 

[hopgop1]

It's not all been plain sailing though as you'd expect with a Renault not much younger than me, if you remember back I had issues with the car going into limp mode and the electrical fault light coming on. I've been free of it for a long time now, but unfortunately it's come back. Typically it came back while I was away in Manchester for Parklife, so I had a miserable 250 mile drive home at 60mph.
It only appears very rarely, but when it does come on it tends to stay on for a day or two, no matter what you do. As I've been to Mick with the issue already, and replaced the throttle body with a brand new one, I thought it would be sensible to throw a pedal at it too as I'm sure the tracks are fairly worn after 140k miles. I managed to source a verified low mileage (50k) pedal from someone breaking a track 182 on Facebook, unfortunately that didn't fix the issue, it came back again a few days after fitting the pedal.

Perhaps I'm stupid for not just giving the car to Mick again to figure out, but with the issue being very intermittent I figured it might end up coming up inconclusive. From my understanding it's likely to be either the wiring, or the ECU itself if I've ruled out the pedal and TB.
After doing a lot more research, mostly of old posts on here (what a godsend this place is), I found quite a few posts where people had success replacing the ECU, even if it is rare that they cause the issue. Apparently it sometimes happens after the ECU has been shorted out at some point, which wouldn't surprise me at all given the state of my ECU area shown above. I think it's clear someone has had a mess around in that area before. I was even able to get the ECU cover off easily without any violence.

I found a good used ECU from a guy on Facebook, there was one on eBay that matched the part numbers of mine, but when I bought it the plastic connector was damaged and a pin was bent so I sent it back.
The ECU's are programmed to the car, so to be able to replace my ECU without replacing the full BCM, lock set etc., I need to have my replacement ECU virginised. Chris at EFI parts was recommended and a quick search found that they list it as a service on their website. I duly packaged the ECU and sent it off to him and less than a week later I had a nice box with my ECU apparently virginised as if it's just come from Renault, ready to be fitted. I've yet to fit the ECU, but hopefully I will get a chance before my MOT this Saturday and then I'm away on holiday next week.

In other news, I've passed 140k miles now, meaning I've done close to 10k since I've had the car just over a year which is a lot more than I thought I would. Especially considering I now work from home 90% of the time.

I even had a guy in a new shape Mini (I know nothing about them to tell if it was a quick one or not, I think it was though), give me a flash and a thumbs up today. I'm sad enough that it made my day completely, who says an old French shed can't get you streed cred?

 

[Mr Underhill]

So, to get this up to speed, I've been planning a suspension refresh for a while, it's one of the few things that must've been done at some point, but I don't have any history to back it up. Plus I've never been 100% happy with the comfort levels of the car, which I've always blamed on the Cooksport springs, even though it does look good lowered.
This isn't a great update picture-wise, as I came back from a music festival and had to load the car up the next day to drive to work, then drop the car with my mechanic straight after, so I stupidly didn't grab a picture of the boot loaded with goodies. I'll list below for anyone interested and for completeness.

• 2x front cup dampers (8200681109)
• 2x rear cup dampers (8200681125)

Managed to get a good deal on the dampers, all 4 for about £200 posted, seems they've gone up recently and a full set now looks closer to £300 than £200.

• Full set of H&R lowering springs (29481-1)
• 2x SNR top mounts
• 2x Febi tie rod ends (19604, 19605)
• 2x FAI inner tie rods (SS6263)
• 2x Febi inner tie rod boots (21171)
• Genuine Renault front shock bump stops (7700434126)
• CFAB ABS sensor brackets for the front shocks

Also the final two engine mounts that I was too lazy to fit myself:

• SASIC gearbox mount (4001382)
• Febi engine/gearbox mount (09483)

Also the car was tracked up as you'd expect after changing a load of parts like that.
I was going to change the front wishbones too, but when I had the car jacked up recently I noticed they looked very new and still had the Renault stickers on both sides, so I figured I'd leave those alone.

The car does feel more comfortable now than it did before, but as I changed a lot more than just the springs I can't make a fair comparison. The car sits slightly higher now which I think I like more than the slammed look, but I do wonder if I should've gone for eibach pro-kit or sportlines. I suppose I can always change, but it's so hard to do any research on as it's all subjective. Plenty of posts I read people swore by Cooksports for comfort, which was the opposite of my experience. I do realise though that if I wanted a comfortable daily driver a Clio 182 isn't the right car for that, but I do really love the driving experience, especially now it's a bit more comfortable. It's given me a lot more confidence to push on in corners and on the motorway.
Hoping I might get a chance to be a passenger in someone elses road focused 182 at CSF, although on track probably won't help and I'm not sure if anyone will take me for a quick drive on road to get a feel for how a different setup feels?

View attachment 1599992 View attachment 1599993

I had Cooksports on my BG 182 and found them too crashy. Fortunately I still had the original CUP springs, so refurbished those and the car drives lovely again.

My RB has Eibach Pro-kit springs and they’re very close to factory. They don’t ride the odd bump-in-the-road as well as the CUP springs, but are way better than Grams/Cooksport (if you’re after a more OEM feel) in my experience. I imagine those springs are better suited to a smooth circuit.

