Matthews Inferno Orange 182

[Matthew_]

Continuing on with more photos

Painted the front end to bring it back to orange. Some before photos

Progress & full painted using 2k white primer, colour matched spray paint from a company local to me & hycote clear lacquer

 

[Matthew_]

Continuing with more photos 🫣

Repainting the battery cover

Cleaned and repainted bonnet release

Cleaned behind the fuse box

Repainted ECU cover using POR 15

 

[Matthew_]

While working on the engine bay I was also working to fit the new to me exhaust (the cgr I have posted about on here previously). I wanted to do the job properly so I bought a new exhaust hanger mount kit from Pro - Am, a pair of gram exhaust mount bush's and a new OEM centre exhaust hanger.

Alot of the bolts were quite rusty holding the hanger mounts to the car but alot of wd-40 later they all came off. The hangers had previously been worked on by someone, they were standard but had been diy'd to look like a powerflex style bush but it wasn't great and once cut out came apart very easily. Very glad I replaced them for some proper bushes.

I cut out the majority of the bush material and then used a flat head and a hammer to remove the remains around the edges and then a file clean up the final bits. Having spent a decent amount of time cleaning them up I was happy with the finish and went to put the gram bushes in only to find out these weren't genuine hangers! And they wouldn't fit properly 🫣 so I had to start the whole thing again and I ordered 2 used genuine hangers off eBay.

Lesson learned always check parts if they are genuine! Especially on old cars like these. I hope I don't make this mistake again 😂

New hangers arrived a few days later and I set about cleaning them up. AGAIN 😬 this time it was easier and I'd learnt how to do it better. So I cut the main hanger out and then used a combination of the flat head, hammer and a wire wheel on a drill to clean them up and they were done much quicker.

Then I got to fitting the new bushes and test fitting them all onto the car which all went smoothly.

Knowing it all fitted, I put the new middle exhaust hanger on the car and set about tidying up the exhaust surrounds on the rear bumper. I took inspiration/copied Mr Underhill's idea of using the rubber edging and it worked perfectly and looks miles better than the old plastic that was on there as the old ones were white and wouldn't clean up but I've kept them to try and bring them back to life later down the line.

I then went to fit the new exhaust. This is where it goes down hill again 🙃 the new exhaust is missing part of the metal rod that would sit inside the hanger, it doesn't look to be cut off it looks to have been manufactured this way so the car it came off must have had a different hanger setup which I wasn't aware was a thing.

In the picture below the yellow line is what is missing

So after all this work to fit the new exhaust I ended up refitting the current ktec system to the car (in the rain which was not fun) and I now have another job on the list to manufacture and weld a new hanger to the back box and get the exhaust on the car.

But overall the exhaust sits much better and there is less rattle so it's a positive and I've cleaned the car up which is the never ending goal. (I don't have a photo of the finished result 🙃)

 

[Matthew_]

Just a small job completed the other day. Boot lock on the Clio started making a horrible grinding noise whenever youd go to lock the car, luckily it is a common issue with a plastic piece snapping inside the boot locking mechanism and I found loads of information on the forums (Thanks again to the forums, saved me many times!)

Before video

New part was ordered and is now fitted and means the boot now sounds normal again

 

[Rob]

Nice thread this, orange ones have aged really well. Good work.

 

[Matthew_]

Gave the Clio a good clean after work today, it's not been cleaned since before I started the engine bay work which was far too long. It's all ready for Autos De France at Oulton Park on Saturday

Since doing the work on the engine bay I have developed a very small misfire on idle. It's hard to tell from the sound of it but it is there and the car only recognises the fault when it sits idle for a few minutes, if you then drive off with the warning light flashing within a minute or so the light disappears, it's very odd. Ive checked spark plugs they look alright and we're all tight so my next guess is injectors. Need to get my code reader working again and then I'll see if I can investigate further before ordering some injectors. If anyone has any other suggestions that would be great.

