Some may know me, most wont, but I was one of the original clio.sport.net members back in the early 2000’s – Had a brand new 172 in 2003 and spent a fortune on it over the following 3 years, Absolutely loved that Car and was well known on here – found a picture that was posted of it only last week so some may recall it
Eventually in 2007 upgraded to a Brand new Ultra Red R26 Megane – again spent a fair bit on this but only had it for 7 months before had to sell due to my wife being pregnant and needing to be sensible for a while – didn’t quite work out like that as bought an ultra low mileage 106 gti and loved it so again spent silly amounts of money on it – by now though I was in my 30’s and felt a bit old to be ragging a little 106 around. As soon as my wife went back to work and money started coming in again my 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] R26 Megane was purchased – kept this one for 4 years and loved every minute – was used by both Samco and Streamline Carbon to demo their products and again was well known on the forums. Was pictured in French Car Mag on numerous occaisions as well as in the readers rides section
Over the final 6 months of owning the megane I kept looking at Renault 5 Gt Turbo’s (again! – had one of the last 3 every registered in the Uk back in 1999) – so eventually sold the Megane (still wish I hadn’t) and bought a 5.
The 5 had been completely rebuilt and was utterly mint – the engine was another matter though so my mechanic and I went nuts and again spent a fortune (must be able to see a pattern developing by now!) – Again Samco used the car as a demo car so attended the French Car Show with them and also they put the car on their Stand at the Castle Combe Rally day where is received lots of great comments all day
After 7 months of ownership I was a bit bored of having a mint car in the garage that I rarely used, while driving round in a crappy 2001 Megane 1.6 so thought sod this and sold them both – paid off a few debts and decided to buy another Clio - this time though I fancied a 182 in Racing Blue with Both Cup Packs so started the search.
Have been meaning to start a blog for the last 10 months since buying the car – seeing as its now pretty much how I want it bar a few bits and pieces I thought Id get on the case
I bought the car through Ebay on a buy it now within an hour of it being advertised – unfortunately it looked a bit better in the pics that in reality – the wheels were battered and there were probably 25 car park dings around it, it was a good price though and low mileage so a deal was done.
There were a few things wrong with it – Power Steering Sensor leaking, Driveshaft Knocking, dents, front bumper battered, wing mirror covers scratched, seat belts filthy, mats a mess, broken fog lights, splitter in 3 pieces, number plates messy, exhaust flapping about – the usual’s really! The rest though was all good – It drove really nicely, new tyres all round, New Tax and MOT, interior was in good nick, paint was pretty good & Prospeed Exhaust with De-cat being the only mods
So got all of that lot replaced and all was good – started looking quite tidy after a good polish etc. Polished up the tailpipes, wheels, paintwork and went through the interior and was pretty happy with it.
Fortunately/Unfortunately depending how you look at it a mate of mine and ex clio sport member Pete182 blew the engine on his 2004 182 Clio just before Christmas and offered it to me for pennies – deal was done and now I owned 2 Clio 182’s. Spent a few weeks in my spare time removing all I could from Pete’s car – sold what I didn’t need and kept everything I wanted – and this is where everything started really with my 182. I hadn’t intended playing with this car – was meant to be temporary until I could afford a Megane 265 (hopefully next summer) but once you’ve got the bug theres no escaping it
Work started early in the year with a set of 1000 miles old Cooksport springs being purchased and fitted which immediately got me the drop I wanted without spending £1500 again on coilovers like I did for the 172! Would have been better 10mm lower but Ill live with it. These went on at the same time as a new set of Brembo HC discs and pads as well as a new front wheel bearing as had started to groan – that was a fun job to replace!
Painted up the edges and centre of the discs to stop rust taking over and looking crap
My Renault 5 was in French Car mag in Feb this year which made me a both quite chuffed but also a bit gutted – really shouldn’t have sold that – was totally spotless and ill never find another as good
More and more parts from Pete’s 182 got fitted to mine over the next couple of months – anything I found that was in better nick was swapped over, seat belts were cleaned thoroughly then fitted to my car, etc etc
First real modification outside was a set of Spray Shacks door bulltets - I know its common but I couldn’t resist the Racing Blue & Black theme that’s been tried so many times now – its just such a great combination in my eyes there really was no other option for me – so the colour coding began
Then in April a local member on the forum blew his engine so I purchased his engine cover – looked ok but rest of engine was in dire need of the rebuild I was planning – was absolutely filthy!
Another ex clio sport member and good friend of mine Lee Coley agreed to paint a load of parts up for me, Front Diamond, clio badge, dash strips, front speaker covers, door pulls, door handles, steering wheel badge – These arrived a few weeks later and looked great! Also whacked on a set of black Side repeaters too.
I then arranged for a company in Cardiff – Flat Out Alloys to refurb my wheels for me – these guys did a top job and the car was now starting to look pretty good!
