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Kempy’s Full Fat RB182



  Racing Blue FF 182
Hi all - my first proper thread on this forum given my first one ‘hopeful RB owner’ which I expected to be a fairly lengthy time consuming thread searching for the right car over the course of months, lasted all of 19 hours before I updated it with the good news I’d placed a deposit on one!

So figured I’d start my official thread of ownership, outline a bit about the car and a bit about myself/history.
It’s a late 2005, RB FF with 104k miles on the clock.
It has an extremely well documented history and a few nice choice upgrades already done.

So, what drew me to 182 ownership.
Having recently sold my 440bhp Audi TTRS (see below) I was frantically searching any form of online car sale site, as we all do, looking at what the man maths calculations could allow me to slip into next.
Hours turned into days, days into weeks…you get the gist.

Now I’m not saying I’m fussy but I was finding it harder and harder to replace the RS without spending frankly ridiculous amounts of money, and not being sure I’d actually be any happier owning a 600bhp road rocket.

There was a lightbulb moment, after many conversations with a very good friend of mine Craig Davis (supercharged 172 sunflower owner) about what I could possibly get next when he planted the seed that one day I’ll have to try a Renaultsport Clio…..that was it, the stars aligned.
I’d wanted one back when I was in college as naturally everyone wants to get into the fastest thing they possibly can at that age, regardless of the insurance costs.

At this point it’s fair to say I’m glad certain things panned out the way I did and I didn’t end up getting a Renaultsport Clio back then because -
a) I’m not sure I’d have fully appreciated how good a car they where given I had such limited driving experience.
b) following on from driving experience, it probably wouldn’t have lasted that long….

So here I am, it’s Saturday afternoon, I’ve collected the lovely RB example and I’ve had a couple of hours with the car now.
It was sold to me on the 8 spoke wheels however I managed to negotiate the set of Cup Turinis into the sale, and I’m already planning to get those on the car ASAP even though they are wrapped in NS2R’s and our climate at the time of writing this is less than ideal for semi slicks.
Additional plans for the car initially start with looking at other seats, a fixed back bucket seat on lowered rails as I am fairly lanky and feel as though I’m sitting rather high, and a good set of coilovers just to enchance the cars capabilities as well as looks.
At this stage that’s as far as I’m looking but we all know the lies we tell ourselves about how much or little we’re going to modify a car.

Anyhow, now realising it’s a fairly lengthy introduction, apologies if you made it this far - have a photo of the old RS and the RB as a reward for your troubles.

Looking forward to sharing more of the car with you!

Cheers
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  Racing Blue FF 182
What else do you do on a Saturday night in a COVID lockdown* other than go through all the paperwork for said vehicle and put it in date order (sad I know).
A nice little find tucked inside the folder, the previous owner may well stumble across this thread at some point.

*Lockdown - when the world felt like it stopped rotating for 12 months, remember!!!


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  Racing Blue FF 182
Day 2 of ownership - the cars first clean in my ownership, spotted a few bits of paintwork I’m looking at getting sorted namely a scuff on the rear bumper and a second on the front but hey it is 16 years old….it adds to the character!

Once clean I set about wasting no time in fitting the Cup offset Turinis I picked up with the car.
Equipped with Nankang NS2R it gives the car the purposeful look even when it’s standing still.
Looking forward to the next dry day to allow me to get some heat through them and see what they’re like.
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  Racing Blue FF 182
A full week of ownership later.
Absolutely loving the car, no where near as many miles covered as I’d have hoped - put that down to the lockdown and also the weather.

However of the miles I have done I purposely find myself taking the long routes home which I never really seemed to do in other cars.

Went and collected my Jon Foz lowered subframes early doors this morning, just a waiting game for the main piece of the puzzle turning up from GSMPerformance.
 

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yeecup

ClioSport Club Member
  mk8Fiesta ST,172 cup
i have jon foz frames and buckets in my cup, transforms the drive with the lower seating position. interested to hear your thoughts on the ns2-r tyres and im looking at getting a set to replace my rainsport 3s
 
  Racing Blue FF 182
i have jon foz frames and buckets in my cup, transforms the drive with the lower seating position. interested to hear your thoughts on the ns2-r tyres and im looking at getting a set to replace my rainsport 3s

Will keep you up to date in the coming days / weeks when I get a proper chance to have a play.
Initial impressions are they aren’t as bad in the wet as people said.
No issues on the motorway with standing water.


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  Racing Blue FF 182
KEMPY! Bowen here from IG good to see you on here. Looking forward to what you have planned.

Small world [emoji112] Some minor changes - told myself it wouldn’t get modified but that’s not going so well.