 

[Matt Cup]

Alright fella. I think you were parked next to me this morning, sorry I didn’t stop to say hello before I shifted my car. Yours looked clean as hell btw 👍

 

[Matthew_]

Alright fella. I think you were parked next to me this morning, sorry I didn’t stop to say hello before I shifted my car. Yours looked clean as hell btw 👍

Alright I think I was, no worries I'm still getting used to who's who 😂🫣 thanks, yours looked spot on aswell

 

[Matthew_]

Good day out in the Clio to Autos De France at Oulton Park. Nice to meet a few members 😁

 

[Matthew_]

Catching up on a lack of updating this thread

So back at the end of Sept I booked onto a trackday in the Clio at Oulton Park for the 15th Nov which meant I had a list of jobs I needed to sort relatively quickly to be ready in time. The list included:

Gearbox oil change
New front brake discs - Brembo High Carbon
New front brake pads - Ferodo DS2500
Brake bleed & flush using RBF 660 fluid
Swap over to my mates wheels & tyres (RPF1's with AD08r's on)

These sounded like relatively simple jobs to sort in time but I ended up leaving the jobs fairly late due to being busy (including working on a go kart which I need to start another thread on) so with 2 weeks to go before the trackday I began work on the brakes and of course they did not go to plan

Front brakes came off somewhat easily other than the passenger side caliper being seized so I ordered a set of new replacement calipers for both sides on the front (TRW / Lucas variation as this is the OEM manufacturer). So I buttoned the front up temporarily to come back to the following week as I still needed the car.

Then while I was doing the front brakes I was suggested to do the rears as I had rear discs sitting in the garage, so I bought a set of brembo rear pads from euro car parts and hoped these would be easy. The rears wen't on fairly easily but the rubber seals on the sliding pins and piston were perished or torn so I needed a rebuild kit to fix them. So again I buttoned the rears up temporarily while I waited on the big red rebuild kit.

As you do while I was waiting on the brake parts to arrive I was thinking of what else I could do and thought it would be a shame to leave the pair of bucket seats from my old twingo out of the car. It was like it was meant to be, I found an OMP drivers base on Facebook marketplace in Llandudno cheap and I was passing by there later that week so it would have been rude not to go pick it up. 1 OMP base purchase later I went about fitting the bucket seat to the Clio using the hardware from the Twingo as in this area they're basically identical. However, as I have read on here previously the OMP bases sit quite high so I spent many hours in the dark on the drive adjusting and readjusting on different side mounts to try and get a good seating position. Eventually I did get one all be it abit too high for long term use but good enough for the trackday. The OMP mount will be sold at somepoint and replaced with Jon Fozz mounts to get the right seating position (when I have another car and can put bucket seats in permanently)

But I wasn't done there, I got bored waiting to do the brakes and thought the rear seats were useless so I removed the rear seats, boot carpet and parcel shelf. This made driving round in the car a very loud experience but I don't mind cos its all abit of fun.

Having done all these extra jobs we now get to Tuesday the week of the trackday and the parts have arrived. I fix the rear brakes using just the rubber seals from the rebuild kit and then bleed the rear brakes with the help of a friend (I just pushed the pedal)

Then I go to fit the front brake calipers but the new drivers side caliper destroyed the threads on the braided brake line and inside itself meaning I couldn't refit the old caliper. Not what you need the week of a trackday, slight panic set in while I tried to find replacement lines at 10pm on a Tuesday night that I could fit on Wednesday. I resorted to ordering a tap & die kit from amazon for the next day delivery in size m10x1 (the size of the thread on the brake lines, Cliosport coming in clutch with this information) with a backup set of front HEL braided lines being ordered for delivery later in the week just in case. Coming back the next day with tap and die kit in hand and luckily for me the kit saved the day. It took about 45 minutes of trying to persuade the die onto the brake line threads but I managed to get purchase and gently managed to rebuild the threads. So after all of that the old caliper was placed back on the car with the new one firmly going back to the supplier under warranty. Alot of hassle to have got no further forwards but ah well.

The passenger side caliper went on a breeze in comparison and then we bled the front calipers (me on the pedal again)

Last job being a gearbox oil change which was simple enough and 3ltrs later the gearbox definitely feels better.

Mates wheels on and the car was ready for the trackday (baring a clean) with 2 days to spare! And of course to finish my collection of jobs going wrong I had to wash the car in the rain as I had no other time.

TLDR to sumarise

• New Brembo front brake discs fitted
• New Ferodo DS2500 brake pads fitted to the front
• New front passenger side caliper fitted
• New rear brake discs fitted (Genuine renault with wheel bearing)
• Rubber seals replaced on rear calipers (both sides)
• New Brembo rear brake pads fitted
• Brake bleed & flush using RPF 660 brake fluid
• Gearbox oil change
• Drivers side bucket seat fitted
• Rear seats & boot interior removed
• RPF1's & AD08r's borrowed & fitted