That looks amazing mate. Hats off to you ??
Wow!
It's like a new car, what an incredible project and well worth it.
Amazing work, and the end product looks spot on.
I want to buy this car so badly
a dream
He'll be selling it soon then wanting to buy a 172 for 2k max
Great work and love the attention to detail on the updates. Well done you.
Fantastic Mark! Glad you got sorted with the plates too, that's terrible service from that other bunch of muppets!!
I just love non metallic paint without orange peel, it looks incredible!
Your welcome to clean your interior over here mark and do some polishing, it’s better in a clean environment, be nice to see you both.
Yep...
It's 1000% going to be in the 2019 CS calendar... Has to be
This car keeps getting better every single time and it's pulled together for one totally awesome finished article... well, we both know it will never be finished
Well done fella
Yess little Bailey!!
Forget the car. More photos of the dog!!! ?
PMSLGotta love a Staffie. Even if the owner dresses him up like Marty Mcfly ?
Wow just Wow........ attention to detail is awesome
Gotta love a Staffie. Even if the owner dresses him up like Marty Mcfly ?
Cars looking cracking Dr J. Unreal.
PMSL
Can't add much to what others have already said, car is a credit to your hard work and dedication. Congratulations.
Epic.
Looks unreal mate love it
Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk
Awesome pics once again. Love the little details you keep updating. The gift that keeps on giving!
Great photos there Mark. How's the paint holding up?Not much has happened. We finally got the keys to our place so i have been back and forth doing up the flat we have and that's taken a lot of time up. Rightly so really as that is priority. Will look into getting a garage for the RB though. But in between that time, ive fixed a few things on the RB.
First up, i tuned the heating on one day and i had no fans. Would press all the buttons and the panel lit up as it should but nothing would blow out. This just happened on the way to work but by the time i got to work, my car was really steamed up. I had no option but to have the windows down to demist it. Not the best thing at 7am and 1 degrees but i had no other option! So i needed to fix it asap. After a search and post on the facebook group, it was obvious that it was the heater resistor. Knowing that renault would not get the part to me for a good few days, i got one from euro car parts as it was a common part. Wasn't a lot of money and i could get it that day.
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So after a quick search, it looked like an easy job and it was. Simple plug and play. Took apart the wipers and scuttle panel to gain access.
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Removed the old one, which was a genuine renault item.
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Then fitted the new one.
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All panels and wipers refitted.
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So that was fine for a few weeks but then i noticed my temperature gauge playing up. I let it warm up before i left work as usual but on the way home, i noticed the temp needle was nearly at the bottom of the gauge and then it would fluctuate. Got home and search which some said it was the coolant temp sensor, but most saying that it was the thermostat. So with black friday deals on at euro car parts, i ordered a new thermostat, coolant temp sensor and coolant and decided to change the whole lot. So i took it to work sunday morning and set about doing it. The car hadn't been washed in over 3 weeks, done 600 miles (ish) and we had some crappy weather in that time so while it was at work, it was going to get washed!
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Car was jacked up and the wheels was removed for washing.
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Something else i planned to do was repaint my center caps as i wasn't happy with the white. The guys at work joked about the colour match after i was moaning that i couldn't find it for the white 2118s, and they joked about trying just "gloss white". Well that got me thinking, so i bought a can from halfords and while the wheels was off, i gave them a scuff up, and repainted them.
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Got to say, that its very close. Im certainly happy enough to keep it that way! So after trying all these different whites, it turns out that gloss white does the trick!
Then i removed the bumper off and started the coolant change process. The hardest part was getting to the lower hose clip. I have some long, long nose pliers which i wouldn't have done it without, but i did read up that you can buy some bendy hose long nose pliers. This would have made life easier but hey ho.
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Drained all the old coolant, removed the old thermostat and used a watering can (i was indoors) of water to flush out the system.
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Comparison of old vs new. Old one was genuine renault part.
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At this point i changed the temp sensor for the new one
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Then i reattached the lower hose, fitted the new thermostat, opened up the bleed valve and fed in the new coolant until the system was full and then closed the bleed valve.
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Turned that car on, and did the fans on full/2.5k revs with some wood strategically placed!
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All worked as it should, until the fans kicked in. With everything all good, i was done for that job so i put the bumper back on.
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Then went outside and washed the wheels.
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With that all done, and my center caps all painted, lacquered and dry (used the booth to bake) i fitted them, fitted the wheels, lowered it off the stands and washed it.
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Then seen as i had my little Fuji with me, i though id take a few snaps.
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Then on the way to work on the monday morning, it was quite foggy so i saw this as another photo opportunity! (I cant help myself!) These are taking with my phone and aren't edited, only cropped. I love the first one in the road. As i was driving up, there was no-one in front or behind me so i quickly stopped, "angled" the RB, got out and got one shot and quickly got in. Was not even 10 secs but a car decided to come towards me so the quick, one take got captured perfectly with no one else on the road!
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Thats all for now.
Always love looking for updates on this car, great work as always ?
Great photos there Mark. How's the paint holding up?
Looking fantastic as ever.
The photo in the trees with the fog needs blowing up and putting on your wall.
Stunning example, makes me want to put 2118's on the Cup seeing this!
Awesome thread and car, you've put a lot of effort in the RB and it looks amazing. Keep up this up as it's good motivation for the rest of us! ?
Inspiring!!
Some awesome shots there! Great write up.
If you don't mind me asking, where did you get that touch up pen from? I've ordered it twice but got cancelled twice as well because of no stock.. Need one for stone chips myself! Thanks!
Looking good Mark, will you be at csf this year?
Are you applying lacquer too after the paint drops? I have a fair few stone chips itd be nice to fill. Seen people just use cocktail sticks before nowThanks mate.
As for the pen, I got it from Amazon last year. Think it was £9 from memory. If you cam get one, I'd highly recommend it. It's a very neat way of doing it, better than a small brush.
I forgot to add a few more pics of the touch ups.
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Indeed i will be Paul. In fact, although delayed, we both bought our tickets this weekend just gone. Only going for the day though, no camping.
I've just bought some new glass buffing pads (flexipads rayon) and some ceriglass polish to try and clean up my front and rear screens. I'm not sure itll et did of the marks I made when I DA'd the boot before paint. Rookie mistake but we live and learn.
Are you applying lacquer too after the paint drops? I have a fair few stone chips itd be nice to fill. Seen people just use cocktail sticks before now
Nice update Mark! Shame about the gearbox mate but it's no biggie. This is easily one of the nicest cars on here.
Thanks! I'll have a look on amazon again, maybe they're back in stock again, seen them for sale in the US but with import fees and postage they were a ridiculous price.
Just burned the last 2 nights at work reading this front to back.
Love the sheer amount of dedication and graft gone into this. Beautiful car and you've done a cracking job on it. The devil is in the detail of these things, and just love all the little details.
Ive just brought my old 182 back after a 4 year sabbatical in a Mini GP, Porsche Cayman R and a Fiesta ST.
The Clio was the one car I always regretted selling, now im in the process of trying to get it back to as mint as it was when I sold it.
Thanks for keeping such a superb thread, im in Essex too (Maldon), so hope to see it around one day
I did think about it but it is a costly process. For now its a used car so i expect it to get chips and im happy to touch them up. Its done 8k since the paintwork was done so these things happen. I didn't have the funds at the time to warrant the PPF.@Dr Jekyll Didn't you fancy putting on any PPF or ceramic coating after your fresh paint? Seems a bit of a shame your touching in stone chips