 

[hopgop1]

I had Cooksports on my BG 182 and found them too crashy. Fortunately I still had the original CUP springs, so refurbished those and the car drives lovely again.

My RB has Eibach Pro-kit springs and they’re very close to factory. They don’t ride the odd bump-in-the-road as well as the CUP springs, but are way better than Grams/Cooksport (if you’re after a more OEM feel) in my experience. I imagine those springs are better suited to a smooth circuit.

Yeah that’s what I figured, I’m a lot happier with them than the cooksports, I read that the pro kit and sportlines were the same spring rates and the only difference was the ride height? I like the lower look, but wouldn’t the lower sportlines give you less travel and therefore less comfort? I think it’s likely I end up changing them at some point, but I’m still not sure which Eibachs to go with. I’d probably not want to give up the looks, but wouldn’t want a sideways step in comfort. If that makes any sense anyway.
Also no idea if the H&R are a progressive rate spring like the Eibach’s apparently are, I feel like that would make a big difference.

 

[Mr Underhill]

Yeah that’s what I figured, I’m a lot happier with them than the cooksports, I read that the pro kit and sportlines were the same spring rates and the only difference was the ride height? I like the lower look, but wouldn’t the lower sportlines give you less travel and therefore less comfort? I think it’s likely I end up changing them at some point, but I’m still not sure which Eibachs to go with. I’d probably not want to give up the looks, but wouldn’t want a sideways step in comfort. If that makes any sense anyway.
Also no idea if the H&R are a progressive rate spring like the Eibach’s apparently are, I feel like that would make a big difference.

I had sportlines on my Kia GT and they were a bit bouncy but great at Cadwell and Croft. Also had some Pro-kit on my Honda Civic and they were really comfortable and good on the road. The latter are a good balance between comfort/handling. They’re good on the RB, just not as good as the originals. But sadly we don’t have much say in the matter.

 

[RustyMojo]

I have subacute Prolines (black ones) they are pretty much OEM in terms of comfort….ironically I’m looking to change them out to cooksports or Grams at some point. So if you wanted a deal 🤔

 

[hopgop1]

I have subacute Prolines (black ones) they are pretty much OEM in terms of comfort….ironically I’m looking to change them out to cooksports or Grams at some point. So if you wanted a deal 🤔

I did keep my cooksports, they’re in pretty good nick, not cracked etc.

 

[RustyMojo]

I did keep my cooksports, they’re in pretty good nick, not cracked etc.

We are literally packing our bags to go on holiday mate, but be back early part of July. Drop me a Pm with some pics of the cooksports. Perhaps we can sort something when I’m back?

 

[hopgop1]

We are literally packing our bags to go on holiday mate, but be back early part of July. Drop me a Pm with some pics of the cooksports. Perhaps we can sort something when I’m back?

I’m on holiday myself next week anyway. Are you going to CSF?
Either way I’ll drop you a PM

 

[RustyMojo]

I’m on holiday myself next week anyway. Are you going to CSF?
Either way I’ll drop you a PM

Yes mate I am! See you there!

 

[hopgop1]

The new, virginised ECU is now in. I wouldn't usually want to work on the car the night before it's MOT, but I had nightmares of the limp mode coming on during the MOT or on the way to the garage, then not being able to pass as a result. Not sure if the electrical fault light is an immediate fail, but I'm sure they wouldn't have been able to test the emissions with it in limp mode. So I cracked on this evening to be safe.

The job was a bit fiddly, but not a difficult one once you figure out how the puzzle that is the ECU bracket comes apart and in what order. Only had one slight issue, which was my inability to get the ECU connector off, one panic thread later and my idiocy was pointed out quickly (thanks @Simon Squire and @Steven103), just needed to get the locking tab out a bit further to fully release the connector, mine was a bit stuck.

New ECU slotted in, ready to be bolted up:

Car reassembled, managed to get the CFAB ECU repair bracket sitting a bit better too:

I've also found the replacement top ECU cover I bought ages ago and started getting it painted to replace my manky one. It's not ready yet, so the manky one can stay for now. Also if anyone has the little cover piece that goes on the end of the ECU cover, let me know.

Moment of truth, when I first put the ignition on the red immobiliser light stayed illuminated, before panicing though, I figured that it would probably need to figure out it's a new car, so I switched the ignition off and back on again, immobiliser light went out as expected and the car started no problem. Drives fine and no lights on the dash for now. It was a very rare fault before, so I will see over the next month or two if I get any issues.

Plugged the RS Tuner in, cleared the few random codes stored (presumably from the last car it was in?), took it for a very quick spin and nothing has come back.

Fingers crossed for the MOT tomorrow morning, if I even get an advisory I'll be disappointed in myself.

Big thanks to Chris at EFI for turning around the virginise of my replacement ECU so quickly too, especially when they're as busy as I'm sure they are at the moment. Really happy with the service.

 

[Clio_fool]

Good luck tomorrow🤞. I'm sure it will fly through.