Low Mileage 182 Cup RB Lockdown Refresh/Resto

[Mbeau]

In September last year a friend of mine contacted me regarding the sale of a low mileage 182 RB Cup, to see if I would be interested. The car had been owned for 15 years by the seller, but had been unused for a couple of years. It was completely original and never been modified. It had only done 51,000 miles and had full service history up until the owner had stopped using it. Naturally I was rather excited and keen to view the car!!

After a few conversations with the seller I arranged to view the car. On a extremely rainy day I went to view armed with a new battery and some tools to view the car. I was not dissapointed. Car was as described. Genuine original RB Cup with no stripes, no mot, winter tyres, major service including belts was due, few mark's on bumpers, but very straight with no rust. It still had the original exhaust system, although it was blowing quite badly. Wheels needed refurb, good clean and polish along with a few other bits.

Fitted a battery. Spun the engine over with the coil pack disconnected. I then connected it up and the car fired into life straight away. I allowed the car to tick over for a bit and then drove it up and down. All felt good and I was like a kid a Christmas. Deal was done and car was recovered back to my home address. Plan was to make it mint and original. This would take me a fair amount of time and money, but I was looking forward to it!

Pictures of it prior to purchase.

To be continued.

 

[dave120]

Looking forward to seeing more mate 👍🏻

 

[Mbeau]

Once home I could have a proper look over the car and make a full assessment. It was also given its first clean. The winter tyres on it were perished and not very good. I removed them to take for refurb and four new tyres. I fitted my spare Turinis in there place so it could still be moved around. I noticed while swapping the wheels over that one of the front coil springs had snapped. That was another thing to add to the list.

I then removed the blowing original exhaust system, which was well past it's best! I had a spare full stainless ktec system with sleeved sports cat to replace it with. This was all fitted up with the custom stainless mounts it uses. This system imo is a worthwhile upgrade over the standard one and will actually last.

I the set about restoration of the lights. Takes a bit of time and effort, but results are well worth it.

I also removed all the scuttle panel and wiper linkage, washer bottle etc to clean and make sure all the drainage holes were clear.

I then ordered up my first big list of parts. The second and only other modification on the car would be a set of Eibach sportlines. This was partly due to lack of available genuine Cup springs and imo they sit so much nicer, along with driving the same if not better on the sportlines. The list was as follows:-

Genuine dephaser pulley
Genuine full cambelt kit with end caps
Genuine aux belt kit
Genuine oil and filter
Genuine air filter and cabin filter
Genuine Elf gearbox oil
Eibach Sportlines
New rear number plate light
Avon ZV7 tyres in 195/45/16
Genuine Clio mats

Think that was most of it to get started on the maintenance side of things. With belts being overdue I wanted this done asap as always concerns me a bit. Car was then booked in with my trusted Renaultsport technician @renotec

 

[Mbeau]

Car was parked up for few days while I awaited parts to turn up. I went out to move the car and battery was completely flat. There was obviously a drain somewhere. It is quite common for the alternator to fail and drain power. This is not the first Clio I have owned with a power drain! Checked a few bits, fitted a charged battery and disconnected the main power feed to the alternator. Would then leave the feed off for a week to see if this was the problem.

I then started on cleaning the paintwork up and removing the number plates, door mouldings to clean behind along with all door and boot shuts

Jet wash, clean with autoglym shampoo, autosmart tardis, iron X, further clean. Bilt Hamber clay bar. Further clean and then mop panel by panel. Pretty chuffed with the results. It did however highlight that the bumpers had a few marks and to achieve the finish on the car I wanted would need painting. There were also a few marks on the passenger door strip so this would be painted too.

I was then just waiting on the springs turning up so I could fit before dropping car to @renotec and the result of my alternator test!

 

[Mbeau]

Turned out it was the alternator so a brand new one was ordered before dropping the car round to @renotech so it could be fitted with the belts.

Dropped off on the 28/11/20 and had full cambelt kit, water pump and aux belt kit. Oil and filter change. New alternator. Gearbox oil change. New genuine spark plugs. Full brake fluid change and all bleed nipples checked. New numberplates. Skoda front splitter. I had already fitted the new air filter and cabin filter.

Collected the car and much happier the belts were now done! As usual top service by @renotec

My next job to tackle was a refurb of the brakes. Although they were all working as they should with no binding I still wanted to check and grease all the calipers up. I also had some genuine front Brembo discs and pads, Mintex rear discs with wheel bearings and new pads. I went all round the car removing and cleaning everything up and the refitted with the new parts.

I also took the opportunity to give the arches there first clean. The wheels had been for a full refurb at inspraytion. Top service from them as usual and finish on the wheels is spot on.

