Martins Albi Clio 200 Tidy up project

[Martin_172]

Bought this a few months ago with the intention of building a Meglio - It was an excellent base, FF with Cup pack, straight shell, bodywork and wheels in need of TLC and service history lost! But then I left my last job so decided to tidy it up and shift it on and free up the cash, so that's what I'm currently up to!

Had been off the road for a while after the MOT expired, previous owner had a BIG failure list last year and it cost a bomb to rectify it all so decided he didn't want to even risk putting it through an MOT in case it was another howler, I made him an offer and bought it without seeing it, turned up to find it sitting with a flat tyre, covered in dust, locked, battery flat, etc etc.

got power to it and got it open eventually (I'm getting good at that on mk3s!) and with a fresh battery she fired straight up and idled perfect! the 25 mile drive home was uneventful, the car driving MINT, just like my 197 that's just had a full overhaul - couldn't ask for more than that!

1 mile from home it started raining and the wipers came on, linkage must have been seized and the motor bent the linkage and put it through the windscreen - GREAT.

a replacement wiper linkage fitted and a visit from Auto Glass sorted that!

I then turned to the exterior, my plan was to give it a full decontamination, machine polish and then see what bits needed attention and id get the bodyshop to sort it out

 

[Martin_172]

needs the front bumper painted, the rear bumper painted and of course a wheel refurb (more on that later)

Interior was in good nick just needing a good clean!

the heat wave hit so idea for a good shampoo and wet vac! Brought the seats up much better

white bits on the seats got a pressure wash and so did the seatbelts (no photos yet doh!)

 

[Martin_172]

I gave it a full service, the oil filter was SOLID, I couldn't budge it, had my massive water pump pliers on it and they slipped and caught the outlet pipe from the water pump and now I had a coolant leak, of course to get any access to see what was wrong it was the front end, alternator and AC compressor off!!! so that was todays job.

it had literally just moved the outlet pipe enough to stop it sealing, so i removed it, cleaned it up and re fitted all sealed again.

Then i realised, im half way towards doing a cambelt so since the car has no service history, i may as well do it all while im in there!

So that's where I'm up to so far, waiting on the belt kits coming from RPD, more to come this coming week! - AC Condenser has a hole in it so trying to see if i can get a reasonable priced one and ill change and regas that

it was funny seeing it sit on the drive 12yrs later, as 12 years ago i had one brand new the exact same colour! (the one that went bang with 1500 miles on the clock!!)

 

[RSRowe]

I’ve not seen one that crusty before. Must of been leaking water forever

It’s cleaned up well

 

[jameswrx]

Yeah, looking at the block (lower left) that’s already been leaking for a while.

 

[Martin_172]

to be fair once the coolant residue was cleaned off the block is all the same at the front side, its been sitting leaking for a couple of weeks as ive not had time to get near it which is why all the dried in coolant residue is around the sump etc.

 

[Martin_172]

Got the belts all finished today, got the coolant changed and then ran upto temp without the aux setup fitted to check for leaks, all good!

Much better!

The old radiator support was badly corroded as they do on these, picked up as an advisory on the last few MOT so replaced it with a new one, eBay special just had to move the radiator bracket over a tad

Waiting on an AC condenser coming then I can get it back together and out for a run

 

[Clio_fool]

Pah that's not rusty. I'll be sweeping mine up when I go to remove it!

 

[Martin_172]

Pah that's not rusty. I'll be sweeping mine up when I go to remove it!

I've seen a lot worse and it was still structurally strong but i wanted to fix all the advisories from the last MOT so its got a clean bill of health!

 

[Clio_fool]

Mine wasn't an advisory 😁🤔😉😂.

 

[Martin_172]

Got a new AC condenser fitted, will get that regassed at its MOT on Monday

Sourced a factory head unit for it as it had some Chinese flip out screen thing

And some genuine fitted Renault mats

Wheels got a refurb and 4x new Hankook Ventus EVO3 tyres fitted

MOT on monday and then ill pop it up for sale, the bodywork is a little tatty but tbh I'm at the point where ill end up loosing money if i go down the bodywork route as ive got serious OCD so it either gets everything or nothing, and my painter who is mega, isn't cheap!!

 

[Paul.M]

Looks like you have done a lovely job with that!

 

[imprezaworks]

Yeah looks great

 

[Martin_172]

Was up for £4500 with no bites! Went on eBay auction starting at £3500 and never sold! what am I missing?

It's now about to become my daily beater as I'm not giving it away!

 

[Louis]

Was up for £4500 with no bites! Went on eBay auction starting at £3500 and never sold! what am I missing?

It's now about to become my daily beater as I'm not giving it away!

It's probably that cost of living crisis mate

 

[Clio_fool]

I've noticed some decent ones up for silly cheap recently, never thought they wouldn't sell around that price tbh.

 

[Martin_172]

I've noticed some decent ones up for silly cheap recently, never thought they wouldn't sell around that price tbh.

same mate, i know this was a part service history, needing a bit of work car but for over a month there, it was the cheapest 200 for sale bar none! and that's with no blowing manifold flexis, no swivel hub failure, no gearbox issues and a fresh belt change! i felt that was priced fair! So into daily usage it goes haha going to shift on my current kangoo daily instead!

 

[Martin_172]

Shifted my kangoo daily this week, this is back on eBay ending today again, let's see if its 2nd time lucky starting at £3.5k!

 

[Martin_172]

SOLD pending collection, it's going to Leeds, I'm meeting the new owner in Edinburgh to drop the car off with him next weekend. a gentleman who's son also has a 182 so seems it's going to a good home!

Sold for £3500 which is bonkers cheap id have thought but it was the only bid!

 

[jameswrx]

Not really sure on the prices. They keep getting rolled out over and over on eBay.

I paid the same amount for my 200 (cup pack with spoiler) last year. Was up for £4500 initially.