Megane R26 Ph1 clio project

[robmuns]

Things are starting to come together with this car so should really start a project thread for it..

Car as is stands is a racing blue ph1 172 with the following spec;

Engine/gearbox
182 engine
Cup gearbox
Cup alternator set-up
EFI remap

Suspention
BC racing coilovers with top mounts
Powerflex bushes all round
Rollcentre kit
RARB


Exterior
Painted racing blue
Smoothed bonnet/boot
Team dynamics bronze alloys

Interior
Full 182 interior swap (every bit of trim possible
5 channel amp with focal component speakers front and rear and 10"sub built into spare wheel well
Sound deadening throughout the car
Recaro CS seats
Personal steering wheel with blue stitching

Had it like this for around 2 years now buy having had a turbo clio before I'm craving more power...

 

[robmuns]

So plans for car are to megane swap with an R26 engine and gearbox with limited slip diff..

Rought Spec will be (aiming for 300bhp);

Garrett 2860rs turbo (. 86 housing so may change this to the smaller. 64 but not sure yet)
Custom fuel rail with return to tank
Mishimoto intercooler
Alloy rad
Custom megane inlet smoothed and adapted for ph1 cable throttle body
Adaptronic ECU with custom loom to do away with original ecu altogether

Exhaust wise I'm going to try something a little different. As the car is purely a road car I'd like something that can be quiet when cruising and when on low boost but when on high boost flows enough for good power and is a little louder..

So plan is to run a full 3 inch exhaust from the turbo back with a smallish 3 inch centre silencer (this will be the set-up when in "sport" mode)

For the backbox I'm going to run an exhaust valve (vaccume actuated) to by-pass a large back box with 2 inch pipe work (keep noise down) with a 3inch pipe around it.

So in sport mode it will a full 3inch system but in normal mode it will go through a more restrictive 2inch back box. Planning to run this off the high/low boost switch so it will completely change the characteristics of the car!

I've pretty much got everything ordered so will just be a case of taking the car off the road to get started.. So far the engine and gearbox have been painted and the turbo mounted. Going to build as much as I can out of the car before so belts, flywheel ect..

The downpipe is a karken 3inch cast one from an mx5 which should give plenty of clearence from the brake master cylinder (see below against an engine dynamics down pipe)

More updates soon!

 

[Darren61]

Keen to see this progress.

lots of people put the R26/225 engine into the 197/200, interested to see how it all comes together in a 172...

 

[plees]

Will be watching this with a keen eye! What management / dash setup are you planning on using?

 

[robmuns]

Will be watching this with a keen eye! What management / dash setup are you planning on using?

Adaptronic 420d ecu

Standard dash, just need to get a speedo feed into it.. Either mount a pickup on the driveshaft or going to see if the abs outputs any sort of speed signal that can be adjusted to work the clocks.. Being ph1 the clocks shouldn't be too difficult

Also going to run this where the old radio display is.. https://www.reveltronics.com/en/products/universal-trip-computer-utcomp

Can run loads of sensors into it like oil pressure and temp, boost but also vehicle speed and a fuel injector pulce so it can have nice features like real time mpg, distance to empty, performance timings ect which will be nice to have

 

[197.]

Subbed, interested in the exhaust bypass valve you'll be implementing.

 

[Cookson]

This is going to be very interesting.

 

[Faultless]

Looking good mate this should be pretty epic. Why go with the Garrett turbo if only aiming for 300hp? Is it just due to space?


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[Coops Mk1]

Nice project, should be cool when done

 

[David172]

Will be watching watching this with interest. Looks like it will be a great build!

 

[robmuns]

Looking good mate this should be pretty epic. Why go with the Garrett turbo if only aiming for 300hp? Is it just due to space?


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Few reasons for the garrett turbo;

Already had the turbo and log manifold so saved me buying it.

Turbo is rated to around 350bhp so 300bhp shouldn't be stretching it too much so hopefully less heat and stress on the engine than running say a megane 250 turbo at its max.

I think the power delivery of the garrett will suit the clio more.. It'll come on boost later than a megane turbo and make less mid range torque but should be stronger at the top end.. A mk2 clio doesn't need to be making 300lbf.ft torque from 3k revs as it simply wont get that down to the road in the lower gears.