 

[Simon1975]

Stunning find. Enjoy it I love my RB 182 cup

 

[Mbeau]

I was really pleased with how the car was progressing. I removed most of the interior in order to hoover it all out and get those bits you can never get to with the seats in! I love the fact the Cup came without the soft touch plastics. The interior is in fantastic condition and as expected for a car with such low mileage. Completely original with the factory stereo. The steering wheel has a small amount of melting, but again is original. All I have added is a new set of genuine Clio mats, which I prefer over the Renaultsport ones. I don't seem to have any interior pics, but will add some.

This is how the car stayed over Christmas

With Christmas out of the way I started stripping the bumpers, side skirts and arch liners ready for cleaning and the bumpers to go off for paint. I always strip the side skirts and arch liners on all the Clios I own, partly to check there is no rust and to removed all the dirt that ends up trapped behind them. It never ceases to amaze me how much dirt manages to find it way in there.

To give an idea of the condition of the bumpers and why I wanted them painted

Bumpers were all completely stripped down along with a passenger door strip and dropped off to my painter.

 

[Mbeau]

After a couple of weeks the bumpers and side strip were back. Paint and finish was absolutely spot on. I then set about the nervous task of fitting the bumpers all back up without causing any damage to the new paint 😬

I also cleaned up behind the side skirts. I forgot to get some before pictures, but there was a fair bit of mud behind them too. The sills are 😍😍😍 I will let the pictures do the talking

 

[Mbeau]

And some more pictures with everything fitted back up.....

The wheel diamonds have all been cleaned up and refitted to the wheels

I have also cleaned up and fitted the rear bumper strip along with fitting the new numberplate light. You can see how well the exhaust system fits in this picture too.

I have fitted new Bosch aero blades to the front and a new rear wiper blade. New rear aerial base as the old one was slightly damaged.

Car has original tool kit, tyre seal, accident pack and all manuals. I have a folder full of the cars history, original number plates, Mot's etc. It is HPI clear and never been in an accident.

That pretty much brings me up to date. There will be loads of little jobs and parts that I have fitted, which I have failed to mention, but that is the bulk of it. I hope if you got this far that you enjoyed reading it.

Car is booked in for its mot this Saturday and fingers crossed there will not be any issues! All that is then left to do is a visit from the dent man to remove a couple of minor car park dings and a final full detail. Car drives absolutely spot on.

I have invested a large amount of my time and a small fourtune getting the car to where it is now. There are a few people on here that have seen the car in person and hopefully agree it is now absolutely stunning. It must be one of the lowest mileage RB 182 Cups around. I still have my inferno turbo, which I still plan to keep.

It was never really my intention to keep this car, more so for it to keep me busy with a bit of extra spare time I had during these lockdowns. Once finished and people are finally allowed to view cars again it will be going up for sale.

 

[Stefan.]

Cracking work 👍

 

[frayz]

Well done that man. Always enjoy reading your threads as you do these to a lovely standard. Someone is going to get a great example of an RB Cup. 👌🏼

 

[Smiffyboy1990]

Lovely to see another one getting some TLC and saved.

 

[Adey.]

Awesome find, seem to be a fair few gems getting found and brought back to life on here at the moment. Good work

 

[jameswrx]

What a beauty, you must be crazy selling it. You’ll kick yourself in a few years!

 

[Mbeau]

Cracking work 👍

Well done that man. Always enjoy reading your threads as you do these to a lovely standard. Someone is going to get a great example of an RB Cup. 👌🏼

Lovely to see another one getting some TLC and saved.

Awesome find, seem to be a fair few gems getting found and brought back to life on here at the moment. Good work

What a beauty, you must be crazy selling it. You’ll kick yourself in a few years!

Thank you for all your kind comments. If I had somewhere to keep it stored out of the elements, I probably would. Quite a few people have said to keep it! The inferno is the car I have decided to keep.......at the moment.

 

[Mbeau]

It's not going anywhere today 😂

 

[Joah]

Looks great. I am biased though. Keep the RB..

 

[dave120]

Turned out it was the alternator so a brand new one was ordered before dropping the car round to @renotech so it could be fitted with the belts.

Dropped off on the 28/11/20 and had full cambelt kit, water pump and aux belt kit. Oil and filter change. New alternator. Gearbox oil change. New genuine spark plugs. Full brake fluid change and all bleed nipples checked. New numberplates. Skoda front splitter. I had already fitted the new air filter and cabin filter.

Collected the car and much happier the belts were now done! As usual top service by @renotec

My next job to tackle was a refurb of the brakes. Although they were all working as they should with no binding I still wanted to check and grease all the calipers up. I also had some genuine front Brembo discs and pads, Mintex rear discs with wheel bearings and new pads. I went all round the car removing and cleaning everything up and the refitted with the new parts.

View attachment 1520648View attachment 1520649

I also took the opportunity to give the arches there first clean. The wheels had been for a full refurb at inspraytion. Top service from them as usual and finish on the wheels is spot on.

