My Arctic blue 182 ownership thread.

[stuartyvilla]

I've decided to start a thread here on my Arctic 182 and being a big Renaultsport fan what better place to share that than here! Anyway a bit of background info on the car so far, back in 2015 after becoming increasingly frustrated with my diesel 206 I decided that now was the right time to change, so after checking insurance and finding it not too expensive for a student at the time I started looking for a 182 and after some searching I decided on the one you see below, mainly as here in NI Renaultsport models are a bit thin on the ground so I went searching on the mainland and picked up this one below, maybe someone on here recognises it?

Details as I bought it in 2015: Year 2004, 71k miles, Arctic Blue, Full Ktec Exhaust. some pics shortly after I bought it, absolutely loved it, felt so much quicker than anything I had driven and so chuckable, as you can probably tell from the pics that it wasn't perfect, exhaust was wonky and the headlights were in need of a refurb as where the wheels, so after getting it a service and belts changed etc I was ready for lots of smiles per miles!

So after enjoying the car and taking the long way home everywhere I decided to start thinking on some changes, the first change I made was to get it onto an NI reg as I prefer the letter then number look!

Next on the to do list was to get a split, so I ordered one from Skoda, certainly transformed the front end, here are some pics from some local shows with the splitter fitted.

So fast forward to just over a year later and plenty of trouble free miles the car started to develop some issues, the 2 main ones being a horrible knocking noise when in a low gear in traffic or when changing gear, as well as a whining/hissing noise when up to speed or hard driving, so decided to book the car into my local Renault for a full service as well as get them to look at those other issues. So after a couple of days in a 'fetching' cream Renault Captur courtesy car, the diagnosis was as follows;

New exhaust mounts & clamps (the cause of the knocking)

Air con re-gas

New tyre

New radiator & coolant

Full service

New tyre.

So with all that done I picked it up and went for a blast up the Antrim coast and stopped for some pics, also got my wont exhausts fixed while it was in the dealer.

 

[imprezaworks]

Looking good mate

 

[stuartyvilla]

After that I got a friend who is better at cleaning cars than myself to give the 182 a bit of a winter protection detail and restore the headlights.

After the detail and just general daily duties my engine light came on, took it to Renault and it was the O2 sensor, got that replaced, then 2 weeks later engine light was on again but didn't affect the car, that was until I was in Mallusk for work and got there ok but went to leave and the car conked out, so I learnt my lesson while sitting in the recovery lorry with the clio getting a piggy back behind. Took it to Renault again and same sensor had failed, thankfully covered under parts warranty so no charge.

But in between all of that I done some driving and found snow a while back, made for a nice picture.

After all the sensor malarky I treated myself to a set of Cooksport lowering springs and got them fitted, new wheel bearings and treated it to a wheel alignment, so went out the Portaferry Road for some pics of how the car sits now with the springs fitted. The springs were certainly a worthwhile investment, you can feel the difference in the handling as well as helping with the looks! Although as you can see spacers really should be my next mod!

So to the present day and apart from some more pretty pictures I have taken I have done some more small touches which I haven't managed to photograph yet, these include clear indicator bulbs, powerflex exhaust mounts and I replaced the rear number plate light with a new item, progress is slow but a 3/4 plate and a power flex dogbone mount are high up on the immediate list as well as a battery cover to try and tidy up the engine bay, spacers are for the future still unfortunately but its getting there, plenty of inspiration to look at, anyway here are some more pics at what it does best, evening drives chasing the sun in summer time

 

[stuartyvilla]

 

[imprezaworks]

My first ever clio was an Arctic

 

[Stefan.]

Nice!

 

[Sunglasses_Ron]

Looos nice mate. Get some led side lights to match them up to the xenon headlights :up:

 

[leeds2592]

Love that, just needs some fresh numberplates as well.

 

[stuartyvilla]

Love that, just needs some fresh numberplates as well.

Thanks, number plates are high up on the to do list for sure!

 

[stuartyvilla]

So having seen turinis on various clips and wanting them badly, I knew I needed a set at some point, but coming across a set locally here would be like hens teeth, so I’d put that out of my mind, until a newly refurbed set came up for sale not too far from me! So I bought them straight away and got them home, very happy with them and can’t wait to get them on!

Turinis bought I was feeling pretty good bout getting a few odd jobs done over the winter, then exhaust gas light came on, sent it to my local auto spark and error read as disruptive misfire, so changed leads, plugs and coil pack but didn’t clear error, so compression test was done and no 3 cylinder was reading lower than the others, I think it was 95 but can’t remember, Car is driving fine but was told I wouldn’t know what that could be until head off etc, also said it was blackening a plug but I’ve no idea what it could be, anyone any ideas? I’m not the best mechanically

 

[Louis]

Could just be an injector. Change that first

 

[stuartyvilla]

Well I've not really updated this thread in a while, but yet again I haven't really needed to as I put the car away before Christmas last year and used the work car during the grim winter weather, with summer now upon us, the wheels went on, quickly painted the calipers and fitted a new bonnet latch, as the old one was a bit rusty under the bonnet, some better pics of the car.

turinis by Stuart Hanna, on Flickr

IMG_3999 by Stuart Hanna, on Flickr

IMG_3993 by Stuart Hanna, on Flickr

Also was on our local Renaultsport stand at a show last saturday, so some pics of others Clio on the stand, plus a lovely 309 GTI Goodwood.