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  Racing Blue FF 182
Another weekly update -
Yesterday the Clio got its first proper drive in my ownership, a trip up to the Lake District to finally participate in a 2019 Christmas present I’d not been able to book since the virus happened.

Anyhow, less about that.
250 miles covered.
Many bugs splattered.

No more parts added as of yet but seats are due early May so that’ll be the next real update I suspect.
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  Racing Blue FF 182
i have jon foz frames and buckets in my cup, transforms the drive with the lower seating position. interested to hear your thoughts on the ns2-r tyres and im looking at getting a set to replace my rainsport 3s
Following on from the above given yesterday’s drive I now feel as though I can give you some solid feedback on the tyres so far.

I’ve used them in a combination of conditions, they’re not bad in torrential rain, I had no issues with aquaplaning on standing water but to those saying “they’re awful don’t bother with these tyres” - I’d simply say apply common sense and drive to the conditions.

Yesterday was around 12 degrees all day & dry. The tyres performed fantastically. Inspired a lot of confidence and provided plenty of feedback on the tight twisty sections of B-roads.
No complaints at all from yesterday.
 

yeecup

ClioSport Club Member
  mk8Fiesta ST,172 cup
Following on from the above given yesterday’s drive I now feel as though I can give you some solid feedback on the tyres so far.

I’ve used them in a combination of conditions, they’re not bad in torrential rain, I had no issues with aquaplaning on standing water but to those saying “they’re awful don’t bother with these tyres” - I’d simply say apply common sense and drive to the conditions.

Yesterday was around 12 degrees all day & dry. The tyres performed fantastically. Inspired a lot of confidence and provided plenty of feedback on the tight twisty sections of B-roads.
No complaints at all from yesterday.
thats great thanks. i only use my car on occasions and when its dry so they sound ideal and can be had pretty cheap
 
  Racing Blue FF 182
Third week of ownership - now we’re talking!

With a bit of a reputation of previous cars I’ve owned being better than factory condition & areas that are often overlooked it was only going to be so long before my previous nature continued with the Clio.

With the factory plastics looking rather faded and discoloured I decided while I had some time on my hands I’d coat the lot - (scuttle panel, mirror surrounds, front splitter, rubber window trims).
Shown a little 50/50 on the rear bumper trim with the before being the right hand side and the left being the after.

Hoping for some more interesting updates to post soon but it is what it is.
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  Racing Blue FF 182
Finally, an update to the thread.

After what feels like an eternity since ordering some seats from a reputable online seat distributor at the back end of March, only receiving an update on my order two weeks back when I chased querying why it still said ‘paid - no delivery update’ on my order I was feeling a little deflated.
Add to that I then had to chase my refund as they seemingly ‘forgot’ to process it up until yesterday.
The update was as follows -
The seats were to be delayed until July due to factors outside of their control.

I was feeling a little fed up that my Jon Foz frames would be sat collecting more dust for the foreseeable.

However in stepped long term friend Craig (Supercharged Sunflower) who’s friend happened to be breaking their Clio which happened to have a pair of Corbeau Clubsports needing a home, so without a seconds hesitation I shouted BINGO!

Fast forward a week (today) and I’ve travelled a little over 2 hours to collect the seats and swap out the factory half leathers while I’m at it.

Big hefty cumbersome things removed, slim lightweight supportive seats fitted.
A bit of time tweaking the driving position to ensure I was central and at a comfortable distance from the wheel and pedals.

Success.
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  Racing Blue FF 182
A slightly less exciting update today -
Car developed a rather annoying rattle while out on a drive last weekend, suspect heat shield.
Given the car had a Milltek system fitted in late 2020 I assumed, wrongly, new mounts/bushes would’ve been fitted….how wrong I was.
Hey-ho, a quick look under the car confirmed that the rear mounts had failed. A quick game of message ping pong with BTT Motorsport and I reserved 2x rear mounts and 1x centre mount for collection the next day.
Fast forward to Tuesday afternoon, I’ve been and collected the mounts and 30 minutes work all swapped over 🤙
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  Racing Blue FF 182
These updates really are getting few and far between, apologies to anyone that’s been waiting to hear something (I can’t imagine there’s many of you).

No real updates on the Clio front, cars just ticked over 108,000 miles, 4,000 in my ownership which doesn’t seem all that much but I’ve been working from home throughout the ownership of the car so it really is a mid week ‘escape’ as it is unfortunately the second car of choice most weekends since I acquired a twin turbo beast from Stuttgart.

Clio’s booked in for a service and a general check over by Nightingales garage Tuesday next week as they’re local to me and come recommended for any Renaultsport work and then hopefully the cars first trackday in my ownership at the start of December!
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Anakin

ClioSport Club Member
  Audi TT RS Clio 182
These updates really are getting few and far between, apologies to anyone that’s been waiting to hear something (I can’t imagine there’s many of you).