I attended the French Car Show again with Samco but as the bay had yet to be sorted the bonnet stayed firmly closed all day – I invited Cub to be on the stand so at Least there was a good demo Car for samco to show,
French Car show was a bit poor this year – very small and low attendance but had a good day none the less.
Havent been to any shows since FCS – had planned a few but with the engine now badly needing a minor rebuild gave them a miss – had hoped to make Traxx but the car went in for the rebuild a week before and was still in 100 pieces that weekend!
On to the rebuild - So over the last 9 months I have been building up a stock of engine parts – everything removed from Pete’s car was either Polished, Chromed, Painted or Powder Coated, I purchased loads of other parts – spent over £700 at Renault alone! (Including everything to renew Cambelt etc) – it’s been a bit of a mission trying to think of everything I could possibly need but after the Renault 5 Rebuild this was simple! Everything readily available so all I needed was cash!
As usual my friends at Samco came up trumps and have supplied a Full Coolant kit & Induction Hose Kit in Samco Blue free of charge, I managed to get hold of an old Hill Power Induction Kit – got the ends repolished and bought some new Heat Shielding material, All new Chrome/Staibnless Bolts were purchased etc etc – basically everything I could think of
It was at the garage for close to 2 weeks – I spent about 25 hours cleaning up the bay and various parts once it was all stripped down, my mechanic got wound up with me on numerous occasions due to my OCD’ish demands regarding replacing new for old bolts and cleaning things that once fitted will never be seen but we got there in the end
Upon leaving the garage I was still waiting for the Samco Induction Hose to arrive so had to put a bright red Forge hose back on temporarily plus there were lots of other little things to finish off – At this point I had 8 days before the Rally Day at Caslte Combe where is was supposed to be going on Samco’s stand to demo their hoses – so the past week or so has been spent with late nights trying to finish everything off – the induction hose arrived on Thursday (2 days before show) and I had to try and fabricate some sort of bracket to secure the Induction kit into place so with the show at 9.00am on Saturday morning I finally finished getting it all together at 2.00 Friday night/Saturday morning!
After 4 hours sleep went off to the Combe – Car went down really well – was parked with a couple of very expensive Imprezas on the Samco Stand so felt pretty good!
I need to get some good pictures of the outside but still needs both bumpers repainted so let it down a bit but again think that’s possibly just my OCD’ness coming out again - Have had 3 people offer to buy it off me in the last week alone so cant be too bad!
Still got a fair bit I want to do to it but overall Im happy with it now – was only ever meant to be a temporary car but id be sorry to sell it at the moment
Have probably missed loads but ill add as and when I think of things
Eventually in 2007 upgraded to a Brand new Ultra Red R26 Megane – again spent a fair bit on this but only had it for 7 months before had to sell due to my wife being pregnant and needing to be sensible for a while – didn’t quite work out like that as bought an ultra low mileage 106 gti and loved it so again spent silly amounts of money on it – by now though I was in my 30’s and felt a bit old to be ragging a little 106 around. As soon as my wife went back to work and money started coming in again my 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] R26 Megane was purchased – kept this one for 4 years and loved every minute – was used by both Samco and Streamline Carbon to demo their products and again was well known on the forums. Was pictured in French Car Mag on numerous occaisions as well as in the readers rides section
Over the final 6 months of owning the megane I kept looking at Renault 5 Gt Turbo’s (again! – had one of the last 3 every registered in the Uk back in 1999) – so eventually sold the Megane (still wish I hadn’t) and bought a 5.
The 5 had been completely rebuilt and was utterly mint – the engine was another matter though so my mechanic and I went nuts and again spent a fortune (must be able to see a pattern developing by now!) – Again Samco used the car as a demo car so attended the French Car Show with them and also they put the car on their Stand at the Castle Combe Rally day where is received lots of great comments all day
After 7 months of ownership I was a bit bored of having a mint car in the garage that I rarely used, while driving round in a crappy 2001 Megane 1.6 so thought sod this and sold them both – paid off a few debts and decided to buy another Clio - this time though I fancied a 182 in Racing Blue with Both Cup Packs so started the search.
Have been meaning to start a blog for the last 10 months since buying the car – seeing as its now pretty much how I want it bar a few bits and pieces I thought Id get on the case
I bought the car through Ebay on a buy it now within an hour of it being advertised – unfortunately it looked a bit better in the pics that in reality – the wheels were battered and there were probably 25 car park dings around it, it was a good price though and low mileage so a deal was done.
There were a few things wrong with it – Power Steering Sensor leaking, Driveshaft Knocking, dents, front bumper battered, wing mirror covers scratched, seat belts filthy, mats a mess, broken fog lights, splitter in 3 pieces, number plates messy, exhaust flapping about – the usual’s really! The rest though was all good – It drove really nicely, new tyres all round, New Tax and MOT, interior was in good nick, paint was pretty good & Prospeed Exhaust with De-cat being the only mods
So got all of that lot replaced and all was good – started looking quite tidy after a good polish etc. Polished up the tailpipes, wheels, paintwork and went through the interior and was pretty happy with it.