 

[stuartyvilla]

Another update on the clio, it's been off the road over the winter again so I had time to get some jobs done, one was tidy up the engine bay, so got the inlet manifold bead blasted and sprayed it with high temp paint and cleaned the plastic cover. I also plan on getting a battery cover and carbon fuse cover as well.

 

[stuartyvilla]

Also got a new grille as the old one was cracked. Finally a 3/4 plate was fitted, helps the front alot imo

 

[stuartyvilla]

A photo back when the weather was better

 

[Matthew]

One of my favourite Clios I had was my Arctic. It was absolutely mint.

 

[stuartyvilla]

One of the jobs I had in mind was to freshen up the interior, and I had saw other 182s with carbon inserts so I was determined to get them, although the dash inserts were hard to find, but I saw a post on the Facebook group of someone who had made them, as well as steering wheel inserts and hazard switch insert, they were first come first serve so I snapped them up. I must say I'm very pleased with them!

Old

 

[stuartyvilla]

Decided to take some pics of them fitted, really happy with how it 'modernises' the interior!

 

[CliosportCal]

Smart this mate, good to see the little touches that make a massive difference!

 

[Hxrry]

Decided to take some pics of them fitted, really happy with how it 'modernises' the interior!

View attachment 1435076View attachment 1435077View attachment 1435078View attachment 1435079

Is this something that is still happening? They look very nice

 

[stuartyvilla]

Is this something that is still happening? They look very nice

The guy I got them off I think will be doing them again, he was setting up his own place so was stopping for a couple of months and was trying to get rid of some stuff he had before closing, I spied them and snapped them up! He is Carbon Skins on facebook if you are interested!

 

[stuartyvilla]

Smart this mate, good to see the little touches that make a massive difference!

Thanks! I have tried to just make subtle changes when I can, plenty of ideas of what I want done, up next will be a bit of a suspension refresh over winter, then hopefully a steering wheel retrim along with some over interior pieces.

 

[Clio_fool]

Very nice car you have there mate. Arctic looks fantastic in the sun, my first megane 225 was Arctic and looked great for it.

 

[Hxrry]

The guy I got them off I think will be doing them again, he was setting up his own place so was stopping for a couple of months and was trying to get rid of some stuff he had before closing, I spied them and snapped them up! He is Carbon Skins on facebook if you are interested!

Ace mate thank you very much.

 

[stuartyvilla]

Managed to get a few more pieces done over winter, mainly underneath work. Decided to take the rear beam out, repaint it and fitted new poly bushes since the old ones had seen better days.

I also fitted 4 new genuine shocks all round before deciding to take the sub frame out and re galvanise it, fit new arb bushes and repaint arb bar, repaint wishbones and re bush them as well. I also changed oil and filter and fitted powerflex top engine mount as well.

 

[stuartyvilla]

That was my winter list complete, although I feel I should have changed the steering bush when I was that deep underneath. But there is always next winter! Another item I acquired was a battery cover which I feel really tidied up the engine bay, added the decal to it as well. Unfortunately all the work done and I cannot enjoy the changes due to Corona but I'm not the only one!

 

[mk1mark]

This looks great - nice and tidy.

Where did you get the battery cover from?

 

[stuartyvilla]

This looks great - nice and tidy.

Where did you get the battery cover from?

Thanks, the car is far from perfect but better to get the mechanical side up to scratch as best as possible, body work can wait! Th battery cover I got from ebay here https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/uk.cla9/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from= but he doesn't seem to have any left. I thought when buying mine he had more but maybe I just got lucky!

 

[stuartyvilla]

Wow, over a year since I updated this thread! To be fair not much has happened, 2020 was a year where it hardly moved at all and due to getting engaged and moving house so no money was spent on the car at all! Fast forward to now and I got the car out to enjoy this summer, and managed to get to get the car valeted, both inside and out, the inside especially needed attention. I must say when it gets cleaned by someone who knows what they are doing it really does look great! Other small changes was I replaced the centre caps since they started to flake, unfortunately not the original caps as they are nla, so ebay specials in silver had to do, but they actually don't look too out of place. Other changes that will happen are powerflex top mount bushes and a gas strut kit for the bonnet, but for now have another few pics of the car after its valet!

 

[stuartyvilla]

Not really an update either but it was nice to get a meet up with the other members of the rs club, a great turnout today considering the RS scene here in NI is quite small, some beautiful examples of Renaultsports (and Alpine) turned up!

 

[stuartyvilla]

Another annual update, not much has happened! Got the belts,dephaser etc done this summer as age wise they were due. Apart from that I have been enjoying the car in the summertime, another 2 RS meets have happened since my last post (the last one being the best turnout for the RSowners NI club I've seen) then last week I got a chance to just go for a drive for the sake of driving, with the weather playing ball it was bliss 🤩

RS Meet no 1

Polished the headlights which helped big time!

Another meet with a rally inspired friend!

Sunset drives. 🌇