View attachment 1520650
View attachment 1520651

Looking good Mark. What do you use to clean the Arches ?

 

[colesy]

Do love reading your threads, if you can definitely keep it!

 

[Mbeau]

Looking good Mark. What do you use to clean the Arches ?

Autosmart Tardis. Best tar remover I have ever used. Awsome stuff. I spray on and leave for five minutes. You can see it working. I then agitate the area and rinse. Clean with a sponge.

 

[Hixle]

Fantastic find and work mate, pretty jealous tbh!

 

[Stay Puft]

Awesome!!

 

[Jekyll]

Awesome work as ever Mark.

 

[dave120]

Autosmart Tardis. Best tar remover I have ever used. Awsome stuff. I spray on and leave for five minutes. You can see it working. I then agitate the area and rinse. Clean with a sponge.

Cheers!

 

[Naughty Boy]

Looks good that!

 

[avstar1]

Awesome buy and great progress, so much want!

 

[yeecup]

wow that look incredible! great work bringing it back to life.

 

[Buccal]

New to Clio's but had the pleasure to see this in the flesh a couple of times as the restoration progressed.

The attention to detail is amazing, its great to see how much pride Mark puts into his work.

Someone will have a cracker when its done!

 

[Austin-182]

Quality read this! Would love to find something like this to take on!

 

[RustyMojo]

Well done rescuing this and bringing it back to the level it deserves to be again Mark. Fantastic job.

 

[jameswrx]

Thank you for all your kind comments. If I had somewhere to keep it stored out of the elements, I probably would. Quite a few people have said to keep it! The inferno is the car I have decided to keep.......at the moment.

How much extra cash you want on top of my 172, I’m thinking £50 is generous haha.

Sadly it’s prob too nice for me as I sold my nice original 172 to buy one that’d had some mods in its life so I don’t feel guilty about track days.

You’ll have to PM me a price as my mate is looking (we looked at an RB 182 the other day but was ropey)

 

[Alastair.]

Love this 😍

 

[geoffn]

I had the pleasure of seeing this car a couple of weeks ago ! It is absolutely stunning.

Well done Mark - rather you than me making the decision though !

Geoff.

 

[Mbeau]

Mot this morning and happy to say it passed with no advisories. The tester was really impressed with the cars overall condition. Loved it. The test after mine was a iceberg 172 with white Turinis that I have never seen locally before, so had a quick chat with the owner.

Only slight issue I had was the hazzard warning button would not work on the way there. Quickly swapped it over with the one off the inferno and all good! I have a load of spare ones.

This is the first time I have been able to drive the car properly since completing all the work. It feels amazing, truly enjoyable to drive. Exhaust system makes just about the right noise without being intrusive.

I will arrange for dent man to come over in the next week, run for 100 miles just to make sure there are no issues and fill up with a fresh tank of V-power as the fuel in the tank has been in there a while.

I have had a few PM's about the car since mentioning above it will be going up for sale. It will definitely be going up for sale at the end of the month when completely finished and I am happy with it. Hopefully this will correspond with lockdown restrictions bring lifted. With regards to price, the market it not really awash with 1 previous owner, 51k RB Cups, so not very easy to price, especially in the current market.

I may go down the route of auctioning the car as this seems to be quite a good way of selling cars like this. I have spent a fourtune on buying the car and all the work carried out. I have receipts for everything. I have also completed many extra jobs. I have spoken to quite a few people who are fairly knowledgeable in the Renaultsport circles. I don't want this build thread to turn into a value thread, but in being transparent and save me replying to multiple PM's it will be advertised for 8k.

Will add some better pictures to the thread this week of interior and exterior in better setting than my drive!

 

[dave120]

Well done Mark. Like you say, not many 1 owner, original cars out there. As far as I see it, every Clio has a story ! Some good, some not so much.

Collecting cars could be an interesting exercise.

 

[colesy]

Easily worth that IMO. Collecting cars would be great for it

 

[Clio182mike]

Wow what a lovely example. Great work there. What renotec do you use?

 

[Mbeau]

Wow what a lovely example. Great work there. What renotec do you use?

@renotech is a specialist on here. Extremely knowledgeable, experienced and I would not take my cars to anyone else. He is based not far from me in South London.

 

[Clio182mike]

@renotech is a specialist on here. Extremely knowledgeable, experienced and I would not take my cars to anyone else. He is based not far from me in South London.

There's a place called renotec near me in Chelmsford. Just wondered if that was the place. There's always clios RS, R5 GT turbo etc in there.

 

[MrBlonde]

There's a place called renotec near me in Chelmsford. Just wondered if that was the place. There's always clios RS, R5 GT turbo etc in there.

I have seen Renotec in Chelmsford,but if your in Essex & live out that way,you should have a look at AWMOTORWORKS.If your after a specialist in essex or south east.