Fortunately/Unfortunately depending how you look at it a mate of mine and ex clio sport member Pete182 blew the engine on his 2004 182 Clio just before Christmas and offered it to me for pennies – deal was done and now I owned 2 Clio 182’s. Spent a few weeks in my spare time removing all I could from Pete’s car – sold what I didn’t need and kept everything I wanted – and this is where everything started really with my 182. I hadn’t intended playing with this car – was meant to be temporary until I could afford a Megane 265 (hopefully next summer) but once you’ve got the bug theres no escaping it
Work started early in the year with a set of 1000 miles old Cooksport springs being purchased and fitted which immediately got me the drop I wanted without spending £1500 again on coilovers like I did for the 172! Would have been better 10mm lower but Ill live with it. These went on at the same time as a new set of Brembo HC discs and pads as well as a new front wheel bearing as had started to groan – that was a fun job to replace!
Painted up the edges and centre of the discs to stop rust taking over and looking crap
My Renault 5 was in French Car mag in Feb this year which made me a both quite chuffed but also a bit gutted – really shouldn’t have sold that – was totally spotless and ill never find another as good
More and more parts from Pete’s 182 got fitted to mine over the next couple of months – anything I found that was in better nick was swapped over, seat belts were cleaned thoroughly then fitted to my car, etc etc
First real modification outside was a set of Spray Shacks door bulltets - I know its common but I couldn’t resist the Racing Blue & Black theme that’s been tried so many times now – its just such a great combination in my eyes there really was no other option for me – so the colour coding began
Then in April a local member on the forum blew his engine so I purchased his engine cover – looked ok but rest of engine was in dire need of the rebuild I was planning – was absolutely filthy!
Another ex clio sport member and good friend of mine Lee Coley agreed to paint a load of parts up for me, Front Diamond, clio badge, dash strips, front speaker covers, door pulls, door handles, steering wheel badge – These arrived a few weeks later and looked great! Also whacked on a set of black Side repeaters too.
I then arranged for a company in Cardiff – Flat Out Alloys to refurb my wheels for me – these guys did a top job and the car was now starting to look pretty good!
I attended the French Car Show again with Samco but as the bay had yet to be sorted the bonnet stayed firmly closed all day – I invited Cub to be on the stand so at Least there was a good demo Car for samco to show,
French Car show was a bit poor this year – very small and low attendance but had a good day none the less.
Havent been to any shows since FCS – had planned a few but with the engine now badly needing a minor rebuild gave them a miss – had hoped to make Traxx but the car went in for the rebuild a week before and was still in 100 pieces that weekend!
On to the rebuild - So over the last 9 months I have been building up a stock of engine parts – everything removed from Pete’s car was either Polished, Chromed, Painted or Powder Coated, I purchased loads of other parts – spent over £700 at Renault alone! (Including everything to renew Cambelt etc) – it’s been a bit of a mission trying to think of everything I could possibly need but after the Renault 5 Rebuild this was simple! Everything readily available so all I needed was cash!
As usual my friends at Samco came up trumps and have supplied a Full Coolant kit & Induction Hose Kit in Samco Blue free of charge, I managed to get hold of an old Hill Power Induction Kit – got the ends repolished and bought some new Heat Shielding material, All new Chrome/Staibnless Bolts were purchased etc etc – basically everything I could think of
It was at the garage for close to 2 weeks – I spent about 25 hours cleaning up the bay and various parts once it was all stripped down, my mechanic got wound up with me on numerous occasions due to my OCD’ish demands regarding replacing new for old bolts and cleaning things that once fitted will never be seen but we got there in the end
Upon leaving the garage I was still waiting for the Samco Induction Hose to arrive so had to put a bright red Forge hose back on temporarily plus there were lots of other little things to finish off – At this point I had 8 days before the Rally Day at Caslte Combe where is was supposed to be going on Samco’s stand to demo their hoses – so the past week or so has been spent with late nights trying to finish everything off – the induction hose arrived on Thursday (2 days before show) and I had to try and fabricate some sort of bracket to secure the Induction kit into place so with the show at 9.00am on Saturday morning I finally finished getting it all together at 2.00 Friday night/Saturday morning!
After 4 hours sleep went off to the Combe – Car went down really well – was parked with a couple of very expensive Imprezas on the Samco Stand so felt pretty good!
I need to get some good pictures of the outside but still needs both bumpers repainted so let it down a bit but again think that’s possibly just my OCD’ness coming out again - Have had 3 people offer to buy it off me in the last week alone so cant be too bad!
Still got a fair bit I want to do to it but overall Im happy with it now – was only ever meant to be a temporary car but id be sorry to sell it at the moment
Have probably missed loads but ill add as and when I think of things
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