I'm hoping the final power delivery will make the car feel a little more revvy than a normal megane which is more diesel like in its power delivery. I may even go as far as limiting the mid range torque (adaptronic can target different boost levels at different revs) so could almost make it come on more like a supercharger and build boost as the revs increase keeping a nice flat torque curve when the turbo comes on boost. (I know this will ultimately make it a slightly slower car so I'll have to see.. I'm hoping to play around with the mapping quite alot to see what I prefer)

This is my brothers megane swap clio with a garrett 2560r (smaller turbo to mine).

This turbo was pretty much at its limit making this power (can't remember boost levels but was around 1.2bar) so hopefully my turbo will be similar but less stressed and a little stronger at the top end.

All theory atm from abit of research so will have to see lol

 

[Faultless]

Yeah I get that to be fair, I went hybrid 250 to be sure I wasn’t stressing the turbo. Same theory as you less boost to make same power at higher rpm should mean less heat and less likely to overheat. I could have used a hybrid 225 or a stock 250 turbo to make similar results.

It kind of worked all but overheating. Clio 3RS still need extra cooling [emoji2357]
I have power at high rpm until around 6500 and no feel of boost until around 3500 also at only 1.2 bar

If anything yours should be better. I had a megane 225 turbo before and was running flat out and only made 260 this was as you said like driving a diesel.

 

[robmuns]

Got the wastegate mounted, as usual a bolt on part wasn't bolt on and the rod for the wastegate didn't sit right so I'm going to get some steel rod to make a new one as the one that came with the kit wasn't right.

Got the injectors mounted into the fuel rail to check that the clips I'd brought worked okay, all mounted up fine! This will be coming off again to be painted once I've worked out a colour scheme I want to go for in the engine bay.

Also brought a kit a while back to adapt the gear shift to mount universal gear knobs on, really well made bit of kit and was pretty straight forward to fit.

Not sure on what gear knob I'll be going for yet, something along these lines I think

 

[robmuns]

Parts for the exhaust valve arrived today. The valve closes when the actuator sees vacuum. So a take off from the inlet will go through a check valve to keep vacuum in the exhaust valve pluming regardless of inlet pressure, then goes through a bmw control valve which will be used to switch the exhaust valve on and off.. This could be controlled from an output from the ecu, say above a certain boost pressure and rpm when the smaller diameter pipe work becomes too restrictive or just a switch (not sure what 100% route I'll take yet)

Total spend on the exhaust so far is around £150 for the valve bits and £112 for the cast downpipe and piecut 90° with the vband.. Now to order the silencers, flexi pipe, exhaust pipe and vbands.

 

[Robclio98]

Awesome start to this project! currently changing my setup to run the megane 6speed box!

Looking forward to updates

 

[robmuns]

Got my other set of wheels back from the powder coaters.. Going to run these as my daily/winter wheels, then keep the team dynamics for the summer. Went for a light grey which I think works really well with the racing blue, fitted with some Bridgestone RE002 205/50/15 which I got really cheap ages ago, be interesting to see what they feel like compared to the ad08's.

Not sure on running the centre caps or just painting the hub nut area black

 

[robmuns]

Awesome start to this project! currently changing my setup to run the megane 6speed box!

Looking forward to updates

Its definitely worth the effort compared to the clio gearbox!

 

[Krarl]

Get @Louis to bash you some centre caps out for your OZ's

 

[Louis]

Happy to knock you some out. Wheels look fantastic, makes me want to have my set refurbed!

 

[incy-spider]

I like that display, how close to the OEM is it size wise?


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[robmuns]

Happy to knock you some out. Wheels look fantastic, makes me want to have my set refurbed!

May be in touch about them, these aren't Renault f1's though not sure if they're the same size

 

[robmuns]

I like that display, how close to the OEM is it size wise?


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Screen is very similar size to the radio display, I'll get some pictures once I've got it mounted properly, think it just needs some sort edging at the outer edges as it's not quite as wide

 

[robmuns]

Spent a day down the unit.. Unfortunately didn't get much done on my car, currently going through the process of buying a house so spending has had to stop over the next few months which will slow progress a little, its Mistley small bits I need but it all adds quickly! Also can't get overtime at work either with the covid situation which is what usually pays for the car parts lol

Got the intercooler offered up to the car, the mishimoto one is quite abit bigger than the normal ebay ones so the crash bar will need modifying so the intercooler sits higher and then brackets made to mount it.