No real updates on the Clio front, cars just ticked over 108,000 miles, 4,000 in my ownership which doesn’t seem all that much but I’ve been working from home throughout the ownership of the car so it really is a mid week ‘escape’ as it is unfortunately the second car of choice most weekends since I acquired a twin turbo beast from Stuttgart.

Clio’s booked in for a service and a general check over by Nightingales garage Tuesday next week as they’re local to me and come recommended for any Renaultsport work and then hopefully the cars first trackday in my ownership at the start of December! View attachment 1564047


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let me know when your thinking, might come join you for the trackday :)
 

bowen86

ClioSport Club Member
Would also be interested in this track day. Be good to get a few Clio's together before the bad weather really sets in.
 
  Racing Blue FF 182
04/11 - UBH had its service carried out by the lads at Nightingales garage, and a thorough going over.
Not the first person to say the car ‘feels’ like a strong one after a quick road test, pulling hard on cam. Had a good chat of all sorts Renaultsport before heading off onto the road for a trip to York.
 

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  Racing Blue FF 182
Oulton Park trackday complete!

Mega day out in the car, 100+ miles on track, conditions where sun optimal with a very greasy track first thing and then constant rain from noon, however a good amount of seat time, plenty of learning and a good laugh [emoji1690]

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  Racing Blue FF 182
Cracking picture from the chap taking pictures on the day!
Doesn’t do it justice as to just how greasy/wet the track was all day
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  Racing Blue FF 182
It’s been a hot minute.
Since the trackday in December the car has been enjoyed…sorry correction, had been enjoyed.

Until doing the rather mundane trip to the gym when I noticed the car sounded like it was running rather rough, idle was extremely choppy and sounded as though the car might cut out.

Booked in at BTT Motorsport for a once over last week, hoping for the trouble causing part to be diagnosed as a lead, coil or injector however upon investigation and a routine health check as part of their service, it was noted that the car was down on compression across all four cylinders -

Cylinder 4 (180)
Cylinder 3 (150)
Cylinder 2 (130)
Cylinder 1 (100)

Will keep you updated on the progress from here.
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  Racing Blue FF 182
So almost a month has passed since the car was diagnosed as low compression.

However, something just wasn’t sitting right with me. The car drove perfectly minus the misfire at idle and a slight bit of hesitance around 2k rpm.
No blue smoke on startup nor through the revs.

I wasn’t convinced the car needed an engine so I had a second compression test carried out by another local garage, with myself present to review the results real time.

The car made 190 across all four cylinders, quite the difference from the initial compression test.

I then got in talks with a now good friend regarding looking at fault finding this issue. We had a lambda fault related code on a code reader so quickly replaced that while we had the chance but also decided to test a spare set of injectors he had lying about.

Low and behold. The car fired up with no issue, left to idle for 10 minutes and no sign of the flashing EML so a road test was in order.
The car felt like a different car entirely, buttery smooth throughout the Rev range and no hesitancy at all.

Total cost - £150 & a few beer tokens…quite the difference from the initial ‘new engine required’ diagnosis.
 

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  Racing Blue FF 182
Since the love for the little Clio is fully back, I decided a proper drive out was required at the weekend, followed up with some minor TLC setting about restoring the faded yellowed headlight lenses.

There’s life in the old girl yet 👌
 

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plees

ClioSport Club Member
  S/C Iceberg 172 Cup
Since the love for the little Clio is fully back, I decided a proper drive out was required at the weekend, followed up with some minor TLC setting about restoring the faded yellowed headlight lenses.

There’s life in the old girl yet 👌
Are you taking bookings for headlight corrections 👀😂
 
  Racing Blue FF 182
16/06/2022 - A trip to Diamond Motors for a timing belt, water pump & Aux belt.
Mick (the owner) apologised for ordering the wrong Aux belt as I have the Cup a/c delete which requires a different belt.
However, Mick went over exactly what he intended to do, gave the car a thorough once over in my presence and commented just how clean the shell is.
There isn’t much nearby so I caught the train into Nottingham, ended up watching Top Gun and then returning for the car a few hours later.
Mick confirmed on his test drive she pulls hard and feels tight in all the right ways. Always good to have someone in the knows opinion!
 

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  Racing Blue FF 182
Realising I’d forgotten to keep this thread updated - nothing of real worthy for mentioning so I’ll likely just do a bit of a photo dump.

Major Service. Steering Rack End. Steering Rack Gaiter
 

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  Racing Blue FF 182
8th February 2023 - gave the old girl a bit of a refresh. French racing blue really does come up well.
 

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