Mates car along with the Mk1 is in the unit atm, once mine is ready to have the swap done it'll be getting swapped out for the Mk1 for a month or so while that gets some welding one (can't weld in the unit unfortunately)

 

[incy-spider]

Spent a day down the unit.. Unfortunately didn't get much done on my car, currently going through the process of buying a house so spending has had to stop over the next few months which will slow progress a little, its Mistley small bits I need but it all adds quickly! Also can't get overtime at work either with the covid situation which is what usually pays for the car parts lol

Got the intercooler offered up to the car, the mishimoto one is quite abit bigger than the normal ebay ones so the crash bar will need modifying so the intercooler sits higher and then brackets made to mount it. View attachment 1480567

Mates car along with the Mk1 is in the unit atm, once mine is ready to have the swap done it'll be getting swapped out for the Mk1 for a month or so while that gets some welding one (can't weld in the unit unfortunately)
View attachment 1480569

I have the same intercooler, it’s a beaut isn’t it!! Mine went on my Clio 182 and I mounted it upside down as it fits nicer, the pipes are off centre.. (I can’t quite tell from your pic if it defo the same as mine)

I trimmed the overlap off the crash bar and seam welded it all the way along.. then made some mounting holes as far forward as possible fits very nice and clears my AC condenser

They are much bigger in the flesh too [emoji106][emoji106]

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[robmuns]

I have the same intercooler, it’s a beaut isn’t it!! Mine went on my Clio 182 and I mounted it upside down as it fits nicer, the pipes are off centre.. (I can’t quite tell from your pic if it defo the same as mine)

I trimmed the overlap off the crash bar and seam welded it all the way along.. then made some mounting holes as far forward as possible fits very nice and clears my AC condenser

They are much bigger in the flesh too [emoji106][emoji106]
View attachment 1480583


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Yep that's the same one, much better than the generic ebay coolers and made a massive difference in performance on my brothers car.. He mounted his the same way as you, I really like the way you've got the cut outs on the crash bar actually so may have to steal that idea! Annoying they only put mounting points on one side of the cooler though so you end up with a wishimoto cooler lol

 

[incy-spider]

Haha, I even put heat proof tape over the holes before the bumper went on, like OEM style!

Yeah I like the W through my grill! [emoji23][emoji23]


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[Louis]

Yep that's the same one, much better than the generic ebay coolers and made a massive difference in performance on my brothers car.. He mounted his the same way as you, I really like the way you've got the cut outs on the crash bar actually so may have to steal that idea! Annoying they only put mounting points on one side of the cooler though so you end up with a wishimoto cooler lol

The common method for mounting the FMIC is just using threaded rod through the entire crash bar. It's not as neat as the above but does the job!

 

[Clio.lee]

Have you got a link to the intercooler? I haven’t heard of them before are they tried and tested?

 

[robmuns]

Have you got a link to the intercooler? I haven’t heard of them before are they tried and tested?

Mishimoto Universal Race Edition Intercooler J-Line

A small cooler packing a big punch, this universal front-mount intercooler has been engineered to handle 500HP, even with its compact size. Tested on the highest HP Hyundai Genesis Coupe in the world, the Mishimoto J-Line intercooler is perfect for cars with limited front-end space. In most...

www.mishimoto.co.uk

My brothers clio went from struggling to get 270bhp from an ebay cooler to nearly 300bhp with the cooler being the only change.. The map required more fuel indicating it was flowing better.

As incy-spider mentioned above, its a decent amount larger than the small ebay ones even if it doesn't look it

 

[robmuns]

Progress on the engine swap has been very slow due to the house purchase just going through, I do however have quite an interesting update for the car..

New wheels!

Wanted something different for the car to make it stand out abit more and these will purely be used in the summer and for shows due to there value but just couldn't resist when I saw them for sale and don't think I've seen another clio with them fitted before (most likely because it's a rediculous amount of money to spend on wheels for a car worth a few thousand 😂)

So yeah.. work miesta s1 in 7j and et25

Can't fit them straight away as I need the centre bore machining out to 60.1 (currently 56.1) and will most likely need some camber on the rear to get them to fit without rubbing but can't wait to get them fitted properly!

 

[Radugns]

A nice project to follow

 

[robmuns]

No machining required on the wheels which is a bonus.. I will need to drop the tyres down to a 195/50 rather than 205/50 and add 1 degree camber shims on the rear along with a little more camber at the front (doesn't have much at all atm) to get them to fit without any rubbing but getting there!

 

[cliocollins]

Love these wheels, looking really good on the PH1.

Will you be moving the TD's on at all?

 

[robmuns]

Love these wheels, looking really good on the PH1.

Will you be moving the TD's on at all?

Cheers! Nah TD's are getting the tyres from these wheels to be used as my track/fast road wheels